# Northern MN garden starting to produce



## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I've been picking things like radishes, beets, basil, some green peppers, and green onion for a while now. Today was the 1st pick for tomatoes and potatoes. The tomatoes will have to sit on the counter for a couple of day yet. 

I didn't dig up the potatoes.... just felt around under the mulch to find enough for some roasted spuds. 

Both green and white cucumbers are really starting to set heavily. I'm going to do a separate post about white cucumbers. The is my best year for beets, in several years. Just didn't pick any today.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

What refreshing pictures, Dick. Especially considering, its 100 deg here in the shade and there isn't much shade. Hasn't rained in weeks and epic flooding before that.

I'm looking for ways to get back to Alaska after I get the hay baled and moved... Man, its hot!!


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

The potato tops have died back so they can be dug any time now. The next time that the ground gets dried out, I will be digging most of them up.

Picking lots of tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers, cucumbers, zukes, green beans, onions and beets. We will start canning tomatoes in about 1 week.

Pumpkins, and squash need another 3 weeks to ripen. The biggest pumpkin is between 16 and 18 #s. The next biggest are several about 12 to 15 #s. All are still growing. The squash are also very big this year.

I used a lot of my homemade fish emulsion and it seems to have paid off very well. The plan is to do it again next year as well.


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## SwampRat (Jul 30, 2004)

Looking mighty fine.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

I've given up on pumpkins.Finally had a few that got big 2 years ago,but when I cut them off the vine,they were nearly hollow and full of fireants.Great report and pics. Mr. Hanks!


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## cva34 (Dec 22, 2008)

Dang Dick I'm jealous..Mine got Okra and Peppers the only thing that seems to like heat and dry..We like to dround in spring and only a few drops since then.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I know that the hottest part of summer is tough in Texas..... but dang, I sure love your winters! I'm also very jealous of you guys when you are planting all kinds of stuff, and I am just getting back home and still looking at snow on the ground, and the ground is frozen solid. I guess both of our gardens have their glory days. Mine is just hitting it's peak about now. When you are starting your fall crops, I'm preparing for that 1st frost that will kill most of my garden.

I hope that most of you can enjoy seeing what is happening up here, as much as I enjoy seeing what you guys are doing with your gardens in Texas.

Some of my bigger tomatoes are just starting to ripen. It doesn't look like I'll have any over 1.5# this year, but should have a lot over 1#. I'll post some pictures and weights as I pick them. 

Keep your fingers dirty!


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

Hot Hot I'm a big fan of fish emulsion. Your veggies look great. I've got about 4 ft of weeds in mine. Only thing left is cream peas.


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Very nice Mr. Hanks!


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Today was a cool (high of 59 F), rainy, day so we decided to do some canning. Canned tomatoes, pickled green beans, and some pickled white cucumbers.

The 1st picture is of some Black Krim tomatoes. This is their color when they are fully ripe. They are an excellent eating tomato, but they have dark interiors, and they tend to make the canned tomatoes look darker than normal. In the future, I will only grow 1 plant of this type for fresh eating.... no canning.

The picture of the canning jars: The tomatoes have: lemon juice, salt, garlic, onion, and medium hot pepper slices in them. The green beans have: salt, vinegar/water, dill, spices, hot peppers, and garlic. The white Cukes have the same pickling ingredients. The white Cukes kinda look like pickled, hard boiled, eggs.

The last picture is of my biggest tomato so far: 1# 9.9 oz


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

I found a few fairly big tomatoes while picking yesterday. The big one is 1# 12 oz. All the rest, except for the smallest one, are between 1# 4oz and 1# 6 oz. The biggest one, and the other 2 like it, that are pinkish colored are the Giant Belgium Tomato variety. Most of them have shapes that can cause waste, but the are a VERY good eating tomato. The 2 tomatoes that have a more perfect shape, nice red color, are the Super Steak Tomato variety. They are a good tomato, but not as tasty as the Giant Belgium.

Given how much tomato plant performance and tomato taste can vary by location and every season, your results might be completely different. Everyone has different flavor profiles that they look for in a tomato as well. That's why it is fun trying out different varieties.

Bottom picture is the bacon that we will use in the B.L.T.s that we will be making for dinner today.


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## Rubberback (Sep 9, 2008)

Looks good. My garden is 4' of solid weeds. But a few more weeks & I'll be pulling weeds for the fall garden. I'm rubbing it in Dick sorry. It gets hot & I loose interest in the garden. But I enjoyed my spring garden this year. 
Keep picking & canning.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

I sure wouldn't care what the tomatoes look like in the jar if they taste good.Your reports coming in when our gardens are all burned to helll is what keeps me interested in mine.I was in Colorado all last week,and the folks next to our motel had a container garden that was beautiful.It seemed so strange to see little green tomatoes and plants still blooming.I thought of you and your bear problem while there.I get up early because of 32 years of getting up at 3:30am for work and can't break the habit,but am usually out and about by 6:00 now days,and was walking out our door,when I noticed trash scattered everywhere 10ft. from our door.I went on out to my truck,and right by my door was a huge pile of bear poop.I walked the streets of Ouray,and there was trash everywhere.A cop stopped and talked a while and told me one bear made that mess.If any dumpsters at businesses didn't have an approved by city lock on it,they would be fined.When the sun came up,I went to the peoples garden to see if they got into their stuff,but everything was ok.They just have about 6' wire mesh around it.


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

peckerwood said:


> I sure wouldn't care what the tomatoes look like in the jar if they taste good.Your reports coming in when our gardens are all burned to helll is what keeps me interested in mine.I was in Colorado all last week,and the folks next to our motel had a container garden that was beautiful.It seemed so strange to see little green tomatoes and plants still blooming.I thought of you and your bear problem while there.I get up early because of 32 years of getting up at 3:30am for work and can't break the habit,but am usually out and about by 6:00 now days,and was walking out our door,when I noticed trash scattered everywhere 10ft. from our door.I went on out to my truck,and right by my door was a huge pile of bear poop.I walked the streets of Ouray,and there was trash everywhere.A cop stopped and talked a while and told me one bear made that mess.If any dumpsters at businesses didn't have an approved by city lock on it,they would be fined.When the sun came up,I went to the peoples garden to see if they got into their stuff,but everything was ok.They just have about 6' wire mesh around it.


You are probably right about canning Black Krim tomatoes. We shouldn't worry about them being darker than the rest. We can save them just for us to use up. They are a great eater either fresh or canned.

The electric fence that I installed on the outside of the deer fence, seems to be working great @ keeping the bear out now. That's a big deal because they can destroy a garden, blueberry and raspberry plants, and even fruit trees so quickly. Deer are bad enough, bears are in a different league.

Here are a couple more pictures:

1) This big patch of leaves is 2 pumpkin plants and 2 acorn squash plants. The leaves are between waist and chest high in some places. I counted at least 10 pumpkins and over a dozen squash. There are probably a bunch that I can't see in there as well.

2) There is a garter snake in this picture. It is guarding the next musk melon that will be ready to pick. He has been living in the garden for the last month or so. I'm OK with that as long as I see him, before I reach too close.

3) Six other musk melons racing to see if they can ripen before the 1st frost hits. The melon plants that I started from seeds that I got from Rubberback were accidentally give to the daughter. I guess they are doing fine for her!


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

Maybe just 3 more pictures:

1) The Brussel Sprout plants are start to form sprouts so I cut the growing tops off of the plants and snapped off some of the bottom leaves so the energy will go to the sprouts now. As our nights get cooler and cooler the sprout's flavor will continue to improve. Hitting a flavor peak when the 1st frost comes.

2) The pepper plants are starting to produce a lot mature peppers that are turning red or orange on a regular basis now: Sweet Yum Yums, Anaheims, Jalapenos, and Aji Dulce. All of the Aji Dulce are still green but some should be ripe soon.

3) Some Zuke plants


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## jm423 (Sep 18, 2011)

Great looking garden, Dick. Mine is burned to a crisp, except for okra and sweet potatoes. Everything else gone, although looks like I may get a volunteer crop of peas from where I shredded the vines. At lest be more pea vines to till under. Starting to get ready for fall garden now--that is best in this part of the world. I admire all that good stuff growing now, but don't think I would trade a South Texas summer for a Minnesota winter.(One winter in E Chicago, Indiana was enough to convince me I was X hundred miles North of where I belong!)


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## Dick Hanks (Aug 16, 2007)

There has been frost here the last 3 mornings around sunrise. The party is over. The frost got the green beans that were still bearing heavily, all of the vine crops and got most of the peppers, but not all of them. The beets and brussel sprouts are still chugging along but that's about it.

The pumpkin crop was great this year. Lots of big, high quality, pumpkins. Giving most away to the grandkids and friends. Lots of huge squash too.

The peppers that are pictured below are "Sweet Yum Yums" on the left and Anaheim on the right. Both are heirloom varieties and produce true to the parent from seeds kept for the next year. The Sweet Yum Yums are just that. Very sweet with a great flavor and no heat. The Anaheim have heat, but not as much as a Jalapeno. Great on sandwiches. I have been saving seeds out of both varieties. They need to dry for about 2 weeks and then they will be ready to replant.

I have grown yellow, orange and red Yum Yums in the past and have found the orange to be the most productive. I only grow orange now. As you can see, they vary a lot in size and shape.
If any of the regular posters on here want some pepper seeds to try growing, I will mail you some free, of either variety, or both varieties if you prefer. Just PM me your address and I'll mail them to you in about 2 weeks. They need to dry for a while longer before I package them.


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

Did your melons ripen before the frost? I had a huge TAM honeydew crop.Only a 50'row and picked 4 wheel-barrels full.Those are beautiful pumpkins.My 1st attempt at pumpkins was 3 years ago.They looked great(not as big as yours though),but when I picked the first one,it was hollow.Fireants ate all the meat out of them.Didn't have an ant problem in the rest of the garden,because they stayed with the pumpkins.Whippoorwill peas are loaded and will be picking maybe next Friday.


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## The Driver. (May 20, 2004)

Dick Hanks said:


> There has been frost here the last 3 mornings around sunrise. The party is over. The frost got the green beans that were still bearing heavily, all of the vine crops and got most of the peppers, but not all of them. The beets and brussel sprouts are still chugging along but that's about it.
> 
> The pumpkin crop was great this year. Lots of big, high quality, pumpkins. Giving most away to the grandkids and friends. Lots of huge squash too.
> 
> ...


Very nice Mr. Hanks!


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