2013 Gardens, what's going into yours?

Corn, popcorn, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, green beans, crowder peas, taters, sweet taters, bok choi, cauliflower, broccoli, yellow squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, water melon, and cantaloupe. Yup, and maybe more

How 'bout y'all what ya growin this year?

hmm, here's a possible addition:

http://www.victoryseeds.com/beans_soy.html

As genetically engineered varieties of soybeans have taken over the commercial market, fewer and fewer standard varieties remain available - especially to home gardeners and small farmers. We are aggressively seeking out family heirlooms or older varieties that have not been contaminated by genetic drift.
Adding soybean varieties to the list of species we are working to preserve is a project that we are very excited about. As home gardeners are becoming increasingly interested in their personal food production, a protein source is important. We believe that raising soybeans is a viable solution.

Since this is a relatively new project for us, please do check back from time to time as more varieties and informational material becomes available. It should be noted that all of the varieties that we are offering are being grown and harvested by hand. All are organically grown (little "o"). 'Aoyu' is grown on a certified organic farm. 'Envy' and 'Black Jet' on our Certified Naturally Grown farm. The remainder are from a small specialty grower who follows organic practices. Your purchase of these soybean varieties is not only funding our seed variety preservation work, but also helping to support the small, independent seed growers we have teamed up with.

Additionally, since these are all hand produced and not from some gigantic corporate farm factory, they are naturally fairly rare and in limited supply. Therefore, in order to get them into as many gardens as possible, as well as to further promote seed saving, seed counts per package are generally enough for a small harvest to see if you like the variety, or to grow out for seed for your next garden.

It's funny that you started this thread. Joe and I were just talking about our garden earlier today. I don't know yet what all we'll be planting, but there are some things we always plant that will be in the garden this year, such as, tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, peas, squash (crook neck) okra, potatoes, onions, spinach, greens, either collard or mustard, cucumbers. Last year we planted sunflowers and plan on planting more this year, as well as peanuts. We've talked about growing watermelon and cantelope, but not sure yet about those. I do want to grow some leaf lettuce this year. We started an asparagus bed last year and we also have some Egyptian walking onions. I love plants that come back every year, sure makes it easier.

hmm, for got the cucumbers and sunflowers

I may be putting test plots of heirloom soybeans, and Quinoa in also. Kinda depends on a cantankerous tiller

We have been looking at the seed catalogs a bit lately too. I'm not exactly sure everything we will put in but I know there will be: tomatoes, onions, peppers, squash (both zucchini and butternut), and corn. I also like to try pop corn this year. I'll soon be setting up to start plants inside.

well my garden is still going. it is tricky couse are freeze is like 2" thick in are horse troffs. I have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, radishes,
onions, and garlic, turnips, carrots, and beets,etc. I wont to get some spuds going, and peanuts. also have some gourds going in the green house. so cold. they might not come up. but hoping. I have done some seeds in sqaush, and peppers. but way to cold. have to start them in the house i guess..
ps, love the had Rohn. so cool

I will definitely plant sugar snap peas first, then tomatoes and peppers, sweet potatoes and regular potatoes. We'd also like to add sunflowers, corn, okra and squash.

This fall I planted 30 more blueberries, a dozen thornless blackberries, 9 raspberries and several fruit trees plus a pound of ginseng seeds. Hopefully we'll see something from those this spring!

thornless black berries can never taste as good as their thorned cousins...cause they're too easy to pick without getting bloodied

30 blueberries??? wow!! planning to sell berries I take it.

I'm going to have my small garden and containers at my house and the bigger garden will be at my daughters. I'm planning on beans (butter beans (Thanks Sonshine), green, yellow, and some type of dry bean), beets, brocolli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers,eggplant, fennel, lettuce, onions, parsnips, five different kinds of peppers, pumpkins, rutabagas, squash (butternut, yellow and zucchini), sunflowers, and tomatoes (Amish Paste). The herbs I'll grow here in containers: Basil, lemon balm, catnip (I want to make felted catnip mice for the Farmer's Market), spearment and peppermint and oregano. I don't really use many spices. It would be great if I could grow cinnamon because I use a lot of that. I would like to plant Spring garlic and then plant Fall garlic this year as I never got around to it last year.

I came across a new place to buy seeds: dollarseed.com. She is a homebased business in Cortland, New York which is only about 60 miles from me and all the seeds are $.90 or $1.00 and you never pay more than $5.00 shipping.

I might try corn but I'm not sure about. This looks pretty ambitious now that I see it in print. I'm just happy my daughter is now showing an interest in this. She even asked me about helping her with a chicken coop yesterday. God is good.

hmm...
http://dollarseed.com/shop/ limited selection, but you sure can't argue with the price per package

I use victory seed company ( http://www.victoryseeds.com/ ) for the wide variety and selection of seeds (all heirloom)

As for growing sweet corn, read here: http://www.vintageveggies.com/catalog/vegetable/corn/corn_planting.html


Planting Instructions

Soil must be at least 65ºF to germinate. Be patient or you will waste a lot of seed! Plant in full sun and keep it watered. Corn is a wind-pollinated plant. Plant in blocks several rows wide to ensure full ears.

Sow seeds about one-half to one inch deep. They can be planted in rows, three to four inches apart, in spaced twenty four to thirty inches between rows. Thin to six to twelve inches apart.

I plant three to four seed in in the shape of a four inch triangle or square every foot.




About Corn (Maize)


Native American corn was the genetic foundation of all other corn varieties. "Indian" corn is rarely grown in the garden today. Columbus was one of the first Europeans to see maize or corn. The Pueblo Indians were raising irrigated corn in the American Southwest when Coronado visited in 1540. The settlers at Jamestown were taught how to raise it in 1608 and in 1620, it helped to keep the Pilgrims alive over winter. Corn cobs were found in Tehucan, Mexico that date back 7000 years.

Most people now associate corn for eating with modern sweet corn varieties that incorporate specific genes to increase or enhance sugar quantities and shelf life. Other types of corn can be eaten like sweet corn when it is young, but are usually grown to maturity, dried and used for flour and meal.

Corn is probably the most diverse grain crop. Both man and nature have selected traits that can roughly be classified by the characteristics of their kernels -- flint, flour, dent, pop, sweet, and waxy.

Flint corn typically has hard seed coats that with rounded, smooth, kernels consisting of soft starch covered by horny starch[1]. Many Indian corn types are flint type. The are well suited for making good quality corn meal or ground and used for livestock feed.

Dent corn has hard, "flinty" sides composed of horny starch[1], with soft starchy tops and cores that allow the ends to collapse or "dent" when the corn dries. Varieties of dent corn are the most widely grown types in the United States and used for oils, syrups, grits, meals, flours, bio-fuel, silage, and livestock feed.

Flour corn is composed almost completely of soft starch with thin seed coats. Kernels are round and smooth like flint corns. In these modern times, they are primarily used for making corn flour.

Historically however, flour corn was also raised and used for parching. Parching is a process whereby the kernels are gently roasted until they slightly expand, the seed coat splits and the kernels become soft. Parched corn was used as a snack or trail provision and could last several months if stored properly.

You can parch just about any flour corn variety but some are better suited than others. White and yellow varieties are typically the least flavorful parched. Try using the more colorful varieties as then tend to be neither bland nor strong tasting. Many are sweet with flavors that develop further as they are chewed.

Popcorn is one of the oldest forms of corn and can be generally classified into two types, pearl or rice, based on the physical shape of the kernels. Popcorn usually has small kernels that contain a high percentage of horny starch[1] - even more than flint-types. This causes them to violently burst and expand upon heating.

Sweet corn is the result of a natural spontaneous mutation of field corn that occurred sometime before recorded history. Predating the arrival of Europeans in North America, it was cultivated by several Native American tribes. A variety named 'Papoon' was raised by the Iroquois, and subsequently by settlers, by 1779.

Two of the oldest surviving white sweet varieties are 'Stowell's Evergreen' and 'Country Gentleman.' The yellow sweet corn Golden Bantam was released in 1902 and has been popular ever since.

Sweet corn is now primarily grown for fresh, canned and frozen consumption and not used for flour or feed. Its genetic makeup is such that it accumulates sugars while the kernels are immature.

By the way, the "baby corn" that you use on salads are simply immature, unfertilized ears that have been harvested and sometimes pickled.

So what kind of corn do you want??

I would like to grow corn for sure but I'm just so afraid that it will be cross pollinated with that GMO crap from Monsontao. Last year when I was going to do it I asked the farmer who plants corn behind me if he used Round Up Ready corn and he said he didn't in that field but he did in some of his other fields. I want to preserve corn but I'll have to ask whoever I buy it from if they used GMO corn before I do it.

alrighty then 100% guarantee no cross pollination??? not gonna happen, but with the terminator gene being common in monsanto's seeds any seed that is contaminated will not grow to produce viable seeds.

There is some information here:

http://howtosaveseeds.com/isolate.php

http://www.vintageveggies.com/information/save_seeds.html#sectC

Timing and isolation distance are the two best bets, plant your corn so that the prevailing winds would carry pollen from your corn to your neighbors, but not the otherway if possible.

Thanks 12acre. I should have realized the prevailing wind thing but didn't even think about it. The farmer's corn behind me would have been the only corn even close so it will probably be safe to plant corn at my daughter's. I don't have room enough where I am now and there are too many places that plant corn that are close to me now anyway.

I have woods next to me. And, the only place that I know of anyone growing corn around here is on the other side of the woods.

Here is what I plan.

Taters, maters, corn, cuccumbers, peppers, musk melons (most people call them cantelpoes), watermelons, green beans, broccoli, couliflour, butternut squash, and maybe kale.

I will also add to mu rubarb patch, and redo my strawberry patch (last years didn't survive the drought).

I feel like I am forgeting something, but I guess that is it for now.

God bless,
Chad

Joe's wanting to try growing some rubarb. We are also growing more herbs his year. I'll try to pos pics of my herb gardens once we get them in. I drew out a plan for my new one last night. It'll be going in the front yard, so I'm trying to make it like the old English cottage gardens. Mainly what I'm putting in our new herb garden are medicinal herbs. My other herb garden is for my culinary herbs.