My winter wheat. I sowed it by hand, so it's patchy. Very patchy... lol... but that's ok. It's organic material to be turned under for the tobacco that will go there next spring.
/johnny
Along with the wheat, I'll be planting some rye and vetch. Just read some articles that vetch would help fight the fungus that attacks cukes and watermelon vines.
I got all my tomato branches hacked off and stuck in water to grow some roots. Didn't really have time to stick them in dirt. Dug up lots of pepper plants with flowers and small peppers budding and transplanted to pots for the indoor garden.
I have been collecting nature's bounty this week too. Ripened persimmons for breakfast and/or lunch. Just bringing in the ripe ones. The rest I'm going to process as I harvest in various ways to see what works best. Starting with the Euell Gibbons method of layering them with sugar in a jar.
Also bringing in the hickory nuts. Hubby is bringing in the walnuts and butter nuts. It reminds me of the old song Bringing in the Sheaves for some reason. We are so lucky to have these incredible nut trees and the persimmons.
Hope you are all doing well and have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Don't even need sugar or anything. Any pieces left over can be microwaved the next day.
My winter wheat. I sowed it by hand, so it's patchy. Very patchy... lol... but that's ok. It's organic material to be turned under for the tobacco that will go there next spring.
/johnny
There are some real omens for a long and hard winter, or as someone at the Farmer’s Almanac said, “A whole bunch of adjectives, followed by the word ‘cold’.”
Good afternoon.
Euell Gibbons, now there’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while.
Temps in Central Texas are in the 70s with nighttime in the 40s. We usually get the first cold snap on Halloween so the garden is quickly coming to an end.
I brought in a bucket of tomatoes and peppers a couple days ago so need to get them in the freezer. I froze a tray of bell earlier this week. The Improved Porters are finally putting on but they don’t have much flavor so not very impressed with them. Still nothing from the Amish Plum, Husky Cherry, Brandywine or Cherokee though they’ve been healthy all spring and summer.
Yesterday, I gave some Porters and that unknown pepper to the neighbor and a jar of peach jelly that finally set after a month. The neighbor said the corn jelly (that never set) was a great substitute for honey and put her order in for more next summer so all wasn’t lost with that frugal experiment.
I brought in the first 4 okras just now. There’s a couple more little ones out there but the deer will probably get them tonight like they’ve done with the others. The corn is nothing but sad sticks with tassels. Apparently deer don’t like the tassels.
Last three nights were 32, 32, and 30, in the Chicagoland area, and where the leaves touched the plastic, I noticed today they were blackened. In the third picture, I counted some 7-8 tomatoes. And on the larger plant on the right in the greenhouse, there are 4-5 good-sized fruits, albeit still green; we're planning on having fried green tomatoes this Sunday for our family meal. Yum!Not much different than last week here. I did notice the oranges are starting to turn color. We’ve have fresh limes for several weeks now. Garden is growing well with all the rain.
It is so beautiful in Floridah now, I understand the Snowbird Migration!
HI ALL!
I planted my walking onions in a pot and am eager to see what becomes of them next spring.
My acorn squash continues to bloom and develop proto squashes, but they all shrivel up and drop. That’s what I’ve seen with all my squashes. I’m just gonna let it do it’s thing and if it surprises me, well fine. If not, then that’s ok too. I’ll tackle it next round.
That is interesting about the vetch helping with the cuke attack fungus. Am wondering if that might be my problem this time with the acorn. *sigh*
Did final harvests of okras and cukes. Alas, our fridge died, and we put dry ice in the broken one while we shopped for a new unit. The contents of the hydrator drawer all froze up.
I have some bean pods still unharvested. I was going to wait to get them when it appears they have dried up.
I’m actually very happy about my gardening process this past season. I LEARNED so much, and actually had a few nice harvests. I’m ready to take a break from it right now. I do have some things to do to prep the small plot and my pots.
Speaking of pots, our Lowe’s had some 13” pots on sale for $1.50 each, so I picked up 6 of those suckers!
Late to the party, but in the mood. Beautiful this week; perfect Indian Summer, now that the garden (except Brussels sprouts, leeks, and carrots) has been freeze-killed. One more batch of carrots to come out tomorrow; those will be stored, rather than preserved.
The sprouts & leeks need to get out, too, as we’ve got snow scheduled on Tuesday & Wednesday, with HIGHS of 34-36, and lows of 24.
Have to get cracking on getting some tilling done, too. And more wood splitting. Plays hob with a couple of outdoor carpentry projects, as well: too much work; not enough hours.
Carrots, beets, collards, kale, lettuce and radishes still doing good and have some potatoes to dig up. Put in a section of garlic for the Spring. The fall carrots are so much better then the ones I put in in the Spring.
Now that it's gotten cold here, is it too late to put in a winter ground cover? Definitely want to try green manure next year. We're going to try composting our leaves this year. We sure have a lot of leaves LOL.
Last big harvest this past Wednesday
Finally got the giant brandywine ripe. One tomato weighed in over 1-1/2 lbs! IT's ready to be eaten with fresh mozzarella and olive oil. 
Got the new lean-to for firewood built against the barn; finished the Fall tilling; finished harvesting the carrots and coriander seed; put a cover over the Brussels sprouts; the leeks can take care of themselves.
...and outside a wind is rising, as the temperature plummets: Arctic Clipper coming in, and hanging around all week.
