Covid Journal, Day 190: Garden Time

The days have been so similar all week they blur into each other. Generally around 59 in the mornings, warming into the 70's, with a mix of cloud and sun. No rain for over 2 weeks, and everything is so dry.

So today I finally got a chance to actually get into the garden. You'd think with all the canning and so forth that I've been doing that I'd have been out there daily, but no. I spend mornings getting the house in order and taking care of ebay, then afternoons canning. That's been my life, or so it seems, for most of this month. We have had some breaks, of course. This past week I spent a lot of time on furniture projects, getting things ready for our booths. And Larry worked on brush-hogging and replacing the roof on an old shed with tin that's probably way older than the shed, but still serviceable.

But back to the garden. For this late in the season, we are still harvesting a lot of different vegetables. Tomatoes, squash, a few cucumbers from the new vines--although the vines are not doing very well, and look like they might have some sort of blight. We're also getting some melons, many peppers, 

and kale and radishes. 

The late cabbage is about ready for harvest, and Larry picked corn from our last planting, which we put in about the first week of August. Today I canned the last of the late green beans, which gave us three good pickings and about 20 quarts of canned beans plus plenty to eat.

The garden looks ragged but even though it's not pretty, it's still doing well. Turnips--which I thought was the lettuce I'd planted, are growing well, 

and there are some tiny beet plants that need rain to get growing. No lettuce. I guess this dry weather did in my little seedlings, but I do have these plants below, given to me by a friend, that are looking good, so I'm hopeful. If the deer don't get them. Last night they ate my live-forever, almost all it of it, some begonias and even a rosemary plant that was right by the front steps. Nervy, I'll say that for them. I think I'll put a net over them tomorrow. 

Most of the tomato plants have blight but they're hanging on. We did pull a few that were too far gone. 

There is one tomato plant, a volunteer, that is just amazing. It came up in the onion row, and we left it to grow there. Then when we pulled the onions and planted beans, we still left the tomato in place. Now it is producing tomatoes like crazy, with very little sign of blight. I have one of its fruits set aside, and will be saving those seeds. And we're thinking that maybe we should plant tomatoes in amongst the beans next year.

The original zucchini plants are still bearing and the plant looks fairly healthy. We only planted one hill of zucchini but it's done very well. 

The second planting of yellow squash is producing now, as is the second planting of kale. Larry fed the earlier kale to the chickens. They love it.

The late broccoli looks good, and I am hoping it starts to head soon. We'll cut the late cabbage this week and make a bit more kraut.

My poor leeks did not do well this year. I guess they didn't like their spot. And now the weeds are all around them. I'll clean them up this week, pull the mulch closer, and hope they get a growth spurt this month. There's still time for them to grow.

A couple weeks ago I braved Wal-Mart to get some mums. Some things are just worth the risk you know? The poor petunias were looking ragged, so these freshened things up a bit.

Here I cut back the lilies-of-the-valley, dug some out and mailed them to a friend, and planted more mums. 

We have never had a garden still producing this well so late in the season, and it looks like we'll have some fresh eating for quite a while unless we get a hard freeze. This is the first year we've really kept up with succession planting, and the mulch we put down in the spring has keep the weeds down pretty well and kept the ground moist even in this dry weather. Of course, we're already thinking about next year. What can we do differently/ better? What plant varieties should we plant? Should we get a bigger greenhouse? Definitely be on the lookout for more canning jars. And absolutely buy lids in bulk again. 

I really liked starting our own plants. I used to do it until ten years ago or so, but just got away from it. Seemed like a lot of work when we only needed a few of each kind of plant. But I've missed it, and I honestly think our plants did much better than the "boughten" ones. I've also been saving some flower seeds, and will gather herbs and some other seeds to save too. It's been years since I did that, but it just seems logical and this year I will have time to do it. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Last Week in the Kitchen

In between work on stories and preparing for a weekend getaway, I had canning to do. The garden is still thriving despite the lack of rain. It has been almost 6 weeks since we've had anything but 30-second light showers. So dry.

First pic is bread & butter pickles (my favorite), cider, and tomato juice. I think I will be making at least one more batch of pickles before the vines are done.

Apple Spice Conserve--I call it conserve because there are bits of apple in it. So good! Tastes like apple pie. It takes a lot of chopping; I should have used the food processor, I guess.

Larry put a few bags of green beans (Tenderettes, our favorite) in the freezer this morning, and last week I canned another 12 quarts, plus gave some away and cooked some with potatoesfor dinner. There may yet be another picking.

I stopped work long enough to pich a fall bouquet last week. The flowers are struggling, and I know I've lost many perennials to this drought. We can only water so much, since we're on a well.

And more tomatoes...not sure what we'll do with these, although I am eating them as fast as I can. I dearly love a good ripe tomato. The tomatoes were mostly small this year for some reason, not sure if it was the early heavy rains, the intense heat all summer, or something else. They taste just as good as big ones, though, and they're easier to eat out of hand.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

In the Gardens

We were up and out early this morning to re-plant some areas of our gardens.

This is the walled garden, and it's been kind of disappointing this year. I put my summer squash in here along with some early cucumbers. The cucumbers are finally coming along, but so far we've had only 3 or 4 squash. Still, I love this little space, and the early lettuce, onions and radishes did well. I'll be replanting them in the raised bed in September.

This is the garden we worked in this morning.

Otis had to get his tail into the photo. After all, he was up and out with us!

It was lovely and cool out, with low humidity and the sun just beginning to creep across the hill. Larry pulled out spent plants and tilled the ground up yesterday, so this morning's work was easy, just make the furrows and plant. We put in some late green beans, beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, and kale this morning, and I have cabbage seed on the way--hoping to grow some plants for late cabbage. We shall see how that goes. Larry put in some squash and cucumbers last week and those are up and growing.

Our other helper, Miss Daisy Mae. They are so curious about anything we do outside, but they do NOT like the electric fence!

We don't have the best luck with late gardens--often the deer get in and decimate it, or the weeds take over. But I'm hopeful that this time it will thrive, as the soil is in good condition, the weeds are under control and the electric fence and Irish Spring soap seem to be doing their job as critter deterrents. I also bought some garden netting to put over the plants if we see any sign of deer damage. They ate one of my hydrangeas and some hostas and coneflowers last week. Grrrr.

The flowers are holding up pretty well so far. These are in a pot on the deck.

And these are out by the patio. I don't know what they are; I bought them at Walmart in the spring and all I remember is that they're tropical and don't like weather under 50 degrees. They bloom and bloom, and are so pretty. Oddly, the hummingbirds don't pay any attention to them.

Begonias are one of my favorites, right up there with geraniums for pot plants. They bloom constantly and need little care. I usually bring some inside for the winter.

This giant coleus seems to love the old cast iron pot it's planted in. The pot has no bottom, so talk about good drainage.

The fireweed is just beginning to bloom. I suppose it really is a weed as it grows along roadsides and that's where I got this plant. But it hasn't spread, and I like it for its habit of blooming later in the summer.

My favorite begonia. It's a deep pinkish red, just gorgeous and doesn't get unsightly when the blooms fade like the light pink ones do.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.