After all, independence is what all of us self-reliant people are striving towards and that historical date hastened us down our paths, centuries ago. While we’re thinking about the Fourth, we’re also busy trying to keep our gardens going. If only the vegetables would grow as well as the weeds! Some crops are doing great while others are struggling. Our first-planted sweet corns were hurt badly by wireworms. These little, underground buggers started munching on the corn seeds as they germinated, then progressed to going up and eating off the stems at ground level, just like cutworms. Will crawled along a row and dug up one of the little varmints. They are about an inch long, cream colored and kind of shiny, with pincher mouths. Ugh! Not much treatment available except to replant in a different location, which we quickly did. Our rain has been very light and infrequent, so we’re also struggling with drought again. The beans are so-so, with intermittent germination and some puckered leaves from dryness and heat. For the most part, our squash and melons look pretty darned good, as does some of the early-planted corn, both that we started indoors and in smaller plots, here and there around the homestead. We even have some knee-high, by the Fourth of July corn that’s almost up to my waist. (Okay, I’m a short person…)
Will is busy, carrying rotted manure to various gardens and side-dressing rows of plants that need a boost. I’m still planting here and there, to replace what was in trouble or to add something in a vacant spot. Today, I started carrying old, partly rotted bales of mulch to start mulching the Leelanau Sweetglo watermelons in the Main Garden while Will’s working at getting some irrigation going in the Sand and Central Gardens, as well as our Main Garden. I did jump when I found a snake in a bale! It was only a friendly Redbelly snake, about 8 inches long. I picked it up and moved it to a safer spot where it can continue eating worms and slugs to its heart’s content. They never bite.
Our Evans Bali and Carmine Jewel bush cherries are in full swing, with a lot of cherries getting ripe. I mean a lot of cherries! I’m getting ready to can up a bunch for baking and making pies later on. I have a few cases of pie cherries in the basement, I’ve been kind of saving, until our then-newly-planted cherries came into production. Now, I can use them up, before the cans rust out, knowing our little trees will keep us in cherries forever.
— Jackie
We got Provider bean seeds from you and they are doing amazing. We’ve had fresh for the past few dinners, given some to friends and I canned a small batch today. The Crawfords & Blauhildes are just coming on so I am anxious to try them as well. Thank you
You’re welcome, Robin. I’m so glad your beans are doing so well!! Lots of tasty food is what our seed business is all about. Our beans are all behind yours, but lookin’ good for the most part. I can’t wait for fresh ones.
I don’t have a garden due to back problems so I watch you ? I’ve read your columns in Backwoods Home from the beginning and have all your books! Thanks!
You’re welcome Pam. I know what you mean about bad back. Both Will and I struggle with our previously injured backs and arthritis because of it. Enjoy the pictures of our gardens!
Here we are fighting grasshoppers. In areas that I normally don’t even have them survive (guineas). We are fighting them with Neem and soap. Sigh. My guineas (about 17 of them) can’t keep up!
They can be awful, some years. We had them two years ago and had chewed holes in so many different crops. Hang in there. Probably next year, they won’t be so bad.
Our bane this year is slugs! They decimated the pepper plants here and at my sister’s next door. We replanted and have been fighting them with beer, diatomaceous earth, hand picking… They ruined at least half of my strawberries. And that was when we weren’t getting rain. I even found a little slug on my raspberry plants this morning.
Every year I am reminded of why I can and freeze so much during good years, because there is always something that is a bust every year.
I feel your pain! The chipmunk have made tunnels in my garden, eaten my planted seeds. Only have 3 zucchini plants and pepper plants have seen better days. Am trying veggie plants in bags instead if ground,those plants that have been moved to bags are doing well. Yes, preserving for events like these makes us grateful!
That’s so true! You might try the product, Sluggo, which I’ve had very good luck with. It is non-toxic to everything but slugs and they gobble it down. Anything left over just dissolves and becomes fertilizer. Two years ago, we had them so bad that at night, the lawn glistened with them! Yuck! Two treatments, sprinkling Sluggo around and they were gone. I was amazed!
We had a cherry tree at the prior house (Montmorency if memory serves – was planted by the prior owners). It was a race to get any picked before the birds got them all.
Garlic harvest was good and like another poster, a bit earlier than normal for us. Dug up another tater plant and it had really good sized one (had snagged another one from that plant that poked its head up through the dirt – no sunburn taters for me).
Squash plants are so-so, tomatoes looking good (cannot wait for a BLT or two or three).
We got some rain but not as much as predicted. A bit south of us got hammered today and Chicago got the deluge July 2nd/3rd.
Nothing like a good sweat when the humidity is 88% and you’re weeding. Doing the strawberry patch in thirds as I am laser focused on ensuring even the smallest weed gets pulled. I know more will come up but less opportunity for weeds seeding, the better.
We had a few young robins in our trees but they’ve seemed to have given up dessert and are concentrating on worms now. Thank goodness. I ordered an antique cherry pitter so I’m waiting for it to come before picking. The pitter I have now only does one at a time and it’s pretty slow. You put several in a bin on top and one, by one, they drop into the pitter where you push down on the lever that shoves the pitter through the cherry. The pit drops below. Usually.
We got another rain on the Fourth but only 1/4″+. It was sure a blessing, though.
wire worms! ug! ear wigs are the bane here this year :( not a single melon,squash cucumber start or seedling has made it past them !
finishing up the peas this morning, and lo and behold…. beans are on! super early this year!
:) my corn is all pollinating! way over my head(i too am vertically challenged-hahah)
sowed the ‘fourth of july corn’ yesterday. an old timer south of here always swore’ plant on the 4th and enjoy roastin ears when everyone else is starin at old dried up stalks.!
tomatoes are getting huge! everything that s survived the elements are early this year
always a plus even with a minus or two.
self reliance!!
It’s so much fun when the crops do well and really start to show off! We do staggered planting for our sweet corn to eat, too. Just when you’re really getting into that early planting, it starts to get tough on you. Those later plantings, even here in northern Minnesota, keep eating sweet corn going happily.
Absolutely flabbergasted at the growth and progress of the Seneca Sunrise corn! We live in Central Ohio, Zone 5; planted mid-May, the corn is now 7-8 ft. tall, full of tassels, and lots of corn silk popping into view. Incredible!! Thank you for developing this stunning variety–looks like we’ll be eating corn on the cob in a few more weeks. Amazing.
And thanks for carrying that ever-faithful Moravsky Div tomato–it’s always the first to produce–even ahead of the cherry tomatoes!–, and keeps cranking out loads of fruit until frost. Even though we plant other varieties as well, we always make sure to plant three or four Moravsky Divs.
Thanks for the years of work you’ve invested into these heirlooms, and then sharing them with us. God bless you!
W O W and i thought my June planting corn at 6′ was something else. congratulations!
Congratulations to God, Who supplied the rain and the sunshine, and to Jackie and Will, who provided the seed! Try Seneca Sunrise next year and prepare to stand in awe. : )
Thank you so much Nancy! We really love Seneca Sunrise, with its high protein and sugar too. Moravsky Div is a gem. After growing hundreds of varieties, for so many years, we’ve weeded out the so-so tomatoes and have only kept the great ones. For an early tomato, it’s the very best tasting tomato out there. One of the best over many all-season or later tomatoes. Even Brandywine!
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