Posted on 09/02/2023 5:31:46 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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**I planted the bed 3 days ago. The Golden Ball Turnip and Navone Rudabaga seedlings are already sprouting. removing the boards from turnips. Will continue on the Beets until they sprout. Will put down Spinosad potatoes tonight and see how they work. ( 1/2 potato acts as a trap material that attracts the pill bugs.)
I planted a Rouge Vif d’Etemp squash/pumpkin which has been been very balky about growing. It has several female flowers. I covered them with organza bags to protect them from cucuber beetles, but now I need to get those pollinated and will have to remove them. once pollinated I will put it back on until its larger. (May get a larger nylon paint straining bag to protect it from bugs after that.) If I have 2 or 3 of fully grown squash that should be enough for me! We have about 60 days so maybe....
Naa. Been some crazy weather this year with heavy rains in between short 100 degree heat waves.
Can't complain. Five months into it, I have plants started from seed that are still putting out fruit and haven't lost much. I've got about 40 cherry and a dozen bigger organically grown tomatoes sitting here ripe or close to it. I'll probably be getting tomatoes until frost gets the plants. Plants will be 7-8 months old by then. Couple of mater plants are yellowing so I'll give them a little fertigation this evening.
Got to see some interesting growth too. LOL
Blame it on the weather.
Semi Determinate Burpee's Long Keeper Planted mid June for late harvest. (I already picked 6 or 7 red tomatoes today.)
September 2nd planting of sugar snap [eas, turnips, rutabagas, beets, and radish. (will see how many make it to November! )
I used a board over the row to maintain moisture and speed germination! It works, but remember to remove once they sprout and water regularly after that.
I - 258 Fig ripening in the Kansas heat.
I like your tagline. Few degrees cooler here but the same otherwise. I just worked on my water trailer and did it in the shade. Not half bad with the breeze. Gonna put a lighter colored shirt and hat on and head down the road on the tractor to fill the tank.
Did not get one of the IBC tanks set up on the trailer but I did clean the old tank for now and while I had it off, I set an IBC tank on the trailer, strapped it down and parked on the steepest spot of the hill I have to drive up with the tank full. Judging by the angle of the dangle, I think it will work.
Need some camlock to male NPT fittings for the IBC tanks outlets. Then some other fittings to add to that for hose spigot(s). Then I noticed the other IBC tanks, minus frames, that I got for free a while back have a cool lid on top that will accept a 2 inch male pipe thread fitting. Stole those for the new tanks and I’m going to get 90 degree elbows plus 1 1/4” barbed fittings that will screw into the lid for filling.
Need two plumbing setups for now but will need more later.
And no, you cannot fill a frame-less IBC tank. Kind of figured it would distort and it did.
Just enough time to go fill the water tank and put some things away before the yellow warning bordered storm reaches us.
Beautiful! The tip about using a board when germinating carrots really works - I’ve done it myself. Good timing on the tomatoes - long production time frame, even with the heat! :)
Mom & her BFF came over today and raided the garden. They went home with an equivalent of three 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes* (we put them in flat cardboard boxes for easier transport), flower bouquets (they’re dropping one off for my sister on their way back home) and Kale, peppers, Haralson apples and sweet corn. Beau had a good crop of sweet corn this season. He planted it, I watered it twice but otherwise ignored it, LOL!
Popcorn still has many weeks to go until it’s dry enough to pick.
We grilled brats and chicken and had homemade SALSA and chips, potato and pasta salad, baked beans and strawberry shortcake. Played many rounds of cards and watched our renters bale hay all day. It’s like watching a Ballet! They are so efficient and good at it! It hit 93 today, but it wasn’t very humid and there was a nice breeze all day. It was a perfect Labor Day. :)
*Tomatoes - There are still PLENTY for what I still need to do. I am dealing with all the Roma-types tomorrow. Oven-roasting with onions, garlic & herbs, then milling them down to use as the base for canning my homemade Tomato Soup. :) Also planning on one more double-batch of Bloody Mary Mix, Tomato Jam and then whatever is left gets canned for using in soups and stews and chili all winter. After a little break this week, I am ready to HIT IT again. :)
Yikes! Stay safe! We’re to get rain on Wednesday, but I’m not counting on much. In Reality (where I live - Miss You, Rush!) I’d rather have to water than have rough storms.
Again, stay safe!
I'm fertigating now but am not going to run it much with straight water because there's a 60% chance of rain tonight. Will run it for a few just to flush the drip system. Also going to grab every mater that shows signs of ripening in case we do get a bunch of rain.
Black Cherries are all mine.
https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-non-gmo-moskvich-tomato.html
Given all the bother in shipping extra water to your place I hope your job will eventually allow you to get a well drilled! You never know how long the tractor or truck will keep running!
You and Augie are just about straight east of me. I think you are a bit to the SE and nearer St. Louis.
My brother is the nearest and lives in Arkansas. My parents are gone.
Oldest daughter is in a Group Home and we brought her home for her birthday this week end. Had steak...which I doubt they give her very often... and had Cheesecake.
I cleaned up the garden some more today.
I brought a boule of sourdough and we had bruschetta for lunch! Fancy restaurant appetizer food, but really cheap since I grew all the tomatoes and basil. Bread, a little olive oil and some capers and a bit of goat cheese. Inexpensive but makes you feel rich!
Dinner...brat burgers and vegetables. (A bratwurst patty that was flattened rather than being put in a tube. They probably ran out of casings. ) Topped it with shishito cream, drank 2 beers, and enjoyed myself.
That sounds like a great day/menu, too!
“Inexpensive but makes you feel rich!” - Is there any other way to live? ;)
I’m getting ‘creative’ with breakfast - Scrambled Eggs with diagonally-cut (fancy!) leftover brats and split cherry tomatoes from the garden. Throwing in some Chives for color and flavor.
I’d keep the Black Cherry Tomatoes, too! Those as SO good. This season, (as with last) we are loving ‘Valentine’ for our cherry tomato. I’ve never found a sweeter red cherry - even better than ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry,’ IMHO.
We are getting the HUMIDITY today and one more 92 degree ‘Alert Day’ so I am going out to water early. Supposedly we’re getting some rain this evening, but if I water, we’ll get it for sure! After the rain - whether WE get it or not - temps go back into the 70’s and even down to the high 60’s. That is going to feel like HEAVEN! I LOVE Fall.
Also picking a flat of tomatoes today for my neighbors. The twin boys (16, already - Cody and Jesse) are such sweethearts and always bring my trash containers back from the ‘curb’ - which is a mile away. I’m getting really good at playing ‘Little Old Lady’ who can’t do these things for herself anymore, LOL!
And still speaking of ‘Salsa’ I’m counting Tomato Jam as a ‘salsa.’ I couldn’t find my recipe, so I went looking and found these. All look good, but I am making the ‘Tomato and Bacon Jam’ for the freezer - for us and for gifts at Christmastime.
https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/tomato-jam-recipes/
Thank you So much! I am in the garden today, ‘dealing’ with tomatoes. The pretty ones are mostly gone. The crows have figured out “phooey on the fence, we’ll just land on top of the tomato plants & commence pecking/destroying from there!”. They have a very nice bird bath with fresh water (big enough they get in & splash around in it) so being thirsty is no excuse for eating my tomatoes!!
This is the recipe that interests me the most with all the ingredients currently available:
Small-Batch Basil and Cherry Tomato Freezer Jam
I mowed from 1-4 in the heat yesterday & got everything done that really needed it. The back field & lower half of front pasture still need doing, but I am out of gas. The garden needs attention the worst right now. Temps in high 90’s with heat index over 100 the rest of the week ... yuck!
We had a really nice apple crop this time. We've picked somewhere around 25 gallons so far and still have two trees to go. Mrs. Augie has made a couple apple pies, a couple quarts of juice, and is making and freezing pie filling to use later on.
Not much going on in the garden aside from picking and cleaning up. Mrs. Augie picked a 5 gallon bucket full of sweet bell peppers yesterday and left that many if not more still on the plants.
I spent my weekend cleaning out and rebuilding the line fence at the corner of my pond. It was a tangled mess of brush and rusty barbed wire. Corner post rotted off and fell over years ago. I didn't see much point to digging out the old corner post and setting a new one. There won't ever be cattle running against it so no need to stretch wire = no need for a strong corner. The survey iron was still there undisturbed so I just used panels and T-posts to put it back together. With that done I'll be able to complete the finish grade on that end of the pond dam. I brought up a little bit of dirt to smooth it up for now, tossed out some grass seed, mulched it with some junky old first-cut alfalfa hay, and gave it a drink. That will hold it until spring.
Brought some to work and the full size maters disappeared quick. Cherries still sitting here. Black cherries stay at home.
My place is 1.5 miles south of I-70 at Exit 133.
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