What Did You Do In The Garden?

[journey11]

Picked the last of the big tomatoes and all the peppers (grape tomatoes are still going bonkers.) Dehydrated the peppers, on my 2nd batch. Harvested all of my mammoth grey stripe sunflowers and put the heads to dry, about 20 of them. Used a machete to cut down the stalks. Trying to clear a path to the sweet potatoes so I can dig those soon. Harvested all the dry pods off of 4 of my bean types so far and the kids and I shelled them out, our favorite thing to do. Several more bean teepees to go, but I'm trying to keep them organized. We haven't had much rain the past few weeks. The garden has pretty well shut itself down now and it's all about cleanup time.

A friend from church brought me 3 bushels of pears! Laid them out in a single layer to ripen a bit more. The girls are going to help me start canning them up Monday. They're excited to get to help this year.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Pulling up plants and weeds, cleaned the rabbit hutch, moved firewood to the woodshed. I am going to build a big compost bin. I put all of my pots and trays away in the shed.

 

[ninnymary]

Pulling up plants and weeds, cleaned the rabbit hutch, moved firewood to the woodshed. I am going to build a big compost bin. I put all of my pots and trays away in the shed.

Sounds like you are busy and getting stuff done.

Mary

 

[ducks4you]

Filler, yes. Fills up your yard.

I have a big yard! LOL

 

[ducks4you]

Everybody, especially non gardeners, are trying to second guess the weather. They think it's gonna get cold fast and stay cold. Even the Farmer's Almanac disagrees with that. I figure with some covers I can keep my warm weather crops going until the end of October/beginning of November, as is pretty normal around here.

 

[Beekissed]

I tried planting four low tunnels but we are in serious drought here and it was futile. I'll be taking all of that down and waiting for spring to do it all again. Will clean out that garden this month so it doesn't look so scraggly and nasty....still have maters ripening, still have beans growing, but that's about it.

Put tomatoes in the freezer today to wait for canning soup later on. Too hot to can when I don't need to right now. Plenty of time for that when it cools down.

Washed apples in preparation for storing.

 

[ducks4you]

@Beekissed

 

[Smart Red]

I've gotta harvest the apples soon. Think apple sauce, apple butter, and frozen slices (for later) will make a good addition to the family pantry.

 

[baymule]

Since it was hot, I was swamped with other projects, I couldn't muster up enough interest to pull the mustard that went to seed. So now I have a nice volunteer mustard patch. Picked a mess yesterday.

Also left the squash to finish dying. I got volunteers and picked my own special hybrid today.

 

[journey11]

Have you eaten your squash yet, @baymule ? What kind did it turn out to be?

I had a neat little volunteer in my garden this year too. I found a Moon and Stars watermelon vine a couple months ago running through my bush beans and I allowed it to stay. I picked it yesterday, chilled it in the fridge and we ate it this evening. When I first cut into it and saw the pale color, I was so disappointed, thinking I had picked it too soon. I hate when that happens! But when I bit into it, it was so juicy and sweet, just perfect! I had grown Siberian Yellow, and Moon and Stars last year and it must have been a cross. The vines and the melon were speckled with stars. I saved the seeds from it just for fun and I'll see what it does next year. If it keeps this flesh color, I would call it After Sunset.