Planting Corn

This week, we will talk about planting corn. I love corn. Corn is my favorite. Is there a tastier vegetable under God's green earth? No! You may disagree with me and that is okay. Everyone has a favorite.

Planting Corn - 5/9/22-5/15/22

Monday, May 9, 2022 - Planting Corn

Good Monday morning. I have been working on the website in my home office but I need to get ready to go open the store. It will be over 100° again today according to my Alexa. It is 8:30am and 78° right now. There is so much to do with the business and here at home. I wish I could take a day here at home and get it all done. We will be short staffed today because David is taking some of the crew to the kitchen with him to pickle White Icicle Radishes.

Brendon and Shay peeled and cut the radishes and put them in jars. They will be pickled tomorrow.

The mailman sent back an order today that was $85.00. It was never signed for or picked up. If the order is over $40, we request a signature to prove that it was received. Otherwise, we lose too much money when the customer says he or she did not receive it. We always send our mail with tracking. So it cost us almost $11 to send this but the customer did not pay for shipping. It has been out there for about four weeks, never picked up at the post office even though the mailman left them two notes saying pick up your package.

Now we refunded minus the cost of shipping and minus a 15% restocking fee which covers time to pull, check and mail, packing supplies, paper, ink, tape, and the box. The customer is angry with us saying that we did not deliver. We gave it to the mailman with tracking and signature required. The customer failed to pick up the package. It is not our fault, nor is it our fault that the post office sent it back to us. So the customer wants us to eat the $11 plus money for time and supplies and resend it. What? Read our policy on our website here.

It is 5pm and 97° Fahrenheit. Time to shut down the store and go feed animals. Matt helped me with watering and with the chickens. They are pecking each other again. Two took off their peepers so we caught them and put the peepers back on them this afternoon. The chickens and the guineas love the radish greens, but they do not appear to like the radishes.

I went in the pool for a bit and then made pork chops, salad, and macaroni for dinner. It was so good.

We had to let our part time outdoor guy go today as business is beginning to slow down as far as seed sales go because planting season, whether planting corn or anything else, is almost over here in South Central Texas. If you live in a less hot place, you may be just beginning to be planting corn.

Planting Corn

This is dent corn from our November 2021 harvest. Isn't it beautiful? Planting corn is fun. There are so many varieties.

Obviously, this late in the season, we will not be planting corn this week but around the country, some of you have not started planting anything yet. We planted our corn a few months ago and it is growing out in our orchard, in between the rows of trees.

There are many Types Of Corn. When planting corn, you will need to decide if you want dent corn, sweet corn, super sweet corn, ornamental corn, synergistic corn, or sugar enhanced corn. Dent corn is for feeding animals or making corn meal. It comes in many pretty colors as well as the ornamental corn.

All of the rest are sweet corns that taste so wonderful. Corn is my favorite vegetable and I love planting corn and eating corn. Here is a link to our corn seeds. Take a look.

If you have never before planted corn, here is an article written by David on How To Plant Corn.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - Planting Corn

No matter how often we are planting corn, we always get a little green worm on the end. Just cut off that portion of the ear and it will be fine.

No matter how often we are planting corn, we almost always get a little green worm on the end. Just cut off that portion of the ear and it will be fine.

Good Tuesday morning. David had to leave the farm at 7am to get some blood work done. Matt came early to go with him. Pamela and Sue Ellen, our new puppies, also went as they are going to be groomed. I sent six shirts that are the wrong size for Matt to take to UPS to send back to Amazon. During the week, Matt normally helps me by feeding most of the outdoor animals. Today I had to do it all myself. I am finally ready for work. It is almost 9am and the temperature is 81° with an expected high of 99° so we are in a cold wave.

I guess the planting season is about over for spring here in South Central Texas. The only customers we had today bought pecan candies.

Three other men came in wanting to know if we had seen the new calves they bought yesterday. They put them on some new property around here that they bought but did not put them in a pen and they are gone. They wanted to know how far back our property goes because they thought we had them. We have four acres and you can see it all in one look and we don't have cows. I love cows and I want one but we have zero cows as you can see.

I caught up on my social media posts because there were not many orders either, which is very unusual.

JB Salazar and Patrice Wassing with KSAQ radio came to David's Garden Seeds® to interview us about our business.

Then JB Salazar from KSAQ radio in Pleasanton showed up early to do a radio interview with us. Patrice Wassing did not come until later but we had a good visit with JB until she showed up. We did the radio interview. It went well. JB left. We gave Patrice a tour and by the time she left it was around 7:30pm. I was starving.

While we were in the back forty with Patrice, we talked about planting corn and sunflowers. She will be moving to Alabama this summer to plant sunflowers and sell them. She was commenting on us planting corn because different sized cornstalks are growing all over the orchard.

Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - Planting Corn

Good morning. I had bad dreams all night long. My nose is clogged. My head is hurting. I wonder what is in the air. It is time to feed the dogs. The cat and Ethel are fed but the others are outside with David.

It has been a busy day filled with writing checks and changing prices and other things on the website.

We haven't had that many orders and just one paying customer all day now that spring planting here in South Central Texas is winding down.

The plumber came by to pick up a check and to fill out a 1099 for our accountant.

Aaron found a garden snake out in front of the store while he was watering some of the raised garden beds.

David did some more stuff with the pickling process over in the commercial kitchen because it is smelling very much like hot vinegar.

I returned six shirts that were marked with the wrong size through UPS to Amazon. UPS did not scan one of the shirts. I got five refunds processed but not the sixth one.

For dinner I cooked four fresh ears of corn and some zucchini out of our garden. The corn was not from our garden. We have been planting corn but none of it is ripe yet. However it was sweet and delicious. The zucchini was very good as well.

I tried putting some peroxide in the pond today to kill the algae. So far, the fish are alive and happy but it looks like the algae is, too.

This evening, I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 9pm. I realized my chickens did not get closed up. So I ran out into the dark with my phone flashlight and locked them up, fearing snakes with every step. I made it back to the house alive and relieved.

Thursday, May 12, 2022 - Planting Corn

Good morning. The day started extra early because we had to leave the farm by 9am to get to the doctor by 10am in San Antonio. David and I both had appointments. After that, we had some errands to run here.

Then we tried to get some lunch and everywhere had long waits. At the fourth place, there was a ten minute wait but we stayed and finally got seated. We ended up going to Carino's Italian and had some good food. We brought some home with us and ate it tonight for dinner while watching Master Chef Jr.

Incidentally, we stopped by Salt Grass for a nice lunch and the girl told us there was a 20 minute wait. I showed them my Landry's membership card which is supposed to get me an instant seat without waiting. She still told me 20 minutes so paying for that card is ridiculous when I was told I would not have to wait when I signed up for the card.

We had just four customers today in the store and not many orders. I know it is getting too hot to plant anything at all in South Central Texas which is why but we have so much else in our store now like pecan candies and snacks, pecan coffees, canned goods, strawberry preserves, and farm fresh eggs.

By the time we got back, I did not have time to do any computer work today until now at 7:30pm. I was too busy hunting down packages, seeds that I needed for old orders, and delivering mail.

After the store closed at 5pm, I went out back to take care of all of the animals and to get the eggs. Matt helped me by getting fresh water for the chickens.

I checked on my sourdough start and it was bubbly so I divided it in half which was one half cup in each bowl to which I added one cup of flour and one half cup of water. I mixed them both and covered them. Now I have two sourdough starts.

It is almost 8pm so I will go out then to put the chickens away. Then I have a lot of laundry to fold.

Matthew stayed here at the farm planting corn and taking care of the animals as well as watering since it is so hot.

The chickens are away. I looked at the orchard. My cherry trees are gone. David said they were dead so they got pulled up. I have been looking for several weeks, thinking I could not find them. I asked David tonight.

I did the dishes, folded two loads of laundry, took the trash out, cleaned up a puppy pee on the carpet, and put some bluing in the pool and in the hot tub. I read online that bluing the pool will keep the water clear so I am giving it a try.

Friday, May 13, 2022 - Planting Corn

Good Friday morning! I have been up for a long time but I just now saw the post about us being on KSAQ this morning at 7:15am. It is now 7:38am so we missed it. The post was put up an hour ago but I have been busy feeding animals. It says it will be on again at noon. How disappointing.

Apparently, we have been in this week's Pleasanton newspaper without knowing it. We have had three different customers come in today saying they saw us there in this week's edition. I tried looking online but could not find an article about us. So locals are finally discovering us. Yay! It has been a busy morning.

At noon, our interview was supposed to be on again at noon. It wasn't. Around 12:15pm, it came on but the end was cut so I am not sure if it was all aired earlier or what. It was pretty cool. Thank you to KSAQ for putting us on and thank you to Pleasanton News for having an article about us in their paper this week. We appreciate it!

The guys are harvesting white icicle radishes, squash, zucchini, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and asparagus. The strawberries are about done for the season due to the onset of the horrible heat.

We have some incredible 1015Y onions that are huge. We are selling them for several days at $2 a pound. They were harvested this morning. Look at the huge onion in my hand below.

Giant Texas 1015Ys are just $2 a pound for a few days. Then we will process them.

We also have some more White Icicle Radishes for $1, freshly harvested. Come by tomorrow and pick some up!

These White Icicle Radishes are big and hot. $1 a pound, freshly harvested.

We are definitely getting a lot of customers today and some big sales. I have already sold three dozen eggs. I have seven dozen more, all fresh from this week so come on! We close at 4pm. It is noon now.

Saturday, May 14, 2022 - Planting Corn

You can see three of our workers who came today, including one who will not work Saturdays in the store...

Good morning! David had some of the staff come in today to work out in the garden for a few hours this morning and then get caught up on counting and packing seeds. No, they were not planting corn but they were weeding the corn. Shay is here in the store with me. She has pulled a lot of orders and we are shipping those out.

I woke up early, fed everyone inside and out and got to fold laundry and do dishes. My sourdough is doing very well so I fed it again this morning. If all goes well with this new recipe, I should be able to bake a loaf of bread on Monday afternoon!

Don't Grow Seeds In The Cold

So if you live up North, don't be planting seeds in March when the snow is still on the ground and the temperature doesn't even get up to 60° Fahrenheit. Gourd seeds and so many others just won't grow in cold weather. You need to be sure the danger of frost is past and that the ground is warm enough. If you plant seeds in the cold, you are not very bright and that is definitely not the seed seller's fault.

This morning, David relayed the following to me about an email that he received from a woman who planted our luffa gourd seeds back in March in a state next to New York. I grew up in upstate New York so I know there is still snow on the ground then, sometimes even in April. Here is his story:

I had a customer contact me and complain that the luffa gourd seeds she bought from us did not grow. I asked her when she planted them. She said March. I looked her area up and guess what? It is too cold in March to plant gourd seeds in PA. She wanted me to send replacements. She was blaming me because she did not know what she was doing.

I am not like other seed companies where you can call in and speak to someone, who has probably never planted anything in their life, and they say, "We will send you another packet."

Instead I investigate to see what went wrong. Indoors it is usually using purple lighting or planting next to a window. I don't recommend either. The other one is planting when the temperature is too cold. Except down here in Texas where we are already seeing 100 degree days.

Stuff just isn't going to grow or do well in this kind of heat. We harvested about four pounds of green beans yesterday. They looked great but tasted terrible. When beans get too much heat, they form a woody texture. The chickens are now enjoying these. We will probably pull up the hundreds of bean plants we have and compost them but they are good for putting nitrogen into the soil so we will probably wait on this.

Gardening is like gambling, only the odds are worse. And this year is looking to be horrible for people who live in Texas. But there is the fall. I think we are going to wait on the fall for squash and beans from now on.

We had quite a few customers. I sold a grill, four dozen eggs, numerous jars of home canned foods, a lot of pecan treats, white icicle radishes, Texas 1015Y onions, and a whole lot of seeds. We had four different customers spend over $100 each in our store today which was awesome and so appreciated.

Speaking of holidays, David says we will be open on Memorial Day and on the 4th of July. I was hoping for three day weekends for both of those holidays but instead, I will get my one day weekends as usual because we cannot find anyone who wants to work on Saturdays. In fact, one of my assistants has already put in to have both the 4th and 5th of July off. The other won't work Saturdays in the store. Why is it that our "team members" can have time off but I don't get to? I work six days a week. I shouldn't have to because we have a lot of employees. I wonder how that will change in the coming weeks...

We had steaks tonight for Svengoolie that Matt grilled. He made bread. It was a weird Vincent Price movie that I had never seen and next Saturday night is the sequel.

Sunday, May 15, 2022 - Planting Corn

Good Sunday morning. I had a horrible night. My nose pretty much stayed clogged all night long. I went back and forth from the bed to the couch several times over. Even with a breathe right strip on my nose, I just couldn't breathe.

This morning, I fed all of the animals and got ready for church. We went and then to Walmart for some groceries. McDonald's drive through was lunch. It is 3:30pm and 100°. I just folded two loads of laundry. There is another in the washer and one in the dryer but David is napping in the den right now.

My leg has been aching ever since we were at church this morning. I have taken two different pain relievers and it just won't quit.

I got all of the dishes cleaned up in the kitchen and the groceries put away. I am planning to go out in the pool soon and then on to feed the animals and collect eggs again.

While we were at Walmart, there were Improved Meyer Lemon trees and Key Lime trees so we got some. This time, we will not plant them in the ground because every time we have a freeze, our citrus trees die. I am so sick of it. We have spent thousands of dollars on trees that have died in two different seasons.

I was not planting corn or even working out in the garden today. It is too hot and I am in too much pain.

I am falling asleep in front of the keyboard right now and it is not even 4pm yet. I hate nights when I cannot sleep.

Well, I woke up, got the eggs, took care of the animals, and had leftovers from last night. Leftover steak is never a bad thing! It got up to 100°. My leg was killing me the entire day. It finally subsided late this evening, in time for the red moon followed by the eclipse. The camera never does the moon justice but it is slightly red in the photo. I tried taking one of the eclipse, but it did not look the same.

The moon actually came up with a reddish tint. There is no filter on this photo. It was even more awesome in real life.

This was the eclipse but the camera does not show the big amount that you could not see of the moon.

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