My 5th summer garden: Expansion and more beans

[JB0704]

I reckon it's about to be garden season! All kinda excited.

Very much appreciated all the help I got last year from this thread. Having access to all the experience and wisdom that is shared on here is priceless. Lookin' forward to growin' a garden along with all of yall again this year.

Hopefully this is my year to crack the code on maters, n cukes, n peppers. We still eatin' purple hulls 2 or 3 times a week and we ain't sick of em yet......but, I am GON add some more variety this year. What I hope to grow is:

MAters, cukes, Jalepeners, bells peppers, zuchini, three types of corn: Golden Queen, Silver Queen, and I have an heirloom field corn on the way as we speak I am all kinda excited about, Green beans (same amount as last year), purple hulls (not quite as much as last year), Okry (1/3 less than last year), and we GON add Pinters, Navy beans, and Red Beans.

As I went through the year I took note of whut we bought, and it was baked beans and chili beans mostly, so I am GON fix that with the navy beans, pinters, n red beans.

Im GON add some pics to this post in a minute, but I hope yall jump in and post your garden as is and progress along the way. That's what makes it so much fun.

 

[JB0704]

Third pic is after I plowed it on Sunday. GON let it sit a minute then hit it with the harrows later this week, and then turn it a few more times before we get to the plantin. Last step is always runnint the tiller through it twice to get a good seed bed ready. Ill post those pics when the time comes.......

 

[sportsman94]

You sure have a pretty spot to garden! Can’t wait to watch it grow this season. I plan to start planting as soon as I can get a dry enough week to get things worked up well enough to plant

 

[JB0704]

You sure have a pretty spot to garden! Can’t wait to watch it grow this season. I plan to start planting as soon as I can get a dry enough week to get things worked up well enough to plant

Thanks man. Post pics as yours grows as well.

You gonna grow more of that bloody butcher corn? I have been looking up ways to grind corn into conrmeal myself. Last year a pea sheller was my big investment, this year will be a corn grinder.

 

[JB0704]

Thinking Ima get something like this:

Green Power Grain Mill

Green Power Grain Mill: Grinds Any Dry Grain Turn grain to pastry flour in one pass. The Green Power Grain Mill grinds any free flowing, dry grain, including wheat, corn, rye, rice, quinoa and small beans. Stainless steel grinding burrs are electrolytic polished, which gives the burrs a smooth...

www.lehmans.com

And this:

Heavy Duty Shelling Machine Manual Farm Corn Thresher, Hand Sheller Wooden Handle Cast Iron Manual

 

[JB0704]

I got time to pick what I need......any of yall have recommendations tween now n then I'd love to hear about it.

 

[Whitefeather]

Hit mine with another bag of lime and tilled it in again. Set out some wheat straw bales getting them ready for next month

Onions along the left side planted mid February finally started poking out and taters planted 3 weeks ago along the right side are just starting to pop out.

I’m waiting till mid April to get serious about planting

 

[sportsman94]

Thanks man. Post pics as yours grows as well.

You gonna grow more of that bloody butcher corn? I have been looking up ways to grind corn into conrmeal myself. Last year a pea sheller was my big investment, this year will be a corn grinder.

I let my oldest daughter and wife pick some corn to grow this year. Daughter picked some purple Hopi corn to grow and wife picked glass gem popcorn. Will just be a couple rows of each, but hopefully will be a fun crop. I planned to try to plant a couple acres of the bloody butcher, but will need to get some pigs under control before I even think about it

 

[Nicodemus]

I let my oldest daughter and wife pick some corn to grow this year. Daughter picked some purple Hopi corn to grow and wife picked glass gem popcorn. Will just be a couple rows of each, but hopefully will be a fun crop. I planned to try to plant a couple acres of the bloody butcher, but will need to get some pigs under control before I even think about it

Are you gonna plant your corn types far enough apart to hopefully prevent cross-pollination?

 

[B. White]

Thinking Ima get something like this:

Green Power Grain Mill

Green Power Grain Mill: Grinds Any Dry Grain Turn grain to pastry flour in one pass. The Green Power Grain Mill grinds any free flowing, dry grain, including wheat, corn, rye, rice, quinoa and small beans. Stainless steel grinding burrs are electrolytic polished, which gives the burrs a smooth...

www.lehmans.com

And this:

Heavy Duty Shelling Machine Manual Farm Corn Thresher, Hand Sheller Wooden Handle Cast Iron Manual

We've been using the mill below for a couple of years. Not cheap, but we don't go on beach vacations and my wife also wanted something to grind wheat, so I could combine a gift for her with a way to get cornmeal and grits. They make a cheaper one that would probably be fine, just takes twice as long. We don't have any complaints, other than it is pretty loud with corn.

Mockmill 200 Stone Grain Mill

Owner’s Manual (PDF) Compare Mockmills…

mockmill.us

No matter how you grind it, the easiest method I've found to sift with easy cleanup for a house hold is to order the classifying sleeves below sold for mining that fit in a 5 gal bucket. The piece in the amazon link goes on on the bottom of the bucket, so once you stack the sieves and pour it in from the mill you can sit in a chair and rock the bucket back and forth to separate your cornmeal and grits pretty quick. I've made my own before, but like these better.

Blue Classifying Sieve - 12 Mesh: Keene Engineering Online

SEO: META DESCRIPTION

www.keene.store

20 Mesh Classifying Sieve: Keene Engineering Online

SEO: META DESCRIPTION

www.keene.store

Amazon.com

 

[NE GA Pappy]

Are you gonna plant your corn types far enough apart to hopefully prevent cross-pollination?

I was thinking the same thing.... It would be a same to cross contaminate that heritage corn

 

[sportsman94]

Nic and Pappy, close your ears/eyes! Haha. I’m not planning to separate them. The plan will be to plant them both, see how they do, and if I really love them I’ll buy more pure seed stock then start saving mine in the future. I live pretty close (less than a mile in a 3 directions) to 1000s of acres of ag land so I’m not sure if I could keep it pure with a spring planting anyways. Of course, depending on how much room I do or don’t have left in the garden, it may end up being a pure stand of one variety or the other

 

[B. White]

Nic and Pappy, close your ears/eyes! Haha. I’m not planning to separate them. The plan will be to plant them both, see how they do, and if I really love them I’ll buy more pure seed stock then start saving mine in the future. I live pretty close (less than a mile in a 3 directions) to 1000s of acres of ag land so I’m not sure if I could keep it pure with a spring planting anyways. Of course, depending on how much room I do or don’t have left in the garden, it may end up being a pure stand of one variety or the other

I plant two weeks apart at minimum and haven't had any cross problems yet.

 

[livinoutdoors]

Yup agree just plant em a couple weeks apart. Plant the shortest to harvest date first.

 

[JB0704]

We've been using the mill below for a couple of years. Not cheap, but we don't go on beach vacations and my wife also wanted something to grind wheat, so I could combine a gift for her with a way to get cornmeal and grits. They make a cheaper one that would probably be fine, just takes twice as long. We don't have any complaints, other than it is pretty loud with corn.

Mockmill 200 Stone Grain Mill

Owner’s Manual (PDF) Compare Mockmills…

mockmill.us

No matter how you grind it, the easiest method I've found to sift with easy cleanup for a house hold is to order the classifying sleeves below sold for mining that fit in a 5 gal bucket. The piece in the amazon link goes on on the bottom of the bucket, so once you stack the sieves and pour it in from the mill you can sit in a chair and rock the bucket back and forth to separate your cornmeal and grits pretty quick. I've made my own before, but like these better.

Blue Classifying Sieve - 12 Mesh: Keene Engineering Online

SEO: META DESCRIPTION

www.keene.store

20 Mesh Classifying Sieve: Keene Engineering Online

SEO: META DESCRIPTION

www.keene.store

Amazon.com

Great info! Thanks for sharing. I’ll look into it all for sure.

That grinder, where do you mount it? I was thinking if I got one like that I’d put it on a board I could clamp to a counter top.

 

[JB0704]

Are you gonna plant your corn types far enough apart to hopefully prevent cross-pollination?

I have a separate section of field the heirloom corn is going in. How far apart to be sure no cross contamination, or, as @livinoutdoors suggested, is a staggered planting time sufficient?

 

[JB0704]

View attachment 1296059
Hit mine with another bag of lime and tilled it in again. Set out some wheat straw bales getting them ready for next month

Onions along the left side planted mid February finally started poking out and taters planted 3 weeks ago along the right side are just starting to pop out.

I’m waiting till mid April to get serious about planting

I really wanted to do taters this year but like always the time got away from me. Always enjoy ur garden pics. Keep em coming!

 

[fireman32]

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s gardens. I’ll have my little garden going as well. I have taters, onions and a small patch of lettuce growing now. I’ll snap a pic sometime.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

I really wanted to do taters this year but like always the time got away from me. Always enjoy ur garden pics. Keep em coming!

if you hurry, you could still do a few taters.

 

[JB0704]

if you hurry, you could still do a few taters.

I’d hafta order the spuds I think