Sounds like too much work Dorothy, but they will be nice to have this winter. Al and I have just been freezing beans tonight, but so far we are just freezing as we pick and it hasn't been too bad. I think we now have 14 meals of green beans done. I wanted to make some dilly beans, but it was easier to just freeze this batch. I don't grow corn, but a friend always gives us all we want.

Dorothy, Sounds like my idea of a perfect summer. It is a lot of work but it sure will pay off the rest of the year. It sounds like you're getting really great production despite the lack of good rainfall in your area this spring.

I'm through with all the cool-season stuff, fruit and the early corn and most of the bush beans, and mostly focused on tomatoes right now, but also trying to stay caught up on the half-runner and pole beans, hot peppers, cukes, and squash. The okra harvest is just beginning, and the mid-season corn is just now tasseling. Hopefully it won't get too hot for corn before the mid-season and late-season corn can pollinate. Usually it would be further along by now, but the lack of rain and the abnormally high temps in May were hard on the corn plants after they sprouted.

I planted melons and southern peas last, so kinda late, so probably won't be harvesting any of them until July.

Huge hordes of new grasshoppers are hatching out and have been for the last week or two, so the grasshopper battle is about to get fierce. I hope they will not prematurely end the harvest season.

There's still quite a bit of June left, but I'd say if the tomatoes and beans keep rolling in like they have been, I likely will put up more food in June than I ever have before. Right now, this month is running second to the big plum and peach's June (think that was 2010), but there's still a week and a half left in the month so it might surpass it.

Carol, I try to stay up so I can freeze as I pick, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Good for y'all for staying caught up. Once I fall behind I tend to stay behind.

Dawn

Dawn, If I planted as much as you do, I know I couldn't keep up. Of course, I know that I am limited by space, not by desire, and if I had space I would probably plant it. LOL

I bet you would too! It is good we have horrid, awful, dense, red clay soil that requires monumental amounts of amending. Otherwise I'd want to plant all 14+ acres. As it is, I cannot plant more than I can amend. As a bonus (in Tim's eyes), the deer eat everything that is not securely fenced, so I cannot just amend a little more soil and a little more and a little more and keep enlarging the garden because the new areas still would not be fenced. Believe me, if the deer weren't a constant problem, my garden would be as big as Dorothy's!

I've been working on canning tomatoes all day and I feel like the more I do, the more I have left to do. It shouldn't be as hard as it is today. It seems like the tomatoes are multiplying in the bowls that are on the breakfast room table. Every time I leave the kitchen to get a bowl of tomatoes out of the breakfast room, it seems like there are more bowls left on the table than there were when I started working with them this morning. That is illogial and even impossible, but it seems true. If y'all hear that a Love County woman had a nervous breakdown in her kitchen and began running up and down the road throwing bags of tomatoes at passing motorists, you'll know how my day ended.

Corn Is a space thief but Madge likes for me to plant some anyway. Today I finished up our Roma green beans and the second planting of Early Sunglow corn. Shown in the picture is what I harvested from approx. 200 sq. ft. of garden space.

I try to plant as close as I can and then not till or weed. Also on the corn I did not mulch or install irrigation tubes. I still have about 110 sq.ft. of Peaches and Cream corn, if the weather does not improve I may slide some irrigation tubes down the rows in hope to save the harvest. It is very dry here.

Larry

Larry, the corn looks beautiful. We are very dry here also, and I am trying to get everything watered tonight.

Carol, thanks, this has been my best year after moving to a small garden. My old house had a 4000+ foot garden and a very strong well, and good soil. Every thing except "Critter control" was much easier there.

I plan on pulling everything up in this (North) garden by the end of June and evaluate the Rootknot nematode population and plan my next move.

Larry

Larry,

The corn looks fabulous and I bet it will be tasty. While corn is a space hog, I love growing it. It is so yummy when it is fresh and it freezes well. I always give it more space than I probably should.

I hope that when you pull up the plants, you don't find a lot of evidence of root knot nematode damage.

Dawn

Did I read somewhere that solarizing the soil under clear plastic would kill nematodes? It is supposed to be damp first so you might want to wait for a rain.

Dorothy,

I pulled samples of broccoli, lettuce, cabbage, green beans, onions and corn. This is a picture of the worst roots that I have found (Early Sunglow corn). I will wait a week or so before pulling some tomatoes to get the extra harvest. If I dont find anything worse than this I may replant in peas, and not do any more nematode fighting at this time.

Larry

Larry, that doesn't look bad. Nothing like the tomatoes SIL pulled out of her Calif garden last year or the okra we pulled up a few years ago. Hope it all looks good.