First, shell the corn from the cobs and winnow out any chaff. Dry the kernels in a low oven, then store in a tight container.

Grind the corn coarsely. Sift the ground corn to remove most of the finer flour (use it for cornbread, etc.).

Add salt and 4 cups of water or milk to each cup of coarsely ground corn. (Use your fingers to sift out most of the red material that will float to the top.) Cook the corn slowly in a double boiler or a heavy pan, for several hours. If you don’t use a double boiler, you will need to stir the mixture often. Add cheese and/or butter if you want, and serve the grits/polenta hot. One pound of cooked breakfast sausage mixed with four cups of the coarse cooked grits is excellent. Or some folks like to add mushrooms or tomato sauce.

For fried polenta, pour the hot corn into loaf pans and refrigerate. Cut slices about a half inch thick and fry in butter plus a little olive oil until brown and crisp on both sides (frying time is longer than for many foods, but the resulting crunch is terrific).

From our surveys we know that MOTHER EARTH NEWS readers use mostly organic methods, but most of us have encountered some problems where organic options we’ve tried have not worked and we’ve been tempted to resort to heavy-duty chemical pesticides. If you have a pest problem you haven’t been able to solve, post a comment below outlining what organic remedies did not work for you, and maybe other readers will be able to suggest additional organic options to try.

Fall tomato transplants for gardeners in southern regions will be available this year from the Natural Gardening Company. Here are the details, from the company’s news release:

“In response to many customer requests for fall tomato transplants, the Natural Gardening Company will begin offering certified organic tomato transplants the week of Aug. 16, 2009.

These transplants will cater to the needs of gardeners in the most southern part of the United States. While most of the nation’s gardeners will be in the midst of the late summer/early fall harvest by the middle of August, southern gardeners, especially those in the Gulf States, have a fall planting season. Because this season is on a different schedule than the rest of the nation, sources of supply for tomato transplants are scarce.

Choosing from among its popular varieties, the Natural Gardening Company will offer a dozen varieties of tomato transplants, including early varieties, main crop varieties, cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes. The list includes the following:

• Big Beef
• Celebrity
• Costoluto Genovese
• Estiva
• Juliet
• Ramapo, the New Jersey Tomato
• San Marzano
• Stupice
• Sugar Snack
• Sun Gold
• Sun Sugar
• Zapotec

Plants are sold in groups of six, 12, 18 or additional multiples of six. Customers may mix varieties in any quantity as long as the total is divisible by six. The plants are delivered in 3-inch pots, ready to plant. Six tomato plants plus shipping costs $29.65. A dozen tomato plants plus shipping costs $49.95.

Gardeners may order the tomato seedlings through the Natural Gardening Company website, or by calling 707-766-9303.

Pumpkins with warts look pretty weird, and in America, and especially at Halloween, weird often sells well. So the Siegers seed company is attempting to patent and “own” all pumpkins with warts, even though pumpkins with warts have been grown by gardeners for centuries. As heirloom vegetable expert Will Weaver put it, “This is like trying to patent all trees with twisted limbs.” But Siegers is claiming they have somehow “invented” warty pumpkins, and threatening to sue other companies if they try to sell seeds of warty pumpkins if the patent is granted. The ETC group has sounded the alarm and called on the U.S. Patent Office to “reject all 25 claims of the patent application on warted pumpkins.”

Warty pumpkins are clearly not a new invention. Patenting a “new and improved” variety is one thing, but Siegers is attempting to claim ownership of all warty pumpkins.

Read more in the GRIT blog by Mother Earth News contributing editor (and plant geneticist) Hank Will: Siegers Attempts to Patent Pumpkin History and Siegers Seed Co. Threatens Action Over Warty Pumpkins.

Gardeners and farmers have seen this kind of attempt to abuse the patent process before. Maybe an outpouring of objections, directed to the folks at Siegers and to the patent office will convince them to withdraw their patent application.

To get a head start on spring planting and enjoy an extra-early crop of spinach or any other cold-hardy garden goody, try this simple tip. Cover a garden bed with clear plastic right now, and this will warm up your soil faster. Go ahead and sow spinach seed into the bed first chance you get, and your spinach will be ready to harvest a couple weeks sooner than without the plastic. It's that easy!

For more tips on getting the most out of your early spring garden, check out the following articles:

  * Easy Early Salads with Perennial Greens

  * Know When to Plant What: Find Your Average Last Spring Frost Date

  * All About Growing Spinach

 * Grow Great Salads Year-Round

 * The No-Spray Way to Protect Plants 

This kohlrabi plant growing in the pathway seen here was sown (accidentally) at the same time as those in the row beside it. It is stunted compared to those in the row because the soil in the path is very compacted — demonstrating the benefits of maintaining permanent beds and paths in your garden.

Photo by Cheryl Long

Raised or sunken, edged or plain, logs or lumber or bricks or whatever — if you are proud of your garden’s permanent beds, please pull those weeds and take some photos to post at our free photo-sharing site! (First-timers to our photo site may want to visit the Help Page.)

New to the idea of permanent garden beds? Read this classic written by our editor in chief, Cheryl Long: Build Permanent Beds & Paths.

Photo: David Cavagnaro