Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

WOW! :eek:

Your garden has gotten so much bigger since the last pictures you posted.

Everything is looking great. AnnC, how far apart did you plant your corn?

So far, I have 3 grids of corn, all in a 3x3x3 layout. I spaced them a
foot apart, but looking at yours I'm thinking I should have planted closer
for better pollination. I was reading the directions on my corn and it said
to give them at least 1 ft apart from each other on all sides.

So I planted in a square, 3 on each side.

Do you think I'll get decent pollination?

I just really want success with the corn this year, last year
I planted in a single row (big no no I see) and I got empty corn
cobs. LOL.

So I'm hoping I get a decent amount of kernels this year.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

bdebonee, Thanks for the great comment ... it's all due to the rain we got, but that corn just seems to be jumping for the sun right now LOL I planted mine on a 7" x 7" ... basically, just enough room for my feet to fit between the plants. Later, when I need in the patch and it is up to 4-5' tall, I will carefully weave between the stalks ... it takes a little practice to not break the stalks over, but once you get it figured out, it is very workable LOL

If that is too 'tight' for you, plant them in 3 rows of 7"x7", then put in a path, then the next row, etc. That is how I did it when I first started and it worked out really well.

Another thing that I do is that I plant my rows across the prevailing wind ... for example, my wind is generally out of the W-WSW, so my rows were oriented N-S that way, the wind will carry the pollen to the next row to the east.

And, I don't leave pollination to chance, on the mornings when the pollen is flying, I will get out there early and brush through the stalks to shake the pollen into the silks. Even with all that, last year, the hybrid corn seed I ended up with (my regular variety was sold out when I got to the store ;-( did not pollinate even though I did all the same things from the year before where I got AMAZING ears.

It is all an experiment, and what works for me in my climate might not work for you in yours ... I don't have to worry about mildew and fungus from lack of air circulation on my corn because of the semi-arid climate I am in ... the spacing you used could be just right for your area, so don't give up on it just yet. Check how it does for you this year, then next year, try a couple of rows of closer spacing on the upwind side of the corn patch to see if it will work for you. Even 9"x9" spacing will give you half again as much corn as you are planting this year LOL

When I first started out, I was planting 2 kernels per hole, 12" apart and that worked well also ... I will probably go back to that next year as this single plant per hole is very vunerable to the high winds we get out here and I have lost almost 1/4 of my crop already with more high winds (50mph+) predicted for sat and sun.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

In that case, I might think about starting some more corn in between the grids
I already have. I wonder if they'll catch up in time for pollination. In the last
4 days, my corn has grown wonderfully. Must be the long summer days because
they're growing fast! I was so surprised to see them after I hadn't for 2 days.

We get bad winds here too, just today for the first time ever I saw a HUGE
dirt devil. Must have went about 700 ft up in the air. It even took a neighbors
kiddie pool right out the yard.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

Spent the morning figuring out how to use my new sprayer, got it to work to my liking, and sprayed my fruit trees and maters with Serenade.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

Since the new raised beds have very very few weeds, and everything is planted...but nothing is edible yet.... I've taken to just wandering around out there worrying about septorial leaf spot and early blight. :p

... oh and powdery mildew. That's another of my pet peeves. No sign of anything yet.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

Garden: Just took out some lettuce and as I do, replacing with cucumbers and zucchini. The new things I'm trying this year are some sweet Asian peppers and Chinese red noodle beans. I always have to try something 'new', for variety. Also had to build my pea fence higher, we had so much rain that the peas are going NUTS...or should I say LEGUMES? tee hee

Yard: A neighbour just wanted a better view of the river....so I got to dig up 2 japanese maples...one a red laceleaf that's 5' tall (a big project but so worth it) and another grafted maple that was neglected (I always love a challenge).

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

I worked on my garden this past weekend. My tomatoes are coming along good as well as my jalapeno and green peppers. I don't have a garden space, so I have planters. Works great for me.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

Harvesting garlic scapes and garlic, former garlic overwintered plots will see transplanted squash and tomatoes, and more beans. Trying to figure out where other stuff can go.

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

I don't think you will want to start corn inbetween the already sprouted rows ... even the late sprouts that were planted at the same time as the rest of my corn are struggling and cannot keep up with the middle of the patch ... you might be better served by planting in another area so that you will have successive ripening ... the later planted corn will not make the same pollination time as the earlier planted corn.

If you don't have the room now, where could you plant that you would have the room at the end of july or the beginning of august?

Re: What are you all doing for your gardens right now???
 

Well, I took a closer look at my this year's new little strawberry patch which looks dead despite handwatering well every other day. Maybe the roots are still alive, but what used to be small leaves now resembles crispy critters. Guess the winds and 90s consecutive days were too much too soon for it without shade cloth. If nothing comes back, then next year it is back to growing in deep bureau drawers under a tree (which worked for over three plus years).