Growing vegetables
Growing vegetables
- <<Growing tomatoes>>
- <<Growing squash, zucchini, etc.>>
- How
to String & Sucker Tomato Plants. Also shows how to hand pollinate.
Other interesting videos on YouTube here their website: FrontPorchFarm.net.
- How
To: Plant Tomatoes Laying Down from Garden Fresh with Doug Jimerson.
- Gardening
with Guineas. Guinea hens are bug killing machines. Their diet
is 90% bugs and weed seeds. See also: Raising
Guinea Fowl.
- Don't Grow These Crops. Duration 15:56. (1) corn - takes too much space; (2) watermelon - ditto; (3) artichoke - ditto; (4) brussel sprouts - difficult to grow, insect damage; (5) cabbage - difficult to grow, insect damage; (6) squash - too much space, grow only a few; (7) sweet potato - too long season; (8) celery - not enough in diet to be worthwhile growing; (9) cauliflower - marginal success; insect damage; (10) potatoes - cheap at the store; (11) carrots - difficult to grow, cheap; (12) dry beans - cheap, better to grow ones you will eat fresh.
- Best Food Crops. Duration 16:39. open-pollinated (to save the seeds, year after year), tomatoes, a few zucchini/cucumbers (ver productive), winter squash (long shelf-life, in the winter), turnips (store in the winter), pickle/preserve foods (garlic, green beans, beets), jam/jelly from fruits, frozen strawberries, expensive herbs (dry and preserve). Top choice: (1) berries, (2) beets (spring/fall), (3) cucumbers (just a few), (4) garlic, (5) potatoes, (6) butternut squash, (7) fresh beans (not dry beans), (8) kale (dry into chips), (9) zucchini (just a few), (10) tomatoes.
- Other easy crops: snap and snow peas, asparagus, peppers, sunflowers, onions, lettuce, sweet banana peppers, herbs (cilantro, basil, rosemary, oregano), ground cherries, rattlesnake beans, spinach,
- GROW These Plants (NO Pesticides). Duration 13:53. In reverse order: tomatoes, celery (try pink variety), peppers (sweet and hot), pears, peaches, cherries, grapes (table variety), apples, nectarines, kale (also collard, mustard greens), spinach, strawberries.
Winterizing
- Overwintering Peppers & Eggplants: The COMPLETE Guide! Duration 28:36. Pepper and eggplant plants will not survive freezing weather, so they are heavily pruned and dug out into a smaller pot and kept indoors through the winter. Eggplants do not produce as well in the third year, so overwinter only once and start over with a new plant in the third year.
Broccoli
- Videos:
- Pests:
- Cabbage worms. Use row cover! Use Bt once infected. When harvested, soak in salt water, if it still has worms.
- Growing tips:
- Must keep plants above 45F or the plant will stress, produce a tiny head and bolt seed.
- Protect from too much rain. Heads will mold with too much rain.
- Harvest and storage:
- Cut head in an angle to avoid rot on the main stem.
- Storage: Blanch for 3 minutes and throw in cold bath, then freeze on a tray, then store in freezer bags.
- Planting in TN: Start seed January 15th in large 36 cells (per flat) and transplant LARGE broccoli plants in the ground around mid-March or later. Protect from any cold weather under 45F.
- Varieties (hybrid):
- Green Magic: good for wholesale, produces big, tight heads, but worst tasting, is commercially grown because produces heavy yields.
- Packman: good for farmer's market, 50-55 days, best tasting and looking of the hybrids, biggest head.
- Varieties (heirloom, open-pollinated):
- Di Cicco: 65-85 days, 2-3' tall, 3-4" head, lots of side shoots, not as big as Umpqua, but tastes great and easiest to grow. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Early Purple Sprouting: 58-65 days, bred for overwintering, purple color in the spring, very frost hardy. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Umpqua: 50-60 days, long harvest window, generous side shoot production, uniform (but not firm) heads, tastes better than any hybrid.
- Green Sprouting Calabrese: 65-75 days, large dark green heads, can handle cold nights, produces many side shoots over a long season, slow bolting. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Spring Raab: 40-45 days, sweet baby broccoli, delicate flavor. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Waltham 29: 65-75 days, 4-8" head, steady big side shoots, high yields, good color, cold resistance, dwarf compact plant, and big side shoots. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- My selection:
Carrots
Cauliflower
- Description: Cool weather crops, best to grow in spring and fall.
- Varieties (heirloom, open-pollinated):
- Amazing: 70-80 days, 10" head, long holding period. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Self Blanching: 60-70 days, self-wrapping leaves. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- Snowball Y Improved: 70-80 days, 7-8" head, long harvest. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
Corn, sweet (Heirloom, Open-pollinated)
- Articles:
- Videos:
- Hand Pollinating Sweet Corn Plants/Growing with Lalascrops. Duration 19:48. There are several methods to hand pollinate, but this seems to be the easiest for me.
- How to Pollinate Corn. Duration 4:48. In this method, you give the silks a "haircut" before pollinating. This ensures better pollination.
- Open Pollinated Sweet Corn. Duration 7:26. The problem with open-pollinated corn is that it has deteriorated in quality over the years. For example, Golden Bantam today does not taste as good as it did years ago. Seeds manufacturers do not care about open-pollinated corn seed, because they are focused on hybrids where the money is. However, the University of Hawaii has bred two open-pollinated varieties that rival the hybrids. They are Hawaiian Super-sweet #9 yellow and silver varieties. You can order them directly from the university here: Seeds for sale, Ordering information
- Frost dates in Tennessee:
- Last spring frost date is mid-April.
- First fall frost date is late October (3rd week).
- How to grow: Start indoors two plants per cell 2-4 weeks before last frost, plant out 0–2 weeks after frost. Some soak seeds in water tepid for an hour or two before planting. If cool and wet, plant shallow 1 to 1-1/2”. If hot and dry plant 2–3”. Plant in blocks (minimum of 4 rows) to ensure the best wind pollination. Isolate from other corn plantings and/or varieties by distance –1 mile – or time, two weeks – between sowings.
- Fertilization: Corn eats more nutrients than any other crop in the garden. It will only absorb and store nitrogen until it is knee high. If the soil was nitrogen poor during this period the crop will be weak and can't be corrected by additional nitrogen. One farmer uses Nitrogen (34-0-0) to fertilize.
- Seed saving: Stalks need to be brown and ears dry. Fold husk back and leave indoors to finish drying completely. Remove kernels by rubbing two cobs together, or by hand. Test for dryness with a hammer; dry kernels shatter.
- Pests: Use Sevin (first) until the corn begins to tassel, and Bt (second) when the tassels are out.
- Harvest: 20 days after 30% silks.
- Storage: Blanch followed by a quick chill in ice bath, then individual wrapping in plastic wrap and freezing, corn was still good and sweet for 3 months.
- Varieties (heirloom, open-pollinated): Make sure to harvest at peak milk stage, quality degrades after that.
- Hawaiian Super-sweet #9 yellow: 68-75 days. Sellers: EonSeed.com, University of Hawaii (see above in Videos)
- Hawaiian Super-sweet #9 silver: 68-75 days. Sellers: EonSeed.com, University of Hawaii (see above in Videos)
- (Early) Golden Bantam: 78 days, 5-6' tall, 5-6" ears, can be planted earlier. Sellers: UFSeeds.com, VictorySeeds.com
- Country Gentleman: 90 days, 5-6' tall, 8" ears, very sweet white variety. Sellers: UFSeeds.com
- New Mama Super Sweet: 80-90 days, medium-large ears. Sellers: AdaptiveSeeds.com
- Orchard Baby Sweet: 65 days, 3-5' tall, 2 ears per stalk, small ears of corn. Sellers: RareSeeds.com
- Stowell's Evergreen: Sellers: RareSeeds.com
- True Gold: 80-90 days, 8" ear, 6-8' tall, grows well in cool regions. Dehybridized from Golden Jubilee Sweet Corn F1 in the 1970s.
- Top Hat: 80 days. Sellers: NatureAndNurtureSeeds.com
- Who Gets Kissed: 78-84 days, 5-6' tall, sweet bi-colored, can be planted earlier. Sellers: HighMowingSeeds.com (1oz), NatureAndNurtureSeeds.com
- Go to: SouthernExposure.com
Lettuce
Onions
- For Tennesse: Short day onions are planted in the fall in the south and grown through the winter for spring harvest or sown in very early spring. Some of the well-known sweet onions are short day varieties. Because of their higher water content, most short day onions do not store well and are best for fresh eating.
- They Called Me Crazy For Planting Onions This Way But it Works!.
Peppers, Sweet
- General information: ideal temperatures for growing: 70-95F, sprout in 7-10 days, planting 14-18", seed depth: 1/4", 8-12 hours of Sun.
- Planting tip: Pick early, the colored varieties, otherwise they deteriorate as they turn colors. Harvest the first 2-3 fruits early so the plant can mature and produce more and bigger fruit afterward.
- Sellers: RareSeeds
- Varieties:
- Albino Bull Nose: 65 days, blocky 3-4", mild, sweet, rpens to reddish-orange, compact dwarf plants.
- Banana: 60 days, mildly sweet wax pepper, 6-7" long, 2" wide, sleek, tapered fruit, ripens to red-orange, 2-foot plant. Great in stir fry, not great as a casual snack. Pick early to pickle.
- Canary: 70 days, superior sweet, medium-sized, thick-walled, ripens to bright yellow, produces all summer, 2-foot plant.
- Corbaci: 75-80 days, 10-12" fruit, rich sweet flavor, needs trellis to hold heavy yields.
- Etiuda: 75 days, rich, sugary sweet, citrus flavor, juicy, one of the easiest to grow, can reach 1/2 pound in weight, tall plants.
- Lesya: 75 days, sweetest of all peppers, thickest skin, pointed heart shape, ripens to deep red, juicy texture, stocky plant.
Potatoes
- Best and Worst Companion Plants for Potatoes. There are several plants that are said to enhance the flavor of the potato tubers, including chamomile, basil, yarrow, parsley, and thyme (they also welcome in beneficial insects). Beans, peas, cabbage, and corn all will help potatoes grow better and hence improve the flavor of the tubers.
- Do *NOT* grow these plants with potatoes: squash, sunflowers, raspberries, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes. Planting nightshade species close together (either in space or in time) creates optimal conditions for certain fungal and bacterial diseases to thrive. You should allow a full two years before replanting a nightshade plant in the same soil that has previously grown other nightshade plants.
- Potato blight: There are a number of plants that apparently increase the likelihood of potato blight. These include raspberries, sunflowers, pumpkin, squash, and cucumbers.
- Asparagus, carrots, fennel, turnips, and onions seem to stunt the growth of potatoes.
- Our Homegrown POTATOES are Going in the FREEZER! Duration 23:49. Shows how to blanch potatoes for various uses. Typically, cut up the potatoes, boil for 2 minutes then dump in cold water. French Fry Cutter at Amazon.com for $70.
- Growing
Your Own Potatoes. Also see Irish
Eyes Garden Seeds for a large selection of seed potatoes--organic,
conventional and unique tubers. Maine
Potato Lady has a wide variety and has guide for growing potatoes. Fedco
Seeds has a ton of information in their "Moose Tubers"
catalog and many varieties available.
2021 Schedule
|
