Ooh, how did I forget!? Even though it is a bit of a cliche, I always grow pumpkins. As an amateur gardener it just feels so satisfying to say to oneself, “I’m heading to my pumpkin patch”. I don’t care about size or perfection, I care about seeing those lovely orange globes on the ground. And their enormous leaves and horrifically long vines.
I’m only now coming to realize that I’ve got a lot of room to try things in the garden, and I’ve even got room to can and store things, which is a bonus on top of a bonus. My buddy is pepper-crazy and he’s already going to send me some seeds (hopefully not of the superhot varieties which don’t interest me in the least). I started homebrewing a few years ago, but I’ve never tried to can stuff…which I will most certainly have to do now.
I grew up in the south and black/raspberries were always around if you were brave enough to negotiate the thorns. My local garden store had blueberry canes for sale last time I went…but I wasn’t so keen given that I’m not sure how much space I’d have to devote in order to get a good batch of berries. I’ll definitely look into gooseberries and the Rowan tree–heard of the former but I’ve not seen either in practice. As it stands, I believe those sorts of berries do quite well in our climate.
I was planning to put a fruit tree of some sort at the back of the last bed, but I’m not sure if I want to do apples or peaches, both of which have been grown commercially in MD in the past. So much to do!
Yeah, it can easily be a full time job.
As for canning, since you are a home brewer, you can reuse a lot of your equipment to process high acid or high sugar products. As long as you can elevate the jars from the bottom of your kettle, you are golden. A false bottom is perfect 
Additionally items like corn, pickles, tomato sauce, and many others are totes fine in the freezer. I make freezer corn almost every year and it rocks.
I’ve got two spots where pumpkin seed has been deposited, but nothing yet. I think they’ve been there maybe…a week? And, oddly enough, I planted “Lumina” pumpkins, which are white! I’ve got watermelons and honeydew (and potatoes) planted in the same bed, so I’ll have a multifactor pumkin patch (or somesuch).
I was thinking yesterday about what sort of progress I should see from the stuff already planted, and given that it’s been over five years since I had a garden (!), I think I’ve lost a little of that gardener knowledge that says, “give it time–you composted, right? You fertilized? Broke up the clay and removed the weeds? Don’t sweat it!”
I think one of the best parts of having a garden is that I’ll be able to hand out some of my produce. Years ago and on a whim, my bush beans were going absolutely crazy, so I picked a colander full and gave them to a cross-street neighbor that I’d never really interacted with. We were fast friends from that point on, and I can’t wait to do it again in the new place.
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happy sigh
Isn’t that what makes it worth it? A jar of pickles to a neighbor, fresh tomatoes to a friend, carving a pumpkin you grew with your godson, a house party with grilled zucchini…
I neglected beans this year. But ya can’t do everything (next year is the year of the Dilly Bean!!!)
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Hell yes. I started that garden when I was in college and, for the most part, penniless. My shared-house roommates scoffed a great deal at my huffing and puffing down in the soil until the food started leaping from the ground. From that point on, I was never short a helping hand out there, and in sharing the literal fruits of our labor with neighbors, it helped to cement our little community.
Even though I’ve always been a DIYer, the successes I had from growing that first garden in the foggy, damp climate of California is what allowed me to think to myself, “well, if I can grow vegetables this nice with a little research and some sweat equity, then I bet I can do XYZ as well.”
On top of that, I have to put down my phone and get off of Twitter when I’m gardening, so it’s a bonus in pretty much every way.
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So my tomatoes have doubled in size, they are almost four feet tall. The dill, oregano, thyme, and cilantro are nuts. The Italian basil is weak, but the Thai is kicking ass.
I have pumpkins already on the vine, a billion zucchini flowers, and next year the asparagus will be boss. I forgot about nasturtiums, so that is tomorrow’s task.
Stuff isn’t pretty yet–there are still engines in my back yard–but it is getting there.
If anyone is a rose fan, Woolerton Oldhall, an old school white climber is Fecking amazing.
My tomatoes are hearing the challenge and rising to meet it–just noticed all six plants have quarter-ish sized fruits, but I’ve also noticed a few aphids in the area (although no masses of them, just three or four here and there). My soil is a little heavy (I think) for basil, and the two plants I had didn’t rock the house and have since been relegated to the compost bin.
No cucurbits yet although they’re all charging along nicely. The melons are beginning to enjoy the summer heat even though that shitty soaker hose I bought isn’t worth a damn. And of the eight garlic bulbs I planted, only one came up–I think I may have put them too deep into the bed. Or something.
Oh, and if anyone tells you that Fordhook Limas are bush-type, smack them heartily. My limas are going crazy as are the onions and shallots. No garlic, but all the onions are good. ?? And where are you tomatillos? You should’ve sprouted by now, especially since the corn is passing 5-6 inches.
As for the engines, well of course–they’re green engines!! Ahem.
Picked my first red tomato of the year. I. Am. Chuffed. And everything else is going great except the zucchini. It is like they are root boind, but they aren’t. They already have blooms so I am gonna try a twice weekly fish nitrogren foliar spray.
Also the port im brewing is fermenting nicely. By October it should be great.
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Nice! I’m not far behind, maybe this weekend or just after. Lately my nemesis has been whatever feline is shitting in the back of the garden, and in doing so, tearing out two, not just one, new plant. And they were plants I’d been nurturing from seed, too. Might invest in one of those infrared water cannons for the garden, unless you’ve got any ideas on preventing feline visitors.
I’m using “Jobe’s Organics” heirloom tomato/veggie fertilizer, 3-0-4, for Friday Feedings for everything but the beans/peas and so far everything appears to be going good. My soil test kit is sitting in the project room waiting for the first crops to come out so I can get a representative sample–never did such a test before but I’m eager to see the results.
What’s the fermentation schedule for port? I’ve been so busy in the garden that I’ve neglected my homebrewing. Might have to set up a brew this weekend sometime. I might actually brew a pilsner or somesuch–I find that by the time I’ve found the right beer for the season, by the time it’s ready the season has passed (but not my fondness for the brew, of course).
Every time I spend time in the garden I feel a little more refreshed. Sure, to be honest it is amateur at best… But I have hundreds and hundreds of green tomatoes (and thousands of blooms), four basil plants the size of five gallon buckets, a pumpkin with ten foot long creepers, dahlias and roses up the wazoo, and a grape more vigorous than kudzu.
(Plus many more, but those are the rock stars.)
Foliar compost tea plus calcium has made the biggest difference. I also play with them–not in a mystical way, but so pollen is distributed and the core parts of the plant get stronger.
The five artichokes i planted aren’t gonna produce this year, but are already the size of @jlw s dog
My hands smell of dill, basil, rose, and tomato leaf. I fucking love growing things.
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Hey, all the peeps in the UK, do you have favorite apple varieties for cider? I have limited space here, but my sister in law has four acres.
Crab apples and Pipkin’s?
Oh shit, I need help STAT. I am sliding down a rabbit hole.
Bittersharps? Crabs? Sweets?
…trees you can only get from one specialist in Hereford!?
I have a problem!! I need help!!
The apples used in the process were knocked from trees with long ash sticks called panking poles. If the pole had a hook on one end it was called a lugg or hook lugg. The harvested fruit was laid a foot deep on barn floors and kept 2-6 weeks to mellow and soften it before milling.
Cider press by Barbara Ballard At the mill a horse walked around and around moving a stone that crushed the apples. Even after being unharnessed the horses would continue walking in circles—it had become so much a part of their routine. Fourteen layers of apple pulp were then spread on blankets made of horsehair and pressure was applied to the pile. This was called a cider cheese.
Holy shnickes a dear friend has 80 acres of fallow SW facing hillside he has no plans for. I am literally quaking in my boots (take 30% profit, please!!!)
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Okay, here are my thoughts.
If the tilth and pitch of this land is acceptable, and if I can figure out irrigation, and if I can get it certified organic, this is the plan.
Hard cider orchard, along with bees, berries, a small amount of grapes.
Cider trees:
- allington pippen
- Kingston black
- gravenstein
- muscat de berny
Sow the orchard with 60/40 grass and clover
30 bee hives
The smallest raspberries and strawberries I can find (berry size that is).
And for grapes, enough to supply about a ton a year. Thinking petit verdot and barbera.
(I can dream, can’t I!!)
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okay, back to more reasonable things 
@wrecksdart i have a minor, minor aphid problem on some of my dill plants. if i buy ladybugs will they all just fly away?
–eta–
answered my own question. yes they will fly away, since they are usually wild caught they also have non native parasites which can devastate local populations. solution? plant lots of sunflowers, poppies, and nectar producing plants.
as an aside, anyone ever made 55 gallons of compost? i just opened the barrel to chuck a few more things in, and WOW. that is quite the smell.
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Yeah the yard/food waste bin we have can get a bit strong, especially at this time of year. That all goes to the big compost pile the city has, sells the stuff to, whatever non landfill thing they do with it.
The compost bin we have for personal composting just has grass clippings and pulled weeds in it so that one doesn’t smell so much.
Hmmm…that’s a damn good question–when I lived in Cali, aphids got into bits of the garden and I bought one of those ladybugs-in-a-cup thing. I didn’t notice any great change in aphid population afterwards, but I also didn’t change anything in the garden to make it more friendly to the introduced aphid-killers.
My quick internet search doesn’t have a lot of positive stuff to say about using them as a natural pest deterrent–this bug expert says to use green lacewings instead (treehugger.com link), and this person says similar stuff. All in all, doesn’t look like the best deterrent.
Ah–you beat me to the answer! As for compost, the best advice I’ve gotten is to layer brown yard waste–leaves, cardboard, shredded newspaper (without color print, if possible)–on top of green waste, topped off with a layer of garden soil. The smell won’t likely last more than a few days to a week as the insects/bacterium/worms do their thing.
Edit: That is, soil/twigs at bottom, then green, then brown, then soil, then green, then brown, etc.
that is largely what i’ve done, but i have one of those big blue barrels i can put a lid on. next year i’m gonna need like three more 
