I've spent a lot of time sweeping up mud dropping off of hubby's boots. The humidity is really bad, so as we have worked outside, we have to take frequent time to escape back to the air conditioning.
We've been getting 15 gallons of water from the air conditioner this week. The volunteer squash that came up next to the compost bin is larger than any we've ever grown. It has taken over the paved pathway and part of the adjacent raised bed.
The volunteer tomato is blooming and has a few tiny fruits setting-it appears to be one of the grape type tomato plants.
Wheat has been harvested-birds and squirrels got more than half. So much for waiting till the heads turn down - next year will have to do something different.
The patio project using pavers is nearly finished. Hubby estimated a couple of days before he has the raised beds put back together - going to plant some little giant corn and maybe some lettuce etc. in the shady spot.
Next project is a storage shed at the end of the patio to put patio table, chairs, and rakes etc. in out of the weather.
I had planned to plant some triticale, but hubby put all of his project supplies and bags of mortar mixes etc. in the bed that I was going to use for that. So I didn't get that planted.
I just processed 14 pints of dill green beans, and a batch of regular green beans - quarts. Hubby says we have carrots ready for something. First year we've ever had a crop-not sure what is the best way to process them, so I'll be reading my ball book of preserving food to see what I want to tackle.
The canning process has actually been pretty good this year, since we had the cooler weather spell.
Hope you are all doing well. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Ball has a new book that has a lot more and different recipes too.
That’s on my Santa list for this Christmas.
Along with an electric water bath canner I can put on my porch and not steam up my kitchen in July/August.
On Monday night it got down to 37F overnight. Whew, no frost damage here in the cold Colorado Rockies. Everything looks OK, but tomatoes and beans are slow due, I think, to cold temps at night.
So, your carrots grew: congratulations!
We’ll get a good crop of them again this year. Peas are ready to start picking; time is the problem, since Mrs AR has been in the hospital all week; that’s a 40 mile drive each way every day, after work.
Been into the 90s most of the week, and dry until today: 3/4 inch fell, so the crops are saved.Wouldn’t be such a problem, if the irritation pump was working. It’s 220V, and I only have power on one leg at the outlet. That means filling jugs, hauling them to the garden, then either filling wells, or using the watering can, depending. IF(big IF) I’m lucky, it’ll just be a bad circuit breaker or outlet.
Needless to say, that does not work for potatoes. For them, I have to fill the transfer tank in town, then put the faucet adapter on the 2” outlet line, connect a garden hose, and let gravity do its job. That is a real time eater.
My 70-75 onions were a bust. Not much growth over 3-4 months. The tops were 3 feet to 4 feet long. But very little production. The seemingly soft topsoil turned very hard - I don’t know if they could have grown in that or not.
Meanwhile, several tomato plants combined in a big pot (church sale). Pepper plants doing well. Nothing on either yet but one set of tomato plants has the yellow bells or whatever they’re called. That’s where the tomatoes will be. About a dozen of those started.
I started some pepper seeds. I should have 4 months easy to get them matured. We’ll see.
Hi Everybody!
(((HUGS)))
Got my first vegetables this week - green beans and lettuce. Major problems with bugs eating holes in my eggplant leaves. I’ve sprayed them (with a 1% solution of Neem oil and water with a little Dawn detergent and sprayed from a spray bottle).
My problem here is that I believe some of the Neem oil solution got on my green beans, making them sticky. Can they still be eaten? Wife has had them soaking all morning.
I just got back from an unexpected trip to Missouri. While I was there, I had a meeting with one of my contacts at Baker Creek, who offered me a behind-the-scenes tour of their facility.
If you ever get the chance to go behind the scenes at Baker Creek, take it! That place is AWESOME!!! I got to see their main warehouses, the seed processing areas, their seed bank (80% of the varieties they have never make it to the catalog), and their test plots. Just the drying racks take up more room than my entire house!
I had mentioned to the warehouse manager that I was interested in a couple of melon varieties, one that was sold out and the other had been discontinued. He went into the seed bank and got me the LAST PACKET of the one that was discontinued! And then he went out to one of the greenhouses and found a ripe melon from the other variety for me!!!
I don’t know if such tours are available on request, or if it’s just for contract growers, but if you ever get the chance, check it out!
Here in MA coastal zone 7a, storms gave us a good soaking rain this last week, an answered prayer, with around 90 degree heat for a week after that, with little chance of rain predicted. I was able to save about 200 gallons from off the roof, as described last week. Which is not illegal here, thank God. The fish oil caps that were in the mix of old vitamins i mixed in the water serves to keep mosquitoes from breeding, though i cover the barrels.
The toms from Home Depot were about 6'' high when planted in mid-May, and are planted in the front facing South, and did not grow fast since the temps were cool (avg., about 60), but have since taken off in the last 2 weeks.
Note that as said, the garden here is densely populated - like the city is!
The toms and the butternut squash along the West side are also growing well, thanks be to God.
And the wall garden in my neighbors back yard, most of which was planted later, is also starting to flourish well.
Glory to God for it all!
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. (Psalms 65:9-11)
We had our first Purple Cherokee BLTs of the season over the weekend. The Better Boys are also getting ripe, which makes Pops happy as those are his favorites. The Brandywines are loaded with whoppers, but none of them are ready to pick.
Got the garlic out a week ago yesterday. Another bumper crop in spite of not being planted until mid-December.
