New veggies for the 2017 vegetable garden

UNCLE MAC

"Buck up, old fellow", said George Mallory as he entered the Shed and observed the gloomy countenance of it's absurdly ancient patriarch. "The Godless Atlanta Falcons beat our beloved Packers over two months ago. Nothing, not Millie's sorcery and not the most adept manipulation of the worm holes can alter that fact. It's time you looked ahead to the new season, the NFL draft and the great days to come."

"Time to look to the new gardening season as well, and figure out which new plant and seed releases we'll be researching for our readers."

"Readers?", said Uncle Mac, looking up, "Mrs. Fuddlebottom of Baton Rouge, dear lady that she is, remains in good health?"

"She does indeed",  said Farm Girl as she ghosted up from the sheds cluttered interior. "And she has been recently joined by a Mr. Sam Marichal-Lescroate, who has read all the available posts and has written us three actual snail mail letters wondering when we'll be posting something new."

FARM GIRL

"Huh", said Uncle M, "and where does this gent hail from?"

"The return address is St. Cecilia's Home for the Criminally Insane in Hogue, Montana."

"Wonderful. I don't suppose there's any chance he's on staff?"

"That would be no." replied Farm Girl.

"Great", said the ancient gardener, "Homicidal maniacs read our blog. More than anyone could reasonably hope for."

Mallory and Farm Girl exchanged glances.

"Not to put to fine a point on it, old boy", Mallory said, "but for the most part homicidal maniacs write our blog as well."

Uncle Mac considered Jack the Ripper, and Leatherface, and the delicious but decidedly dangerous Lacey Delacroix. Mallory had a valid point.

"In any event," said the venerable Mac, "the NFL draft kicks off Thursday this week on the 27th. We, and by we I mean the Green Bay Packers and their many cheese headed fans, need a running back and a good running back very badly indeed. Starks is gone with the concussion problem and for reasons no one can comprehend Eddie Lacy is now wearing a Seattle uniform.

"SEATTLE, for the love of Gourd!"

"That's gonna come back to haunt us on opening day."

"But I thought the Packers needed defensive backs?" Mallory queried.

"Like a man dying of thirst needs a bottle of Poland Springs," Uncle M replied, "and I can't help but observe that you 'queried' rather than simply asked, or just allowed the question mark carry the ball by itself to stay with the gridiron motif."

"Have we changed our literary style?"

"I don't think we have a style, as such.", observed Farm Girl. "We barely have a blog."

Uncle Mac glared at her, but couldn't maintain it for long.

"But more than a secondary player or two we need a running back. Drafting in the 29th spot we have no chance at all to get Leonard Fournette from LSU. The man is an elemental force."

LEONARD FOURNETTE

"He had 3830 yards and 40 touchdowns at LSU in three years and 500 more yards receiving, although receiving is not his forte."

"Not Fournettes forte? I like the alliteration.", said Mallory.

"So did I, which is why I employed it." observed Uncle Mac.

"But look down the list of primo running backs, and we might get this guy Christian McCaffrey from Stanford."

"Not as big as Fornette but a little bit faster and a much better receiver. He can catch anything Rodgers can throw and what would that do for the Packer offense?"

"Lots!" said Farm Girl, feigning interest, "What are his credentials?

"Well, in 37 games for Stanford he rushed for 3922 yards and 21 touchdowns averaging 6.2 yards per carry, caught 99 passes for 1200 yards more with 10 TD's, scored on kick off and punt returns and completed 2 of 3 passes, both for touchdowns."

"Whoof!" said Farm Girl, "Do the Packers have a chance to draft him?"

"They do," said Uncle M, beaming, "It all depends on who does what in the 28 picks before the Packer's number comes up."

CHRISTIAN McCAFFREY

"Well let us hope for the best, Old Fellow," said Mallory, "but what does this have to with the new veggies we'll be growing this season, a review of which the title would seem to allude to, and which Mrs.Fuddlebottom and Mr.Marichal-Lescroate are no doubt anticipating with bated breath?"

"Not a damned thing." said Uncle Mac. "Perhaps next post."

"Here is a picture of a turnip for the over-eager tillers of the soil to enjoy while singing 'Tie a Yellow Turnip to the Old Ash Tree."

"People do such?" asked Mallory.

"So I've been told, never seen it myself." replied Uncle M.

A YELLOW TURNIP

FARM GIRLS CORNER - SCRATCHING MY BOULLES

Why are you looking at me like that? Anyway this is Farm Girl, welcome to Farm Girl's Corner and if its Friday, it must be time for a Boulle D'or or yellow turnip report.

They continue to prosper, these Boulles and we can begin to look forward to giving them a taste test within a few weeks. We did try a pot full of yellow turnip greens and they were quite good, although we really could detect no appreciable difference in flavor from ordinary white turnip greens.

The yellow turnips are now in their 8th week since their sowing on August 17, so the first ones should be ready in about 2 weeks or so, coinciding nicely with the first frost date.

I scratched one with my fingernail and the flesh is a very appealing pale yellow under the skin with a mild but distinctly turnipy aroma. We have high hopes.

But we know you are really interested in our portly garden celebrity, Mr. Big.

MR. BIG AND FRIENDS

Mr. Big may be ending his growth spurt, this is the first week in several when his girth did not expand by a full inch or more, but by perhaps a mere 7/8". He is now 20 7/8 inches in circumference. Either the cold is beginning to inhibit his continued expansion, or this as as big as he will get, or he is exhausted from his interview with the lovely Vida G, earlier this week, which can be viewed HERE. 

And just for the heck of it here's a snap of todays RUS*, destined for tonights salad.

*RADISHES OF UNUSUAL SIZE

 

That would seem to wrap things up for this weeks boulle report, tanks for stopping at Farm Girls Corner!

FARM GIRLS CORNER - The baby Boules

Hi there turnip lovers, its me Farm Girl and you know me by now. I help out around the Shed and Garden, and assist Uncle Mac when he needs it. Today I collaborated with him on a "Hay Stack Compression Test" apparently gathering valuable information to help us prepare for the Winter months. It seemed a lot like the other hay compression exercises we perform all year long, but I digress.

F.G. AS EVER WAS

The Boulle D'or or yellow turnip patch is developing nicely, as you might expect, since the sow date on  August 17.

LUSH, THICK GREENS

Little turnips have formed to the point that they will switch into over drive very shortly, and grow visibly almost by the day.

AIN'T HE CUTE?

But you are really here to check on Mr. Big, are you not? Well here he is. Mr. Big and his kin suffered a devastating attack of young caterpillars but sprays and hand picking seem to have got them all over the hump.

MR. BIG AT HOME

Sticking with his "inch a week" program Mr. Big is now 20" in circumference, which means we have a whole lot o' baga going on.

I'M READY FOR MY CLOSE UP NOW, FARM GIRL

This fine fat fellow has at least three weeks before a serious frost event should occur, so we don't expect to be inviting him for dinner anytime soon. In fact, we're thinking of keeping him hanging around until Thanksgiving, if things should work out that way.

I think we've gotten to the root of the matter for now, so until next week, thanks for stopping by!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - The Boules of Bashan

Hi! Farm Girl here with a few slack moments in which to give you all an update on the progress of our Boule D'or (yellow) turnips as they wend their inexorable way toward our cooking pots.

GETTING A TAD CHILLY FOR THIS LOOK

And here are our little jaundiced prizes as they appear in their 7th update photo, at the conclusion of their 6th full week of growth. They were sown on August 17th.

THICK, LUSCIOUS YELLOW TURNIP GREENS

You can see how densely packed the leaves are, so much so that we will be trying a pot full of yellow turnip greens tomorrow. While we don't really expect a noticeable difference in flavor from the greens of the ordinary white turnip it certainly is worth a try.

Not doing so well are the leaves of the Brussels sprouts in the foreground (flea beetles suspected). These received a good dose of pyrethrine which we expect will sort the situation out in short order.

And of course the weekly report would not be complete without a few words on every one's favorite fatty, Mr. Big, our own prized rutabaga.

EXPANDING LIKE THE NATIONAL DEBT, MR. BIG

Mr. Big is now a full 19" in circumference, putting his diameter at a stately 6" or so. Normally you don't want rutabagas getting any larger than this as they begin to get woody and tough beyond this point. But, since we want to see just how large this fellow will get before the first frost we intend to let him keep growing.

Also, the woody portions may always be cut out, and if the weather conditions are optimal - and they have been - even a large rutabaga may remain tender throughout. 

That about wraps up the boule and 'baga report for this week, as always thanks for visiting us here at Farm Girl's Corner!

Today's Farm Girl Model, Jamie Eason

Photographer, Johnny Crosslin

More of Miss Eason and Mr. Crosslin's remarkable work can be seen at:

http://www.johnnycrosslin.com/

We highly recommend a visit to the site!

WOOT! WOOT! WOULD Y'ALL LOOKY HERE?

FREE TO A GOOD HOME

Howdy! It's me Aunt Agnes and Ah'm happier than Queen Cleopatra the day somebody told her that she had a nice asp. Would yew jist look at this fine product? Friend o' mine from Minnesota told me about it and Ah cannot wait for it to hit the market! Finally something for us farmin' Ladies on a cold and lonely night!

HELP US OBI-WAN CORNOBI!

Hoo-weeee! Whah, Ah remember some field corn we grew back In Texas as long as my arm and thick as a forgotten zucchini! Long as the batteries hold out Ah reckon a girl could pretty much...

"AAAAGGGNESSSS!!"

"That is not what you think it is! That is for children!"

"Oh Farm Girl that is jist sick! Even Ah do not countenance..."

"It is a corn holder, Agnes. It is nothing else. It is to encourage little kids to eat more vegetables! All that switch does is turn on a colored light to make the corn look like a light saber. It does nothing else at all!"

silence...

"It don't shake, rattle and roll?"

"It does not."

"It don't spin like a top?"

"No spinning either."

"It don't work like a piston on an oil field pump?"

"NO Agnes. It does nothing! It's a corn holder. It holds corn. For kids to eat from and pretend they are Skywalker or the Princess or what have you. Do you understand?"

"Well what in the wide world o' sports do Ah want with it then? Ain't got enough teeth for corn on the cob anyways and Ah don't need another flashlight!"

Ah am sorry, fans of Uncle Mac's Garden Shed Ah figured Ah was on to somethin' here. Well thank yew for readin' anyway and we'll see y'all next time, when Ah'll give y'all a crash course in bronco bustin'.





EDITORS NOTE: Please note, at no time did we sink as low as a "corn hole" reference. This is a class act, this blog of ours.





  

FARM GIRL'S UPDATE - Boulish on yellow turnips

We promised you an update on our Boule d'or yellow turnips, sown last Friday in one of our raised beds her at the shed. Old Mac was dibblin' his ass off for a while, I can tell you! I helped a bit, its what Farm Girls do.

YOURS TRULY

Here is what we expect to harvest in 6 to 7 more weeks:

BOULE D'OR TURNIPS

And here is what the bed looks like exactly one week after sowing, on Friday the 24th of August. (Curiously this is exactly one day before the "Best Butts in Buttzville" event - Best Butts in Buttzville Eve, so to speak). But I digress.

And there they are, rank on rank, row on row. They actually had sprouted in less than 72 hours, being up by the morning of Monday August 20, and germination was nearly 100%.

Hats off to the fine folks at Baker Creek Seeds for a great product.

By next weeks' update we will have had to thin and weed the seedlings as the march of the Boule D'ors continues (barring disaster) straight to the pot and root cellar!


This has been the promised weekly turnip recap and as always thanks for stopping by. I'm Farm Girl and I'm outie!


  

ITS NUCLEAR ITS CUKLEAR!

"Howdyyyyyyyyyy! Aunt Agnes here and I'm fit to bust I'm so dawg gone happy! I jist picked me some "Ladies Knight" cucumbers from the trellis outside the shed and would yew jist look at these bad boys? Ridin' in on a white charger to rescue a damsel in distress on a quiet Saturday night!"

.

"WOOO - HOOO! Why this reminds me of the time..."

"AGNES!! Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, Farm Girl here, sorry to interrupt but really...Aggy have we told you that this is a serious gardening blog and that you are not to go posting things we don't know about every time you find a radish that looks more radishsy to you than the general run of radishes? Well have we?"

"Yes, but - "

"In fact have we told you not to post at all?"

"Yes but gosh dern it - "

"As a matter of fact did we not have Leatherface drag you out by the scruff of your scruffy old unwashed neck last time you were Aggying on about a tomato and half a dozen spuds? Did he not tie you to the old oak tree, thereby spurring Uncle Mac to decompose a horrid doggerel song parody that haunts us still and is apt to appear on Helium until they notice it and take it down? Did he not furthermore smear you from bowsprit to mizzenmast with honey and leave you there for Mr. Bear to find?"

"Ah kinda liked the honey slatherin' it reminded me of my girlish youth -"

"AGNES! You know darn well those 'cumbers aren't called "Ladies Knight", there are no cucumbers called "Ladies Knight" and whatever road you were going down with that, well lets just say I'm glad I caught you in time! A woman your age? What are we supposed to do with you you're a bigger pain in the butt than even Pineapple Girl and Uncle M is seriously considering shooting her!

"Well - "

"Well me no wells!"

"Again, Constant Readers, we beg your pardon. Be sure to check back in a few days when I believe Jack has a new episode of "Something Dead from the Shed". Should be a lot of fun, unlike..."

"Well never mind. This is Farm Girl and, I'm very much afraid, Agnes. 'Bye for now!

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Important PSA

Hi its me Farm Girl and once again I have to help save certain elements among our readership from their own self destructive tendencies. Folks, its about blackberries.

No, not this no doubt fascinating and apparently useful device. We have nothing to say about this at all.

We refer to the yumptious, scrumptious blackberry found on bushes in the countryside and which make such delicious snacks, pies* and ice creams. This is a BLACK BERRY. It is OK and in fact commendable to pluck them.

This, however, is a Black Beary, and a wise and rational human being will leave him forever unplucked.

"Why, Farm Girl, do you raise this as an issue?"

Well, you see what our friend Mr. Ursus americanus is doing, do you not? He is packing his bear mug with delicious black berries. He likes them as much as we do. In fact, he likes them so much that he feels that they belong to him.

When, as inevitably happens each summer, one berry picker...

Blunders into another berry picker, then bad things are apt to happen...      

These bad things almost never happen to the bear.

Witness this unfortunate and not especially happy lady, Canadian Katy Lin. In Ms. Lin's case the dispute was not over berries, but rather over who was going to be allowed to play in Ms. Lins garden.

The point is, be aware of where you are. If it is bear country - and most of the United states and Canada is exactly that - be aware of your surroundings. Remember that when you are picking berries you are raiding the bear's pantry, at least as far as the bear is concerned.

While black bears are "cute" in some peoples eyes, and appear lovable and cuddly, they are not. A bear is always a bear.

The also have an undeserved reputation for timidity. No, they are not as dangerous as a polar bear or grizzly and many times they will avoid a confrontation with a human. But not always.

Don't be the newspaper article of the day! Make noise while berry picking so you don't startle a bear. If you see one, back away, slowly.

If local laws permit it, take a firearm along.

And if you make a pie, save a slice for me!

You might also wish to check out this tale by Mike Logan, who has had his own ursine encounters. It appears on Saturday Sunshine and can be accessed right HERE:

That is about all that this topic will bear, so as always, thanks for stopping by at Farm Girls Corner!

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*Woops! Nearly forgot the pies!

Human berry pickers often make juicy delicious pies, bursting with berries and a crisp and tasty crust.

Bears generally eschew the crust.

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - More cabbage comin' atcha, with a side trip into sauerkraut

Hi again its me, farm Girl! Did you order your fall seeds and plants yet? Well let me remind you again, because it may be almost too late - and in some northern zones is already to late - to order your cabbages.

There are so many reasons to grow a fall crop of cabbages, not the least of which is that these vegetables do better in general growing into cool weather rather than out of it and as a result tend to be heavier, more uniform and many say tastier than their spring counterparts.

This fine example, as our pals at Baker Seed's* remind us, can be made into excellent slaw, and kraut as well.

Ray Kukkee of Incoming BYTES knows something about first rate Sauerkraut and is going to share his excellent recipe with us. (This recipe cannot be found on Unnatural Foods, because there is nothing unnatural about it. So pay attention!)


*Baker seeds, over 1400 heirloom seed varieties!

Do you like sauerkraut?

You'll love this recipe. It's easy and produces an excellent product with a minimum of problems. Even a small half-batch (ten lb. ) with time and some patience will make about 3-4 quarts of tasty sauerkraut!

Cleanliness is absolutely essential. This is a fermented food product and does present opportunities for contamination if adequate care is not taken. . Bacteria convert vegetable sugars into acid, which provides the unique flavour and acts as a preservative. The more care taken in making it, the better it seems to turn out!

For a full 20 lb batch of sauerkraut you will need:

• 20 lbs. of freshly shredded*cabbage
• 12 Tablespoons coarse **pickling salt.

• A sharp knife or kraut cutter.
• A 5-gallon container. A ceramic or stone crock is ideal, but a glass jar or other suitable container like a clean, food-grade 5 gallon pail will suffice. Do NOT use plastic bags or containers that are not food-grade plastic. * See the precautionary note below on zinc-coated (galvanized) metal containers.
• Jars & lids for storage or suitable for canning (preserving).

Special Notes: Cabbage, Salt and Containers

1. *Fresh cabbage usually has more juice and will make a better product without the necessity of adding brine. Cabbage species considered to be "fall storage" may be preferred for this process because of the solid, juicy nature of those cabbage heads right out of the garden,-- but try a batch with earlier summer cabbage too! Red cabbage does ferment well, but results in a less attractive product than white cabbage.
2. **Iodized table salt is NOT suitable for this process. Iodine can destroy the bacterial ferment. Use only non-iodized pickling salt. Also, Do NOT use more than 12 tablespoons of salt for a 20 lb. batch. More is not better. Excess salt can hinder, and too much salt may prevent fermentation entirely.

3. CAUTION: Carefully AVOID using galvanized metal containers. Sauerkraut is acidic in nature and release zinc, which can be toxic.

Procedure:

• Sanitize all equipment including the fermenting container.
• Finished quantity required is 20 lbs of fresh shredded cabbage, so allow extra weight to allow for defective leaves, waste and core removal
• Remove all damaged outer leaves and the stem. *watch for insects!
• Rinse cabbage in cold water, cut the heads in quarters, removing stem and cores.
• Shred or cut the cabbage uniformly --about the thickness of a quarter. Uniformity is necessary for an even, high-quality ferment.
• Work in 5 lb. portions. Place 5 lbs of shredded cabbage in your fermenting container and add 3 tablespoons of salt, sprinkling it evenly. Mix the salt into the cabbage and pack it firmly using a masher, clean hands, or a suitable kitchen tool until the salt begins to draw juice from the cabbage. The cabbage will change in appearance as juices are drawn from it.
• Continue adding the rest of the cabbage in 5 lb. layers, adding salt, mixing and compacting each layer.
• Finally, mix, press and compact all of the cabbage uniformly and thoroughly, and press down until it is covered with it's own juice.
• Install a suitably-sized food grade plastic or ceramic dinner- plate and a suitable *weight which will fit neatly inside the ferment vessel and press all of the cabbage beneath the liquid. Wipe down the walls of the mixing vessel carefully with a clean cloth, removing any bits of cabbage.
• (*Use a heavy food-grade plastic bag full of water, suitable container filled with clean water for a weight, or even bricks in a plastic bag. I use a 1-gallon food-grade plastic ice cream container with it's own lid, filled with salt brine).
• If there is inadequate liquid to cover the cabbage with an inch or more of it's own juices, it will be necessary to add brine to the ferment. Use 1-1/2 tablespoons of salt to a quart of water. Add only as much brine as you need to cover the cabbage properly.
• Cover the vessel with a clean cotton cloth tied or otherwise secured to keep out dust, moulds and insects.
• Note: Keep the ferment at room temperature 70-75F; if it is cold, the batch will either ferment very slowly (perhaps take 6 weeks! ) or if below 60F, not at all. Remember that the longer a ferment takes, the greater the opportunity for contamination and spoilage. Equally, being too warm at 80F+ almost guarantees soft, poor quality, or spoiled sauerkraut.
• Inspect your ferment in about a week. If the ferment is progressing properly, it should show bubbles around the edges of the liquid and will have a typical fermenting bouquet. Check carefully for any moulds developing around the edges and remove if observed. Remove and clean the weight if necessary, and wipe down the interior walls of the vessel to a clean state with a clean cloth dampened in salt brine as necessary.
• Keep the fermenting vessel at a stable room temperature for three to four weeks. Do not eat sauerkraut before the ferment is completed!
• Bubbling will cease when the ferment is finished.
• Your new batch of properly-fermented sauerkraut should NOT be slimy, smell bad, or look moldy or darkly discoloured. Cabbage properly fermented will typically have a pale 'translucent' look. The taste should be sharply acidic and fresh, typical of excellent sauerkraut. 

Sauerkraut can be cooked, preserved, or eaten as is when the ferment is completed, but aging it for a couple of additional weeks can improve the flavour. If you decide to age your sauerkraut in the ferment container, inspect it regularly and remove any moulds quickly for the highest quality product.

To Store or Preserve your sauerkraut, pack it into clean sterilized jars. Ensure there is enough juice in the jars to cover the fermented cabbage. Sauerkraut will keep for several months if stored in a refrigerator.

To can sauerkraut, fill clean, sterilized jars and remove air bubbles. Top up with juice, allowing a half inch of head space, and install lids reasonably finger-tight. Process pint jars in a boiling water bath for ten minutes and quart jars for 15 minutes. Properly preserved sauerkraut will keep for several years. Enjoy!

**Credits: The original salt/cabbage proportions and cautions used in this recipe may be credited to the Ohio State University Extension Fact sheet on Human Nutrition HYG 5342-97 . The salt ratio is critical for a balanced recipe that ferments completely in the shortest possible time to minimize the opportunity for spoilage.

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Thanks, Raymond! We intend to try this delicious kraut project as soon as we harvest our Megatons! As always, thanks for visiting Farm Girl's Corner!

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Farm Girl's note: Pictured above is the only acceptable method for "smothering ones wiener with kraut". The grotesque and morally reprehensible visual pun which a besotted Uncle Mac inflicts on us all during the Super Bowl Game each year is not. I know that he's beyond befuddlement by the fourth quarter and is already calling the winning quarterback "Bart" even if the Packer's are not playing, but there are things one does not do, and which moreover, do not ever need to be done.

Worse, after we have all admired his wit he flips the kraut back in the warming pan.

Lead photo courtesy of April May Maple who retains all rights:

Lead photo model: April May Maple

Baker Seeds

Incoming BYTES

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - Fall cabbage

Hi! Farm Girl here! I help out a lot in the garden and around the shed and what not. Today I almost helped Uncle Mac a bit more than necessary. There I was, plucking a few stray weeds from the corn patch when I here him bellowing:

"Farm Girl!" Have you seen my pole?"

Good grief, I thought, you mean since breakfast? The old boy's been into the fenugreek again. But when I looked around I saw that he was holding his tackle box and net and looking puzzled.

"In the ammo room, Mac," I told him, "Aggy put it there."

And off he went to drown a few worms.

But today I'd like to tell about the fall crop we're about to put in, green cabbage. A bit early, you may be thinking but no, not in zone 5 where our garden is located.

To grow fall cabbages successfully you of course, need a place to plant them. Cabbages make a great follow up crop in a bed where radishes have been, or peas but beware planting after cauliflower, broccoli or kale; or any other veggies of the brassica genus. Members of this group share the same nutritional requirements and the second crop will suffer as a result.

We selected the heavy duty "Megaton" cabbage, a giant cabbage which happens to be extraordinarily tasty, and which stores well.

Megaton is a widely available variety, our seed happens to come from the Jung Seed company.

As it happens we let a raised bed lie fallow (no spring crop) until it was Megaton time. All we did in spring was turn the bed, work in a lot of compost, some wood ashes and a goodly amount of bone meal. (Cabbages are heavy feeders and particularly fond of phosphorus, hence the bone meal boost.)

We gave the bed a shallow turn over and raking every few weeks to knock down the weeds but otherwise left it alone.

Now, at planting time, we worked in a bit more compost and directly sowed the seeds into the bed. Megaton is a big, rambunctious cabbage and we like to give each one a full square yard in which to grow. As these huge brassicas can top 20 lbs in weight, this is not a waste of growing space.

It is important to mulch the seedlings as soon as they are big enough to tolerate it, preferably with sifted compost but if not, with grass clippings. They will benefit enormously from the cooling and water retention that mulch provides during the hot spells that are bound to occur in August and September.

Megaton cabbages take 90 to 100 days to mature after germination, be sure to water regularly and deeply, they are thirsty veggies.

A side dressing of "Superphosphate" or the like would not be amiss halfway through the growth cycle, particularly if you are trying for an eye popping, blue ribbon giant.

And that's about it for...What the heck??

Leatherface! NO!! You may NOT make your "world famous" stuffed cabbages! You remember all the trouble that caused the last time! Take that child back to wherever you found him right this minute!

Now he'll mope for a week.

Anyway that's the story with fall cabbages here at Farm Girl's Corner! As always, thanks for stopping by!   

FARM GIRL'S CORNER - The seediness of Uncle Mac, Part 2

Hi there, you know me its Farm Girl, I help out (as in, do most of the mundane gardening work) around the Shed and in the garden and so on. You know how seedy a guy Uncle Mac is, seems he can't find enough places to deposit seed. But I digress...

Every once in a while in the course of what we like to call "doing research" ie., "making shit up" we come across a factoid or blog or website that deserves promoting. And we found one, and we need to give them all kinds of credit and a plug as well. But first, a picture, which we have determined is not worth a thousand words, but only 914. But you know, close enough.

What is THIS, you may ask, and who can blame you?
Its called "Petrowski's turnip" named after the famous Petrowski and it has the distinction of being a quick growing biggish yellow turnip that tastes nothing like a white turnip, not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.

You can get it from the folks at "Real Seeds" just by clicking on the link. We'll be buying a few packets tomorrow, still plenty of time for a fall crop of these beauties in our zone. (5 - 6) 

But that turnip, interesting as it is only scratches the surface. This company has many heirloom seeds, (in fact, they have no hybrids at all), many of which will be new to US gardeners.

This includes a white turnip big as a dinner plate but let's not hold that against them.


Real Seeds also tells you how to save your own seeds for next years planting, and people, if you take nothing seriously from our blog listen to this, we all have to learn how to do this and we need to learn fast. Monsanto is coming. And it ain't gonna be pretty. (See related article HERE)

We have saved squash, cuke, tomato and pepper seeds here at the Shed for some time but now we are going to branch out. Use Real Seeds info as a jumping off point and you can do so too. Hey, its fun and you can swap with your friends!

And that's it for Farm Girl's Corner, enjoy those yellow turnips and thanks a bunch for stopping by!   

A FARM GIRL UPDATE - Burpees "Easy Peasy" peas

Hi! Farm Girl here butting in with a quick update on one of the new veggies we promised to try out here at Uncle Mac's Garden Shed. (For a recap of those items just click HERE)

One new veggie was "Easy Peasy" peas put out by the Burpee Seed company. We tend to poke gentle fun at Burpee sometimes, they do tend to oversell their items but the fact is, these peas lived up to advanced billing.

We planted a good sized patch in early spring, and had if not 100% germination, a rate so high as to not matter. The plants grew well, with no problems and trained themselves up their trellises. 

Yesterday, June 19, we picked a test bowl of round, fully packed pods loaded with plump peas. (There are still lots more to be picked remaining in the pea patch.)

We cooked them up and they were as sweet and tasty as you ask a dish of peas to be!

We pronounce Easy Peasy a success based on the limited information that we have, and are going to have a fall planting as well. Of course we will let you know how they perform the second time around.

We will also save some of the fall crop as seed stock and find out how true they stay to type next season.

That's it for my quick up-date, and thank you for stopping to check it out. This is farm Girl, and I'm out!  

SOMETHING DEAD FROM THE SHED - Meganeueropsis permiana

Hello again everybody Its me, Jack, back from a trip to me old haunts in White Chapel. I've a smile on my face, a song in my heart, blood stains on my neck tie and surgical steel in my carryall.

A man has to touch base with his roots, from time to time.



NOT A DRAGONFLY BUT A REAL FLAME BELCHING FLYING DRAGON - ITS A LONG STORY...

Today on "Something Dead from the Shed" we'll be touching on the subject of giant dragonflies. No, not just a big bug from the back yard, but specimens larger than some surveillance drones. (Would have been hard times for Jackie if the coppers had drones in their bag o' tricks back in 1888, hey?)

We actually had a pair of these creatures here in the garden for about 3 - 4 minutes and as a group you can't find one that's any deader than the Meganeuropta so what better subject for my little essay?



MEG


As for the pair we had here momentarily, Mac had taken a day trip to the Carboniferous and came back with a great whacking box that was making suspicious rattling noises. He opened it up and out popped a pair of dragonflies, wings as wide as your arm is long! They flapped around awkwardly for about twenty seconds before auguring into the sweet corn like economy passenger jets into a Florida swamp.

"Mac! You silly bastid they can't breath!" I remember Farm Girl scolding the old coot, "The oxygen content was over 40% higher back when they were around! You take them back right now!"

"Arrgghh", Mac replied "They're bugs! Let 'em flop a bit we can add them to the compost."

"You..." said Farm Girl, "take them back now or you'll be polishin' your own dibble until the next ice age!"

The argument must have struck home because Mac had the feebly wriggling insects back in the box before you could say "unpolished dibble" which really is relatively easy to say. He disappeared with the "pop" that announces wormhole manipulation and was back five minutes later with an empty box, a bloody thumb and a surly manner.

"Bastid bit me. There's gratitude for ya!" 

A nasty infection ensued of course, nothing screws with the immune system like 300,000,000 year old bacteria. But eventually he healed right enough, all digits intact and only a nasty scar and one more thing to grumble about to show that damage had ever been done.

But enough Shed lore! Lets talk Meganeuropta!

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When enormous dragonflies ruled the sky:

Life was never easy for small amphibians or average sized flying insects during the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods of the Paleozoic Era. As though the day to day requirement to feed and reproduce were not enough to worry about, the diminutive amphibian had to avoid hungry fishes when in the water, and apex predators like the therapsids (Titanophoneus as just one example) and pelycosaurs (Dimetrodon and kin) when on land. Large, hungry amphibians like Sclerocephalus were a danger whichever environment the tiny creature happened to occupy.

You would think that would be enough to contend with, and since pterosaurs were millions of years in the future as were predatory birds like herons, hawks and pelicans the little creature would be safe from above.

Not so. For, hovering aloft like the Apache attack helicopters they resemble were the gigantic dragonflies Meganeuropsis permiana.

Leave the fly swatter in the closet:

Probably the largest flying insect that ever lived, fossils of Meganeuropsis permiana have been discovered that have a wing span of just under 30 inches and a total body length of 17 inches. These were the largest creatures flying in the Carboniferous and Permian skies and like their smaller close relatives the modern dragonflies were voracious predators. Or perhaps more accurately, even more so.

The food required to produce the energy to keep this huge body aloft must have kept Meganeuropsis perpetually on the hunt. Modern dragonflies will attack tiny tadpoles and newly hatched fry; we can easily envision Meganeuropsis swooping down on anything up to chipmunk size that came to its attention. And of course, anything flying that was smaller than Meganeuropsis was fair game.

Raising a lot of questions:

Today there are no flying insects even close to the size of this ancient predator, for which we should probably be thankful. There is a school of thought that says that this creature should not have been able to fly at all.

The answer to how it did so lies more in the geography, climate and atmosphere of the Carboniferous and Permian periods than in the morphology of the huge insect itself. To simplify enormously; during most of the Carboniferous and Permian periods there existed one super continent, Pangaea, containing almost all of the earths land mass. An explosion of flora, all utilizing the photosynthetic process produced immense amounts of oxygen while binding enormous quantities of carbon dioxide. Over time this actually shifted the proportions of the earth’s gases.

Today, our atmosphere contains about 21% oxygen. It is estimated that Carboniferous-Permian atmospheres contained at least 30% and possibly as much as 35% oxygen, with a corresponding dip in the amount of free carbon dioxide. This, so the theory goes, permitted Meganeuropsis and its kin to breath efficiently, even though they do so through trachea and not through lungs and a circulatory system as we do. This would have kept the creatures oxygenated enough to fly.

Why did they go extinct?

On one level, this question is easily answered. The end of the Permian period was marked by one of the greatest mass extinctions ever known on our planet. Nearly everything that lived, died. That Meganeuropsis was among the casualties is no surprise. The deeper question of what caused the P/T extinction is a subject for intense debate, although once again it seems that massive impact from an extraterrestrial body may be to blame.

Whatever triggered the event of one fact we can be certain. The oxygen level of earths atmosphere, either as a by product of the extinction event itself or by some other mechanism that we do not as yet understand dropped precipitously. This alone would have sealed the fate of the great dragonflies forever.


And that's about that for today's Shedly dose of big bugs. Your pal Jack signing off; thanks for visiting us at "Something Dead from the Shed!"

[Editors note: Not so fast! The University of Arizona did an interesting experiment in which they raised modern dragonflies in an atmosphere approximating that which prevailed in the Carboniferous - early Permian. The result in a single generation was an average increase in size and weight of fifteen percent per dragonfly. 

Next time you are targeting that medium sized buzzing thing circling over your garden, before you squeeze the trigger make certain its a government drone you are ranging in on, and not some innocent escapee from UA!]

WELL NO THEY DIDN'T GET THAT BIG AT UA, BUT JUST GIVE THEM TIME!