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Post by maisazzurro on May 24, 2016 22:02:21 GMT -5
Those are beautiful! I enjoy growing ornamental dwarf corn that is also tasty.
If you are having a hard time getting good variegated, you can also try purple corn or corn with colorful silks and tassles. I wonder if a white/green/pink is possible, as a poorly define Japonica hinted to me once. Painted mountain corn is one I have grown that has much variation in foliage, silk, tassle, kernel colors. It also is about my height fully grown, so barely over 5 feet.
Japonica has been hit or miss for me. Good luck with your project. I could use a good variegated flour corn. I am working with purple as it seems easier for me to get a hold of many varieties without much effort. I am going for functional, beauty with multi purpose uses. I look forward to seeing your success with tracking down a variety of variegation!
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Post by maisazzurro on Apr 16, 2016 22:12:31 GMT -5
I ordered some in February, as the description held my fascination. They remind me how candy corn kina looks like. Just thought I'd share that thought. Also, have more than I could grow as many of the items I purchased from Sandhill was generous with the amount of seed in a pack for abackyard gardener as myself. I will try and post a photo after my next photo day.
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Post by maisazzurro on Feb 17, 2016 23:34:08 GMT -5
Ah, another lover and saver of stippled corn! we should compare notes come fall (when the Indian corn comes into season, and I theoretically might have some leftovers from what I can find) For what I've been able to work out, stippling comes from genes on something called the R loci. it's a variable does thing (as well as a transposon) so you get a lot of variations from solid white/yellow to light stipple to medium up to self colored (solid whatever the stippling color was) You can also get quite a variation in the delineation of the stipple, some have much "sharper" spots than others. If you are looking for a named corn with spots, Native Seeds has a few. Navajo Robins egg is blue spots on white (and I think it sometimes can have a red pericarp) Taharmuri Rosado can have spots of various colors. There is also some other Native corn that was mentioned in an article here a while back that they are working on bringing a spotted version of back (there are also a LOT of spottled Andeans in Baker Creeks explorer series, but getting those to produce here in the US is very hard). I might get a membership for the Navajo Robin's egg. I have been debating it for two years. It is the most beautiful besides sacred "inkspot" or rainbow corns. It looks like rain. I like the fact that it is short stature and pretty good drought tolerance. I just feel uneasy a bit about growing something considered sacred for my food. Sort of like getting drunk at a party with Communion wine, you know? The membership might be useful as my sister who is currently studying Botany in Northern Arizona can benefit from their seeds. My spotted seeds come from one I plucked from a multicolored chin stripped ear I got at a pumpkin patch decoration corn and it is a bit glassy and a flint. The other spotted seeds I saved from ears of Painted Mountain corn. I have a preference for flour corn, as it is very tasty and goes well as an alternative to wheat flour for me, it is easy and fine to grind in a hand grinder, and I find it nice for nixtamal. (I can no longer eat wheat, barley, oats, other things similar variations of these anymore.) I definitely do not have enough room or good genetic pool to make a variety of my own. I have also noticed spotted kernels in the "Indian Berries" Popcorn I grew from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds this year. I have photo I can upload later. There were kernels, rice type, with purple speckles. Harder to notice than on the larger kernels of Painted Mountain. Spotted kernels, purple husk and stalk, what a dream corn for me. ha!
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 29, 2016 18:44:13 GMT -5
I enjoy bitter melon, but not a good grower, yet. Chicago Chinatown and Bridgeport neighborhood. Residents grew bitter melon every year on their fences or on trellis systems. Always grown vertically. Pretty good harvest. Even seen ripe orange ones. The varieties look much like the common hybrid types seen at the market. I have relatives that have better luck with it than I do, but the garden I was working with was in the shade, so conditions were not optimal. Seed packs are seen for sale in Asian groceries frequently. It is something I always start indoor first and plant during pepper planting. I often see the wrinkly small Indian variety or the large smooth East Asian Hybrid types in our grocery stores and seed packs.
Culinary, we usually cut them, scrub the insides with salt, soak, rinse, than place in vinegar. Sometimes added to eggs or a vegetable stirfry called pinakbet (you don't have to use the fermented fish or shrimp paste if you do not like, our version uses calabaza). My Mother-in-Law always warms not to eat bitter melon if you are pregnant.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 29, 2016 18:27:58 GMT -5
I am bringing this post back from the dead, as I am going to attempt to grow winter melon (kundol, Benincasa hispida) for the first time this year. I have been asked for years by my partner to grow it for him. But, this is also the first year I have enough space to grow. It is so tasty in soup. It is a round type.
I know this is an old post, but I would like to contribute. I used to live near Chinatown in Chicago for 10 years. Chicago is a zone 5, but we are very paved and vertical, that a micro climate does form. Almost everyone had a garden in the neighborhood. Long beans, stem lettuce, bitter melons, edible bottle gourds, winter melons, every asian market vegetable. I would state, most were grown vertically. Anything on a vine was grown on poles and trellis system. Even small gangways have 10 gallon soy sauce buckets filled with dirt and poles for growing vegetables.
The house in front of where we parked out car grew winter melon in their front yard. The people in our neighborhood grew the round type with the white waxiness over the skin as it matured. It was west facing. Most of the yard was brick with small patches of dirt near the house. The plants were grown in the dirt and as the plant grew, would cover the brick area and chain link fence. The also grew it sometimes on the chain link fence on the south side of the house.
I am always asked or determined to grow Asian vegetables. One day I want to grow all the vegetables mentioned in the traditional Filipino folk song "Bahay Kubo" Maybe not upo, I am not a big fan of edible bottle gourd. I struggle with bitter melon (amapalaya, Momordica charanti). However, our neighbors in the city grew it easily on chain link fence and trellises. The house near my bus stop grew it on their black iron east facing front yard fence, and had even ripe fruit (orange) which is good for seed saving.
I am willing to swap advice with anyone interested in growing Asian vegetables. I am no expert, but I have been growing them or living around or with people who do grow them. Any advice for winter melon growing is welcome, it is my first time, but I have seen it thrive in my old Chicago neighborhood (as well as long beans and bitter melon).
I have gotten seeds from online vendors, Japanese Markets, Chinese Markets, Korean Super Center Markets, and relatives from the Philippines. Korean market had nice seeds for Asian Chives. Think of a thicker garlic chive, not as feotid, great for bulgoi, like what the sell in Chinatown. Those are fun to blanch as they grow and sell more at markets.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 28, 2016 23:06:12 GMT -5
I absolutely love the black anthers! I have gotten similar results with the painted mountain corn I have grown. Thanks for sharing. I am trying to understand purple corn anthocyanin and spotted corn. I do not see much about spotted corn, such as blue spots on white. I save seeds I see with spots, and even bought a decorative corn from the pumpkin farm to pluck out a white with blue spots to plant. (It grew to a flint with mostly white, blue, purple, and white and spotted purple or blue, no yellow, but a squirrel ate half the cob.) I can see using my purple husks for dyes or stain and possibly added to drink. I also want to understand kernel color on the red cob and husk corn, since, from what I read, the red stalk, leaves, and cob are maternally inherited. I also noticed not all the kernels on a purple plant are red or have red pericarp. I am fascinated by Alan Kapular's Martian Jewel Sweet corn (white kernels in a purple husk/purple plant). I want to figure out color combinations for kernel color with no red pericarp. The all white corn in a purple plant, I find beautiful. Not only beautiful, but tasty, as I do enjoy white flour corn, and I would prefer the Martian Jewel looking corn as a flour instead of sweet. A mostly white flour corn in a purple husk would be ideal for me. The white kernel for posole and tortillas, and the red husk for a dye or stain. Plus, I can have aesthetically pleasing corn in the yard in an urban area, and not just out in the small field. In my head, my multi purpose corn would be flour, short stature (5-6 ft), purple stalks and husks, variation in staminate flower colors. Delicious, nutritious, decorative foliage and flowers (the later is important to convince people I garden for/in their yards to accept corn in their gardens). I wonder if the red husk leaves can stain my tamales when I steam them? I guess I will have to try that next year. I am very glad you guys can share your knowledge with a passionate back yard urban gardener as myself.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 20, 2016 12:43:24 GMT -5
I have come across many post on here dealing with corn genetics of kernel color (pericarp, aluerone, endosperm). I am curious about the colors of reproductive organs, leaves, stalks. From what I think I know, a corn with a red cob comes mainly from maternal material. I have also seen Photos of Alan Kapular's 'Martian Jewels' corn. It appears as a white corn with a purple husk. From what I think I know white is recessive to yellow. How is cob color linked to kernel color? Are these genes on different chromosomes? Are there multiple genes involved? I am fascinated by corn with deep purple stalks and husk. I want to know why these plants are purple. I am curious about an all white kernel in a purple husk. Also, what is behind the color of silks? I have blondes, brunette, red heads. I am not going to get into inflorescence yet… Most of the blue corn I get has blonde silk, white cobs, green husk. Is it genetically possible for a blue corn to have brunette silk or a purple husk and cob? I have had a glass gem corn that was mostly blue display some red color on the stem and had brunette silks, but there was also a mix of red and pink kernels. I am just learning about inheritance and genetics in corn and I have many questions. I know my questions are more about aesthetics of the plants, but I grow in urban and suburban yards where it is a hard sell to get people to let me grow corn. It is easy for me to convince others to let me plant my corn when it is "beautiful" compared to the endless fields of dent surrounding us.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 20, 2016 2:15:32 GMT -5
I grow a row of glass gem because it memorizes me. Not sure what to make with it, may just turn it into tortillas and see if it tastes ok. As for a popcorn that popped lavender, It came from a jar my partner picked up at a farmers market in downtown Chicago. It was called 'Midnight Blue' popcorn. Got a few yellow pops out of it also, and every now and then less pronounced lavender pops. I do not think it is from just a aleurone stain from moisture in the pop, as the colour was through and through. Photo is from before I learned to use the camera.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 19, 2016 22:24:37 GMT -5
It is kinda funny, because for years, when I asked people if I could grow corn in their yard, I would often hear, "Why do you want to grow corn, we have it all around us and it takes up too much space." Those short season short in stature corns, such as painted mountain, made the convincing much easier. Now that I live and garden in urban landscape of my peers my own age, who did not grow up surrounded my corn, they find those 8ft+ tall corns in their yard fascinating and an item of great pride. Now my friends and relatives are all like. "When are you gonna make us tortillas." I hope I can figure out what to post on here, besides a photo of a popcorn that popped lavender.
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Post by maisazzurro on Jan 19, 2016 20:39:57 GMT -5
I grew up on the border in an area called The Region. Long time lurker, as I have an obsession with Zea mays and that has led me to this wonderful board full of great topics. I have done backyard popcorn for years, and played around with crossing corn for a few years, but nothing serious, as I own no land and all my gardening is done where people let me plant. I even became a master gardener a few years back just so I had more areas to cultivate as a volunteer, and learn from more experienced people. This year was my first year growing flour corn (one reason, I have to be gluten free now, otherwise my body will hate me). I grew up surrounded by corn fields, but none was for eating, though I do have some fond sweet corn memories. Sweet corn was something in August we would pick or go to the farm stand with Great-Grandma. We would bring it home, blanch it, scrape it from cobs, and freeze it. I thought we were the coolest people able to have sweet corn out of season, but that was years ago. I am proud to say I have grown my own corn and turned it into tortillas. Now, I learn much about corn genetics and breeding from this magical place. So glad I found it, so glad to be here! Besides corn, seed saving and vegetable gardening I am into foraging and native plant growing and habitat restoration. It is amazing how these passions overlap to create mini Edens in tiny backyards. Gardening was taught to me before I could walk, and it has saved my body and mind, many times over. I am big into your food as your medicine, as that philosophy has saved my life. Images are the process of turning the Painted Mounted mostly red pericarp corn into tortillas.
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