August 2020 - Garden and Chick Updates

July weather definitely helped with our garden, although the last week of July was sweltering. I had to start protecting the tomatoes to keep them from getting sun scald. Aside from that, the tomato wind guard area seems to be working out fine.  While I had originally planned on setting the bell pepper plants in that area, it's just not wide enough.  I will need to rethink it if I do this next year. 

The cucumbers are FINALLY doing their thing.  The first planting didn't survive.  The 2nd planting barely survived, but I didn't think they would, so I did a third planting... they also survived, but we will see it it was too late to get any cucumbers from them. At least we are getting some cucumbers at this point. 

Acorn squash. First try. Finally starting to get female buds.  For about three weeks, there were only male.  I just read that as soon as the male flowers start showing up, to put a dose of fertilizer on the plant to encourage the females to form. Then watch closely, the color of the leaves.  Keep them from turning yellow by regularly feeding the plants. We will see how this turns out. 

Corn survived!  The last time we had a summer like we had in June, my corn did not survive the month.  This year, instead of trying to start them outside, I kept them in the greenhouse under a light and that seemed to do the trick. I pulled all the tillers off this year and this past week, have added a dose of bone meal to help with corn development.  We should have some corn in another couple of weeks!

 

All onion are pulled and most have been cut up and dried. Pulled enough bush string beans to freeze for three meals. Plan to do that with the corn this year, too.  

Have pulled most of the broccoli florets off to keep them from bolting. Cauliflower heads are finally starting to form.  I have not grown cauliflower since the 1980s. I can't remember how long it takes.  This has been a very LONG time, it seems. 

Bell peppers have been attacked by bugs this year.  They are doing better, but not as well as I would like.  I think it is also a weather situation. This photo is a Sandpiper pepper.  Curious to see what it tastes like. 

Basil replant took hold.  I normally can't get basil to come up in July because it is usually too hot by that time. But the June weather really took a toll on a lot of my starts. It will probably be a late August before I can start harvesting dill and basil.  I'll take what I can get. 

The Cornish Cross Chicks came in on Wednesday this past week (July 29).  The last batch of Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock and the Blue Plymouth showed up on Friday (July 31).  Lots of new chicks and their cute little peeps are in the garage. 

77 days to Ripe Corn

So the corn is ripe a little sooner than I anticipated.  The corn I planted this year was Early Sunglow which has a maturity date of 65 days.  Supposedly, the corn is ripe 16 days after the silk appears... Last year, that's exactly how it happened. But this year, the silk was forming at about day 58 and was truly ripe at day 77, 19 days later. But, this year, weird things have been happening too.  Perhaps the really hot temps early in June, then the really cool temps and humidity back and forth over the month of July to now caused the corn to be stressed?  The amount of tillers, for one. The kernel ears on the tillers for second. Plus the baby corn inside the husk, right next to a full sized ear.... it's definitely been a year for strange corn growth that I don't have any experience with. (I'm still looking on corn sites to find an explanation for conjoined ears of corn.)

So I am done fertilizing the rows and now it is just a harvest and watering from this point on. Then we knock back the stalks and if we were proactive, we could cover the garden this fall to kill any and all weeds until we are ready to plant again next year. 

Ears are ready to pick

Tassel Ears

Conjoined Ears Separated

Day 62 - Corn is as High as an Elephant's Eye

Yep, the corn sprouted with that last batch of fertilizer that I added. Now it's just bone meal till the end. The corn is at so many different heights, that in truth I'm not certain what to think. I am hopeful that will prolong the corn season. The tallest with tassels are over eight feet high. Some are still about three feet high. Shrugs. Not sure what to think.  I just know that I planted my corn at the same time as one of my neighbors, and mine looks much taller and thicker, but the neighbor planted a lot more than I did. I think this year will be another good one for corn.  I counted over 50 ears which is good considering I planted 40 seeds. About four of the replants never caught up and are too insubstantial to count. Factoring that, I have 36 viable stalks of corn with 50 ears being produced, already and some may also be produced on a few of the tillers. This could be our best corn harvest ever, if we are lucky.

Thick and Tall corn
Back side Lower portion	Back side Upper portion

Day 58 - Baby Corn Ears

As I mentioned in the garden post yesterday, the corn shot up and the ears are starting to form. I have more photos today to share with the growth. Including the height of the tassel, half of the corn is over 5 feet tall.

Corn and Tassels Getting Taller Every Day

Most of the corn is all green, but I seem to have received a variant in this batch of corn seeds that produces yellow stripes in the leaves. It is actually quite pretty to look at, being all different in the crop, and all.

Yellow Stripes in Leaves

Corn with Yellow Stripes on Leaves

So we have a variety of tassel heights and a variety of ear starts. Some of the ears are quite long already, but don't have silk yet. Others are rather short with a good tuft of silk already presenting. Some of the tassels are way above the corn, and others are just peeking out.

Large Ear No Silk

Small Ear with Silk

There are some stalks that have two ears forming, but not all are producing double ears.

Double Ears on Stalk

There are some tillers (suckers) that also have a tassel peeking out.

Tassel in Sucker Branch

This has truly been an interesting year for my corn journal! Ha.

Day 49 - Corn Tassels

Here we are at week seven and the corn tassels are quickly growing. I measured the corn height and is it, overall, between 40 to 50 inches tall. So close to four feet in average height. It is amazing how quickly it is still growing, considering the cooler, wetter July we have had so far. 

This week, I added the last layer of blood meal for nitrogen, the first bone meal, which I will add every two weeks for the next month or so until the ears are well formed, and I sprinkled in the only additional layer of potash for the season. I mixed it all into the soil around the stalks and weeded, probably for the last time of the season. 

The first photo shows just how behind the "replants" become, even though they were planted about two weeks after the others. The next photo is one of the tassels peeking out above the leaves, and the third is the overall height of the corn. It is thick and full.  I compared the corn with the neighbors who planted theirs at the same time, and mine is taller and thicker. So, adding the nutrients on a regular basis has truly been rewarded during this cooler month (at least so far). 

The Slow Growing Corn Stalk

A Tassel

Corn is between 40 - 50" tall.

Day 43 - Corn Spurt

So here we are, six weeks into the corn crop, and the corn is about 28" tall now.  We had more cool weather earlier this week, but today's temps and sunshine are helping along with all the fertilizer that I keep adding every other week. 

This is generally the height where the tasseles first start to pop through the center of the stalks.  I did not see any today, but I'm assuming we are close to that stage. 

We'll keep trucking on with the nitrogen until those tassels appear. Not much else to add.  Weeds have slowed down now that the corn is well established. Just a matter of keeping everything well watered as summer rolls in. 

28" corn at six weeks.

Day 34 - Cool Corn Temperatures

Well, here we are after the 4th of July with a string of cool days, once again.  But, compared to the 4th, last year, I think the corn is actually farther along. Today, I mixed in more steer manure between the rows, and I think the additional nutrients are helping to keep the corn growing at a steady pace, although it is a slow grow by comparison to earlier in June. The stalks/leaves are right around 20 inches now. 

I have taken off the one PVC cross since I'm fairly certain that nothing is going to try to buzz through there now, but have left the side bar of PVC up, for now as a "visual" for the height photos. Today's photos show the corn above the PVC barrier which, at the top, is 16." Will keep fertilizing the corn with nitrogen until the tassles start to pop through, then will switch to the bone meal, lime and potash to help with the corn ears portion.

Including a photo of the tillers (or some call them suckers) on the corn.  As you look through at the other stalks, they all have at least one tiller, most have two, and a few have three.

Corn Above the 16" bar	Corn close to 2 feet
Corn Tillers (Suckers)

Day 30 - Weeds in the Corn

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had a cool spell, about 58F to 60F degrees there for a few days. Plus with the rains, I left things well enough alone in the gardens. So there were a lot of weeds that needed to be hoed/pulled.  Although it took almost an hour in just the corn patch, the sun was not too hot for the project. The super wet soil made it easy to get at the weeds. Plus, I pulled the grass/weeds around the bed, as well as beating back the blackberry vines. Now the temp is 80, so that's a good degree for corn growth. But, it will make the soil difficult to pull weeds in just a few days, so I hope I got the majority.

Some of the corn is close to 18 inches tall, while the younger ones are three to six inches tall. Perhaps that's good? It might give us some later season corn.  The distraction PVC set up across the south side of the garden is about 18 inches tall, so that gives you a good visual for the growth.

Corn patch angle from SW

Corn patch from West side

The one big factor is the inconsistent temps.  If it stayed in the mid 70s to 80s all the time, the corn would be taller and fuller. But, at least it is starting to fill out even with the cooler temps. Almost half of the past month has been in the 60s and low 70s. Below is the list of "highs" in the Portland area for the past month since planting. Fingers Crossed that July highs are consistently above 75F degrees but less than 90s because then I'm too hot!

81° 05/31/19 80° 06/01/19 80° 06/02/19 77° 06/03/19 79° 06/04/19 66° 06/05/19 63° 06/06/19 65° 06/07/19 76° 06/08/19 84° 06/09/19

92° 06/10/19 97° 06/11/19 98° 06/12/19 79° 06/13/19 77° 06/14/19 81° 06/15/19 81° 06/16/19 71° 06/17/19 69° 06/18/19 70° 06/19/19

69° 06/20/19 71° 06/21/19 73° 06/22/19 71° 06/23/19 74° 06/24/19 70° 06/25/19 69° 06/26/19 66° 06/27/19 78° 06/28/19 80° 06/29/19

So, I did a bit of looking back.  Actually, this June (2019) was 8 degrees warmer (on average) than last year. When, looking at the growth, the corn is about 8 inches taller than this time last year. Last year, I planted on May 28, two days earlier. The other thing I am noticing on just about every stalk of corn are these extra "branches" coming out of the base of the stalk. I have read that these are called tillers.  Unless the corn is damaged (which can cause tillers), it is an indication that the conditions/nutrients are excellent for growing corn, and that there is no need to cut them back. So I won't. I'll try to get some decent photos of these tillers. A couple of stalks have three, but most have two tillers. I have also noticed that about 20% of the stalks are quite thick already. 

Day 27 - Corn Slows

So, this past week, the temps cooled to "BELOW" normal and although we have had a lot of sun, the heat has not been strong enough to do much.  As you can see in the circled corn sprout (lower left hand of photo), it has not grown much since popping up. I did fertilize with blood meal last week, so there has been some growth, but not a lot.  You can see the PVC distractions I put in/next to the corn patch to keep the critters from knocking over any more stalks.  It is working. Yes, that's rain drops dripping from the PVC.  It was raining as I took the photo.  In the background, you can probably see the beans in the square garden inside the wire surround to keep most other critters out of it.  

Back to the corn, it is easy to see which corn came up during the heat wave, and which ones are behind.  I can only hope that we get enough warm weather to actually get a decent number of ears this year. 

Corn Crop on Day 27

Day 19 - Corn Damage Diary

I'm posting this the day after I took the photo. I did not get the fertilizer on the corn over the weekend, like I had hoped.  I did, however, get it sprinkled around the corn on Day 20 (June 18) so I'm not falling too far behind. Today is probably a better day for fertilizing, anyway, because it was a much cooler morning, and won't be too hot today. 

While sprinkling the blood meal around the stalks, I noted that several branches were broken (not from wind) and one tall stalk was laying on the ground.  Although I did not see any prints (man or animal) in the dirt, I am assuming that an animal took a shortcut through and damaged several plants. I set the one back up and am hoping that the roots were not damaged since the soil was still pretty moist and they did not look broken off. In the mean time, I put the PVC cross back up over the area damaged, and placed a side barrier of PVC on the south side of the garden as a (hopeful) deterrent. I guess we will see if that works, or if I need to get my bird netting out for the next month. Big Sigh.  The photo below is "yesterday" when there was no damage yet. 

The large stalks are growing quickly. The smaller ones are working on it.  The two replants from last week are about one inch tall. 

Day 19 6-17-19

Day 16 - Corn Journal

So I did replant some of germinated corn (2) that had not yet popped up, then suddenly, one did pop up in a location that I had already replanted a week ago. CRAZY! The earliest corn is about four inches in height while the younger ones are about two inches. So they are not too far behind.  The germinated replants have already sprouted and barely peeking out of the ground. All Good, regardless.  I plan to add blood meal around the larger ones this weekend. 

6-14 corn likes hot temps

Day 11 2019 - Corn Journal

The corn has been doing fairly well, with the exception of a few of the starts have started dying. I have used all of the remaining starts from the greenhouse, but still.... I am guessing that the cold spell that we had, set them back? Not sure.  I am going to germinate ten more seeds.  I have waffled back and forth about doing this. but, even though they will be two weeks behind the rest, perhaps it won't be too late a start. So, for now, we have a fairly good start, but not as good as last year. 

I do think that the row cover did a great job on the ones that had already sprouted early.  There are about six that are struggling.  The next few days will be really hot. So, that will either kill off the weak ones, or pull them out of their lull.

Of the six seeds I had starting in the greenhouse, only four of them sprouted. Two mildewed in the ground.  I will just germinate the ten new seeds in my garden window in the house where there is less humidity and temp fluctuation. 

I will put a dose of blood meal around the well established ones later this week. 

Sweet Corn Starts 11 days since planting

Day 6 2019 - Corn Sprouts

Corn Status Update - More and more of the corn sprouts have been peeking up since the weekend. I now have 38 of the 40 seeds spouted which, even if the other two do not pop up, I have spare starts in the green house. 

We should be good with a thick crop of 5 x 8 corn stalks in my 4 x 8 corn bed. North to South, the seeds were planted 8 inches apart while East to West, the seeds were planted 10.5 inches apart. 

I found one tiny stalk/seed pulled out and laying on top of the soil.  I was able to replant it with one of the six starts I have in the green house which just started to pop up this morning. 

Weather prediction is that temps are going to drop from the highs of 70s-80sF to the low 60s for the next few days.  I have everything in place to cover the crop for those days with a floating row cover in my attempt to keep the soil warmer.  I will cover it tonight before the cold night temps set in. 

Day 6 of Corn Bed

Day 1 2019 - Corn Seeds in the Ground before June!

I have my fingers crossed that the weather predictions will finally kick in and be as predicted... What a mess.  The Sunday (Memorial Weekend) temps were supposed to be in the mid 70Fs but, no... In fact the whole week was supposed to be nice and warm both during the day and no lower than the mid 50s at night. But, the predictions were wrong.  The cold air kept blasting in from the mountain, making it cool and overcast most of the week, with occasional thunder storms. So my seeds were in a watery limbo, starting to sprout and no where to go.  Yesterday, finally, a good day and the ground today was perfect and warm. Now the hope is that the seeds all come up.  I planted 40 seeds this year in the ground, with six backups in sprout starting pots in the green house. 

This year, to prep the soil, I purchased a new dark tarp (no holes) and covered the raised garden beds the last weekish of April. Last week, I pulled back the tarp, chased away the family of snakes living in there, pulled out the dead plants/roots, etc and tried to stomp down tunnels/burrows. I watered the ground heavily and have been going back each day to "stomp" down the new mounds that keep popping up.  That's the nature because the tarps tend to bring the "vermin" in to eat slugs, bugs and bug eggs.  On the positive side is that, essentially, the soil is tilled, and the weeds are dead naturally, without any chemicals.  Plus, a lot of the bugs are gobbled up by the snakes and rodents. It is a win, win, but then, I have to work a bit harder to keep them out of there until the garden takes off.  Then the daily watering keeps them out for the rest of the summer. It's a process of persistence. 

This is the beginning of the corn journal for this year. 46 seeds started in all with the hopes of having 40 plants, five rows, with eight per row in my six feet by eight garden spot. Last year, I planted a lot of "double seeds" here and there, but chose not to do that this year since they had already sprouted before planting.  Plus, I feel like the double stalks became more hassle than it was worth.