Monday, September 28, 2015
Dried Corn
The varieties: Corn
Now that I have discussed the establishment of the garden I would like to further mention the varieties that I have used thus far.
I figured that I would start with corn. Corn is a surprisingly well adapted crop. Even in this horrible environment you see farmers plant field corn and it completes it's life cycle without the aide of water. I do not know that modern sweet corn is that well adapted, but it does not matter because I am not interested in those varieties. In the interest of my health and teeth I am primarily interested in low sugar content sweet corn. If you have never had a more traditional corn than you are missing out. Traditional sweet corn has a much denser flavor. That is to say that they taste more like corn.
The first year I planted two varieties: Southern Gentleman and Black Aztec corn.
I loved the Black Aztec and so did my daughter, the wife not so much. It had no sweetness to it but had a strong taste of corn. The plants were dark green and tall. All of the neighbors were really impressed with the stand.
I found the Southern Gentleman to be much sweeter, but the ears were very thin and small. There was nearly no corn on an ear. The plant itself was also very small and did not impress in the garden.
Neither variety wilted or faltered from lack of water. They did well with much gardening. It was an unusually hard year and I finally watered them in about July.
If it were up to me I would just have planted more Black Aztec. It would have been my go to variety and that would have been that. However, as I mentioned my wife was not impressed with it so the search continued.
So, the following year in 2015 I bought and planted Golden Bantam. This variety was supposed to be the go-to before modern hybrids.
With one year of experience under my belt I began to search for ways to improve my methods and yields. I had two main problems the first year. Corn borer and lack of pollination. I had planted the corn in two long rows, a common noob mistake. So in the following year I planted corn in a small square and inter-planted some Borage. (Borage is a recommended companion crop for corn when it comes to the corn borer.) It worked, my garden only had two Borage plants that survived but I had nearly no damage from the worm. As of when this was written Borage even has some appreciation among commercial farmers as a companion plant.
IT WORKS.
The Golden Bantam proved to be exactly what we were looking for. It has a strong corn flavor reminiscent of old world varieties but with a mild sweetness that my wife requires. The harvest was mixed. Some plants did really well and others did not. Same way with the ears of corn. Some were big and full others were small. I kept some of the best fullest ears for seed and ate the rest.
I would like to state here that I have nothing against hybrids I simply do not want to grow them because you cannot keep the seed and get true to type varieties. My goal is to create a strong garden with well adapted plants and that simply cannot be done with hybrids.
The current methods of gardening pushed by the Ag universities is not well adapted because they grow seed in a different state than it is to be consumed. It is really all about the money, not about sustainability or what is good for the environment.
I figured that I would start with corn. Corn is a surprisingly well adapted crop. Even in this horrible environment you see farmers plant field corn and it completes it's life cycle without the aide of water. I do not know that modern sweet corn is that well adapted, but it does not matter because I am not interested in those varieties. In the interest of my health and teeth I am primarily interested in low sugar content sweet corn. If you have never had a more traditional corn than you are missing out. Traditional sweet corn has a much denser flavor. That is to say that they taste more like corn.
The first year I planted two varieties: Southern Gentleman and Black Aztec corn.
I loved the Black Aztec and so did my daughter, the wife not so much. It had no sweetness to it but had a strong taste of corn. The plants were dark green and tall. All of the neighbors were really impressed with the stand.
I found the Southern Gentleman to be much sweeter, but the ears were very thin and small. There was nearly no corn on an ear. The plant itself was also very small and did not impress in the garden.
Neither variety wilted or faltered from lack of water. They did well with much gardening. It was an unusually hard year and I finally watered them in about July.
If it were up to me I would just have planted more Black Aztec. It would have been my go to variety and that would have been that. However, as I mentioned my wife was not impressed with it so the search continued.
So, the following year in 2015 I bought and planted Golden Bantam. This variety was supposed to be the go-to before modern hybrids.
With one year of experience under my belt I began to search for ways to improve my methods and yields. I had two main problems the first year. Corn borer and lack of pollination. I had planted the corn in two long rows, a common noob mistake. So in the following year I planted corn in a small square and inter-planted some Borage. (Borage is a recommended companion crop for corn when it comes to the corn borer.) It worked, my garden only had two Borage plants that survived but I had nearly no damage from the worm. As of when this was written Borage even has some appreciation among commercial farmers as a companion plant.
IT WORKS.
The Golden Bantam proved to be exactly what we were looking for. It has a strong corn flavor reminiscent of old world varieties but with a mild sweetness that my wife requires. The harvest was mixed. Some plants did really well and others did not. Same way with the ears of corn. Some were big and full others were small. I kept some of the best fullest ears for seed and ate the rest.
I would like to state here that I have nothing against hybrids I simply do not want to grow them because you cannot keep the seed and get true to type varieties. My goal is to create a strong garden with well adapted plants and that simply cannot be done with hybrids.
The current methods of gardening pushed by the Ag universities is not well adapted because they grow seed in a different state than it is to be consumed. It is really all about the money, not about sustainability or what is good for the environment.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Establishing the Garden
I tried a couple different methods for starting new ground. The first was based on a concept of smother mulch. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of this process. However, I started it in the spring and the idea was to lay down 2 layers of newspaper and cover with compost then with mulch.
I had heard that this was a good process for starting raised beds and so I figure that it would work equally well for an in-earth-garden. For most grasses and broad-leaf weeds this process appears to be enough. However, the common Bermuda grass is one tough adversary. It had no problem waiting until the paper broke down to come on up. It is fortunate that the majority of this yard that I had recently acquired was crab/goose grass because if it had not, the entire garden would have been Bermuda.
I have yet to fully vanquish the Bermuda from that side of the garden.
With that I started the first years growth. I planted all of the essentials: cucumber, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, beans.
They all did really well aside from a few insects that seem to think that I had planted the entire thing for them.
Foremost was the Squash Vine Borer.
Most of my gardening exposure had come from Wyoming. Up there, if you can get water to it it will grow. They don't have so many diseases and bugs as here. (I suppose because it gets so cold.)
The beans were slow to start and the tomatoes never did take off really. Here is where I would like to share my experience with you. I got my compost from the local city dump. To this day I do not know if it was a persistent herbicide or some biological factor but the tomatoes still struggle over there in the compost. More research needs to be done into their compost. However, for Enid residence I would suggest not putting that compost where you plan to grow tomatoes in the next two years.
This is a place where I would like to further differentiate my garden from a common garden and one's sponsored by the OSU extension office. My garden is about sustainability. So the plants that I plant in it need to be well adapted to the adverse conditions in the region. I plant varieties that are insect, drought, and heat resistant. AND I save the seeds from the plants that do well to plant the following season. Thereby promoting further regional development.
I had heard that this was a good process for starting raised beds and so I figure that it would work equally well for an in-earth-garden. For most grasses and broad-leaf weeds this process appears to be enough. However, the common Bermuda grass is one tough adversary. It had no problem waiting until the paper broke down to come on up. It is fortunate that the majority of this yard that I had recently acquired was crab/goose grass because if it had not, the entire garden would have been Bermuda.
I have yet to fully vanquish the Bermuda from that side of the garden.
With that I started the first years growth. I planted all of the essentials: cucumber, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes, beans.
They all did really well aside from a few insects that seem to think that I had planted the entire thing for them.
Foremost was the Squash Vine Borer.
Most of my gardening exposure had come from Wyoming. Up there, if you can get water to it it will grow. They don't have so many diseases and bugs as here. (I suppose because it gets so cold.)
The beans were slow to start and the tomatoes never did take off really. Here is where I would like to share my experience with you. I got my compost from the local city dump. To this day I do not know if it was a persistent herbicide or some biological factor but the tomatoes still struggle over there in the compost. More research needs to be done into their compost. However, for Enid residence I would suggest not putting that compost where you plan to grow tomatoes in the next two years.
This is a place where I would like to further differentiate my garden from a common garden and one's sponsored by the OSU extension office. My garden is about sustainability. So the plants that I plant in it need to be well adapted to the adverse conditions in the region. I plant varieties that are insect, drought, and heat resistant. AND I save the seeds from the plants that do well to plant the following season. Thereby promoting further regional development.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
The Search for the method.
I started searching the internet for no till garden operations. I will say that, at the time there was no information available. No-till had not made it's debut on the garden side, or so it initially appeared. After some long searching I found in a old article on Mother Earth News. The article referenced Ruth Stout as being a certain mother of modern no till. I found one of her books on Amazon and purchased it.
Her book was extremely readable. If you do not own any of her titles I suggest that you pick one up for the entertainment value of it at least. She was a amazing author and teacher. I true gem of her time. Her method employed the use of mulch for weed retardation and promotion of soil structure. Based on what I had learned in soil science it sounded like the perfect method. Add that with the soil cooling and moisture retention properties of the mulch and I figured that it would be a good system for Oklahoma. (It is seriously not unusual for the temperature to be over 100 and the wind to be blowing 20MPH+. You should consider this part of Oklahoma a extreme dehydrator)
It was a bitter sweet thing for me to consider mulch gardening as the champion of my garden. I had spent a significant portion of my time building a 3 cubic Yard compost pile. (At the time I was thinking of doing a composting toilet... the wife was not fond of that idea but was as supportive as any woman can be of a man essentially spreading his humannure on the garden.) Wither her method I did not need to compost...
In the end I used the compost bins because I still through out a lot of animal based materials and I am not confident enough to just place that in the garden directly. I usually grow morning glories on it. I find that it makes this base object a little more appealing.
In the end though I had a method that was perfect for Oklahoma. The mulch helped retain moisture, and provide even moisture for plants sensitive to massive fluctuations in soil moisture (such as tomatoes) while simultaneously providing protection of the seed bed for weed control. And unlike mulches like black fabric or plastic, the mulch would help to keep the soil cool. Methods like that might work well for California, but I have my doubts about an area that is as hot as Oklahoma.
The question still remained, how do I start the garden since I am not converting a garden but rather starting on in new ground.
Her book was extremely readable. If you do not own any of her titles I suggest that you pick one up for the entertainment value of it at least. She was a amazing author and teacher. I true gem of her time. Her method employed the use of mulch for weed retardation and promotion of soil structure. Based on what I had learned in soil science it sounded like the perfect method. Add that with the soil cooling and moisture retention properties of the mulch and I figured that it would be a good system for Oklahoma. (It is seriously not unusual for the temperature to be over 100 and the wind to be blowing 20MPH+. You should consider this part of Oklahoma a extreme dehydrator)
It was a bitter sweet thing for me to consider mulch gardening as the champion of my garden. I had spent a significant portion of my time building a 3 cubic Yard compost pile. (At the time I was thinking of doing a composting toilet... the wife was not fond of that idea but was as supportive as any woman can be of a man essentially spreading his humannure on the garden.) Wither her method I did not need to compost...
In the end though I had a method that was perfect for Oklahoma. The mulch helped retain moisture, and provide even moisture for plants sensitive to massive fluctuations in soil moisture (such as tomatoes) while simultaneously providing protection of the seed bed for weed control. And unlike mulches like black fabric or plastic, the mulch would help to keep the soil cool. Methods like that might work well for California, but I have my doubts about an area that is as hot as Oklahoma.
The question still remained, how do I start the garden since I am not converting a garden but rather starting on in new ground.
Monday, September 14, 2015
The beginings of the garden.
I should throw a little biographical information out there before I get into the meat of the blog. (It partially explains how the garden and quest came to be.) I am father of 2 (8mo and 3yrs roughly) and a college graduate. In college I majored in Accounting but never really was interested in that subject. The plight of that decision could be the subject of a blog of it's self. I would imagine that it is the story of many men an women of the era in that the economy ruined my expected career path.
However, while I was at Oklahoma State I took a class under professor Dr. Hadley, Soil Science XXXX. He was one of the most inspirational instructors that I had during my time there. (It could just be because Accounting instructors lack a certain vigor due to the subject matter.) It was in his class that I learned about modern agriculture technologies such as no-till and drip irrigation. I always thought that it was odd to consider something as simple as no-till as a technology but that is truly what it is.
Let me lead off that I am not against old ways or old things in the least. Nearly all things that I own are older than I am. (I find that old tools are built to last and offer a significant savings over buying new.) However, when it comes to technology (computers and gardening) The old ways are not always best. The new technologies offer significant improvements over the old ways.
When I started my garden, I will not lie, I was going to put in a till operation. However, I simply did not wish to put in the time to lay a traditional garden. This is Oklahoma home of Bermuda grass. I would imagine that it would nearly be impossible to rid the garden of it. (Which was the experience that I had in the past.) So I started considering other options.
It was at this time that I remembered no till and the many benefits of not tilling the earth. I had to fight every fiber of my being to try it. It went against everything I was raised with, but I decided to march boldly into the future.
However, while I was at Oklahoma State I took a class under professor Dr. Hadley, Soil Science XXXX. He was one of the most inspirational instructors that I had during my time there. (It could just be because Accounting instructors lack a certain vigor due to the subject matter.) It was in his class that I learned about modern agriculture technologies such as no-till and drip irrigation. I always thought that it was odd to consider something as simple as no-till as a technology but that is truly what it is.
Let me lead off that I am not against old ways or old things in the least. Nearly all things that I own are older than I am. (I find that old tools are built to last and offer a significant savings over buying new.) However, when it comes to technology (computers and gardening) The old ways are not always best. The new technologies offer significant improvements over the old ways.
When I started my garden, I will not lie, I was going to put in a till operation. However, I simply did not wish to put in the time to lay a traditional garden. This is Oklahoma home of Bermuda grass. I would imagine that it would nearly be impossible to rid the garden of it. (Which was the experience that I had in the past.) So I started considering other options.
It was at this time that I remembered no till and the many benefits of not tilling the earth. I had to fight every fiber of my being to try it. It went against everything I was raised with, but I decided to march boldly into the future.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
This blog is dedicated to experimental
gardening in Oklahoma. My garden is located in Enid Oklahoma. Enid is
in West central part of the state. This region is most notable for
long hot dry summers and freezing winters. The seasons are very
diverse as they are across most of the state.
I have lived in Oklahoma for about 17 years. I have tried gardening many times here in several different cities and but they all ended up the same. Dead with horrible harvests. The problem with Ok is that it is hot, dry, windy, wet, full of pestilence/disease, and unpredictable.
I have had some really good results in the past two years as I have undertook organic gardening as a primary means of production. I hope to share with the readers my successes and failures, recipes that I like, and advice. I hope to grow a base of supporters to bring back sustainable gardening practices to the region. The methods that I will here-after describe have worked well for me and have provided a means for me to grow food with a very small investment of time. The methods are not my own, but they work and I offer my experience for free as an education to my readers.
I have lived in Oklahoma for about 17 years. I have tried gardening many times here in several different cities and but they all ended up the same. Dead with horrible harvests. The problem with Ok is that it is hot, dry, windy, wet, full of pestilence/disease, and unpredictable.
I have had some really good results in the past two years as I have undertook organic gardening as a primary means of production. I hope to share with the readers my successes and failures, recipes that I like, and advice. I hope to grow a base of supporters to bring back sustainable gardening practices to the region. The methods that I will here-after describe have worked well for me and have provided a means for me to grow food with a very small investment of time. The methods are not my own, but they work and I offer my experience for free as an education to my readers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)