Seeing More Vegetables Growing on My Plants

Just thought I would write a quick post about some of my plants that are beginning to produce some flowers and vegetables.  First of all my corn stalks don't produce flowers, but they are starting to grow ears of corn which will be picked hopefully sometime this month.  I am also seeing eggplants and peppers that are beginning to fill up the plants with vegetables.  These I hope to also pick this month.

I also had some more cherry tomatoes and cucumbers that were ripe enough to be picked.  Don't worry I have plenty more cherry tomatoes and cucumbers that I should have some more harvests before the end of the season.

What I Got From My Corn Stalks and Tomato Plants This Week

I actually was able to get quite a bit from both my corn stalks and tomato plants, specifically my Roma tomato plants.  These have been doing good for the entire year and I have only had to throw out a few of them because they began to rot or because fruit flies started going after them.  Today I picked all the ones that were still good and ready to be turned into sauce.

I actually needed five bowls to carry all the tomatoes inside and I should have just used one of the large totes that I use for harvesting corn.  This probably would have made it much easier instead of filling up five bowls.  In the end I was able to collect plenty of Roma tomatoes that are now being cooked into sauce.  This means more sauce for the Winter.

Here you can see how large many of these tomatoes actually were.

Many of them were so close to being the two pounds that I was hoping that they were.  One and a half is just as good and is actually three times the weight and size of a normal Roma tomato.

Now that I have discussed my tomatoes I also have corn that was harvested during the week as well.  I think I picked them at the end of the day on Thursday.  I got about 39 ears and cooked most of them to eat them whenever I get the urge. 

I will probably eat them as fast as possible so that they don't get too hard from being in the fridge.  They should be fine for the most part since I did cook them before hand.  I only have a few left on the stalks which will be dealt with in the next couple of days or so.

Harvesting Twenty Two Ears of Corn and Seven Steakhouse Tomatoes

These are just two things that I didn't plan on doing today, but it ended up working in the end once I went into the garden to take a look at my plants.  I knew that the corn was probably ready to bring inside and eat immediately.  What I didn't know was how much there was to pick and how many ears I would have to cook. 

Twenty two was the total amount of corn that I picked this evening.  I decided on removing the covering from the ears and cook them for dinner.  They were definitely worth all the work that I gave them and all the rain recently was definitely a big help.  You can see for yourself how good the corn came out this season.

Tomatoes were also ripening and mainly the steakhouse ones.  The Roma tomatoes will most likely be picked in the very near future such as during this week sometime.  I didn't get as many steakhouse tomatoes as I usually do because of the amount of plants that I grew this season.  I planted less than normal thinking I would still get plenty to eat.  The fact is that I got enough for a summer season and as long as they last a couple of weeks I will be happy.

Beans and Corn Again?

Yes that is right it seems that my corn and pole beans are the best harvest that I am having this season at the moment.  It doesn't look like anything else is as productive as these two are.  That is great for me because I love beans and corn and I always grow them every season and enjoy it whenever they are around.

Summer comes just once a year here and it is important that I get as much out of my garden as possible.  This way I will have no regrets or disappointments at the end of the year.  So far this garden season is turning out quite well.  I can't complain about the small things that have been happening and I always try to take the good out of each season.

I check my corn at the beginning of this week and only a couple looked like they were ready to be picked while many others were still at the stage of ripening.  When I checked this past weekend many of them had become ripened and ready to be used for dinner.

Here are 24 ears of corn that were picked just yesterday.

I still have some left over from other harvests that I will have to eat first, but in time these will be used for the same reason and I am looking forward to this time.

It can be a tedious process to pick all the beans that I have received this year, but it is definitely very rewarding to see all the work I put into it was worth it.

The beans are very large and the vines are looking very healthy which means I might be getting more beans in the very near future again.

There are also a couple of plants that are starting to end the season early.  The zucchini had a good run and only a few are left still producing some fruit.  These will be small for the most part, but still edible.  I also am seeing some cucumber plants dying off and no longer producing any new leaves, flowers, or fruit.  A couple of them are still looking healthy, but for the most part they were not good as last season.

I Now Have Corn of my Own That I can Eat and Enjoy

Corn has finally arrived in time before the season starts winding down.  I knew I was going to get corn, but it all depended exactly when this would happen for me.  A few weeks into the month of August I was able to collect the corn that I needed for the summer.

Yesterday is when I did this fun and easy task of removing and checking the ears for ripe corn.  I didn't just want to go out there and start cutting down all the ears on the stalks because chances are that I would likely remove some there were still ripening.

The one thing that I did was check them pretty much every day until yesterday, so I knew that the corn would be coming out very soon.  Once I had pollinated them I could then wait a few weeks for them to develop and once they had reach their full size I could then look at them and wait until they were ripe.

Only 24 were cut from the stalks yesterday and weighed in at 15 pounds.  I was happy with this and I wasn't so worried about the weight and size as I was with the taste.  I cooked them like usual and they came out to be incredibly delicious.  Tender and sweet just like all corn should be.  Here are some photos that I took of the corn harvested yesterday.

Many Corn Plants are Beginning to Produce Silks and Tassels

Today was interesting because I saw my corn stalks and noticed that the hairy part of the corn or silks are being produced by some of the plants.  This is where the corn will reside until it is mature and ready for consumption.  Once it gets pollinated correctly then it will start growing and you will notice that it gets bigger each day.

I don't know if it has been pollinated until the ear begins to grow.  Most corn stalks are able to get as many as three per plant.  I am looking for quality rather than quantity when it comes to corn and any other type of gardening. 

This is the silk and if you have ever peeled corn before then you know exactly what this is.  What you don't know is that this is where the pollen needs to go in order to produce the corn that you and I consume. 

This is where the pollen comes from.  The tassels.

Like everything else in gardening time is what goes against these plants and with only a couple of months left I am confident that I will get plenty of delicious corn to enjoy for the rest of the season.