I got 6 of the 10 rows of garlic planted, mulched and covered this week…
I cut 9 pumpkins off the vines today and have 3 more to cut in my neighbors field tomorrow. I take a photo when I get them in one place...
Yesterday the temps got back up to 70. Today we have lovely weather, with sunshine and mild temps of around 70 degrees. Melon vines are hanging in there. Peppers are still going. Winter garden has some sprouts.
One of the mystery melons split due to the heavy rain, right at the stem end, and disconnected from the vine. It is small like a vine peach or Minnesota Midget. However the outside looks like an Iroquois melon. All of which have been grown in that bed before. The inside is a nice orange color, which rules out a straight vine peach for sure.
It could be just a scrawny Iroquois or a cross of some sort, and that's about as near as I can determine. Several other melons are continuing with pretty healthy vines, so I may yet have something to eat from them.
Visiting the Bakers Creek seed website, www.rareseeds.com I noticed that they have a small discount on their Whole Seed Catalog good till Monday. This has not only more seeds than the free catalog, but recipes,histories,antidotes, tips, and guide to living off the land.
Today Hubby came down and got their catalog, making some comment that he is going to concentrate on Heirloom seeds! He also feels that their seeds are more likely to grow in Missouri. True for some. I didn't tell him that they also have locations in California and Connecticut. LOL
From the Almanac: Remember, a smile is the same no matter what language you speak.
Hope you are having a great weekend! God Bless.
When is the best time to purchase AND plan cactus (especially the flowering kind) ..??
Pinging the List. Thanks to all who helped or tried to help ping the list last week. Apologies for typo to Eternal Vigilance.
Hi all, birthday greetins’ and such— nice, sunny, warm weather here in N. Tx about 82 degrees. The peppers are loving it and more are starting to slowly pop out. The rain buckets were filled up from last week so they can have some rainwater drinks. I dumped some used coffee grinds in a water bucket and gave a coffee drink to the peppers which are serrano, jalapeno, cubanelles and anaheims. Some folks grow the superhot peppers like ghosts, vipers and such but me no likey to eat those hellfires.
My quick corn is ready. A little less than 7 weeks from when I planted it.
Cutest ears you ever did see. We’ll definitely plant this variety again. It’s perfect for that awkward spot in the garden that you don’t really have time to plant something warm season like tomatoes or peppers but it’s still a bit too warm to plant English peas or other cool season stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKrmPeMB6lU
Also wanted to say for those who are interested I will have some wild garlic seeds. This is a native garlic that comes back year after year, even in west Michigan. Spreads easy. The honey bees love the flowers too. Greens can be eaten like garlic chives while young and when the plants mature the garlic can be dug. It doesn't form a bulb, more like a thick green onion, but garlic is garlic. Plus you never have to replant. If you are interested Freepmail me and I will give you my mailing address. Seeds will be free (Freepers only) but I would appreciate a SASE. I can send about 50 seeds, enough for a nice starter patch.Freepmail first as I will have a limited number of packets. Seeds will be dried and ready in a couple of weeks. God Bless!
Mom (she’s visiting for a coupla weeks) took the last of our tomatoes off the vines this morning. About 60-70 lbs from 7 plants, 4 of which were volunteers. Will be trying the heirloom seeds next spring, after rejuvenating the soil because I messed it up with too much alkali 4 years ago.
After my bro tills the garden, I will be seeding purple top turnips, carrots, maybe some kohlrabi, and possibly a couple of potatoes for a winter crop.
I’d be doing the work myself, but my surgeon told me in no uncertain terms that I was NOT to do anything that required any effort over 5 lbs. I’m not even allowed to pick up the watering can, dagnabbit! I won’t even mention what my lawns and flowerbeds look like...
Got lots of green tomatoes now. I have never made and canned it before but I’m thinking of doing chow-chow. I like it as a side with chili. I used to have a neighbor who would give us a chili relish but have been unable to find the recipe. So if anyone out there has a recipe to share...........................
Got a few cauliflower plants in the ground today. Hope to get some nice big heads like we did last year. My in-laws have a sweet yellow apple tree and it has a lot of fruit. Wife loves it and wants me to graft some onto our pear trees next year.
We’re in the final 10 day to 2 weeks of Indian Summer here. Many of the leeks have actually started to form bulbs about twice the size of the main stems. The last of the corn is harvested.
Oddly, the turkeys, which love cracked or whole corn have not the least idea what unshelled corn is, or what to do with it. They just looked at it, then walked away when I shucked and tossed them some ears; the chickens fight over it.
In August, I found some old, rotted squash (both an unknown “squashkin” cross; and a couple of oversized pattypan) from last year that I had stored in a plastic tub in the basement, to get seed from...and forgot about. To clean the mess, I filled the tub with water, and let it sit a few days until it was pretty much liquified, then used it to water the sweet potatoes.
After some rain following a frost about three weeks ago, that area was suddenly full of squash seedlings—then it lightly frosted again, killing them. Then it rained again last week, and by the weekend a bunch more had sprouted. I took pity this week, and potted the 4 strongest looking. They are now putting out their first set of true leaves, and this weekend I’ll have to put them into large containers, and try to over-winter them.
Not sure if I mentioned that my Troy’s engine threw a rod through the block while tilling in corn stalks, but I had a spare from the old tiller, so Wednesday (I only have about 2 hours of daylight left after work) I got the blown engine off; and yesterday, got the new one mounted. It’ll still have to visit the shop for final setup & adjustments, plus the usual end of season service, but at least it’s an hour to 2 hours of shop labor I won’t be charged for.
Yes, the old Kohler engine is a cast iron workhorse that ran better than the much newer alloy-cased Tecumseh engine that blew. It was transmission bearings that did in the older tiller, and it wasn’t cost effective to replace them.
Have given up trying to find any frisee (aka curly endive) in stores and have obtained some seeds.
Does anyone have any experience growing it in this part of the world?
Hi greeneyes and everyone!
Things are quiet here on the gardening front! I am still harvesting last gasp okra and green beans, and wouldn’t you know it, there are those funny last gasp T-Squash still forming! What’s up with that??? LOL! It’s a race now to see how much they can grow before our first freeze! (I’m betting on the freeze!)
QUESTION TO ALL!!
I have a question for all of you. I am seriously looking into purchasing a new dehydrator, and I recall that several of you had some good comments on your preferences and the features that you liked to look for in this type of unit. I was hoping that some of you might be willing to update me on some of that kind of info! BIG THANKS AHEAD OF TIME!
What I would hope to find is something that is fairly compact and does not take up a lot of space. The unit we have now is quite large and takes up the better part of our small card table!
I saw a small round unit in our hardware store today for between $50-$60 bucks. I’m willing to spend a little more, but only if the features justify the extra expense. On the box it say that this unit has “400 watts”, “Takes hours instead of days to dry.” Not sure if it has a heating unit on it, or if it is just circulated air. If it does heat, I could not find at what temp range it operates, or any other specifics other than it has 4 trays and can accept 3 more and the trays are dish-washable. Thanks again!
The person I bought the sunflower seed from must have gotten their varieties mixed up. I ordered Mammoth Gray Stripe, which has a single head and striped seeds. Half of the ones that grew have a single head and pure white seeds. The other half branch like christmas trees, with a small head (sometimes several) on each branch, and pure black seeds. Not a single one has striped seeds. Oh well, hopefully they'll all taste good. I'll set some seeds aside as a breeding experiment and pick another place to order from next year.
Speaking of breeding experiments, my pumpkin project is getting interesting. I cut up some of the damaged ones to taste and to get seeds from. So far, all the ones I've cut open have had the naked seeds I'm looking for, but the flesh on each one tastes different. One was mildly sweet but tasted uniquely fruity when mixed with ice cream. The other had a distinctly starchy taste. I know squash and pumpkins are supposed to be bred for sweetness, but this starchkin has me intrigued. It tasted like an unsalted cracker, very floury. I'm thinking it could open up a whole new range of recipes, with pumpkin being used instead of rice or potatoes in a savory dish.
Or, it might turn sweeter in storage. I kind of doubt it'll last that long, this plant had such soft stems that it will affect their storage life. But I'm saving a few seeds anyway in case I decide to experiment.
The winter melons are disappointing already. Several have fur on the outside. Now, granted, they weren't stored properly for a week while we were out of town. But still, I expect them to do better than that. I'll be cutting those up and doing something with them, along with dehydrating some of the damaged squash tomorrow.
Oh, and, good news: I found some elderberry leaves!!! All the ones around here have gone dormant already, except apparently some select branches on the bushes on my land didn't get the message! There were not only a few branches with leaves, there was even a sprig of fresh-ripened berries on one bush! I picked enough for a small batch of antiviral elixir. I need to get some Everclear tomorrow and get the tinctures brewing.
I got 6 of the 10 rows of garlic planted, mulched and covered this week…
I cut 9 pumpkins off the vines today and have 3 more to cut in my neighbors field tomorrow. I take a photo when I get them in one place...
