The Modern Victory Garden

Blog

« Back to Blog « Older Entry | Newer Entry »

First Corn Harvest For 2009

Posted on August 16, 2009 at 9:25 PM

Started the day off by tackling my least favorite chore - using the weed whacker to clean up the garden walkway areas.   Got started around 9:30 am and wrapped it up around 11:30 am.   While not my favorite task, it is probably the most rewarding because the garden always looks so good afterwards.    Today was no exception.    I was totally filthy, physically tired, and in real need of a shower afterwards - but what an improvement in how the garden looks.        

                                      

    

 

    

 

    

  

You can see in the last picture that the long bed (farthest left) of early and mid season potatoes is in the process of dieing back.   In about a month, it will be time to dig them up for storage.   The late season (Butte) potato bed is going strong though.                                                                                         

 

 

Today I started Walla Walla sweet onion seeds in six big flats.        

     

  

 

These will be planted out in the garden in October to over winter -  to produce really large sweet onions for next summer's garden.     The seed starting trays were placed in the greenhouse for now.           

  

  

 

I cleaned up the weeds in the greenhouse today and also removed the storage onions that were in there curing and drying.   The withered tops were removed from the onions and then they were placed in mesh bags for storage.                      

                           

  

 

There were 8 lbs of onions after the tops were removed - 4 lbs per bag.  

I also picked the pole beans, runner beans, and the bush bean patch. Ended up with 3 ½ pounds of green beans for the effort.                        

                

  

 

I plan to process and freeze these tomorrow evening after work.   The bush bean patch is starting to wind down, so I intend to quit picking it from here on out and let the remaining bean pods go to maturity for seed saving purposes.   The variety I grew is Jade, which has been very productive, early, and quite tasty.   Since it is open pollinated, I will save seed from this patch and use it next year.   I also picked sugar snap peas (Cascadia) again today.   I am also going to quit picking from these plants as well - so that the remaining pods can go to maturity and provide saved seed for next year's planting needs.                           

                                  

The corn patch is growing well and should enjoy the forecasted warm weather this coming week.                                         

             

 

 

I harvested several ears of corn today for tonight's evening meal.           

       

    

  

   

 

In addition to the corn and sugar snap peas, I also harvested some tomatoes, cucumbers, and an onion for tonight's dinner.                     

    

   

  

The cucumbers, onion, and a few of the tomatoes were combined with some halved pitted kalamata olives and garlic infused vinaigrette dressing to make a nice summer salad.                                    

              

    

 

Behind the salad is a loaf of no knead bread that was baked earlier in the day and was cooling on the counter.                       

 

The weather forecast for the next several days is calling for warm and dry.   I hope it brings a flush of tomatoes to ripe status so I can get the tomato canning efforts underway next weekend.

Categories: Harvesting, Seed Saving, Vegetables

Post a Comment

Oops!

Oops, you forgot something.

Oops!

The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.

Already a member? Sign In

18 Comments

Reply Sandy
09:59 PM on August 16, 2009 
I think my first ears of corn are ready too. Can't wait to harvest it!

I'm finding this time of year is sooooo busy with both outdoor garden tasks and food preservation. I'm having a hard time keeping up, let alone do I have much time for blogging right now.

Oh, in case Sinfonian stops by - I haven't been able to access his site for a few weeks now. Have you?
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
10:13 PM on August 16, 2009 
Sandy - It is definitely a crazy busy time of year. I am hard pressed to do periodic updates to the blog too. I contacted Sinfonian by email last week and he had been away on vacation and was swamped busy at work upon his return. Judy's site is also down and his site shares space on her web hosting service - so by default his site is down when hers is down. He has been unable to contact Judy but was going to try again soon. Hopefully, nothing is amiss with Judy.
Reply Sandy
11:00 PM on August 16, 2009 
D'oh! I posted this on your blog instead of responding to your post one mine.

Thanks for the info about Sinfonian and Judy! I hope they are both back online soon.
Reply Sandy
11:00 PM on August 16, 2009 
I had to buy cukes from a local farmstand. I've had a lot of cukes so far this year, but they, annoyingly, don't mature all at the same time, which means that I'd either have to make very small batches of pickles or have a variety of sizes of cukes in the mix. So, I opted to buy some to supplement what I am growing.
Reply Becky
06:45 AM on August 17, 2009 
Your garden looks great!
I also grew Jade green beans this year and they were my favorite of the four varieties I tried. Do you let the beans try on the bush to save the seeds?
Reply hsheather
07:13 AM on August 17, 2009 
That corn looks wonderful. I wish I had the space to grow it!
Reply Daphne's Dandelions
07:38 AM on August 17, 2009 
Your salad looks delicious. I've been making fresh salsa every day to use up my cherry tomatoes, but I'm losing the battle. I probably should start making tomato salads to use more of them up.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:46 AM on August 17, 2009 
Becky - That is exactly how it is done. You let the bean pods fill out and mature completely making sure that the plants are kept adequately watered until the bean pods are fat with seeds - at which point you allow the entire plant to die back and dry down. Once dry, you remove the pods and shell the beans. I lay them out on a paper towel for a week to be sure they are completely and thoroughly dry before then placing them in a small labeled container or zip lock bag for storage with the rest of my seed inventory.

hsheather - The corn was pretty darn tasty. It was much appreciated because we did not grow any last year and the little bit I had left in the freezer from the 2007 garden was fast used up last year.

Daphne - I cannot decide which was better, the fresh corn on the cob or that salad! It's a refreshing way to use the abundance of cucumbers and tomatoes during the late summer season.
Reply Annie's Granny
01:21 AM on August 18, 2009 
OK, I looked past the beautiful veggie beds to your pathways, and they are looking quite lovely ;-) I'm beginning to see the neighbor's Bermuda grass creeping into mine. That could become a real problem.

Mmmm...I wish I had room to grow corn. That's my very favorite, with carrots running a close second. I snagged the bread recipe, it should do very well in my old cast iron Dutch oven.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:25 AM on August 18, 2009 
AG - Corn is one of those crops that I love and hate at the same time. I love the taste and really look forward to it, but I hate how it consumes so much space in the garden. With the additional beds we added to the garden this year, it is now possible to grow a patch without feeling quite so concerned about what I had to give up to fit it in.

I hope you try that bread recipe. I think it is superior to most others and so easy that it makes good bread making something that can fit into a very busy person's weekly routine.
Reply Dan
05:24 PM on August 18, 2009 
Very nice work on the paths. I was out with the 25cc weed whacker today clearing all the weeds in the cracks and edging the gardens followed by the lawnmower. Our yard is tiny though so it only takes 15 minutes. Those potatoes truly are massive, can't wait to see how much they produce. The corn looks lovely. I have been eat lots of local corn lately, on the grill and boiled, yum.
Reply HeidiH
06:00 PM on August 18, 2009 
I hope this lets me post -- I tried registering, and it wouldn't do it! i tried two different email addresses and kept getting, "Enter a valid email address" after i tried sending it in! help?
Reply HeidiH
06:05 PM on August 18, 2009 
I love this site!!! and that it's local! -- Corn fear-ers, you can grow corn in a normal backyard -- we're on our third year. I have about 75 stalks in a 8' x 12' bed -- yes! I planted denser this year than before, (Burpee Breeder's Choice that I started indoors in a flat and transplanted about the time you'd plant seeds normally) and we should be able to harvest two tonight. 'Course, that does keep me from planting lots of other things..I have my potatoes in a section at the end of the corn bed...in another raised bed, are tomatoes and beets and, um, a pumpkin. It was my first try at pumpkin -- I actually didn't know it would take over the way it did! I have 3 lovely Fairytales, getting pretty big, not more, because I've only had 'boy' flowers since. is there anything I can do about that??
Can't wait for your tomato canning recommendations! Specifically, can I 'half' the recipes I see most places, as I don't have that many ripe at a time as most recipes call for? thanks!
Reply HeidiH
06:10 PM on August 18, 2009 
Your bread recipe -- can it be allowed to rise 24 hours? :) I'd like to make it but won't be able to get to it sooner after it's mixed up --
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
10:28 PM on August 18, 2009 
Dan - I always like the garden "tidied up" but hate the process to get there! Luckily, that is really the only garden chore I routinely do that I don't particularly like. I am thinking I will do something about that next year.

HeidiH - Sorry you were having problems getting registered. I will go look at the member info and see if there is anything on my end that needs attention. Regardless, you managed to join in - welcome! On the tomato processing the basic recipe for canned tomatoes in the Ball Blue Book of preserving ( page 22 of my book) gives the amount per quart ) - which means you can do 1 or 7 quarts per canner load depending on how many tomatoes you have available to process. I like that because it is scaleable to what you have on hand. As to the pumpkin only producing male flowers if the vine already has a pumpkin fruit on it they seem to shut down further production which is probably a function of the vine not being able to support multiple fruits maturing. At this point in the season, if it is not already formed and growing it is not going to get to a mature enough stage before the plant dies back from cold anyway. On the bread, the longest I have pushed the recipe was 20 hours and it worked fine. Not sure how 24 would work out - but all you would be out is 4 cups of flour and a little yeast and salt to give it a try! The 20 hour batch I did actually had a more "sourdough" taste and was quite good. Let me know if you try it and how it works out.
Reply Sinfonian
01:35 AM on August 19, 2009 
Hi all, thanks for your kind wishes. All is fine here in Sinfonian's garden. Well, not all fine as the junk from spring still needs to be ripped out and the tomatoes are wilting. However, my fall plantings have sprouted so I'm hopefull.

About my blog. It's Judy's site and all her sites have been down for weeks. All efforts to contact her have failed to get a response so I'm worried about her!

I'll keep trying, but rest assured that I'm stilll gardening, just not blogging right now. Enjoy your garden!
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
08:37 AM on August 19, 2009 
Sinfonian - Lots of folks have been asking after both you and Judy, so thanks for stopping by and checking in! I hope Judy surfaces soon and hopefully she is okay too. Glad to hear your fall plantings are coming along.
Reply HeidiH
11:58 AM on August 19, 2009 
Thanks so much! I have 3 Fairytales growing beautifully, so I won't sweat the pumpkin. Bread is postponed while we face the Plum Dilemma -- I have a Shiro with easily 1,000 fruits still on it, all ripe/starting to fall, and after making lots of jelly, and giving away BAGS, and eating 5-7 a day, we have decided to make wine. (made hard cider last year so we have most of the stuff). Bad news, that's still not a lot of plums, to make wine. Would you like several hundred Shiros in the next day or two?? I think you can 'see' my email, as the site owner, email me if you would!! (I'm in Silverdale). I have canned them before, but they get awfully tart despite the sugar syrup, I discovered last year -- may have to try a heavier syrup.
Picked 2 ears corn last night -- short, but good looking! And then we forgot to eat them, they stayed on the kitchen counter...well, tonight...