Timothy Norton

Corn is not going well this year.

I planted my corn in late May and it appears that my germination rate of my prior years crop is rather poor. To add insult to injury, the few random corn sprouts that I have around got absolutely bulldozed by some sort of fuzzy woodland creature. There appears to be a family of two older groundhogs and three baby groundhogs in my neck of the woods. I'd be a little less perturbed if they ate the corn, but they decided just to crush them and bend them over. It's probably too late in June but I have attempted to replant three rows with the remaining seed that I have and thin if the corn germinates too densely.

I have fava beans interplanted in alternating rows with the corn that is getting really good growth. I'm worried however because we have had a period of hot weather and I've heard that favas may not do well producing pods if the temperature is too high.

As a little insurance, I have planted pumpkins and lima beans in the remaining spaces so I will hopefully get some yield this year out of the space I'm experimenting with corn in.

I'm on the opposite side of the States in zone 5B. There is a lot of things that I can influence in my growing spaces but an early warm spell followed by a late hard frost is beyond my skillset!

This year wiped out nearly every fruit tree in the area unless they were a late blooming variety. I have one apple tree that has managed to preserve its buds and it seems that I should have a half decent crop coming from it. This has influenced my next fruit tree planting to be focused on adding late blooming varieties to my mix as a sort of Mother Nature insurance.

It might be worth exploring different varieties of seeds for crops that you want to grow in a similar fashion. There is a term "landrace" that is used frequently on the forum which in laymens terms means creating locally adapted things that thrive in your specific climate. If you don't have a popular type of corn that grows well in your environment, maybe developing your own type would be a solution. It won't be instant gratification but it can be accomplished with some effort.

There is a book known as Landrace Gardening by Joseph Lofthouse which might be of value to you to explore. He is actually on the forums himself and has shared a ton of his experience with creating veggies that thrive in his local environment.

I try to diligently add organic matter to my growing spaces through of a variety of ways to avoid having to deal with the use of fertilizers.

My main approach is the liberal use of  well made compost in my beds. I will add a thick layer annually as a top dressing and let that act as a nutrient source for the plants that may grow. At first, I have worked with a local composting outfit that creates really good stuff that meets my standards and imported it by the truckload to get my spaces established due to a lack of acreage to source materials from. Now, my household composting paired with my chicken coop creates a steady stream of compost for my established spaces.

I'm working on trying to figure out a mulching system for my annual beds that I like, but I am struggling to find something that I have decent success with. My perennial spaces get thick layers of arborist woodchip mixed with desirable mushroom mycelium. This is another source of nutrients while also 'conditioning' the soil to be loose and easy to dig in. Ideally I will figure out a system so I can mulch over my layer of compost to further increase the organic matter in my soils.

When I am not growing a desirable crop in these spaces, I have started experimented on growing cover crops to further capture and release nutrients for future desirable crops. Currently, I have worked with winter-kill cover crops such as brassicas to keep a root in the soil from the autumn into the winter months with good success. By springtime, I only have to hoe the few plants that somehow overwintered and I'm ready to plant. The decaying plant matter works as a mulch in its own way.

From my recollection, to be utilized as a soil drench the solution should be diluted anywhere from 1:10 to 1:20. Foliar spraying has all sorts of further dilution recommendations but what I have read is that dilution of SOME SORT is recommended.

In the grand scheme of things, I don't think the tap water will be the end of the world when used for dilution water. I would encourage you to think about ways to either store/vent a larger amount of dilution tap water when you next brew a JADAM solution or look into a way to capture rainwater if possible.

I'm currently working on a compost tea system that involves a whole bunch of 5 gallon buckets. I'm hoping to work on rainwater capture into a large IBC tote to pull from but thats in the future. For now, I'm filling buckets from the tap and letting them sit for a day or so.

To be honest, I'm not sure when viability of bulbs starts. I tend to wait until the autumn to collect mine and place them where they need to go. The plants generally are at the flopping stage where the bulbils have weighed the top down and they are touching the soil.

I'd be interested to hear if people harvest them earlier in the summer and still have viability.

There is a WIKI on How to Post an Image on Permies that might be of assistance.

Is there any chance you could provide us some pictures of the plants?

I've used mild hydrogen peroxide to break up earwax in the past after a particularly annoying ear infection. My understanding is that you can use it as a treatment but shouldn't do it regularly.

I've found that for cleaning, it does a great job at dislodging 'funk' in the shower that might accumulate. I have sliding glass doors to my shower and the bottom tray where the doors slide on can get nasty. I'll spread some peroxide, let it bubble, and the funk tends to wipe away after a few minutes. Easy peasy!

Yeardly Arthur wrote:I have old broom sticks and shovel handles stationed at strategic points around the garden for seeding, digging, and sounding hugelkultur beds.

+1 for old broomsticks/handles here!

Simple, cheap and an excellent use for something that would otherwise be disposed of. I actually used one to plant my corn this year. I make several marks on the far end to know what depth I am setting by creating holes in the earth so it is semi-consistent.

That is really interesting, I can't say that I have seen that before.

In your picture, is the farthest part of the tree a stump or a still standing tree attached to the same stump?

I'm curious, if it is all just a stump that has been dry for some time, if there may somehow still be some living tissue in it that got infected and now is pumping out goop?