And they aren't going crazy on those pea-sprouts? My deer just go nuts on pea and bean seedlings. They'll pass up corn sprouts for that legume candy. Maybe cow-peas aren't as tasty for 'em.......

Planted more hickory king yesterday, and set out onion transplants, just right for the rain all last night and this morning.

Looks FANTASTIC Shot! Makes mine look awfully pitiful. Silver Queen is my favorite but decided to try some others this year. Our planter is from the 60s and it too has to be watched.
This terrace ( we get to chase terraces and hills) has four rows of Golden Bantam Improved, four rows of Hickory King and the rest is split up between Contender green beans and Clemson Spineless okra.
The terrace below this one is almost ready to plant and will get four rows of Stowells Evergreen, Truckers Favorite and still thinking about what to finish it off with. It dipped back into the 40s here last night after 7 tenths an inch of rain the previous night.

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pnbrown, they LOVE them pea sprouts! This photo doesnt's show the clipped off ones. The big problem I had was when they first came up and only had a leaf or two, the deer would eat those just leaving the stem and it would die. Deer graze as they walk so they get some, but leave some.

Thanks Cozy, but like I said in previous thread, the fat lady hasn't sung yet... Looks like you use a single row planter which is what my nephew uses and he always has a great garden. My planters (2) are Cole and God only knows how old they are. I bought them along with some other equipment several years ago from an old farmer who has since passed away. Had to do quite a bit of work on them before they were useable, but I get by with them.
For things like Red Ripper cowpeas, I only put them in one planter and use double corn plates. Seems to work out pretty good for me.

Truckers Favorite is a good roasting ear corn which I have grown in the past. Really delicious fresh creamed. I plant some corn for the deer in the winter and the Truckers Favorite has a soft hull which allow the weevils to eat up. The Hickory King has a harder hull and lots of shucks, so holds up better for extended time in the field.
Funny, me planting corn for deer when they eat up my peas in the spring and summer. Guess it is like our lawn, we fertilize it which makes it where we have to mow more often.

It is hard to beat Silver Queen... my first year trying Peaches & Cream. The write up about it looked good. Okay on your varieties. Keep us posted on their progress. Maybe something I can try next year.

Shot

shot, you sure you have enough corn planted? Wow...thats a lot! I imagine you sell that stuff at farmer's market or something, right?

Yeah it is a lot! My 44 SF pales in comparison...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

If you plant some Argent (white) corn you won't plant Silver Queen any more. By the way, deer meat is very good with a side dish of creamed peas & potatoes.

When I was a kid we ate white sweet corn that had very small to almost tiny kernels, not at all what I see today. Anybody know what variety it may have been?

Yes Shot, pretty sharp ... single row Covington. You can not see all of the row as it drops off a hill but these are some 800 ft long.
paulc_gardener and pnbrown, I often joke that the only reason I plant purple hull peas is to marinate my venison ;)

Good Sunday mornin' to all.
Cozy, I am familiar with the Covington planters and distributors. With the two row Covington distributors would listen to the knock knock knock and when one went silent... something wrong... a neighbor of mine still uses one for side dressing.
I have 8 rows of pinkeye purple hulls planted for my sister.
800 feet rows! WoW! Eliminates looking forward to "getting in the short rows".

Paulc, deer meat is tasty with lots of things. Reminds me of when my bro-in-law was recovering from a heart attack and living with us. Had heard him say that he didn't like deer meat. One day my wife had put some frozen in some water when she left for work. I told him it was round steak she had laid out for supper. That night while he was enjoying some with his mashed potatoes & gravy, I asked him how he liked the steak... he bragged on it... I had to tell him.

Greenthumbnick & Sinfonian, I am bad about doing over kill on things. If you come to my house for a meal, I want to make sure we don't run short of food and I'm the same way about gardening. Understand I have family and friends that will also be reaping the benefits. I always think about pulling a truck load and taking it to Dublin (17 miles away) and trying to sell it, but at time of year it is so dog gone hot! Maybe this year if it makes good.

Shot

Shot, That is one good looking corn patch. Peas are not bad either, now if you could just train your deer to eat that nut grass.
Paulc , I have grown Argent, inferior to Silver King and Silver Queen here.
Schoolhouse, You probably remember Country Gentleman (Shoepeg) It is still used commercially for creamed corn. Howling mob is similar but much more rare today.

Well, that's a relief Shot, I was starting to feel jealous that you had deer that don't like peas...... Cozy, that's mighty good-looking ground. I may have to consider ne georgia for my eventual northern homestead. I can't continue being a farmer on less than an acre forever......

Mr. FARMERDILLA!!! Good to see you in here. Have read many of your posts and am a fan. About the nutgrass, my late bro-in-law, who was a farmer all of his life, use to say that the only way to get rid of nutgrass was to move off and leave it. I tend to agree with him. I think the deer have me trained... seems I always plant what they love.

Pnbrown, NE Georgia is really beautiful. Fact, any of north Georgia is beautiful.

Cozy, for some reason I got the notion that you may be changing jobs soon... Don't know if I read that in a post or just a senior moment...

Shot

Shot-

Is that soil as sandy as it looks! Looks like a beach! We have really sandy soil up here, but seems to grow things just fine. Looking very nice down there. Around here we can't get any hot days to make the corn happy.

Franktank, I plant my cowpeas in the sandiest soil as they can handle it. I also have some clay in places. Where the sweet corn is planted is pretty good soil as I use to graze cows there. Think the absence of weeds makes it look more barren. Maybe I should take a picture shortly after I plow it... looks better then.

Yesterday, I discovered a boo boo... back when I was buying seed, I took my wife with me to the seed store... she decided for butter beans she wanted Florida Speckled and Jackson Wonders. Yesterday I was check the internet for their nitrogen needs and discovered that Florida Speckled are pole beans, not bush. Think we gonna have beans all over the ground... anyone got any kneepads I can borrow??? lol

Shot

Shot, the Florida Speckled Butterbean is one prolific little devil, but they like to be vertical. I plant landscaping timbers, with a post hole digger, about 2 1/2 ft deep and 25 ft apart. Staple a heavy wire,14 gauge or better across the tops, and the tie binder twine drops about 12 inches apart for the beans to climb. I find it easier than cutting and setting bean poles. Binder twine is getting difficult to find, but the heavier baler twine works, it is just more expensive. If you get tired just thinking about it, you can interplant with a sturdy field corn. Just use twice as much spacing in the (corn) than normal. The vines will pull most modern sweet corn down, so that is not a good option

Oh, if only butter-beans were reliable here. And I even forgot to buy sieva lima, the northern substitute, this year. Darn.

Although probably not practical on a large scale such as you are doing, but I find that cut brush works really well for trellising peas and beans. If you have cut any brush or trees last winter. I cut off the topmost smallest limbs, 6-8 feet long preferably well-branched cutting on the bias so theres a point on the base and just jam that as far in the ground as possible. In freshly-tilled ground it's not hard to get them down a foot or more. For a hundred feet of row or so it's a good method.......

Farmerdilla & pnbrown, thanks to both for the information and ideas on the butter beans. I planted them away from the house because the deer don't eat them up like they do the peas. I checked them yesterday and they are starting to bloom, so in a few days I will side dress with a little nitrogen and let'em go. Up to my wife to pick them. If I had known in time that they were pole beans then I had the perfect corn to plant in them, Hickory King field corn. Oh well, there is always next year.

Farmerdilla, I noticed that our birthdays are only a day apart. December 23rd I will be 64.

Shot

Shot Ah ha, A young whipper snapper, I am clocking 72. You put nitrogen on your beans? If I give them anything its a little 5-10-15.

Farmerdilla, nice to be in company of some people that are my age or older. I like younger people too...
About the nitrogen to the beans, it is my understanding that peas (cowpeas) produce their own, but beans do not. Copied this piece from the Fort Valley State University:

Butter beans require a fairly constant supply of nitrogen throughout the growing season. One method of fertilizer application would be to broadcast 10 pounds of 5-10-15 per 1000 square feet of space. As soon as the plants are up, side dress with 2 pounds of 5-10-15 for each 100 foot of row. This fertilizer application should be placed 3 inches to the side of the plants. During the fourth week after germination, make a side dress application using ammonium nitrate. Apply 1¦2 pound of this material to 100 foot of row, again applying it 3 inches to the side of the plant. Repeat this amount in 2 weeks.

I need to plow the nutgrass once more anyway and thought I would put a little nitrogen for their final meal. Here is the link where I got this information.

Shot

Here is a link that might be useful: Fort Valley State University

Shot & Farmerdilla, I've always wondered what folks do about raccoons raiding a soon-to-be-harvested open field corn crop. I had multiple nighttime raids in my small home garden and finally had to install an electric fence. Do you have this problem also?

Grandad. Once in a while if I plant next to a wooded area. They also like watermelons as do deer. I have had pretty good success in recent years by dusting the corn rows next to woods with blood meal and scattering some on the watermelons. Have to put it on the sweet potatoes also ( deer and rabbits).

Good afternoon all...
Grandad, it is good to see you join in our little conversation. I am a grandad too, but will refrain from telling you about the grandkids... lol
I just visited your home blog and really enjoyed the info and photos. When my wife gets home I will have to show her the pictures and I hear the same comments from her. I take a ribbing about how much I plant, but it is enjoyable to see friends and family out enjoying themselves in the field. Wondered what kinda sweet corn you plant? I normally plant Silver Queen & Hickory King (field corn, of course). This year I added about half an acre of Peaches & Cream and can see the tassles already. Noticed my watermelons (black diamonds) and cukes (pickling) are blooming. Now waiting on the bees.

Except for my peas (red rippers, lady cream, pinkeye purple hulls and some black peas) I don't have too much trouble with the varmits. Sure, I find some corn shucks in the edge of the woods where the squirrels have been snacking, but still plenty left for us. When I had cows, I put two electric fences around the pea patch, separating them by a few feet so that when the deer cleared one they would encounter the other. They did! Hit it so hard that it broke the barb wire (medium gauge) and jerked up two wooden fence post. Since then I just said to heck with it... I just try to plant enough so we get some too.
Every now and then something will open a watermelon, but don't know if it's deer, coons or coyotes.

My wife has three raised beds in the back yard where she has a variety of veggies, but nothing like grandad has. Will have to take a picture of hers. It is off limits to me.

Farmadilla, will have to give the blood meal a try. Thanks for sharing that info.

Shot

Shot, the ground in your photos of the peas looks exactly like what we have at the florida place - same color, texture, the way the deer-hooves puncture it, etc. Pretty infertile sand we have there, I reckon that might be why you have to lay on a lot of nitrogen generally.

I never heard that about beans, I'm surprised.

Pnbrown, I generally plant my peas in the poorest soil and my corn in the best. Remember, I am no farmer so I have to rely on others and the internet for my information.

Grandad, just finished showing my wife your home page and pictures and finished reading. Read your choice of sweet corn as "how sweet it is". Around here silver queen is preferred by most. This past season my sister cooked up a pot of creamed and her grandson told her that it was the best corn he ever eat. Course, it came from my field.

We have three freezers and a couple of Christmas' ago I bought my wife a vacuum sealer. Now in addition to cream corn, we also seal some on the cob... some with shucks (with the ends cut off) and some shucked. Both keep very well.

Got .7 inches of rain last night, so fixing to go out and check things over.
Have a great day all.

Shot

Shot, you beat me to it.. was going to mention the article but see that you've found it. How Sweet it Is was one of the first sh2 corns available. Now there are a bunch. With a small garden it's difficult to try more than one variety (i.e. the recent post on growing multiple corn varieties). So I've just kept with "tradition".

I've thought about getting one of those vacuum sealers and may do so yet. I'll bet it works great for freezing corn on the cob.

On a related note, since it has been a while, I was thinking of making another blog posting but not sure on what to post.

Grandad, the vacuum sealer works great for corn on the cob. She packaged different amounts of ears so as to fit the occasion. Let's face it, when you've been married a few years, it gets harder and harder to buy for the wife. Fifteen years ago I would never have considered buying such a gift for Christmas.

We are having company over for supper so gonna put a pork roast on the smoker and wife is going to fix a big pot of creamed sweet corn, plus other stuff of course.

Next year I may consider some of your sweet corn as I have thought of trying out the super sweet.

Let me know if/when you update your blog.

A fan,
Shot

How's the corn doing, Shot?

I've been most sincerely promised the pictures for the florida corn real soon, so I'm bumping this up in expectation of posting them.....

Yeah, I know I'm so out of my league here it's not even funny, but you're corn fields are bigger than the lot my house is on, hehe.

I just wanted to share my fully planted corn bed. hehe pittiful but it's mine.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Pat, thanks for asking about the corn. The Peaches & Cream is silking and hope to have some in a couple of weeks. The Silver Queen I planted about 3 weeks behind it is close to tassling. Picked first cucumbers today and watermelons about softball size. Just need rain VERY bad.

This morning I went out to the barn and found my old rainbird stand that I made from pvc several years ago. Cleaned, hooked it up and watered some of the corn. Hoping to at least save enough for us if we don't get the rain soon. In the morning I will try and remember and take my camera with me on my morning round.

Sinfonian, grow it and be proud, my friend. What kind is it?

Look forward to seeing Pat's parents corn, too.

Shot

As I live west of the Cascades, I bought two types that work well here. Seneca Horizon is doing much better than my Precocious right now, though I've noticed that due to the bed's location in proximity to the garage, the Precocious (in the foreground of the pic) gets more sun than the Seneca. Odd that the Seneca's growing better. Unless the Precocious tastes incredible I think I'll do something different next year (assuming this works, hehe).

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Sinfonian, west of the Cascades... my bro-in-law moved here from Portland after his heart attack. Have a online buddy that I play war games with that lives in Medford, Oregon. I don't know much about the different species of corn. When I grew up there was just field corn around here. Last year I had a new neighbor that moved in across the road from me, so being neighborly, I went over and asked him which he preferred, sweet or field corn. (I had both) He replied, "Field corn? That is that yellow stuff, isn't it?"
Mine was white so I haven't bothered with him since.

Pat, as promised here are three photos I took this morning. Sure glad I saved the homemade stand for watering. It is getting a workout!
The first is the P & C corn.
The next is the pinkeye purple hull peas (8 rows for my sister) that are blooming and making now.
The last is the Silver Queen corn.

Have a great day all..... btw: got to 97 yesterday on front porch.

Shot

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I love your stories Shot! Though I'm not much farther along the knowledge scale as your neighbor. I went sweet corn simply because it sounded good, and S2 doesn't do particularly well here. How's that for decisions. A step up from yellow or white, but folks have asked me what color mine is, even recently. Gotta love it.

Love the pics! Wow!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

The corn looks good and not too drought-stressed yet, aye?

Boy, yer going to have plenty of peas I guess! I absolutely love fresh cow-peas. First time I had them was last summer when I grew them up here. They did pretty good, I'm going to do a lot more this summer, will plant in about a week - waiting for the ground to get good and warm. I devised a very tasty dish for fresh-shelled cow-peas: take some just-cooked hot rice, put the hot boiled peas on top, add some chopped raw hot pepper on that, mix it up a little, drizzle on some top-drawer olive oil, and a little grating of Parmesan or Asiago. Wowser!

Sinfonian, I have one neighbor that he nor his wife likes corn... one of my late bro-in-laws thought this was the strangest thing ever when they moved in a few years ago and he offered them some corn. They are yankees, of course... lol. Really nice people and he and I share our woodwooking craft with each other. He is a whiz with a router and can make some amazing things out of wood. I can't hardly wait until the first P & C is ready. Sweeter than Silver Queen from what I understand and bicolor. Should be in a couple of weeks. Only thing is it is really starting to heat up down here and when it gets ready there is only a few days opportunity to gather and put it up. Fortunately, I have 2 big pecan trees in the back yard and I take the old Toyota diesel truck down to the patch, pull what I want to work with (before my nap, of course) and bring it back to the shade of one of the trees to process.
My ole dogs love it too, so a good time had by all.

Pat, you sound a lot like my step-daughter that lives in Atlanta. She is not a vegetarian, but not too far away from it. That girl can eat peas and rice 3 times a day. Me? Give me some pork ribs to naw on... During the pea season she comes down and picks whatever we have at the time. We have a pea sheller so shelling is a breeze. Only problem with her is that she always takes a cooler back and can NEVER remember to return it... Guess I do an overkill on all of the veggies. Eight rows of pinkeyes for my sister; 14 rows of Lady Cream for my wife; two rows of some black peas that were given to me and the rest of the field in Red Rippers for MEEEEE! The photos were taken at about mid field.

Shot

I am a vegetarian as it happens. Not a yankee but probably as economical as a classic old-time one. Still got some of those around here, pre-war models that can remember when hay was put up loose and cut by hand. Thoms Hart Benton did a series of fabulous paintings depicting those island yankees cutting hay in their little fields. Anyhoo, my yankee hickory king is up, about six inches now. Maybe for once I'll get some nice fresh corn to go along with the cow-peas.......

Pat, guess I am one of those pre-war models too. When I was growing up the peanuts were stacked on poles until the vines dried. Then the picker would be pulled to each haystack and the vines with the peanuts fed in with a pitchfork. I remember my brother coming home and all you could see of him was his eyes and teeth. Square bales of hay was all there was then.

After I retired from Florida and moved back and started helping an old friend that has always been a farmer and pulp wooder. Wow! Peanut combines.... round balers... so much had changed since I had moved away.

Sounds like your yankee hickory king is doing well. See from the weather channel that it appears the cold weather has broke for yall. I just stopped by my nephews place and checked on his hickory king. He layed it by the other day and it is almost head high now and nice and green.

Yeah Pat, I think we are very fortunate not to have lived in those "good ole days". Well, good in some ways and bad in others. I came along just at the transision from mule/horse to tractor. BTW: where bouts in Florida does your parents live?

Shot

Never seen peanuts being harvested, but I know something about that peanut-shell dust! Once, around age seventeen, I went along to help my grandfather load shells into his trailer for compost. Long drive to the middle-of-nowhere, fla, pull up to huge pile of shells. Dead heat of summer. Around noon. My grandfather was not a talkative fellow. We worked in complete silence for at least an hour, throwing it in with snow-shovels. Then I got up on top and tramped it down for another half-hour. The dust had my nose clogged and my tongue swelled up like a dead possum. I seriously wondered if I might die, but I'd be dogged if a 65 year old man could keep going while I crawled under the trailer to expire. It came close though, he just wouldn't stop til we crammed that thing full. We got back in, drove for a long while, no talking, not even a "wow, that was hot, huh?". Course I hadn't thought to bring anything to drink and he wouldn't have cared if he didn't drink til night, so I still wasn't so sure I was going to live. We passed one of those sad little convenience stores in middle-of-nowhere type places and he pulled in without warning, got out and went in without saying anything (big surprise). I tagged right along behind, hoping this could somehow work out for my betterment. He pulls out a cold drink and goes up to the counter, and so I do too, right behind. Thing is of course, I didn't have any money. Just at the last second, as the girl is ringing up his drink - and I'm anticipating the embarrassment of going back to the cooler and the torture of nothing to drink (is there a hose out back of this place?) - gramps jerks his thumb back at me and gruffs out,
"that one too". Sweet mercy!

My folks live about thirty miles from Deland, closer to Eustis if you know where that is.

Paul, love that story. Think we have all known a person like your grandfather. I had a brother-in-law a lot like that. He would pulp wood in the daytime and farm at night. A little guy, but could carry a big chain saw and was the best at throwing trees. When we bought our acreage up here, he taught me a lot about about farming and putting up fence. Didn't know there was an art to putting up fence post until then. If you ask him a question you better be prepared for an honest answer.

About peanuts... a short short course... As you know the nuts grow in the ground, so when they are ready they are plowed up and inverted that leaves the nuts up. When the moisture content is down to what the farmer wants (usually takes a couple of days) they will combine them. If you wait too long the stems will get too brittle and drop a lot of nuts on the ground.

Some people are confused about the difference between raw and green peanuts. The raw ones are the result of what I described above - dried but uncooked, of course. Green ones are picked right after the are pulled up or plowed up while they are still green... makes sense huh?

In order for the farmer to sell his product to the big companies or government they must be dried down to a moisture content of between about 7% to 10.49% to prevent mold. That is why you got so much dust.

Yes, I know where Deland is... went camping down there once on an island where no vehicles were allowed. Had to take a ferry over and conditions were kind of rustic, but fun. Think Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves baseball team is from Deland, but he attended high school in Jacksonville.

Shot

An island in the st john's river, perhaps?

Must be a particular kind of plow that flips them over just so, huh? I'm looking forward to growing peanuts in fla someday. Peanut-butter is a big staple for us, and it's a good crop for making oil.

Today I sowed out some black-eyed peas - a little early - just for kicks to see what happens. I broad-cast them in the rye, which will be drying down in a couple of weeks. Hoping the rye will give them enough shade now to let them germinate, but dry down soon enough to let the sun bring the peas up the rye-stalks.

Pat, I can't remember where the island was located as this was some 35 or so years ago. I just remember we had to park our cars and take a ferry over a body of water.

As for the peanuts, yes there is a special plow for plowing up peanuts. Depending on the size of the plow and tractor, they can plow up 2 or more rows at a time. Each row has a plow point plowed beneath the peanuts. The plow point is about 3-4 ft long, set at an angle and it lifts the peanut vine up. The inverter pulls them up a conveyor type device and as they go over the top they are flipped upside down thus putting the peanuts up.
Here is a website that shows a picture of them being plowed up, picked and dumped into a trailer then a windrow pulling the empty vines into a row for bailing. Cows thing peanut hay is chocolate pie... they love it. Really rough on hay bailers though.

Good luck with the black-eyed peas. They should do fine. I have pinkeye purple hulls making now. Still waiting on the lady creams and red rippers to start blooming.

I grew some black-eyes one year and found out that I preferred the dry ones to the green. Just me as others in the family loved them.

Shot

Here is a link that might be useful: Peanuts

schoolhouse:

My Iowa grandmother always grew Country Gentleman white sweet corn with small kernals ... whould that be what you were asking about?

-vieja