Corn Canning 2012

Yes, it was THAT time of year again folks.  Jimmy Canned Corn with lots of helpers!  We bought 10 dozen ears of the finest organic sweet corn from farmer M.  It was picked at 8 a.m., shucked at 9:00 and safely pressure canned before lunch.

Just cut off the kernels with a sharp knife, pack them uncooked into pint or quart jars, top with boiling water or veggie stock, leaving a generous inch of headspace, and pressure can them according to your guidebook.

Do your pressure canning outdoors in the garage because it’s 100 degrees out and the old air conditioner inside can already barely keep up.

Let the jars cool for a day and then wash off the hard water deposits left behind during canning.  Don’t store them with the rings on, just the flat part of the lid.  The rings need to be washed again right now, and if you leave them on all year, some of the jars will be really hard to open, and some lids might even rust through, unsealing.

 

Japan Invades my Back Yard

They sent beetles.

Japanese Beetle on an Apple Leaf

Japanese Beetles on my Yellow Delicious Apple Tree

Japanese Beetle on a Cherry Leaf

The Japanese Beetles showed up after all.  These unwelcome pests will do their best to completely strip leaves down to their framework of veins. I know first-hand that they love apple and cherry trees, grape leaves, sweet potato leaves, corn silk, beans and more. They are an evil scourge and the only way (acceptable to me) to get rid of them seems to be picking them off by hand.

Pick a peck of popcorn

We got a decent haul from the 4 square feet of popcorn we planted. It’s probably only enough to fill a pint jar after we crack it. See what I did there? 😛

First we have to let it dry enough that it comes off the cob easily when twisted.

Community Garden Plot

I haven’t shown you my community garden plot because I never remember to bring the camera.  So here are some blurry cell phone pictures.

Community Garden Plot 10 x 30 feet

At the front right corner is an improvised trellis trying to support 9 tomato plants and already sagging in the middle.

The rest of the space contains alternating hills of either corn and pole beans together, or a vining plant such as a squash, cucumber or watermelon.  This is my three sisters garden.  It’s a very fun experiment and I think it’s going to work out.

More pics:

May 2009 Backyard Garden

     

Gardening by numbers

Bed 1 is my wife’s herb garden with an 8 foot row of cucumbers along the fence. Just seeded this weekend.

Bed 2 has strawberries, three kinds of peppers and a couple eggplants I got at the farmer’s market this weekend.

Bed 3 is seeded with sweet corn on the left side, white onion sets down the middle and melons on the right.

Bed 4 is seeded with bush green beans, beets, sweet potatoes and carrots.

Bed 5 has rapidly maturing broccoli and was seeded a few weeks ago with beets and radishes.

Bed 6 has broccoli, a zucchini, cabbages, a couple lettuce and my sons’ 2×2 squares on the left corners.

Bed 7 has hybrid Big Mama tomatoes, supposedly a huge paste tomato. The perimeter is planted with radishes.

Bed 8 is planted with 8 heirloom tomatoes and has a perimeter ring of carrots.

Bed 9 is a row of straw bales planted with lettuce and a couple extra herbs.

Bed 10 is an 8 foot wide narrow bed planted with a double row. Cucumbers and snow peas will climb the lattice.

Community Garden Plot

In addition to my home garden this year I’ve been given a spot at a community garden.  I stepped off the size of the plot and it seems to be about 10 x 30 feet.  There is quite a rabbit problem in the yard at the community garden, so I have fenced in my area.  I have big plans to try a full blown three sisters garden in a 10 x 20 space, leaving me about 10×10 for “miscellaneous.”

I planted 10 tomato plants there already, but there is much work left to be done.  Planting is supposed to be completed by the 15th of May, so I need to get a move on.

Pictures are coming!

P.S. Tomato list for community garden:

• Ace 55 (determinate)
• Celebrity (determinate)
• Supersteak (determinate)
• Oxheart
• Banjan Roomi
• Rutgers
• Tamina
• Murray Smith
• Gardener’s Delight
• Spoon

Garden flood today

Today while I was at work it rained a lot.  Actually quite a lot.  The creek overflowed its 4 foot banks and rose up 25 feet inside my fence (probably an additional 2 feet in water height).

Everything loose in the bottom half of the yard was washed over to the west side of the fence.  If it were not for the fence, I would have had a lot less to clean up here, but S. would have lost his favorite boots that he wears during all 4 seasons ala Napoleon Dynamite.

Grass layed down

The soccer net caught some gunk for me!  Thanks, soccer net!  GOAL!!!!!!!!

The flood waters rose right on up over my lowest two “raised” beds.  Next year I’ll add an additonal 12 inches to the 6 inch height I built this year.  That means I get to order and move dirt again!  Yee-HAW!

Small broccoli bent over, covered with debris.

Iceberg lettuce full of mud.

Corn lying down on the job.

Carrot patch almost ruined.