Victory Garden status 5/28/12 and Next 4 work days

Monday Bob, Greg, Patree, Bari, Selby, and Mary harvested 5 lbs of sweetpeas Patree took to Page Robbins), and 147 lbs of sweetcorn and 37 lbs of squarsh and cukes which Carl delivered to three elderly needy families south of the tracks.


We also cleaned up plot 6 and hilled it up and mulched it ready to plant, then pulled up the corn in plot 5. I took 8 big plastic bags of weeds to the church dumpster.  Hershel, our mulch team captain, provided 40 bags of grass clippings we used to mulch plot 6 with a few left over for plot 5. Jimmy mowed and I edged with glyphosate.


Here's the plan. The weather is sposed to be very pleasant over the weekend and I know now when I need to be at the baseball field Friday and Saturday. 


Thursday morning 630-730ish we will harvest squarsh, cukes, and more sweetcorn. and do some weeding in plot 5 where the corn was.


Friday afternoon 3-5 we will continue weeding and hilling up plot 5, then mulch it, then plant sweet tater skips there and cantaloupes in plot 6.


Saturday morning 9-11 we will dig taters from plot 3 and dig up the asparagus plants, then cleanup and hill up and mulch and plant purplehull peas in plot 3.


Monday 430-630ish we will complete whatever we did not get done the rest of this week and start pulling up corn stalks from plot 1 and clean it up.


Clearly we need a LOT OF HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have not participated this year, perhaps one of these times will work for you. My cell phone 901-485-6910.


1,712 lbs YTD + 189 lbs Monday = 1,901 lbs total for 2012.


THANKS!
Aint God good.



 

2012 Maters set out and got a few ripe'uns

Snappin Turtle ‘Maters                                                               May 21, 2012

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."

~ Lewis Grizzard

This year has been kind to the Snappin Turtle Farm. We didn’t have much of a winter and were able to get a month head start on our mater crop. And unlike the previous two years, night temps have been less than 70 degrees which is ideal for maters to self pollinate. Life is good and living is easy where the cool winds sweep down from the Raleigh-Lagrange Hills across the great Wolf River and Nonconnah Creek floodplain.

Night temps are starting to be above 70 degrees. You may have to shake each plant gently twice a day and pray for a cool night and moderate day at least once a week to have pollination.

Here on Snappin Turtle Farm deep in the heart of Dragonville  we enjoy growing some of our own food in our backyard. To accommodate the granddarlings’ soccer games, we plant in containers so we can move them around.

Time to plant flowers too. I picked the last arugula and pulled up the last garlic and Texas sweet onions and planted in those containers marigolds, Mexican sunflowers, and two colors of gomphrenas. Mimi seeded zinnias and planted lantanas, dwarf nandinas, and knockout roses.

My containers have a mixture of cheap garden soil and rich live soil mix from Happy Daze Worm Castings on US178 in Mineral Wells. Bill Abresch makes and sells a rich organic soil mix from chicken litter, rotted horse manure, worm castings, and other organic material. A chain link fence post would sprout if you planted it in his soil. Drive by and see his operation. The water tower is in his backyard.

I use a poor man’s irrigation system: a plastic milk jug with pin holes in the side near the bottom. I pour in water and let it slowly drip into the container. One of the biggest failures of container gardening is folks washing away they expensive fertilizer.

Today I picked my seventh ripe tomato – a Bush variety. May 4th me and Mimi ate our first red ripe mater sammich with bacon on bread slathered in Hellman’s mayonnaise. Aint life good!

Hoping it don’t get too hot for tomatoes to pollinate in May like it did the last two years, I have thirty-seven plants these varieties: Tigerella, Pink Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Better Boy, Marglobe, Rutgers, Bush, Homestead, Costoluto Genovese, Tolstoi, Giant Italian, Sicilian Saucer, Pantano Romanesco, Borgo Cellano, Giant White, Black Prince, Mortgage Lifter, Golden Jubilee, Beefsteak, and Big Beef.

The Tolstoi grows clusters of medium size fruit, and the Costoluto Genovese is a Italian heirloom of wrinkly red juicy maters.

Mimi says I oughta make something. If I don’t, it wont be for not trying. I even decided not to grow peppers this year and put all my effort into making maters. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

Ain’t God good!

Victory Garden status May 22, 2012

Victory Garden status May 22, 2012

From In Sung Saturday May 19:
"Woooo!
Korean Radishs 1 bag :  55 Lbs
Korean Cabbages 4 bags :  180 Lbs
Totals : 235 Lbs."

I agree!  WOOOOO!

Monday Dave Fitzgerald and I pulled most of the rest of the garlic. We will post a separate blog on that. We don't include that weight in our PAR totals since we will sell some and give that money to the Food Pantry. Last year we had 230 pounds and wound up selling a little over $200 worth with that money given to Page Robbins. We have a lot more garlic this year. This year we volunteers have first choice in taking some of the garlic in exchange for a small gift to the Food Pantry.

Also Monday Dave, his sons Aiden and Connor, and I pulled a few ears of corn. I picked 15 pounds of squarsh and cucumbumbers and took to an elderly couple on Sunflower south of the tracks. And I hoed the pea patches.

We will continue working on Mondays 430-630.

We need to clean out plot 6 where the garlic was and plant cantaloupes.

We will harvest squarsh and cucumbers and sweet corn Monday and do any necessary weeding.

Note: Ever corn ear we have picked has been completely filled out and perfect kernels and no bug damage!

Taters in plot 1 are almost ready to dig. When we dig them and dig up the asparagus, we will plant sweet taters there. Not sure what we will plant where the corn is when we finish with it in a couple of weeks.

Ideas? More peas?

1,462 lbs YTD + 235 lbs Saturday + 15 lbs today = 1,712 lbs total for 2012.

Aint God good!!!

Victory Garden status May 17, 2012

Victory Garden status May 17, 2012

The next work day is Monday May 21 430-600pm. There is always a lot of work and many hands are needed and welcome.

Thursday May 17, 2012, Patree and Carl harvested 1 lb squarsh, the last row of of turnips (45 lbs) and turnip greens (75 lbs) , sweetcorn (42 lbs), and cabbages (25 lbs), which Carl took to the Food Pantry. The greens were taken to a family which raises chickens for food. That weight is not included in our PAR total.

The sweepeas need harvesting one more big picking before they play out. If you go do that, either call me to come get them or guesstimate the weight and take them to the front door of Page Robbins.

1,349 lbs YTD + 113 lbs today = 1,462 lbs total for 2012.

Aint God good!

cw

Victory Garden status May 15, 2012

Next work day is Thursday morning 630-800.
The next work day after that is Monday May 21 430-600pm.

Monday May 14, 2012, Sherry Barwick and Carl weeded both purplehull pea patches, harvested squarsh and the last row on onyons and a couple of turnips, which Carl took to the ladies of Harris Cv south of the tracks. We cleaned up and rowed up the onyon rows and planted 3 Hales cantaloupes and 16 jalapenos and 4 Black Beauty aigplants and 4 Jet Star mater plants plus 4 more better Boy mater plants in the outside/north row of plot 6.

Thursday morning, Lord willing, we will harvest squarsh, some sweetcorn, a few cabbages, and all the remaining turnips both purpletop and Korean to take to the local Food Pantry.

The sweepeas need harvesting one more big picking before they play out. If you go do that, either call me to come get them or guesstimate the weight and take them to the front door of Page Robbins.

1,316 lbs YTD + 33 lbs today = 1,349 lbs total for 2012.

Aint God good!

cw

Victory Garden status 5/10/12 next work day Monday 5/14 430-600

Next work day Monday 5/14 430 - 600pm


Monday May 7 2012 Les and Peggy Risner picked 8 lbs of beautiful sweetpeas and took to Page Robbins.


Tuesday May 8 Jimmy mowed and edged - much needed thankless job but he does it so well.
Carl ferociously attacked with a garden hoe every pigweed plant he could find and relieved them of their stalks. And did a lot of hoeing and hand weeded and replanted the purplehull peas in the raised beds.


Thursday Patree and Carl picked 5 lbs Swiss chard and 3 lbs of sweetpeas which she took to Page Robbins, and we picked 12 lbs cabbages and 49 lbs onyons and 37 lbs of turnips and greens which Carl took to the Food Pantry.


We should have corn and squarsh ready to pick next week.


Next Monday, Lord willing, we will harvest all the remaining turnips and greens, Korean turnips, and Korean leaf cabbages, and onyuns for Tuesday delivery (Evie????) to the Memphis Food Bank, and plant a few aigplaints, maters, cannalopes, and Jalopyno peppers.

We should be able to get our first zinnia cut flowers next week. Connie and Laura are working hard to make all this happen.

The maters graciously and generously donated by the good people of Hall's Feed and Seed in Collierville and peppers graciously and generously donated by Les Brannum of Bonnie Farms.

 

We have decided the aspergrass bed could be put to better use as clients at the Food Pantry don't eat them, so Jim Holland will be digging up and taking them. He is pastor of St Patrick's.

1,202 lbs YTD 2012 + 8 lbs Monday and 106 today = 1,316 lbs total for 2012


Aint God good!!!


"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

VG status 4/30/12 Next work day Monday 5/7 430pm

VG status 4/30/12 Next work day Monday 5/7 430pm

Monday April 30 2012 a group of 12 garden angel volunteers and I got a lot of work done in the Victory Garden. We prepared all of plot 2 and planted purplehull peas, watered, and did a lot of hand weeding. We also picked a lb of sweetpeas the Risners took to Page Robbins and we picked 2 lbs of garlic scapes and donated them to the Korean Catholic Church on Collierville Rd.

1,199 lbs for far 2012 + 3 lbs today = 1,202 lbs total for 2012.  

BTW: I attended the Southern Regional Master Gardeners Conference in Natchez MS this week. Nice TN delegation. I spoke twice. Your garden got a lot of good publicity.

I learned how to make a cheap solar mini green house, how to do backyard no-till cheap and easy, and to use lots of landscape fabric in a garden to prevent weeds.

We also weeded and planted more seeds in the zinnia hospitality cut flower bed at Malfunction Junction (Verlington and Shelton).

Aint God good!!!

Carl Wayne