Cotton Process

Before I grew cotton this summer I had never seen it first hand. I live in southeast Kansas and I am told there are two cotton gins in the state. (Which is nothing compared to Alabama, Tennessee etc..) This is about as far north as you can grow it, from what I understand.

In each boll there are four of these that pull off and fluff up.

As you pull them apart you will find seeds inside. Each of the 'bumps' in the above holds a seed.

You have to pull each one out and separate the fibers.

It is a slow and relatively tedious process that took me a number of hours to do by hand.

Once I was done separating the seeds and fibers I chose to put them both into plastic bags to protect them from any pet hair, dirt etc... I was told to expect a Grey toned fiber, but instead it is a sort of creamy white.

In the left are the seeds that I will keep back for next year. On the right is all of the fiber packed into one bag. To see how much it is packed, consider that the previous image has only a very small amount outside of the bag. Think of purchased batting, once you start pulling it from the bag it's as if it is on steroids and expands up to 10 times in size.

BY GOLLY! IT'S COTTON!!!

It's finally here!!! What a great surprise when I rounded the corner of the yard I saw bits of white. Needless to say I ran for the camera. :0)



There are about 14 plants total, and each has a number of the bolls. Not enough to really make anything. Now you can all call it 'Cotton Picking Humboldt' for a reason :0)

Kansas Cotton - AHT Garden

Last month it was flooding, this month it is dried up and blowing away. The melons are pretty much done producing. As are the maters, green beans and cucumbers are all things of the past.

But the cotton, ahh the cotton :0)

Inside this weird 'bumb' lurks the makings of a cotton sock, sweater, or perhaps....just fluff. But I am waiting patiently.

From what I have read it should open in about a month, if the conditions are favorable.
Good page for cotton information.

Lots of gourds. Surprisingly the vines are still blooming too!

Garden - "Watch Cat"

Pumpkins look healthy and ready to pick. Too bad we didn't expect them to be at this point until at least mid September.

June 26th Update

The every expanding melon patch, I swear Jimmy Hoffa is under there. The square footage of this patch is literally nearing the same as my living room.

Green peppers forming on numerous plants

Gourd plants in need of weeding

Itty bitty Cherry Tomatoes
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Rainy weather is called for this week. This past weekend there was just the right amount here. Others in area though are complaining that their potatoes are rotting in the ground with all the rain. I dug what was left of mine out this past weekend, before the rain hit.

June 5, 2007 Update

I dug up a few of my potatoes over the weekend. They tasted wonderful!



Tomatoes are beginning to bloom, but the plants are not too large...yet.



Cotton is slowly growing.



Things are still coming up.



Buds on one of the melon plants. They are LOADED!



Something has eaten the tops off of the Sunflowers. They look as if they have been gnawed.



Bloom on another of the melon plants.



This gives you the idea of the size of one of the melon patches. The small item on the lower left is the seed package to label the area.

May 31st Update

I was out in the garden a couple of days ago and took the pics seen below. When I went out tonight I was mulching with hay to keep the weeding down and hold in some moisture. BUT, even though that was my goal and I did accomplish it, I was more amazed at the amount of growth since these images were taken.

The melon plants are twice the size as the ones seen here. Tomatoes, melons, and green beans are blooming or about to bloom. I overheard someone say they had already been eating some of their potatoes so I imagine mine are about there as well.










Lots of green!

It's Raining Men!~

Yesterday and today has been extremely wet. But, the clouds parted long enough today for me to venture out and take a few more pics of the garden are. This time, all the moisture seems to be a good thing!



OK, technically these are still inside on my kitchen window, but let say they are 'garden material' anyway.

My pepper plants are much like men in general. Stick with me folks.... Rough, with a few 'leaves' missing, but with a woman's loving care they will hopefully bring forth good offspring.

Something has been munching on the leaves. We have an abundance of Mayflies, but the man in the house, claims it can not be them. That they only eat nectar. No idea what else it could be...... anyone have ideas?



Cherry Tomato waiting for the ran to stop so I can put her into the ground.



Potatoes are coming up in droves!



If I recall the order my pictures were taken in, these are green-bean plants coming up. A sure sign that the first ones I planted are a lost cause, as these are the latest ones added.



Seen coming up in the Watermelon/ Cantaloupe/ Pumpkin area.



Spinach folks!



One more view of the potatoes for good measure :0)

Cotton Seeds Back Home

Yeah, I know the song says "...Cotton Fields Back Home", but so far I don't have a fields. I do have a few fluffy, funky-looking seeds though!



A few short rows have gone into the ground. Needless to say my parents, and I am sure others, think I am crazy for even trying them here in Kansas.

I came across an old episode of "Sunflower Journeys" (PBS show on Kansas) of a man that runs one of the two cotton gins in Kansas. So I know it is possible!

I did not plant enough to do much with, even if they do grow as they should. At least not enough to make anything of substance...perhaps in a few months a Minny Mouse sweater will be in order?

We Got Taters!

Tonight I pulled the mulch off of the plants to see what damage had been done by the past few weeks. As a reminder I had gorgeous potatoes and a few green beans coming up and the freezing temps killed them all off. Or so I thought.....



Tater. A bit brown still but see the green! IT LIVES!



The green beans though were no where in sight. So a few more were planted. Also planted tonight were; Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Sunflowers. Not a large number of any one, but enough to get it going....weather permitting.



The view from my front step on the way back into the house. Weird how cameras never can truly capture a sunset.

Freezing Temps Prep

The latest crop? Plastics.

Good use of plastic cups and 2-liter bottles.



This sad green bean, I expect, will not make it. I uncovered it to take this pic, and it appears that it has already gotten too cold. Since they are calling for 17 degrees tonight and similar lows the next, I placed extra mulch around things and made sure everything was relatively secure.



Some of the potatoes, that were covered with mulch only, did not appear well. This is not one of them. Sorry, I took a pic of the dark green damaged leaves of a plant but it was too blurry to share. In my defense the wind is blowing pretty strong and I did not want to stay out there too long. Least my own limbs turn dark green and fall off.



Closer view of my mini greenhouse affect. FYI Al Gore loves me :0)

April 5, 2007 Garden Update

It is April...correct? I mean I live in Kansas, and it is safe to say that there will be no Snow in April in Kansas, one would think. But, that is what they are calling for at some point in the next 48 hours. As I write this the radar shows snow in Central Kansas, whether it gets here (SE Kansas) is something else.

Instead of knitting little green sweaters for my potato plants, so they can shiver in the cold blast, I covered them with what I had on hand. Recycled convenient store cups and mulch from the compost pile is not a cute as little green sweaters, but keeps me from possibly loosing the little suckers.



The plan is to change out the cups this evening to cut-down 2-liter bottles so what little daylight there is will get through to them in the coming days.

Took another pic of the blossoms (apple?) in case this cold blast is their demise.

Garden 2007

I haven't posted here in a long while! What have I been up to? Well, let's see.....

Doing the normal business things, website, started wiki, ETSY shop and so on and so forth.

Adjusting to not having my daughters around so much. They are growing up, at 19 and 21 they prefer time with their boyfriends to hanging out with their old mom :0)

They both dropped by last night,one to do her laundry, and the other for a ride. They both wound up staying for several hours, so twas nice. Good times, good times....

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I started a garden, FYI this blog will primarily be used to record in the coming months. I do not have a tiller, and I m waiting to invest in one to be sure I will be using it. I will wait until next year at least to purchase one. This year though, a neighbor brought in is tractor and plowed and disc it for me for a small fee ($15)

It is only about 450 square feet. But, for me that is large. It is shrinking in size as I get things in the ground. The problem is I want to plant everything! So far I only have potatoes, spinach and half the green beans in the ground, and 30% of the space is used up.

The way the area looked as I begin to make a grid out of hemp rope.

A closer up shot of the good old Kansas dirt! Lots of clumps, but the area has not been tilled in at least ten years. My in-laws use to live on the property and the same area was once used for a family garden.

In order to do the pumpkin, watermelon and cucumbers I may have to dig up another area to allow for all the vining.

Another shot of part of the yard. The 'clump' seen in the upper right is what is left of a sad apple tree that was hit by lightening years ago. The goal is to clean out the dead limbs and see if there is anything left to save, and if not to replace it with another apple tree sapling.

So far I have 'declumped' (yes, that is a word....cause I said so) the soil for the 30% planted. After the long hard winter, my out of shape body was sore for many days afterwards.

This week it has been gloomy and cloudy, with just enough rain to help the weeds grow and to make it too muddy to be able to get in the space and dig them out. But, I figure if the weeds are starting to pop up though, underneath the surface my plants may also be developing.

I will go out today, if it clear enough, and take an updated pic as the ones here were shot over a week ago.