Real Estate (Farm & Ranch Land)

Successes and Failures in the Garden this Year

Successes and failures in the garden this year. Let us start with the failures.
I grew Romanesco broccoli this year. It grows in a tight spiral pattern and has a mild flavor. The chefs like Gordan Ramsey and others use this in their recipes. The plant grew up to 3 feet tall and never put on a head (floret) until October. Then the cold came in and killed all 20 plants. Will not grow again.


Radishes failed again. It has been several years since I grew decent roots. Will grow the heat resistant variety Parat.


Watermelon did not mature well. I think this is because of the clay soil, better if I mixed in the sand. The yellow variety, Yellow Doll produced some melons.


Head lettuce did better than the leaf lettuce. That was mainly because deer got in and ate the tops of the leaf lettuce before I got the electric fence up. Will grow more head lettuce (Iceberg) started indoors.


Some rodents got into the beets this year and partially ate several larger beets. Did not see this until the damage was done. The little beast never went to anything else. Will grow again but watch better.


Weeds got wild in the melon/squash area where I could not step in and pull them up. Next year I will flop the garden and rotate tomatoes, peppers, and row crops where I can control the weeds better.

Successes were the okra. It always grows and seemly has no pest but a few grasshoppers. The green okra tasted better than the red podded okra and but produced less.


Cucumbers did wonderful this year especially the varieties Sweet Success and Sweet Slice. Both had fruits around a foot long without any bitterness.


Most of the muskmelons did well. The best was the green flesh variety Nutmeg. It produced so many, I lost track of ripening and lost a few.
Winter squash did well. The variety Kabocha (Japanese variety) had the best taste. The flesh is dry, no fibers, and sweet.

Summer squash, all varieties, produced into October. I did spray them with a fungicide to prevent powdery mildew usually harms the plants in August.
Peppers produced wildly. The variety of Cubaneno has a good spicy taste.
Success/failure were heirloom tomatoes vs hybrid tomatoes. The hybrid tomatoes like Celebrity produce more fruit. But I always go back to the heirloom tomatoes like Brandywine for a richer tomato taste that the newer varieties seem to have lost. Heirlooms produce less fruit and tend to be more disease tender.


Best success: use of red plastic mulch for tomatoes and peppers. Where I had this film, the peppers grew twice as big with a lot more fruit.

Vegetables

Leave some Vegetables in the Ground

I am a lazy gardener meaning I love working in the garden; however, I am all over saving time and energy. I do not have the environment to save vegetables in the house. You can leave some vegetables in the ground until the soil freezes (usually mid-December). Carrots are a good example. To prevent soil freeze, my mother used to place square bales of straw over the row. You could go out in February and dig out some vegetables.

Parsnips can be left in the ground like carrots. Even if the soil freezes solid, if you were quick in the spring after a thaw, they would be simply fine. Most people do not like parsnips because they have eaten them before frost. When the root freezes, this creates a high sugar content in the root making them like candy sautéed in butter.

Beets are touchier. They should be harvested before the soil starts to freeze.

Cabbage is an example of a vegetable that can withstand freezes. Cabbage is eaten in the summer and one eaten in the fall have totally different tastes. The fall cabbage will be sweeter because of the higher sugar content caused by cold weather.

DIY Projects, Home Maintenance

Winterize Your Home

There are some easy, cheap ways to winterize your home. First, after the trees drop their leaves, clean your gutter of debris. This allows the melting water to flow down and away from your home.

Clean those gutters
Clean those gutters


Change the direction of your ceiling fans. They should now rotate clockwise moving the warm, lighter air down to the floor.

Clockwise direction on ceiling fan
Clockwise direction on ceiling fan


The most frustrating way to keep heat in is to use window film on the windows. Insulation film on windows can keep up to 70% of the heat in especially if you do not have double pane windows. Using heavy curtains also helps. One of the best things I did was to replace the old windows and storm windows you a to put on every fall with double-pane energy efficient windows.

Window insulation film


Check underneath you outside entrance doors to see if cold air comes in the bottom. If it does place a draft guard under the door. You can use a rolled towel to seal off the draft.

Door draft guard
Door draft guard


Change your furnace air filters to improve its efficiency.


If your windows leak around the outside edges, use rolled weatherstripping putty to seal the warm air from leaking outside. Any remaining gaps around the door or windows can be filled with caulk. If the home is older, you can pull off the moldings and fill the gaps with insulation or caulk.
Every degree you lower your thermostat you will save between 1 to 3 percent. Have you ever forgotten to turn down the heat when you left your house? For as little as $50, you can get a programmable thermostat that turns the heat up or down when you want it. Also, you can get a smart thermostat that you can control on your phone.

If your water heater pipes are in a cooler area like a basement, get pre-slit pipe insulators or batt-style wrap for your hot water pipes. If you are doing major upgrades like installing new windows or furnace, there may be federal tax credits so check with your accountant.

Insulation tube for water pipes
Insulation tube for water pipes