I noticed something on my tomatoes in the blossom clusters.

I have seen this before, yet never had the time to find the cause. I tried to Google a cause and a remedy, but I could not seem to come across the right keywords or search words for the problem.

I grabbed my camera and decided to get some pictures of these tomato blossom “blossomless” stems and send them over to my county extension agent. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Here is what the “aborted” blossoms looked like:

aborted tomato blossom stems

On my tomato plants, there are several “clusters” of tomato blossoms. Some of them are all fruit bearing and doing perfectly well. But on the SAME plant, in another cluster area, there would be some tomato blossoms, and others that suddenly disappeared and left me with a stem that looked like someone had “clipped” it with a pair of scissors. No blossom, just the stem portion with the flower totally gone. There was a flower on each of those stems at one time. Just clipped off, just a tomato blossom stem with no flower. A flower that was once there.

tomato horn worm damage

Well, I remembered having read somewhere that sometimes a tomato plant will abort some parts of the fruit to give its food and attention toward developing the other tomato fruits. So maybe this was the tomato plant’s way of “aborting” fruit so it could develop the other fruits. But why only on certain clusters? Why not in every tomato blossom cluster area?

Just adjacent would be these perfectly luscious tomato blooms. Other than that, the plants were very healthy, well watered, no signs of stress. Luscious green foliage and beautifully formed tomato plants. No signs of any type of pest, I’m first thinking worm? But I could find no chewed foliage, and no sign of the dreaded tomato horn worm.

When I first described the problem to the extension agent over the phone, she thought it was the plant aborting some of the blossoms due to stress. Too much rain, not enough water, lack of fertilizer, too much fertilizer, anything causing stress to the plant.

After I sent her the picture, she said that is not aborted tomato blossoms. It is a tomato horn worm!

Well, when I first saw the problem on the tomato plants, remember I mentioned looking for a worm.

Most times when I find a tomato horn worm, the problem is easily caught when I see a tomato plant with chewed foliage. I check for this twice each day during tomato season on each plant. If you see chewed foliage, get your glasses and stare at that plant. The tomato horn worm is there, unless you have just a stem left cause you forgot to check this daily. He blends in so well with the plant, so he is very hard to see. Check undersides of leaves, look on the stem itself. The tomato horn worm can look just like a tomato stem! Look for where the last chewed area is, if he has not progressed further, then is most likely finishing up that area and getting ready to move to the undamaged area of the plant.

My problem is that I was looking for chewed tomato foliage. I was not really looking for simply a chewed off blossom. And it could be that I already found the culprit and picked him off and destroyed him, and that is why the problem ceased almost immediately after it begun.

I am going back out to do a more thorough inspection, and if I find the culprit, I will post his picture on this blog. She told me that before they go on a tomato plant eating binge, they can be roly poly sized and green. They are much easier to find when they have eaten half of your plant, but we want to find them BEFORE that stage.

When you have a garden, you have to check it daily. A tomato horn worm can destroy an entire plant in a day. When you find one, kill him. But do check your plants daily. If you are going to be out of town, spray your plants with an insecticide such as Sevin or ask a friend or relative to check them for you. You might also ask the friend or relative to water, also, especially if you live in the Deep South like I do. It is June 1 and the temperature today is already 90 degrees and it is not even noon here. Imagine this place in July and August. Yikes!

Happy Tomato Growing!
~ The Ranchers Daughter

I just did one of my many daily “tours” through the garden(s), and I saw:

Lots of green tomatoes on the tomato vines.

I saw miniature Ichiban eggplant on my container eggplant.

My larger eggplant variety has several blooms on it and has grown profusely in the last week or so.

There were cucumbers beginning to form on the vines.

The potatoes just keep sprouting up and needing to be hilled.

Also we have baby yellow squash and zucchini.

We have peppers, harvested a few hot ones already. Got some nice Big Bertha bells already getting large and green, great for STUFFING with some creole blend of sausage, meat and rice!

I had to plant later than usual this year in the outer (non container) gardens due to the late Spring and heavy rains.

But all is coming along nicely.

There are peaches and apples on the trees.

We have little tabasco peppers forming on the plants so I can make pepper sauce with those.

Cantaloupes blooming. Okra plants finally getting strong and shooting on up.

I am excited to have some new area to start this week with some later crops; have not decided yet what I’ll put there.

I’ve got four full rows of newly available space; what will I do with that?

Happy Gardening, and wishing you a bountiful harvest!

~ The Rancher’s Daughter

I was flipping through the pages, and there was a full page ad for some plastic garbage bag company, I don’t know, GLAD or something like that. Now the kicker is this.

The garbage bag was stretched out ready to be filled with the trash. And that is fine, no quarrel there. But here is what the “trash” consisted of: (stay with me here…..organic gardening magazine, they would be PROMOTING compost right? Ya’d think?)

Here is what I saw sprawled across the page that was supposed to be the “trash:” egg shells, coffee grounds, lettuce, outer cabbage leaves, bread, potato peelings, rotten fruit, banana peels, celery ends, crackers, watermelon rinds, cantaloupe husks, bell pepper ends, pasta, vegetable peelings. THAT’S NOT TRASH! DON’T THROW THAT OUT!

RD, meditate girl, meditate. Breathe into that paper bag (NOT the plastic GLAD bag use the PAPER one!). Allright, whew, I’m okay now.

It is comical that the ad ran. Not THAT it ran. But THAT it RAN in an Organic Gardening Magazine that promotes the Compost Concept. Compost is homemade GOLD. It might be hard to get used to at first, but you’ll get “in the habit” and so will those around you, if you preach it like I do. Don’t throw away anything that can be composted.

My family is trained. They come and ask me if they don’t know; RD is this compost or not? That is cause they would rather ask me than face the wrath of me finding the apple core in the trash. I will find it, I don’t DIG for it, but I will find it.

In the magazine’s defense, they printed a follow up comment in the next issue, APOLOGIZING to all of those readers who wrote in raising “heck” about “WHAT were you THINKING?” I’m sure somebody paid for that on the magazine staff. It was NOT me.

If I look in my trash can, the one I haul to the dump, and see an apple core? Or a banana peel? I will find the owner. It is a sin. You will be punished.

NO MEAT and NO FISH in the compost bin, most everything else is game. My dad used to plant fish under his grape vines and that is different. Meat and Fish in the compost pile attract rats and other undesirables. So it is best to keep those items off the list.

Into the composting bin go things like: egg shells, lettuce pieces, cabbage leaves and core, pepper stems, tomato cores, squash ends, old bread, banana peelings, rotten fruit, old potatoes (unless you are planting them), watermelon rinds, cantaloupe rinds, apple cores, pear cores, avocado peelings, cucumber peelings, coffee grounds, used tea bags, cabbage leaves, beans, pea hulls, potato peelings, leftover pasta noodles, onion skins, garlic skins. I kind of ride in the middle about cheese. I might put it in there if it is very finely grated. But you get the idea. Don’t forget leftovers, again no meat or fish. I had some leftover pinto beans the other night, we had eaten on those beans for 3 different meals and there were just a few left, so rather than toss them they can be composted.

I use the same type of 50 gallon barrel to compost that I use for growing potatoes. Not the same one of course.

The Compost Barrel with Shovel

Remember, in the potato barrel article I said be nice and don’t judge its appearance, it is a compost bin, not a contestant in a beauty pageant.

I start with a little dirt in the bottom.

A small bowl or container sits on my kitchen counter all the time. As I cook, or as my family eats, the bowl is always there ready to receive compost materials. Break an egg? Put the shell in the bowl. Eat an apple? Put the core in the bowl. Cut up a cantaloupe? Put the husk in the bowl. Slice up a watermelon? Put the rind in the bowl.

If you cook, keep it close by. I make salads for two meals a day. So I have a lot of lettuce “croppings.” I slice tomatoes all the time, so I got stems and cores. I cook three meals a day using lots of fruit and vegetables, so I usually fill my bowl once or twice a day.

It is hard at first if you are not used to it. Just get in the habit. Keep the bowl in sight so you are reminded, after a while it won’t be a problem at all, you’ll get accustomed to it. Be sure to inform your family. They can be a part of the recycling compost project, too. They eat there too right?

I do not let the bowl sit there for days at a time. I take it to the compost bin at least once daily, and more often if it needs it. I rinse it out, or wash it and use a new bowl.

Drop the contents into the compost bin, cover with a little dirt. You’ll see in the barrel picture there is a shovel close by. I use it to shovel in dirt, then I “turn” the compost every so often, sort of digging in the new stuff. I find that if I put dirt over the newly added materials, it keeps the flies and gnats down.

This is a great job for a child in the family to learn to do. Magpie and LB both help out taking the compost ingredients to the compost bin. LB is not a child, but he helps anyway. He is good that way.

Do not put the bin right outside your back door. Use your head. This is compost. It is rotting food, sort of like fermenting leftovers covered with dirt. It is not so bad if you keep the food covered with a layer of dirt, and “push” the new stuff down into the barrel. We keep our bin away from the house, not in the garden, but down in the back of LB’s shop a little ways.

The compost will basically “heat up.” Turn with the shovel every so often.

The completed compost is a wonderful addition to your garden. Mulch around plants, mix with your planting soil, mulch your potatoes, put it around your tomato plants.

Next time you are about to throw away an apple core or a banana peel, think about it. You could be turning that into Black Gold.

Happy Composting! (did I say that?)

the Rancher’s Daughter

Tomatoes and Garlic

Everybody grows at least ONE tomato plant here. Even my neighbor that rarely goes outside or gardens, even she plants one lone solitary tomato just outside her back porch.

One tomato plant. That is putting all your eggs in one basket. Livin’ on the edge. I could not survive with one tomato plant.

I guess that is because we have so many uses for them. We make our own pizza and spaghetti sauce and then pressure can batches to last through the fall and winter. We also make our own salsas. LB loves to pick fresh peppers and tomatoes, and he whips up the BEST homemade salsa. For supper in the summer, we often just have chips and salsa along with a taco or small salad. I’ll be sure to toss out some of those salsa recipes.

Tomatoes do great things: they make things like

• just plain sliced and salted
• sliced and salted and dipped in mayo
• halved, balsamic vinegar, basil, and mozzarella melt
• sliced on a plate, sprinkle with salt, basil, and vinegar, let marinate, then EAT
• tomato sauce
• spaghetti sauce
• relish, jam, chutney
• stuffed tomatoes
• tomatoes and cottage cheese
• homemade ketchup
• macaroni pasta and fresh tomato sauce
• tomato bread
• baked or broiled halves with mozzarella or asiago cheese
• gazpacho ( I LOVE fresh gazpacho!)
• quiche
• pizza sauce
• The Rancher’s Daughter Tomato Sandwich
• My Liver Cheese Sandwich
• Great Salads
• Sliced and Totally Alone
• marinara sauce over angel hair
• Fried Green Tomatoes
• Pica de Gallo
• Homemade Salsa
• Chili Mix in a Jar
• chili, stew, soup, gumbo
• Chow Chow
• Piccalilli
• Mexican and Tex Mex

THIS could go on forever. Tomatoes are wonderful; I don’t want to go into the “is it a fruit or is it a vegetable” issue cause I’ve read up on that on BOTH sides, and right now I just don’t care.

We have a Bonnie’s Sweet 100 on the back patio growing in a pot. I meant to plant that one in the garden tho. I just got so excited when I planted them, around Easter I think,you know getting my hands in the dirt and thinking of all the gardening glory to come this summer, that I had already stuck it in the pot and watered it, and did not want to move it.

Reason is, those are not determinate, they are really indeterminate and last year I first got LB to make me some tall stakes. I put them in the pot, staked the plants, but those things grew almost to the roof. Finally I got him to put a nail on the fascia and I just tied them up that way.

Determinate plants: easier to work with, shorter, bushier, more compact, they set fruit once then they stop. Don’t require as much staking, so LB likes them. LB does not love gardening as much as I do. He does it, tho, cause I ask him to help sometimes and we like to do things together.

Indeterminate: require staking, they sprawl out all over the place, these will keep putting out fruit until the frost comes, so I like those. These give you a longer growing season.

If you are container gardening, probably best to stick to determinate varieties. Or you can be stubborn like me and plant an indeterminate in a pot anyway. I’m not talking about some little bitty pots here. They are not HUGE, but they are pretty large. They are on roller trays so we can move them around freely.

We have both, about half and half I’d say. I usually put the determinate tomato plants in the pots and the indeterminate varieties out in the garden. I move those pots on the back porch around a lot so once they are tied to the roof, that is where they’ll stay.

Anyway, the Sweet 100 is already covered in green fruit, it has always been a big producer for us. Those are those small little tomatoes for salads and plain snacking.

My Bush Goliath has some really pretty green tomatoes on it already, they are looking very healthy.

A note about plant varieties: there are varieties of vegetables that might work well in my area, but not in yours. Usually, your local feed and seed is a great source of information. Use varieties that perform well in your location. We have really hot summers here, often with hardly any water.

Tomatoes needs lots of sun and plenty of water. If it does not rain, I have to hand water. I don’t mind it, tho, it is just more time I get to spend around my plants. What I do hate are the mosquitoes, and we have plenty of those here. They need fertilizer too.

The only real pest we have with our tomatoes is the big green tomato horn worm. These suckers are ugly. They can eat a lot of foliage in a very short time, and even take a bite out of your fruit. They can be PRETTY hard to see too, they blend in really well with the tomato vine colors.

When I see evidence of one, which is pretty obvious, (chewed leaves, stressed plant), I just stare really hard and take my time, eventually I’ll see him, and just get rid of him, kill him right then and there. You know those pictures in the newspaper, where you look at it and see one thing? And you are supposed to stare at it and hopefully eventually see something else? I don’t know what you call those pictures. Anyway, finding a tomato horn worm is like that. Just stare, keep refocusing, you will see him. He is really sneaky.

I just check my plants daily, sometimes twice, but at least once, and as Barney Fife says on the Andy Griffith Show, “Nip it in the bud. Just nip it!”

More tomato fun later.

We’ll be picking tomatoes really soon. During the times we are waiting for our tomatoes to come in, we are really lucky to know the Harman Family, and that is a story to be served up all by itself. It is a great story, don’t miss it.

Happy Memorial Day! the Rancher’s Daughter

When I told LB about my potato barrel project, he was trying to think of something cost efficient to use. Container grown potatoes need a lot of space. I love growing vegetables in containers, and I get creative sometimes with my containers.

Five gallon sheetrock buckets were too small to produce any type of yield.

Metal 50 gallon drums get too hot here during the summer which is not good for the potatoes.

Black containers are also not recommended; high temperatures will occur and inhibit tuber formation.

Be careful also buying 50 gallon used drums because you might want to know what used to be STORED in them.

I don’t want to grow food in a barrel laced with petroleum or toxic chemicals.

Here is a picture of the barrel. This barrel is not entering a beauty contest, so don’t judge.

The Potato Barrel

I have bought seed potatoes in the past. But I have also used older potatoes that are in my potato bin.

I love the taste of fresh dug potatoes. In my humble opinion, fresh dug potatoes taste LOTS better than supermarket potatoes.

Supermarket potatoes are often treated with a chemical to prevent the eyes from sprouting.

My homegrown fresh dug potatoes are not treated with anything except Tender Loving Care.

I will eat supermarket potatoes, chemical and all (yuck!), but I prefer our fresh dug taters.

I guess that is why I have them planted in four locations, including a Sweet Potato Patch.

And I also put out a late potato crop in the fall.

But you should once in your life (put it on your bucket list), eat a fresh dug potato.

I am not fussy about keeping potato types separate, I probably should be, but I am not.

I DO plant my sweet potatoes separate from my whites and reds. I don’t mix the sweet potatoes.

I will plant Idahos along with Yukon Gold and even throw in a Red Pontiac.

I am sure that Chuck, my county extension agent, would raise his eyebrow at my methods, but he would eat one of my baked potatoes TOO.

Red Pontiac is NOT a car. It is a variety of Potato.

I just LOVE Yukon Gold potatoes. The skin is just so soft on these, they make the best baked potato.

Go to recipe section for more on that.

Other potato varieties: Red La Soda (heat tolerant and great for Southern Gardens); Red Norland is a good all purpose potato available at Holland Bulb Farms. Holland Bulb Farms also has Brown Goldrush Russets, excellent for storage, boiling and baking.  Some white potato varieties that are good for storage include Irish Cobbler and Kennebec. Russet Burbank is a good white baking potato; Sebago and Crystal are both good northern varieties. Norgold Russets and Viking potatoes are good boiled, sauteed, OR baked. Holland Bulb also offers a really good Brown Yukon Gold seed potato with a great buttery taste.

The fingerling potatoes are absolutely delicious, “Lady Finger” is one variety.

I live in the deep south, our planting time for summer harvest crops usually falls around Easter, depending on the rains.

If we have March going out like a Lion, I wait to plant. If March is going out like a Lamb, I plant earlier.

I don’t really follow the Groundhog stuff. I just sort of get a feeling if it is going to rain and wash everything away or not.

Some folks swear by planting on Good Friday. No matter what. Not me. I just sort of let God tell me when it is time to plant. And He does.

Of course my garden area has usually been plowed with MULE several times by planting day.

By January I am already pulling out seed catalogs and chomping at the bit to get my hands in the dirt, and MULE comforts me.

After my fall crops are harvested, I clean the garden, and use MULE to till the earth for turnip greens.

Due to our mild winters, I can leave turnip greens in my garden all winter and unless we have a really unusually harsh winter, which RARELY happens here, we pull turnip greens all winter long.

I am covering this about rain because if you plant potatoes too early, and you get really heavy rains, the seed potatoes may rot.

Your seed potatoes should be cut so you have 1-3 “eyes” on them. (I wonder why they call them eyes?)

You also want to leave enough potato flesh to nourish the plants and give them something to grow on.

My seed potatoes are usually about 1/4 to 1/2 of an average potato.

There is an “Old Wives Tale” that chunks with one eye produce BIGGER potatoes and chunks with multiple eyes produce MORE potatoes.

Since we are barrel planting, the planting method will be different than trench grown potatoes.

LB has already punched a few holes around the base perimeter of the barrel for drainage.

Without drainage, rain water will hold in the barrel and cause the potatoes to rot.

We use dirt from our property, you could buy some but we just shovel in our own. I don’t get too technical, just say around 6″ of starter dirt.

When we eventually “dump out” the potatoes, we simply stockpile that growing medium until the next time, so if you do have to buy dirt, maybe you can reuse it for a fall crop or the next summer crop.

Our Lowe’s Hardware Store has some pretty good potting soil that runs about $1.50 a bag, and that could help if you don’t have access to dirt.

Next, I place my seed potatoes in the barrel on top of that dirt. Place them in the barrel, with the Eyes Facing Up.

They are now STARING at you.

I cover with about 4″ of dirt, lightly water, and leave them alone.

If it rains, I don’t water. If it does not rain for a couple of days, I spray the barrel down with water. I don’t “drown” them, I just “water” them.

When green foilage appears in the bottom of my barrel, I throw in more dirt to cover the foilage up.

Potato Sprouts

The yellow looking foilage just recently “sprouted up” and will shortly turn green like the other.

You can see leaves and light sand in my growing medium. We live in a very wooded area, so I often have leaves in my stockpile.

That is ok.

I toss more growing medium (dirt) on top of these.

If the barrel is less than half full, I might continue to toss in more seed potatoes as I go if I have them on hand.

After the barrel is half full, I continue to add more dirt but not more seed potatoes.

Continue this foilage and cover process until the barrel is almost full. I leave about 4-5″ at the top free.

At this point, stop adding dirt. When the potato foilage turns yellow and dies, you can leave the potatoes in the barrel if you wish, some say a few weeks is ok. If you are having a wet spell, you might need to dig them to keep the foilage from resprouting.

You can dig immature potatoes for consumption, but for good sturdy storage potatoes, let the full process take its course.

If you do choose to “dig” in the barrel for some potatoes, dig CAREFULLY. You want to try to start from the outside edge and come in “up under” the potato so you don’t stab and scratch them. Best to dig on a dry day, and dry for a couple of days before storing.

Some use their hands; some use a potato hoe; some use a fork.

Of course, as soon as our barrel is CAREFULLY toppled over (LB helps me with this), I’ve already snagged about 9 potatoes. 3 for supper, 3 for the next supper, and 3 for lunch. Yum Yum.

I am drooling about the prospect of a freshly dug, soft baked potato, lightly buttered and salted, sprinkled with finely grated Mexican Cheese Blend. Fresh ground cracked Black Pepper on top. Maybe some crumbled cooked bacon? I sometimes add chili on top, too.

I love a big pot of southern cooked green beans, with small tiny potatoes cooked in with the beans. I will put that in the recipe section. I am getting SO HUNGRY!

LB said his Dad used to store his potatoes under the house. LB’s Dad was a big time gardener, he raised pigs too.

With LB’s folks, gardening was a necessity, not a hobby. That is how the family got fed.

Ideal storage conditions for potatoes are dark and cold and in a well ventilated area. NOT freezing. The area should be slightly HUMID, not DAMP.  Do not pile potatoes more than about 12″ deep, and do NOT wash before placing in storage.

I have an area set aside in our warehouse for this purpose, and we also have LB’s shop building that works well too.

Our diet includes one starch for lunch and one starch for dinner. This is usually a potato or pasta.

More often than not, it is a potato. I have TONS of ways to cook potatoes, without frying them. We do not eat “fried” food in the context of DEEP FRIED. We USED to. But we don’t now. We “lightly saute.” Everything here is pretty much “sauteed” in Olive Oil.

I have some GREAT RECIPES in the food section for fried foods, don’t get me wrong. We LOVE fried chicken, french fries, fried fish. But we changed our diet in March 2009 and have been really good to “stick to it.”

It is NOT a starve yourself diet. It is a change your life diet. So far, everybody here LOVES it and FEELS GREAT!

Since we eat starches twice per day, potatoes don’t last long here. So if we do store them, it is not for very long.

You could put the Potato Barrel project on your bucket list, and just wait and think about doing it.

Of you can go right now and get you a barrel and prepare to grow your own.

It is fun, they taste great, and you’ll feel proud.

Thanks for visiting!

All kinds (except snakes). I wish I liked good snakes, but I just can’t, I’ve tried.

Normally I just don’t fool with corn. It ain’t worth it.

I have grown it, but we have lots of birds and squirrels.

This year, I said what the heck, let’s do it again.

I hesitate every year cause it takes up a lot of garden space.

And you cannot plant ONE ROW of corn. One long row of corn is not how corn is planted.

You fare much better with four rows side by side in order to ensure good kernel pollination.

Oh, and don’t MIX corn types. You don’t want some funky cross pollination. Stick to ONE corn type.

I planted the corn.

Along with all of my other successful crops.

Now here is where I THINK the problem lies.

The seed that I used. It is a sweet brand of corn, and after planting, everything else came up.

Just not the corn.

I let it go. Tended the other crops. It was still early in the season, I decided I’d replant later.

Had some time one Sunday afternoon, so I used MULE and retilled that area.

More on MULE later. She is my plow. My garden tiller. I love her!

I planted. Again.

Nothing.

Nada.

Something is GOING ON HERE.

Some time shortly after all of that, I was cooking dinner, looking out of my window.

Squirrels.

In my corn rows.

Digging, laughing, eating, having what the Flintstones call a Gay Old Time.

I was kind of steamed.

I went outside.

I tried reasoning with them in a nice way.

They left.

I went back inside.

Then they came back.

They don’t fear me. They are taking advantage of me. They are LAUGHING at me.

I decided to experiment now by placing a very small bowl of that corn seed outside.

And waiting. And watching.

Meantime, that garden area will be converted to watermelons, more potatoes, a later planting of zipper peas. Maybe some limas.

I guess you realized now that we eat a lot of potatoes.

Probably some exotic experimental type of crop could go there. I am known to do that. Experiment.

But it won’t be corn, at least not THAT corn, until I can figure out WHAT is going on.

We have planted and grown corn before without the squirrel issue.

Here is the seed I used. I think squirrels love it. More than acorns. More than anything.

Sweet Corn: Honey and Cream from Burpee Seeds, you know W. Atlee Burpee & Company. A bicolor sugary hybrid. Sweet and tender. Not that WE’LL ever know!

If those squirrels would back off, I could grow a bunch of that corn which must REALLY be good since the seeds are so desireable and I would have given them a whole WINTER of that corn.

I need to renegotiate with the Squirrel King!

Hey, I think I’ll ask them what THEY think.

It’s not a war. Squirrels entertain me. They do cause me grief. They eat my corn.

They knock my peaches off the tree and don’t even eat them.

I was GOING to say they don’t mess with my APPLES, but then maybe they blog and read my innermost thoughts?

Sometimes they party late and do all kinds of stuff, I don’t actually see it.

But those guys are Mischievous.

But I love them. We have chipmunks too. We love chipmunks, so we don’t have a cat.

More on that later.

But I won’t blame anybody.

But I will be watching.

No corn this year.

Not from MY farm.

Lynn will bring me corn. Her folks have a really BIG farm. And grow the best corn ever.

She brings me corn every year, and I give her tomatoes.

Ummmm.. I just got to thinking about how good that corn tasted.

I told Magpie Leotie to text Lynn and ask her when that corn comes in.

And I will just let that corn thing go with the squirrels.

For now. No squirrel was harmed in the writing of this article.

I’ll plant a vegetable anywhere.

No kidding. I LOVE container gardening in addition to my earth plowed garden.

I have a traditional garden with potatoes, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumber, watermelons, canteloupe, zipper peas, okra, and lots of pepper plants.

I also have another flower style garden.

It has a rock border around it that I placed there years ago.

It is the one where I find a lot of snakes. I hate snakes.

I won’t stop living my life outdoors because of them.

If you live in the country, and in the woods, you are going to see a snake.

Eventually.

More on snakes later.

The rocked flower bed has a crepe myrtle in it along with some seeded zinnias.

Just behind that I planted a row of potatoes. I love flowers, don’t get me wrong.

But you can’t eat flowers. You can eat potatoes. So if there is a garden area with flowers, they will have to share their space with some vegetables.

There is also one tomato plant in that bed along with two squash plants and a cucumber vine.

I make my own salsa and pico de gallo so tomatoes and peppers come in handy. We also make our own tomato and pizza sauce.

LB does not eat onions. I can sneak in some onion powder sometimes.

And I have even rehydrated dried onion flakes and used them in some certain dishes.

But we do not eat onions. I used to. And sometimes I get to thinking about my momma’s home cooked green beans with a slab of cornbread and a great big green onion. And I miss it. But it just ain’t worth the hassle. I want to get up close and personal with LB, and that won’t be much fun if I smell like onions.

But more on food in the food section.

I also have two 50 gallon drums.

One has, of course, potatoes in it.

I start with a little dirt. A few potato pieces. There will be a whole article on this but basically I plant a few potato pieces in the bottom. Then I cover with more dirt. When those plants peek up through the dirt, I add more dirt. Sometimes I even add a few more potato pieces if I happen to have some older potatoes in my bin. I continue to do this until that whole barrel is full. Then I wait. I will eventually push that barrel over, and retrieve my potatoes.

Next to that barrel is my compost barrel.

It is a SIN in my home to throw away anything that can be composted.

You will be punished.

NO MEAT and NO FISH in the compost bin. My dad used to plant fish under his grape vines and that is different. Meat and Fish in the compost pile attract rats and other undesirables. So it is best to keep those items off the list. I also avoid oils in the bin, like cooking oil. I find also that corn cobs do not compost well.

Egg shells, lettuce pieces, pepper stems, tomato cores, squash ends, old bread, watermelon rinds, canteloupe rinds, apple cores, pear cores, avocado peelings, cucumber peelings, coffee grounds, used tea bags, cabbage leaves, beans, pea hulls, potato peelings, leftover pasta noodles, onion skins, garlic skins. I kind of ride in the middle about cheese. I might put it in there if it is very finely grated. But you get the idea.

I start with a little of dirt in the bottom. I had LB punch holes in the bottom sides around the perimeter so water would not stand in the barrel. Same with the potato bin. If it can’t drain, the potatoes would rot.

A compost container sits on my kitchen counter all the time. When it is filled, it goes to the compost barrel. Then a little dirt shoveled over to deter flies. When that composts real good, it is wonderful to put around your garden plants.

Then up close to the back porch of our home, there is an old fountain that we filled in with dirt that contains plants now instead of water and fish. The fish were just too hard to take care of. There are flowers in there, impatiens and zinnias and nasturtiums. Marigolds too. And of course I snuck in four pepper plants. I could not stop myself.

And I have six great big roll around pots that can be moved around as desired. I usually plant in those really early in the spring. If it gets cold, we just slide them inside the back door.

I have tomatoes and peppers in those as well.

If there is any place in any garden or pot that does not have something in it, I will find something to put in it, and it will most likely involve a vegetable of some sort.

Gardening is hard work, but it is the kind of hard work that makes you feel really good afterwards.

I am thinking of a pot and dirt, and I will have to leave now and go PLANT something!