Cummings and Goings in Agriculture

Another Judged Horse Show At Multi-purpose Saturday

By Steve Cummings

Yalobusha County farmers need some dry weather conditions to get their crops in.  Already due to the weather, corn acreage will be down from what was planned. Land preparation for other crops is behind. This week looks to be dryer, therefore look for our farmers to be working wide open.

Christine Fielder, our former 4-H program associate, is slowly making progress. This past week over the phone, she has helped me tremendously.  Wesley Kilpatrick, son of our secretary April, is home and recovering nicely after his surgeries.  

Thanks to Mrs. Nell Lowe who worked as a call-in secretary during this time and also, Pat Rodrigue, whose sister has had health problems, for helping when she can.

Congratulations to Burl and Virginia Adams whose cooking team placed second in the pork shoulders at Mississippi State’s Super Bulldog Weekend.  I got to serve as a judge this year, but did not have the Adams’ cooking team. I judged ribs and there was some mighty fine eating, so I know the Adams’ meat had to be good.

There is a judged horse show at the Multi-purpose Building this Saturday. Trials starts at 2:00 p.m. with the show starting at 3:00 p.m. A speed show will follow the judged show, but will not start before 7:00 p.m. Remember, admission is free.

HORTICULTURE TIPS:

Nights are cool, days are warm, rain has fallen and it is a great season to be growing vegetables.  The new self sufficiency movement has renewed interest in home canning, and pickles are one of the things folks want to try. There are varieties of cucumbers developed specifically for pickling. The cucumbers tend to be shorter, fatter, and have thinner and often more warty skin. Pickling varieties will seldom produce cucumbers longer than five inches, while slicing varieties are harvested at eight to ten inches. You can eat pickling cucumbers fresh and you can pickle slicing varieties, but each has been developed for a different thing.

Know that you need to harvest pickling types every day since the average American pickle is less than three inches long and the fruit grows about an inch a day when they are small. You can keep the harvested cucumbers in the refrigerator a couple days until you accumulate enough to process.  

Always read pesticide labels. Sometimes they will tell you not to mix them with anything but water. Certain pesticides combinations will harm or even kill your plants if they are mixed before applying.

Many onions have produced seed stalks since the last two rounds of hot and cold. Although bolted onions that are already in the process of making a bulb will continue to grow, the resulting bulb will be much smaller than if the plant had not bolted. Cutting off the seed stalk has no effect on this slowdown in growth. It is better to just harvest the plant and use it.