Ducks Ragtag 2019 gardening

Didn't have time to upload my pictures, but I post later the pictures later this week.
Tomatoes
I harvested/canned 4 quarts of Romas yesterday, and it looks like I will have enough red fruit for 4 more quarts by the weekend.
DH has already decided that the more pink beefsteak tomatoes are the sweetest, so I will save seeds from them at the end of the season. You know how it is, you miss a few after a hard freeze or several good frosts, and you can get a bunch of seeds to ferment from a single piece of fruit. Dunno what kind they are, but I understand that several years of cross pollination will create a tomato somewhat unique to your own micro-climate.
Sweet Corn
I harvested 5 ears of sweet corn to super dry it out on the picnic table, at the risk of the local squirrel making off with them. When they are dry enough I will store the corn seeds in a glass jar for next year and test them before planting time in 2020.
Brussels Sprouts
I started these seeds end of July in Jiffy Peat Pellets. TOTALLY worthless and I'll never use them again!! Brussels Sprout seeds were 2019 and 2018 coated seeds and almost every one Sprouted, but they got leggy and weren't growing any bigger and sat there at that stage for 6 weeks. I decided about 3 weeks ago to transplant them into larger pots. I pulled off the plastic wrap on the pellets and carefully transplanted into some indoor plant soil that retains water. I used 4 inch diameter pots and put them under lights on top of my refridgerator with the lights on 24/7 and the finally looked like the ones you buy from the garden centers in box stores, big and leafy. My garden spot for Brussels Sprouts ended up being covered with plastic to "solarize" it for 3 months straight. Whatever grass or weeds that managed to find any holes was very easy to hand weed and I lightly tilled same area, then tilled heavily the rest of the garden area that doesn't have tomatoes, peppers or beets/french breakfast radishes after hand weeding/mowing. Everything I pulled out went to the horses. Everything I mowed got dumped to burn bc of the weed seeds.
I dug each hole with a hand trowel and regretted not taking out my shovel. The soil is very rich but it had compacted in places. That was disappointing. I transplanted 17 Brussels Sprouts about 15-18 inches apart, 2 rows of 7 each and a 3rd row began. Most of them had Good root systems.
I watered them well this morning and will keep them watered for the next few weeks.
The other groups of Brussels Sprouts are under grow lights. I took the next largest groups of seedlings up to the grow light above the fridge. The light set up is lower and closer to the plants than any other ones that I am using. I bought it this year and it was a Good Buy.
I think that this group will be ready to be transplanted in the garden in about a week. I rotated the other 2 groups of Brussels Sprouts to the basement gro lights, again, lights on 24/7.

ducks4you said:

Sweet Corn
I harvested 5 ears of sweet corn to super dry it out on the picnic table, at the risk of the local squirrel making off with them. When they are dry enough I will store the corn seeds in a glass jar for next year and test them before planting time in 2020.

Click to expand...

Can you hang that corn inside a garage or such so that it is protected from pests, dew, rain, and such but it still be well ventilated? I hate squirrels, don't give hem a chance.

Sounds like you have been really busy, ducks. I hope your party goes great!

D'awww!! If you wanna come to my party, @Prairie Rose, let me know. We have folks driving from Wisconsin, and plenty of room for those who sleep over.

Here is my 1st tomato canning of 2019. SHOULD have been one month ago, if this had been a normal year. These Brussels Sprouts are 6 weeks old. I LOVE the gro light setup with the supports! It keeps the light closer to the plants and enabled these Tiny seedlings to turn into decent sized seedlings in 3 weeks.

THESE seedlings were the same size and under a gro light in the basement, aGAIN 24/7, but further from the light source, so, smaller. They are now on top of my refridgerator, same place as the 1st batch of Brussels Sprouts. The top of fridge is the best place to keep my 18 mo kittens OUT of them!I removed the plastic that had been solarizing this bed for 3 months, supposed to only need 6 weeks. I lightly tilled THIS area, and deep tilled north of it. Might plant some lettuce and spinach there this weekend. There WILL be more pictures. Here are the first transplants, 17 of them. I watered them for the last two days, reading that Brussels Sprouts do great in the NW where it is very wet. Mother Nature is watering them this morning...so I don't have to. Btw, THIS is what the transplants looked like only 3 weeks ago.
The plants growing through and around my steps are purple Columbine, if you didn't know. The leaves look like shamrocks.

Putting up more okra in the freezer and I have another 4 quarts of Romas in the crock pot to can. Also, More beefsteak tomatoes. I will be trying to make Ketchup this weekend. I have a receipt that uses cherry tomatoes, which I have a Ton of from planting and volunteers. That way I won't waste my canning tomatoes in case we don't like the recipe.

Had to replace two Brussels Sprouts that dried out. If I end up with 21 total out to the garden I will be satisfied. I am pondering over how I will erect a temporary greenhouse for them, since they will be maturing so late. ALthough I have read that plastic doesn't work as well as cloth, I remember a farm in MA where they use a double greenhousing for wintertime lettuce, etc. and they used plastic. I am thinking of using cheapo shower curtains. I guess we'll see.

For protecting plants from frost where it will be touching the plants plastic does not work well. Say you just toss a cover over the plants, cloth works much better. But I don't see why it would not be better than cloth for a greenhouse. Much better.

I am tempted to build a semi-permanent structure on top of this bed from 2 x 4 's that resembles a short shed, then use the covers during the Fall, see how the Brussels Sprouts grow, and place it on top, if necessary if we get into November. I believe that they are a 2 year crop, going to seed in the 2nd year. I have PLENTY of bricks to hold the covers with. Hard to get cheap cotton sheets, bc the cheap ones are microfiber now and they would rip in a brisk wind. I could use newspaper in between the plants to help insulate, but I will wait until the 1st frost.
It will be an experiment, but so is Most of My gardening!