Green Beans

Saturday, after Tony plowed the garden, Jerry hooked up the soaker hoses and started watering the beans.  And, boy, do beans love water.  They really started growing and have put on some runners.  The plants are still somewhat small and the runners will be what produces the blooms and then the bean.  It is amazing to watch this happen.  The plants look healthy except for a few places where the bugs have eaten them.  We will take care of those bugs with a little Sevin dust.

After watering the beans

Beans are a vine and the best way to stake them is so the the vine will grow up.  If you don't, the vine will be on the ground and all the beans will be on the ground.  It is not fun picking beans on your knees.  Over the years Tony has perfected "staking" the beans.  There has been some trial and error and this is the way that works best for us.  We have found that big wooden fence posts with some metal fence posts work well, along with barbed wire and bailing twine.  The thin twine is the best because by the end of the winter, the twine will rot on the wire.  This year Jerry has had the "pleasure" of driving the posts along each row and tieing the stings.  It is HARD work; but, it makes life so much easier down the road.

They drive 8' wooden fence posts at the end of each row and at a quarter and half way.  The post at the end of the row are braced at the top with a 2X4 to give them more stability.  It is a big job!  Since the soaker hoses had been on the ground for a while, it made it a little easier to drive the posts.  Between each wooden fence post in the row, there is a 8' metal post to help hold up the barbed wire.  The barbed wire is run across the top of each post.  Don't ask why we use barbed wire.  It might be because of its strength.  It is not becuase it is easy to handle. It will eat you up.  As the bean vines grow, they get heavier and heavier and put alot of pressure on the wire.  So, at the end of each row there is a short metal post driven in the ground and cable is looped around the top of the wooden post and the ends are connected and ratcheted so it can be tightened up as the season goes.





The back end of the bean row



Front end of the bean row

After all the posts are up and the barbed wire is run from one end of the row to the other, you tie cut pieces of the bailing twine about every 6 to 8 inches.  The bailing twine is what the bean runner catches and climbs.  It is amazing...the bean vine has little feelers on them and when the wind blows the runner across the twine it grabs.  Often times we will start the runner by hand.  The vine only runs in one direction, counterclockwise.

Why would you wear white socks to the garden?

Runners

Staking the beans is a job that requires everyone to get involved.  This year Granny had the job of cutting the twine.  It is not a back breaking job; but, it is important. After all, you will need about 700 stings. 



Granny, the greatest teacher I have ever known!



It Takes Water

What is so funny about gardening is that you can do everything perfect; but without water, you've got nothing.  I guess that's why older people are always talking about the weather.  I think weather is God's way of reminding us who's in charge.  We can do all sorts of planning and we can control most everything; but, over and over God's Word reminds us that none among us has ever caused one drop of rain to fall.  It is because of God's mercy that HE allows water to fall to the earth.  Without it, we would all wither.

It has been about two weeks since we have had a good rain and the beans and tomatoes need watering.  Because we have been here before, Tony has bought all the hoses we need to get water from the well, run it to the garden and use soaker hoses right next to the plants.  It is amazing the difference it makes.  Soaker hoses are ideal.  They use very little water, it can be laid right next to the plant and the water soaks in the ground down to the roots.  When you use a sprinkler alot of the water evaporates in the air, you water the weeds and the plants and most of the water lays on the top of the soil instead of going directly into the ground to the roots.

Soaker hoses beside the tomatoes

Soaker watering the japaleno



Soakers on the beans





Peas and Okra

There is alot of work to do when you plant a garden.  It is hard physical labor.  This week was more of that hard work and with the temperature getting higher, we had to start watering.  We'll talk more about that later.  Saturday, May 21st, Tony plowed the garden for the second time.  Before he did, the corn had to be thinned and some of the suckers had to be taken off.  As I said when we planted, corn has shoots that grow off the side of the stalk.  If you cut them out, the stalk will be healthier and grow a fuller and bigger ear.  These suckers take nutrients from the stalk; but, they don't produce anything.  Do you know anyone like this?  God's first commandment to us was to rule, subdue and PRODUCE!  No matter where we are planted, we need to be productive.  In other words, Get up and do something!  The corn has grown taller and Tony will only be able to plow with the Farm-all a couple of more times.  When it gets too high to plow, we will "lay it by".



You can see the suckers that were cut-off and laying in the rows.







After plowing, you can still see a little moisture.



Since Tony had the tractor at the garden he decided to go ahead and replant the okra and plant the crowder peas.  The ground on the lower side had hardened since he first plowed in mid-April so he had to till it again.  This time he just used the harrows to break the ground.  They don't pulverize the soil.  After he plowed, he layed off 5 rows with the Farm-all.  One row of okra and four rows of peas.  These pea seeds are over 100 years old and have been grown by the Wade side of Tony's family.  When Granny moved from Yonah to White County when she was 12 years old, her daddy protected these seed by sitting on them.  Can you imagine riding in a wagon from Yonah, between Homer and Alto, to the southern end of White County with your family and everything you own?  That's what they did.

 Normally, we plant the peas on June 10th.  I am not sure why, it's just when Granny says they should be planted.  But, we are taking a chance this year and planting two weeks early.  I hope we don't have the same results as we had with the okra and have to replant.  When the peas start coming up is when we will encounter another one of the garden's enemies, deer.  Deer love peas and they will come from near and far and will eat the tops out of the pea plants.  We have tried every conceivable way to deter them.  We have tied plastic bags to strings, tied Granny's dog, Roll, to a tree next to the garden, we have gotten hair from Tony's sister and brother-in-law and put all around the edges.  And, Tony has even tried taking off all of his clothes and laying them on the fence around the garden hoping the scent would keep them away.  Nothing we have tried has worked....even stripping down naked.  So, if you have any suggestions, let me know.  As you can see nothing is out of Tony's reach when it comes to protecting the garden.



Harrows



Rows for okra and peas

Setting Out

After Tony plowed, the ground was broken up, moisture brought to the top and it was the perfect time to set out the cucumbers, squash and tomatoes.  When plowing, he decided to plow up the okra.  We did not get a good stand.  If you'll remember back mid-April when we planted it, I said that we normally don't plant the okra this early because it is not warm enough.  I was right.  Okra likes heat and ours did not do well.  Okra was a plant brought over from Africa so you can imagine the conditions that it needs to grow.

Every year we plant an abundance of tomatoes.  This year is no exception, we set out 25 plants.  The only thing different is that Jerry, Tony's brother, set them out.  Tomatoes can get all sorts of diseases.  The blight, the rot and then there are worms that will eat them.  People have different ways to prevent this from happening.  One thing we started doing is adding lime.  Not A lime, but lime powder that is a source of calcium.  You mix it with the soil so that it will be absorbed through the roots.  Because the ground was soft from plowing, Jerry dug the holes, carefully spaced them so that they can be caged later, and added lime to the soil and mixed it up. Then he set the tomatoes from the container on top of the mixture and covered the roots.  He also sprinkled a little lime right on top of the ground just for good measure.

Tomatoe planted 5/12/11

We planted the cucumber, squash and tomatoes on the row right next to the beans.  Squash and cucumbers spread out when they grow and require lots of room.  And if you keep the vegetables picked, squash and cucumber will continue to bear until the plant dies.  So, potenially we can give everyone we know a "bait".  The thrill of watching something grow is what drove Tony to set out these plants from seed in peet pots.  He put these pots in the house, next to a sunny window (in my utility room).  Over the last month, they grew enough that they were ready to be put out.  Granny said she thought they should be a little tougher.  We'll see!  Jerry set these out when he planted the tomatoes.  And he gave them plenty of room!

Squash and cucumber 4-20-11



4-30-11

Cucumber 5/12/11

Watch it Grow

When you have a garden some weeks are busier than others.  This was one of those weeks.  We fertilized, planted, plowed and thinned.  This week the temperature got up into the 90's drying out the ground and making it perfect for plowing.  The garden needs moisture and fertilizer.  Tony bought 200 lbs of
gu-annar.  Many old timers call vegetable fertilizer "gu-annar".  It was a fertilizer harvested long ago and I am not sure if they even make the pure stuff anymore. But, today, gu-annar is a broad term for any plant fertilizer.  There is a true science behind soil management and the chemicals you add to grow a green healthy plant.  It takes nitrogen, phosphate and potash.  We use 5-10-15.  But, Granny just calls it all gu-annar.  It's funny how you hear older people say things and use words younger people have never heard.  I wish I had written a book of these phrases. "This younger generation" could learn alot by talking to old people. 



Jerry fertlized the garden before Tony got home from work.  He poured the fertilizer in a small cloth bag so it would be easier to carry.  And "threw" it out right next to the plant.  Careful not to hit the plant because the nitrogen will burn it.  It is important to fertilize first so that when Tony plows it, the broken ground will let the fertilizer mix with the moisture and will get down to the roots.  This is where the 1956 Farm-All is so vital.  If we did not have that tractor, we would have to hoe the whole garden to get the fertilizer into the soil.  When Tony plowed it there was still moisture right below the surface even though it had been over a week since it rained and the tempurature was up.



Unplowed Merrit corn 5/10/11







Unplowed beans 5/10/11

 


Plowing in the fetilizer 5/10/11







Plowed Merrit 5/10/11



It is amazing what a difference the guannar and the plows will make. We came back two days later and look at what had happened.

The Enemy

In order to produce a garden, you have to get rid of the enemy.  Weather, rodents, deer, birds and bugs.  They all pose a threat.   This week we survived one of those threats...blackberry winter.  May 4th there was a light frost.  We debated about whether the temperature would drop low enough to kill the beans.  Tony has some ground cover that he could have laid over the tender plants.  Because Granny said she didn't think it would be a hard frost, he decided not to.  She was right.
  
Today, we faced another challenge.  Groundhogs!  In the twelve years Tony and I have been married, I have determined that there are only two things that will make him lose it...rats and groundhogs.  When he is faced with a rodent, he goes crazy mad and I am not exaggerating.  He will do whatever it takes to get rid of it.  He makes John Belushi look sensible!  So when Granny called and said she saw two groundhogs, he grabbed the gun and bullets and took off.  He has said, he will lose his religion over a groundhog.  Seriously.

You have to see the big picture.  The garden is behind three chicken houses.  There are stacks of rotting wood on one side of the garden and on the other side is an old trailer.  The combination of these three things gives groundhogs the perfect place to build dens.  The mama groundhog digs a hole and goes in to have her babies.  All those groundhogs are just waiting on us to plant the garden and as soon as the small plants come up, the groundhogs will eat every one of them.  They are alot bigger animals than you think they are and they can mow down a row of beans in one night.  Granny says, "thur hateful"!

In years past, Tony has set steel traps for these 'hogs.  He'll place the traps on either side of the hole.  He has gotten lucky many times.  But, you have to be patient, something he runs short of when it comes to animals eating his garden.  One year, he had one cornered in a den and he stuck the barrel of the gun down in the den and started shooting.  I starting screaming, "STOP, STOP!!!"  He took me to the house and told me to stay there.  He lost his mind that night and I decided when he is hunting 'hog, I'm staying inside.

This afternoon, Tony bush hogged around the garden.  He knew with the grass cut down, he would be able to see the groundhogs running to the garden. So, tonight when Granny called to tell us she saw two groundhogs "playing" in the grass he had mowed,  he was ready.  We went straight to Granny's and he got off a shot and missed.  Granny said he need to just start shooting.  Don't worry, Granny, that's exactly what he'll do!