Waldo Jaquith

You grew that in your garden???? I am so impressed! I didn’t even attempt corn.

Posted by Claire on 21 August 2010 @ 6pm

How did you keep the deer away?

Posted by HES on 21 August 2010 @ 6pm

What variety did you plant? We’ve planted a fair amount of corn in the past, but it takes up so much space and is such a greedy feeder that I didn’t plant it this year. The tomatoes, however, are bursting the house at the seams! =)

Posted by Malena on 21 August 2010 @ 8pm

You grew that in your garden???? I am so impressed! I didn’t even attempt corn.

I’m pretty impressed, too. :) There really is something about corn that takes it up a notch. Corn says “we’re gardening…damnit.” ;)

FWIW, I contributed virtually nothing to this corn’s wellbeing. I watered it a few times. My wife planted it as a seedling, nurtured it through the winter and spring, and got it in the ground when we moved into our new house a couple of months ago.

How did you keep the deer away?

We have a ten foot (twelve foot? I can’t remember) fence around our garden. That does the trick. :)

What variety did you plant?

It’s Texas Honey June, an heirloom variety from Southern Exposure. I wish I could tell you how it tastes, but we don’t know yet. :)

Yay for your tomatoes, Malena! Do you intend to preserve any? We’ve had success with drying them, freezing them, and, of course, canning them. But I like the simplicity of freezing. :)

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 21 August 2010 @ 11pm

We’re cooking them down into sauce and preserving most, though we’ll also make some paste and dry some as well. I would love to freeze them, but most of our freezer space gets taken up by buying whole carcasses once a year.

Everyone, please buy as much as you can from our local farmers’ markets. And don’t just buy for today, buy a bunch and do some preserving (freezing, canning, drying). Every little bit helps reduce your carbon imprint and also helps our local farmers.

I know of at least three local, sustainable growers who are in trouble this year. One, Ploughshare Farm, is definitely going under. I’ve been helping out at his Charlottesville Market stand on Saturdays – come visit and buy some amazing veggies while you can.

Posted by Malena on 22 August 2010 @ 4pm

Is the worm hiding behind that little leaf at the top? I never eat any that doesn’t have one…and one that’s alive of course. Before I eat something, I like to know that something ate it….and lived.

Posted by robert legge on 22 August 2010 @ 6pm

There actually were a couple of worms all the way up top, around the silk. I’m with you—that seems like a good sign to me. :)

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 22 August 2010 @ 8pm

To keep deer out of corn seedlings, lay down a mat of wire on the rows. Crows are terrified of getting caught up in something like wire. As soon as the corn gets to 15 inches or so you can remove the wire.

To keep them out of tomato plants, hang bars of deodorant from the sticks next to the plants. I hang them on the woods side and one every ten feet or so.

To keep crows out of the tomato plants, hang empty aluminum pie tins from a few of the sticks on the side away from the house. Crows are also afraid of owls, so a plastic owl here and there might help too.

Generally, if you want deer to stay out of low crops like beans, etc., hang a plastic grocery bag from 3ft stakes. Any noise makes the deer run, so any rustling of the plastic and they’ll be gone.

I now return you to your scheduled program. :)

Posted by Mark Brooks on 24 August 2010 @ 2pm