Weekly Gardening Thread
Weekly Gardening Thread
I hope all of you will stop by.
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Good morning. Congratulations on your fall garden.
This year we have very early low temperatures, into the 30’s the past three days. I’ve dug up tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and put them in the greenhouse in hopes of some ripening and harvest. The tomatoes have just started producing.
However, my broccoli, brussel sprouts and cabbage are doing great. I had a record year for eggplant and onions, looks like the potatos will be good also.
The zucchini and yellow squash did very poorly. The first time in my long years of gardening that I didn’t have squash covering every counter and in bags to give to the neighbors.
With our very strange weather this year, I’m going to have to learn how to garden all over again.
Please add me to your ping list. Thank you!
I planted a second crop of corn, beginning to get lots of silk...hope to have fresh corn the fisrt week of October!
I loved your pictures and was happy to read about your parents. We live in DeSoto County. I noticed that you are in Mississippi also.
Well, I’m coming off the best producing garden ever.
I’ve made gallons of tomato sauce with more than enough tomatoes left for stewed tomatoes.
I have a nice supply of frozen zucchini bread.
I’ve got green beans I’m letting mature to save the seeds. Anyone have any experience with that and could give me some hints? Like how can I tell when the beans are ripe for harvesting, and how to treat them to save them?
Ping me please
I’ve given up on the idea of a Fall garden. I just don’t have the time, or energy. Temps dropped suddenly last week so that we are now waking up to 50 degree mornings, instead of the 80-90 degrees we were enjoying 2 weeks ago.
My garden has grown totally out of control, but I am still harvesting. I have more veggies than I can possibly eat, especially because we eat out far too often. We’ve had out of town visitors this week at the plant which meant many meals out, both before they came and after they arrived. TG they are gone.
I did bring in a watermelon and an Acorn Squash yesterday. Haven’t tried the squash, but the watermelon was fantastic. There are a few more out there, so I’ll have to scrounge around under the vines to see what I can find. The cucumbers seem to be finished, as well as the yellow squash. I really enjoyed that yellow squash.
The watermelon was a Sugar Baby. It was about the size of a soccer ball and had snuck outside the fence when it was just marble sized. I couldn’t push it back through the fence because it got too large too fast. I didn’t know if it was ripe, but it came off in my hand when I touched it. I couldn’t believe how sweet it was.
Last night’s dinner consisted of half a BBQ chicken (from Sam’s) and a big stir fry of my very own veggies. I started with a little olive oil in the wok and then added some chicken broth crystals and some of the gelitinized juices from the chicken. Then I added Yukon Gold potatoes cut lengthwize into eighths and cooked them a little bit. Next were the Kentucky Wonder Beans cut into 1 inch long pieces and 2 big tomatoes cut into eighths. The tomatoes just about dissolved into the cooking broth. The last veggie I added was one small yellow squash, sliced, and then the slices halved. Dessert was the Sugar Baby watermelon.
Very satisfying to have made dinner out of my own garden. The Yukon Golds were especially delicious. Thank you all for encouraging me in this endeavor.
Seeds came in this week, so my fall garden is starting to go in. Still pretty darn warm here in Tampa, just at that point when every once in awhile it doesn't feel hot. I ordered from Reimer Seeds, as they had all the specific varieties for my area.
And my new 25 quart pressure canner came in the mail yesterday. Don't have anything to can, but I had to open it up and read the manual.
Need to raise a couple more beds. Was thinking about waiting until it cools off a bit, but then Home Despot is selling landscaping timbers at half price right now. I'm so weak. I'm not going to spend that much anyway. It's worth forgoing the savings to do the work in nice weather. But IT'S HALF PRICE!
Any gardeners on this ping list have a greehouse that compliments there garden?
Had to pick our eggplants the other night, around midnight, because instead a storm system fizzled and high pressure moved in along with a frost warning. Good thing I FReep into the wee hours, or we would have missed it.
Those eggplants are the largest and best we’ve ever grown, further proof that we are making progress in turning our dirt into soil.
It wasn’t terrrible, but it did do in the eggplants and the most tender of the perppers, but a good watering allowed the beans, tomotoes, and hardier peppers to recover. Naturally, the root crops & brassicas loved it, and asked for more. The pumpkins are on the iffy side of fully maturing or needing to be used or canned right away.
It has warmed back up again, so the survivors will have a longish Indian summer reprieve.
Diatomacious earth doesn't cut it..
I need sevin.
Did someone mention Potatoes? I dug these tubers this afternoon
These Yukon Gold tatrers came out of 9 hills...
These YG came out of 12 hills...
These Red Gold spuds came out of 6 hills...
I’m Zone 5 with heavy clay soil. We bought 2 little blueberry bushes and am thinking we’ll need a raised bed that has some pine bark mulch mixed in.
Should I buy garden soil for these? Any blueberry suggestions are appreciated!
Might anyone have any suggestions?
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When canning like peaches . . . in a hot water bath vs pressure cooker . . .
pre-heating the jars—simmering the jars/heating the jars for 10 min . . . that would be in about 2-3” of water, right?