Seed potatoes at our local farm store has been around .50/lb, but last year someone must have goofed on their order. At the end of the potato planting season, they were selling 50lb bags for $5.00. They were already starting to sprout, but if I had the room, I would have bought a bag. They...
How did your "Indiana" gardens to this year?
Last year, my tomatoes did terrible. I guess it was too cold and wet. The corn did well, as did my beans.
This year, my tomatoes did very well, and so did my corn, but my beans did terrible. The bloomed well, but the blossoms dropped, and I had...
I own some reclaimed coal strip ground, and there are a couple of patches of blackberries growing. I don't know if they were plated as part of the reclamation, or whether they were "planted" by birds. They are good and flavorful....and thorny.
Anyway, I'm clearing the ground, and would like...
Well, not actually from my "garden", but I picked persimmons this morning, and made 12 cups of pulp. I froze 10 cups, and made one recipe of Persimmon Pudding. My favorite!!
Brad
Like Seedcorn, I too plant Illini Super Sweet. This year, because of the germination issues, I tried the early version of the hybrid, and had good luck. I also planted some Illini SS later when it was warmer and had less germination issues. I will probably do the same next year.
As far as...
Corn is a heavy feeder of nitrogen. I use a general purpose (12-12-12) granular fertilizer when I plant the corn, side dress when it's 6" tall, and again when it's about 3-4' tall. I usually get pretty good results that way.
Brad
My tomatoes are doing better this year than last year. I think that last year was just too cool and wet around here.
This year I planted only 2 Roma, 5 Beefsteak, and 5 Big Beef. The beef types are doing well. Getting 3-5 tomatoes each day. They are starting to come on, so that will...
Hi, we're in Zone 6a, not far from the southern edge of Zone 5. The wild persimmons grow well here, and north of here in southern Zone 5. I think they may be hardier than the Japanese varieties. True, they have seeds, but we get good pulp from the fruit, and they are plentiful around here. I...
I know some will think this is cheating, but have you ever tried any of the Mrs. Wages mixes? I had some leftover tomatoes last year that I wasn't sure what to do with, so I made some Salsa using a Mrs. Wages mix. It made about 5 pints. It was easy, and much to my amazement, it was very...
Last year I planted green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, and corn. I'm going to expand this year to include peas, radishes, lettuce, and lima beans. I've been looking over the many catalogs I get and can't wait until spring!!
Brad
Warm, they appear to be in Zone 8b or 9a, depending on what zone map you look at. The average frost date is March 1 - 31.....that's the only dates I found. I know around here in S. Indiana, we plant our peas, lettuce, and radishes almost a month before the last hard frost date.
Anyone have...
I'm from Indiana, and I'm going to visit my son and his family in San Antonio in late January. He loves to grow in containers, but I thought I'd build a couple of raised beds for him when I'm there. What can you plant in late January in his climate? Is it too early for lettuce, radishes, and...
I don't know if it's the same thing or not, but we used to have an onion patch that we called "Winter" onions. Each spring, the little onions would come up and we would pull them when they are the size of the green onions you buy in the store. We would eat the small bulb and the green stalk...
Greensage45, the American persimmon tree can get quite tall, although the ones I have aren't but about 20' or so. They are pretty common in the wild around here (southern Indiana). The fruit is about the size of a quarter. The Japanese version has larger fruit. You sometimes see them in...
Thanks for the welcome everyone. I'll probably be more active next year since I know I can grow things.....at least I won't be totally ashamed of my efforts.
#1CaliforniaChick - I don't know what I'd do without my wife. She's everything I'm not, so together, we're a pretty good team!!
I...
Update.....I made the persimmon pudding last night. I used one stick of margarine instead of the lard. Wow....just as I remembered as a kid (that was a number of years ago)!!
I took the persimmon pudding to work (otherwise I would be FORCED to eat it all myself) By 9:00am, it was all gone...
DigitS, your second paragraph describing the hours in the hot sun with a hoe pretty much sums up my early years. That's one reason I didn't like gardening very much then.
I learned a lot from my dad about gardening. It's amazing how smart we are as kids, but later on we learn that our parents...