Weekly Garden Thread - August 12-18, 2023 [The Perfect BLT Sandwich Edition]

August 12, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Time to get out your push mooer and see if he can help with the grass! (Or offer him an apple to lure him out into the high hay!)

My personal pace mower turned into a push mower. I can still use it, but do not want to push myself into another stroke! Looked at it and letting mower people with a stand that gets it off the ground to do it. (Starting to do that with oil changes too. )

Baker Creek is selling some Catawissa Red walking onions. I purchased some and am trying to figure out where to put them in my garden!

Hope you get that tired fixed before the grass gets too thick and you need to get out the sickle bar!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Tire fixed rather than Tired fixed! (A weekend of Octoberfest might fix the tired!)

[Pollard]

Very handy website close to me that gives yesterday's and today's precipitation amounts to help a little with preventing exploding tomatoes.

Site has current conditions too and auto-refreshes every 5 minutes. It's a very lightweight text page though.

An accurate forecast would help but that's never going to happen where I am. NWS says 50-60% chance of rain Tonight/Tomorrow that might be heavy so I'm gonna go grab all the tomatoes with signs of ripening to be safe.

This has all the MO Ag related weather station locations. http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/stations/index.php

People in other states might have the same. AG Research Centers all have a weather station for their own use. I would think most out it online these days.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

That’s a handy tool!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The biggest ‘grass mower’ is Chuck the steer, but he’s enjoying Summer Camp with the Heifers in the pasture.

Beau will have it fixed in a jiffy when he gets back this week. I probably should’ve watched more carefully when he did it the last time. ;)

Oh, well. The yard looks good at least!

Mom is coming out today to raid the garden and we’re going to see if there are enough peaches left for a few more pies - most likely. Rain again on Sunday evening into Monday.

[Bon of Babble]

Oh, she gets her revenge when he least expects it!

She’ll jump on his back from behind furniture or the spa outside.

[Bon of Babble]

Thanks - will check it out. I’ve been studying this issue for 30 years - lots and lots of trial and error.

The microclimates around here are what really throw things off.

[numberonepal]

The microclimates around here are what really throw things off.

Yup. You have to conform to YOUR microclimate.

[Qiviut]

We are all waddling around overstuffed from our picnic! The big ‘hit’ was the jar of pickled cherry tomatoes. They were really good - my brother says “I am never giving away cherry tomatoes again!” He has put up a couple of pints for himself, but has not tried them yet.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Well...I guess you are right...your grass "mooer" Chuck should be allowed his special time in the pasture!

I had a bunch of rain this morning too and they expect storms this evening. (It will probably ruin all the figs. They are not used to all this water and tend to balloon and burst.) Augie and Pollard and probably Eric in the Ozarks got it too!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Peaches. A most excellent fruit!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The Peach Bourbon BBQ Sauce turned out great! This recipe only made 2 pints, but I wanted to try it first before I made a larger batch for canning.

https://seekinggoodeats.com/peach-bbq-sauce/

After it was cooked down, I used my immersion blender, versus a regular blender. It worked fine. Nice & smooth. :)

[Liz]

Yum yum yum.....and healthy too.

[Augie]

It was another wet week here in Central Missouri. We got right at 2" at the house over the weekend and another .7" or so through the week.

The 2nd planting sweet corn is up nicely aside from the seeds that some thieving varmint has been digging up and eating. I've replanted skips twice now. If this keeps up I'll need to buy a Trunk Monkey for the greenhouse.

The tomato cuttings I took last week are all blighted. If it ever dries up enough to stick them in the dirt I will, but I don't have much hope of them making any tomatoes.

Pole beans are doing great. Sweet bell peppers are making monsters. 2nd planting pickling cukes is up and looks good. Late planted zucchini is up and looks good. Carrots are doing great - Mrs. Augie has been getting ~1/2 gallon of juice every time I thin the beds. Best crop of carrots I've ever raised.

The Dunstan Chestnuts are doing really well this summer. 6 of the 10 that were planted last spring are out of their grow tubes. I need five more to finish out my grove. Three additional and replace two that aren't doing well. I've dug and potted three black walnut saplings that came volunteer in the victory garden last spring. I just need to figure out where I want to plant them once they go dormant for winter.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The big ‘hit’ was the jar of pickled cherry tomatoes.

Oh please share!

I have tons of cherries and never know what to do with them aside from eating fresh.

[Qiviut]

Here you go:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/pickled-cherry-tomatoes-5186700

You can do a refrigerator version (what I did) or can them.

Someone asked if the cherry tomatoes fell apart when canned & I saw this reply to that question in the ‘comments’:

“I put up half a dozen pints of pickled cherry tomatoes at least three months ago - no falling apart! After their water baths, they’re on the shelf. Just remember to puncture their skins so the vinegar is absorbed.”

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great job on the Chestnuts! Those are NOT an easy tree to grow.

At my old farm there was a Chestnut tree at the end of the lane and it was the most gorgeous thing EVER when in bloom. I miss seeing that tree on a regular basis. ;)

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie; The potted three black walnut saplings. A problem since things do not want to grow underneath (Gardens)! The nuts have a very strong taste are hard to crack. (But you know this since you have them around.)

Walnut is a great lumber crop. Train them to be as straight as possible!

(Nut Trees! For other people reading this and considering walnuts, Butternut is a smaller similar tree, but the nut taste a lot milder. It has disease problems though. For nuts northern Pecans are also good choices! Hazel trees are a good under story tree too! Both of these are easier to crack than Black Walnut!)

Carrots; This has been a really weird weather year! Hot, and now, almost spring like weather. Wish I had room for beets because this would be great weather for them. (I do have some rutabagas growing!) Was really sorry to learn of the earlier loss of your cabbage! Bummer!

[Augie]

I’d never plant a black walnut tree close to anything that I care about. They are nasty things, but make good mast for the squirrels (I’m sure that’s who planted them in my garden) and will make someone a nice check for the saw logs a hundred years from now if they last that long. lol

[Augie]

At my old farm there was a Chestnut tree at the end of the lane and it was the most gorgeous thing EVER when in bloom.

One of them that I planted this past spring bloomed inside of the grow tube. I wish that I'd pulled the tube and taken a picture of it. I'll try to remember to do that next spring. Should have several of them blooming if Mother Nature doesn't kill them this winter.