We have had great weather here in Missouri this week. I have taken some time each day to not only do yard and patio cleanup, garden clean up and planting, but to just take a walk, and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful sunshine ( munch on a persimmon or two while at it).
The weather is due for a down turn, though and it is already @ 49 degrees and headed lower tonight. The garlic is in and green tops are showing, so I'll have to remember to check the anticipated lows, in case I need to cover the little things.
Hope all is well with you and yours. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Well not to brag but I have bananas and mangoes blooming this week!
I wanted to build a big flower bed on the outside of the wall of out lot using Cannas but those are not allowed to be imported here so I ended up using Gardenias
The pumpkins that were in are now out with a bang. The hops are in the beer and the beer is good. The rest is, well, resting.
I’d provide videos, but I’m waiting for a more country friendly BATF.
Fermentation experimentation: I just put some jars of fermented pepper purée in the fridge. We’ll see what happens in a couple of months. Anybody make hot sauce before that can give me some tips?
I want to take a minute to thank good neighbors. We moved to our land a year ago but do not own a tractor yet. It will be another year or two (or three) before we’re able to purchase one. Our sweet neighbors plowed up the garden for us in exchange for a few canned goods that I managed to put away this year. They accepted such a small amount for a job that only took him a matter of minutes but would have taken us days! I’m so grateful and wanted everyone to know even though they’re not Freepers. :0)
Should a rose bush’s bud union be over or under the ground? I’ve read pros and cons on the internet, but would like to hear about someone’s personal experience in an area similar to mine, if possible. I live in northwest Florida where freezing does occur on occasion; for the last couple of years, we have been getting week-long freezes during the night. A winter’s day is rarely below 40.
I only have Swiss chard left, and some baby lettuce I planted a month ago. They are growing slow, so I hope I get enough for a few salads before frost gets them!
My Tommy toe tomatoes keep putting out tomatoes even though it’s been down to the 30’s at night. I’ll keep picking them when they get big enough and let them ripen in the basement. I have all colors of tomatoes down there!
Anyone know- if I plant seeds from the few yellow tomatoes will I get more yellows than reds?
Most of the summer plants have been pulled. There are a couple of impatience which are blooming nicely and look so pretty I could not bear pulling them up. Lettuce, kale, and mustard growing nicely, as are peas. Pansies blooming profusely.
Does anybody here run a CSA? I’m thinking about starting with ten shares not this upcoming season, but the next. I’m curious about FReeper experiences.
Good morning gardening FRiends. It’s been a beautiful sunny mild week here in west Michigan. I finally dug my potatoes and also got the last of the carrots and a couple last hanger-on ancho peppers. Our compost bin is turned over and wet down before we stored our outside hoses. Haven’t had a hard freeze yet. Leaves are mostly down. Going to bring in some wood this weekend. Looking back it was our best garden ever this year. The warm weather has not been good for my sauerkraut! I have a big #8 crock that is still good. I did not put up the #6, I usually fill both. I had enough cabbage left to fill a small gallon crock which I figured would be done pretty soon but I lost it this week. Best place to do it with our climate is in the garage. It’s just been too warm at a bad time. Now I am thinking I should look for some cabbage at the store and do a second batch. The top layer of the #8 does not look good and I am going to scrape it off today. Michigan had a great apple year and bumper crops. Honey crisp were cheap 1.29 a pound and I just saw fujis, buy one bag get one free. Hubby is doing great on is chemo. Not getting sick and his numbers are way down. (chronic leukemia). So we are in good shape headed into the holidays. Having canned garden goodies makes for a nice Thanksgiving. Our favorite - pickled beets. Holiday blessings to all!
I haven’t posted much here lately. My job was taking most of my free time. But, that’s over with, because starting Monday I’ll be at a different job! And this one will let me telecommute!!!
On the garden front: I’m still threshing out sunflowers. I have it down to 3 grocery bags now, when I’m done threshing it will probably all fit in one, but it’ll be a heavy one. Then I get to figure out how to shell all those seeds, oh boy!
I also harvested 2 bags of wild amaranth and one of lambsquarters seed. Lambsquarters is essentially wild quinoa, they’ll even cross if you plant them too close. Those are both next on my threshing list.
I baked up 2 pumpkins this week, one from each plant. One had yucky-tasting flesh and small, fibrous seeds, although the seeds were still hull-less. The other had sweet flesh and big, tender seeds, also hull-less. I think I’m seeing some progress here!
Later today I’ll be looking at a tractor on the other side of town. Someone’s offering a lawn tractor with tiller attachment, and it’s in my price range. I don’t like how top-heavy it is, but I think I can figure out how to attach weights so it can handle my hill. At the very least, it’s a start.
I had a shot at a freeze-dryer this week, but was outbid at the last minute by one dollar! The last time the university auctioned off a freeze dryer, it had several in succession, so you can bet I’ll be watching them closely.
Ok, I think I’ve rambled enough.
Yesterday I spent a few minutes picking spent blooms off a 6 foot tall Camellia shrub. Shook a few limbs to dislodge all the loose petals. Suddenly, out pops a Cardinal. :)
Saturday I brought a load of sawmill waste home and added it to the pile, ran a tank of gas through my saw working on the big oak that I dropped last weekend, then hauled up four loader buckets full and dumped it on the pile.
Pops came over yesterday and helped me get the last two posts set for the new fence, then we spent a little time cutting a load of wood for his pile. After that I hauled another four loader buckets full to my pile. I used the loader bucket to take out three whopper-sized multiflora rose bushes that were growing at the edge of the pasture, and used those and a bunch of half-rotten deadfall to build a nice dozer pile for the cottontail bunnies to hide in.
The kale and beets don't mind a little cool weather.
Poor tomatoes...
I set out 150-ish garlic cloves and covered it up with ~4" of composted cow poo.
The woodpile is starting to look like a woodpile should look.
