We have another batch of corn to process, and that is going to be on the cob and go into our new freezer, that Hubby insisted we needed. It's just a small chest one that he picked up at Walmart.
That freezer went into my basement processing kitchen, and space is tight, so I am rearranging things. It has become clear that we need some sort of holding area for our bounty. We have squash and cukes out the cazoo, and now tomatoes ripening at various stages, and the green peppers are perfect and big as the ones in the stores, so most of those will be coming in too.
I have no space left on the cabinets, chairs or tables. So I am having hubby build a slated bookcase style cart. It will have shelves at 5 inches high and be about 24" wide/long and 16" deep. That will give me about 28 soda can boxes of 12 pack size to use as holding boxes which can be dated.
Hope all is well with everyone. Have a great weekend, and God Bless.
Hi Everybody!
((((HUGS))))
I think I am about done with my garden this year. Sad because in the past I could usually push it into late October. For some reason it was not as health and productive as in years past. I did not have the lovely compost pile to till into the garden this year. I relied on a soil test to tell me what I needed and followed its advice. But a lot of my tomnato plants just did not produce. Could be my late planting or many other things. Like I have gotten older and lazier or some such.
My San Marzano tomatoes did well and I have canned a few quarts. I will be planting them again next year.
Well for me, it will be dreaming of next year and building a big old pile of compost for the garden.
All I have room and Sun for is a few cherry tomatoes. A few are finally starting to ripen, Northern Ohio, late Spring, late planting/
Help! Made refrigerator pickles this week. The green cherry tomato pickles are great, but the sliced cucumber pickles are soggy! Anything I can add to make the next batch stay crisp? Alum? Grape leaves? Help!
I think you forgot to ping the members?
Pinging the List.
...and you thought YOU were late to the party! LOL
I am happy to report that the electric drill & chain thresher, even with just one piece of chain at the bottom of the long shaft works extremely well.
Today we hit the 50 pound mark of threshed and winnowed rye, which is the amount I originally planted. That is about 6 or 7 times as dense as one would plant for grain production, and due to crowding produces about the same amount of grain as the recommended production amount. However, this was planted to improve soil and smother weeds, with grain production secondary; it was what Utah State University Extension bulletin recommended.
We finished July with a lot of extra rainfall, and so far, we have received all of August’s normal precip. It has also been continuing the cooler than normal trend that started late last Fall. We’ve been, with rare exceptions, in the high 70s and low-mid 80s, and dropping down into the 50s & low 60s at night; even into the high 40s a couple of times in the last few weeks. A week of or so of 90-100 in July finished the cool season crops, but since then, it’s been too cool for the warm season stuff. We’ve just finally managed to set the first zukes; and the cukes are barely producing. Tomatoes and peppers just sit & spin. At least the corn & potatoes look good.
Tonight, I brought out the leftover cherry juice, and used it up by making 6 more pints of jelly. This time I used LITE pectin; used 2 boxes, 7 cups of juice, rather than the 10 called for, and 6 cups sugar, which is less than the amount called for for that amount of juice with REGULAR pectin; but a bit on the heavy side for LITE pectin: this time, after the water bath, it is solidly jelling, unlike the last batch. The first batch tastes great, and is a very soft jell, which goes beautifully spread on (Sara Lee) Cinnamon Swirl bread, French toasted.
Thursday was a day off, to go to the Custer County 4-H fair; our own was the previous week. Both were disappointing, as the exhibits were very sparse compared to past years, and attendance was also down considerably.
I'm going to my house this coming week and bringing back more “stuff”. After that, I think we're off to Ohio and New York state (visiting his family members) - maybe. (Oh, my, he's a Yankee from birth!) When I get back, I'll deal with starting some seeds for fall. I do want to try growing a Cherry Punch tomato plant designed to be able to be grown inside and has 30% more Vitamin C than other tomato plants. I'll also start a few other tomato plants for containers outside.
I'm wondering what I can do to start seeds early for next spring since the three car garage can be heated in the winter. The entire yard has inset sprinklers to water all plants. There are many containers here as well as many plants in the ground BUT NO EDIBLE FOOD COMES FROM ANY OF THESE PLANTS.
ABOUT THE GARDEN THREAD:
A Freeper friend sent me a message and he doesn't post anymore due to circumstances, but he said he reads the garden thread and the information has helped him with his garden. We don't know who reads this thread unless he/she posts but believe me people are reading and enjoying the thread and learning from it just as he does.
It goes like this: We don't know how many people know JRandomFreeper (Johnny) loses his pants on New Year's Eve and they are found on the top of a house near him the next morning. We also don't know how many people know Johnny ran across the street (nude) to put out a neighbor's house fire and the firemen were grateful. I don't think they were grateful about the nude part. Now, Johnny's gardening advice helps people so we'll just accept Johnny the way he is - a simply grand "unusual" wizard. :o)
Well, I’m drenched! Finished doing Chicken Number 3, (3 more left) when storm coming from the direction that almost always misses us didn’t. Had to quickly finish and police the area, and then get the garden tractor & trailer put away, then take cover in the pickup, getting the windows rolled up. Lots of water, and a smattering of pea to dime sized hail. It’s a “sever thunderstorm warning”, and sitting on top of us, moving very slowly.
So far, over 3/4” and still more coming down, but slower. Yesterday, I emptied 1/2 inch out of the gauge, and we had already had 1/2-3/4 inch since August 1st. Both Aug & Sept averages are both 1.4”
Temperature is back down to 60, from a high of 84; last night was down to 55: that does not help the garden grow! The rain doesn’t help with the grain harvesting & threshing, either.
At least I hadn’t started smoke-grilling the split broiler that has been sitting marinating in the fridge since last night; that set up is in the open.
Sigh; just re-read this before finally posting, and it reads like a typical farmer, always griping about the weather. LOL
Tomorrow the weapons-grade zukes go on the grill for sandwiches and we have patty pan for dinner.
I actually have good news this week! That makes for a refreshing change.
My ultra-rare chickpeas are reblooming! Which means, if I can keep the critters away from them this time, I might get seeds to replace what was planted! I’m not going to worry too much about expanding at this point, I just want enough to be able to try again next year.
And, I won’t have to get a loan to buy my new fence! I got a statement in the mail about the stocks I had bought through my employer’s investment program. I didn’t like the company’s long-term prospects (isn’t THAT a great thing to say about your employer!) but they were offering them to employees at a 15% discount, so I arranged for a few bucks to be taken from my paycheck every week with the idea that I could sell right away and get a quick return on investment. And then forgot about it. That started almost a year ago, and the amount in the account was exactly what I was asking for on my loan! Enough to cover both the fence and a survey of the property. There are 2 sides of my land where the boundary line is a little fuzzy.
My tomatoes are being weird this year. One is enormous with big green tomatoes on it, 3 are 18 inches tall with a few flowers, and 3 look like they only just sprouted! They’ve been growing for months, but they’re barely 2 inches tall. Same dirt, same sun, same everything. Weird.
Oh, my nuna bean is growing all over, it looks like a runner bean! But no blooms yet. I pinched the tip off one branch to see if that would kick it into gear. All that happened is it grew a new tip from the nearest leaf bud. Within a single day! That thing grows fast when it gets a mind to!
No gardening for me this past weekend, only enjoying the produce.
We went camping and floating on the Meramec with some friends.
Fresh tomatoes, sweet corn, a ratatouille that Mrs. Augie made, homemade cackleberries, pickles and probably some other stuff that I forgot.
Nobody went home hungry.
Here’s a link to an article Pinged to the garden thread by Diana:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3191637/posts
Anti depressant microbes in dirt.
Thanks Diana, I’m going to try to remember to ping this again on Friday.