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Location: Longview, Washington, United States

I live in a small town in Washington State, USA, with my wife, two sons, two dogs, a cat, and family nearby. I work at the local community college as an I.T. Specialist. In March of '02, we bought a 70-some year old house that needed a lot of work. When I'm not working on the house, I like to throw pots, be outside, and read a lot.

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Saturday, September 24, 2005

corn in the pot


corn in the pot
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.


It seems like forever since I've been able to work around the house. OK, I got to do this a couple of weeks ago but it still FEELS like its been since forever ago. Last night I got the old pickup out of mothballs and drove down to the industrial area for a load of mill ends. I found some great kiln dried alder for only about twenty bucks a pickup load. It was so dry and kept us toasty last night that this morning I decided to go back for more. About half way there something broke and the engine wouldn't go anymore. The starter would turn over all day and I seemed to have good electrical flow but the engine sat, as quiet as tea kettle. I had plenty of time to reflect on the fact that I should have taken the cell phone with me and also that the geriatric truck breaks down about every third time I take it off the property. Thankfully my dad drove by about a half hour after I started walking and picked me up. By the time I got home, I was ready to go through the phone book until I found someone who owns a tow truck. I met him at the scene of the break down with the keys and the title and handed them both over. Good riddance. The worst part was that I spend half an hour this morning putting shiny new duct tape over the broken window. Wasted duct tape, oh know!


steamed
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

After the truck debacle, I really felt the need to accomplish something and do something fun so I went to the garden to harvest corn and potatoes. I end up with about five full paper grocery bags of potatoes. I harvested half the corn even though not all of it is ripe yet because the wet weather is here now, mildew is starting and who knows when I'll get back to it. After shucking, boiling and cutting it off the cob, I got a total of about 10 quarts. The other half I'll leave up for us to continue eating.



Ended up with about 8 quarts
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.


Gardening Lessons I've Learned this Year:
1. Plant only red spuds. Those did really well where the purples and yellows came out of the ground not much bigger than when I put them in.
2. Plant all spuds deeper.
3. The bean house is a waste of time and string and is not as condusive to all plants getting enough light. Bamboo teepis are easier both to build and harvest from.
4. Forget about cabbage. The slugs go nuts for it, but I didn't really want the head s I got.
5. Plant more onions, deeper, and in raised beds.
6. Same goes for snow peas. They were delish and I could have eaten twice as many.

posted by Scott in Washington at 3:20 PM |

6 comment(s):

  • i love seeing how your garden is going. the corn looks lovely, i love eating it when it is so young and fresh - there really is nothing better is there?

    By Blogger kath red, at 9/24/2005 06:18:00 PM  

  • Good thing you can grow your own potatoes and corn to feed two boys!

    By Blogger Beth, at 9/27/2005 11:43:00 AM  

  • dude. that is A LOT of CORN!! i see chowder in your future! yummy!

    By Blogger merideth, at 9/28/2005 11:12:00 AM  

  • Great job on your garden this year, the mold even hit mine alittle early and I had to pull somethings early. You are lucky to get corn, I have tried and tried and no luck. I still have beans coming on but know that this weekend the whole garden gets taken down, red clover thrown and I will start scanning the seed books for next year. Did you try white spuds they seem to do well here. I also hill them each week which does produce larger ones. Sorry about your bean house but hey it was pretty cool looking, I see the garden as part art and part food. I try new things every year, this year I tried egg plant; no luck at all. Tomatoes are still touchie third year in a row, I got small ones for fried green tomatoes. Use some of that corn for corn relish it taste like sweet relish and is really good.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9/28/2005 08:21:00 PM  

  • You gotta "hill" the potatoes. That's the trick. I've had awesome success with red's as well. And they come back on their own!

    By Blogger Unknown, at 10/02/2005 10:15:00 AM  

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    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10/28/2005 12:54:00 AM  

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