Midsummer Garden Update

Linda and I have been busy with garden things. I go out most every day and pick what needs picking. We have been getting quite a few tomatoes and purple hull peas -- also, jalapeno peppers. The Lima beans are blooming like crazy and are forming pods, so I will soon be busy picking and shelling beans. It's kind of my job to pick and shell, and Linda does the canning.

I have been playing around with how I prune the okra. It is just starting to produce well. It is a little late in producing this year, but I think that is because I planted it a little too late. Okra is sensitive to day length and, if planted too late, will not set fruit until the days get shorter.

I tried planting fall potatoes, but it was very hot when I planted them and they did not do well. The sweet potatoes look really nice though. They have absolutely taken over their bed. There is a little leaf damage from grasshoppers but not enough to hurt anything. The vines are all intertwined and reaching out to the walkways.

Linda finally got tired of eating fresh string beans, so we have just let them go. They are loaded with old beans now. I guess I need to pull them up. They share a bed with a tomato plant and the peppers, as well as some new Lima beans.

Linda's herb garden is a mixed bag. Most of the plants look pretty good, with the exception of the parsley which died for some unknown reason. I have to admit that I don't spend too much time taking care of the herb garden. It gets watered regularly and that is about it. And I have picked a couple of Japanese beetles off the basil. That basil has been blooming all summer and the honey bees and other insects have been busy collecting pollen.

We also have a volunteer tomato vine in the herb garden that isn't staked. It has spilled over the side of the bed and most of the plant is outside the bed growing on the ground. It isn't all that pretty, but I hate to pull it up when it is producing good tomatoes.

I try to pick the purple hull peas every day or so. I then take them inside and shell them. I truly enjoy shelling cowpeas that are mature and ready to be shelled. Since I pick them myself, I have total control over this process. I'm also kind of particular that all the pods are pointing the same way. This facilitates the shelling process. After they are shelled, Linda blanches them and puts them in the freezer. She puts about a pint of peas in each container. That is about right for the two of us. They are good when eaten with fresh young jalapeno peppers-- and corn bread, of course!

The asparagus is beginning to turn brown and die back. Soon I will cut it down for the winter. The bed will be topped off with compost and perhaps some hay will be placed on top to protect the plants from extreme cold. Next spring I will remove the hay and again top the bed off with compost before the first shoots begin to grow. And that is how I grow asparagus.

I have three tomato plants that I started from suckers. They are now growing directly in their respective beds. Each one is looking healthy and I hope to get fruit from them this fall before a killing frost comes. As I write this column, it is raining outside and I, for one, am glad for the rain. It has been a good year for raising a vegetable garden. While I usually water my garden once a week as needed, I have not had to water all that much this year. And I am thankful that the fields and lawns are still green even though it is already August. It could be a lot hotter and a lot drier.

They say, "Man plans, but God does." I try to keep that in mind as I make plans for a fall garden. The seeds have been purchased and the plans are being formulated. I'm just waiting for beds to come open as I cycle through different crops. The purple hull peas will soon be done and both of those beds will be used for fall greens. And so it goes.

It just dawned on me that I often mention corn bread in my articles. Today, I thought it would be appropriate if I included a recipe for corn bread. Here is one Linda and I both like:

Fairly Healthy Corn Bread Recipe

1 cup enriched yellow cornmeal

3 tablespoons of whole grain cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar (set aside)

¼ cup canola oil

1 egg (use 2 eggs if you don't like crumbly corn bread)

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. Place small cast iron skillet with some oil to heat in oven. Mix dry ingredients (except for sugar), well. Also, stir wet ingredients together and mix into dry ingredients. Mix well.

Add buttermilk to get the right consistency (about a cup). You want the mix to be kind of stiff instead of runny.

Remove hot skillet from oven and pour some of the hot oil into the corn bread batter. It should sizzle if done right. Mix well and pour batter into hot skillet (again it should sizzle), and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture pulls away from sides of skillet. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, about that sugar. Take it and put it back into its container. Everyone with any sense of propriety knows you simply don't put sugar in corn bread. Happy gardening!

Sam Byrnes is a Gentry area resident who has been gardening from his youth. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 08/19/2015