Corn Harvest

 The corn stalks are golden and dried, and so we have been harvesting the ears of corn that are also golden and dried and hang upside down on the stalk.  They turned out beautifully for the most part.  Some that were planted too close to the pumpkins and got strangled out didn't pollinate very well, but most of them have decent ears.  Lots of seeds for next year, and to share with other growers to keep this rare corn alive!

We are not going to eat any this year, because I'd like to save every precious kernel - but I am saving the husks to wrap tamales in.  Some day (next year?) I will make tamales with our own corn.

Otherwise the garden is wrapping up for the season.  The peppers and eggplants still have a few fruits.  I planted the new fall starts of cucumbers, squash, and beans.  This weekend I am hoping to get the fall tomatoes and melons in.  We'll see what happens.  This is the first year I'm trying a second fall planting of summer vegetables.  They might get frozen out in a few months, but there's always the chance they will be wonderfully productive before then.  Often we have disappointing Christmases where we still have the AC on and it's in the mid-eighties outside.  I think I will start my tomatoes for next year then, too.  I always try them in January when there's the two weeks of freezing weather and I have to nurse the little seedlings through.

I'm trying to refine my gardening skills this year.  Just this morning I started a second wave of the winter vegetables - kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, etc.  The first seedlings from two weeks ago are doing what they usually do - lingering with the first leaves and looking unhappy in the heat.  I've decided to start seeds every two weeks this fall to find out when the best time is.  I've tried reading the IFAS info sheets and talking to other gardeners about it, but I always get different answers and it never seems to work out some how.  This year will be different!