October Garden Update
Well, after last update we still had a few things growing in the veggie bed, a few...not much.
My gourds were a HUGE disappointment, and that was about all that was huge about them. This picture is pretty but the gourds grew to three quarter the size of my pinkie!
And the Maximilian sunflowers were 999,999 short. I planted them late though. Every stem had a flower so I guess that was better than nothing. I picked them all for the dining room table, I didn't have the heart to let the frost get them, they were very pretty.
September 20 was the weekend we started to pull vegetation, the beans to be exact as they had expended all their strength. Veggies were still growing in other areas of the garden.
We spread the good soil from the potatoes, I'm not sure we will use the tire method next year or not but if we do we will start over.
This area is about one third the size of the garden but since I can only get my husband's help on the weekends this time of year, we decided to do what we could. He tilled it all under, the newspaper shredded and buried itself really easy, we have decided to newspaper the entire garden next year, no weeding!
The little people went on vacation to a warmer place, closer to the sun, my attic, HA!
At the time of tilling, the cherry tomatoes were producing like gangbusters, I had a hard time keeping up and let some of them go.
We pulled the tomatoes and what didn't fall to the ground got hung upside down in the basement for further ripening. Most all the rest of these were a slight size bigger than a egg and some were tough, what's with that? I found slicing one that it had alot of inner core instead of seeds. Humph.....
And this was what we got for the remaining squash, my one pumpkin is in the back of the right row, I ended up pitching it because of a bad spot. My husband and I believe that when we filled the holes under the mounds with manure, we had more shavings and chips than the manure. We found this the hard way by sinking into the ground after everything was pulled, our guess is to much air space in the dirt. Funny, we did the same for the tomatoes and they thrived and didn't have any sinkhole. Live and learn. My surprise on this day was the large cuke I found hiding!
More cherries.
I decided, after eating tomato sandwiches everyday, I really needed to can what was getting to soft to keep, I know my mom and my employee wanted some but it was spur of the moment, I say that because I canned alone for the first time.
Although about the time these we freezing in the sink, I really wished I had a set of extra hands!
There was a lot of little ones.
Success! After the last time we decided to can the tomatoes with tomato juice, much more appealing to the eye. I'm so proud of myself!
Finally, after everything was pulled, dead or frostbitten we moved the burn pile inside the gate, we felt the ash would do it good since the tomatoes were planted on the prior burn pile and did well. Trouble was...we really needed to keep it small otherwise it would melt the orange fencing. Not a problem and not a problem to start a fire on this deary day, one of the perks in working with heating oil, it seems you get plenty of waste oil!
It was my job to supervise and feed the fire, thank goodness the water was right there as the wind picked up and made me a little distressed. Tartarus laid about eight feet from the flames but decided better of it after he saw me move the chair outside the gate, it got warm and too many sparks landed on his nose! Warm on his ole' bones and it didn't seem to bother him.
My gourds were a HUGE disappointment, and that was about all that was huge about them. This picture is pretty but the gourds grew to three quarter the size of my pinkie!
And the Maximilian sunflowers were 999,999 short. I planted them late though. Every stem had a flower so I guess that was better than nothing. I picked them all for the dining room table, I didn't have the heart to let the frost get them, they were very pretty.
September 20 was the weekend we started to pull vegetation, the beans to be exact as they had expended all their strength. Veggies were still growing in other areas of the garden.
We spread the good soil from the potatoes, I'm not sure we will use the tire method next year or not but if we do we will start over.
This area is about one third the size of the garden but since I can only get my husband's help on the weekends this time of year, we decided to do what we could. He tilled it all under, the newspaper shredded and buried itself really easy, we have decided to newspaper the entire garden next year, no weeding!
The little people went on vacation to a warmer place, closer to the sun, my attic, HA!
At the time of tilling, the cherry tomatoes were producing like gangbusters, I had a hard time keeping up and let some of them go.
We pulled the tomatoes and what didn't fall to the ground got hung upside down in the basement for further ripening. Most all the rest of these were a slight size bigger than a egg and some were tough, what's with that? I found slicing one that it had alot of inner core instead of seeds. Humph.....
And this was what we got for the remaining squash, my one pumpkin is in the back of the right row, I ended up pitching it because of a bad spot. My husband and I believe that when we filled the holes under the mounds with manure, we had more shavings and chips than the manure. We found this the hard way by sinking into the ground after everything was pulled, our guess is to much air space in the dirt. Funny, we did the same for the tomatoes and they thrived and didn't have any sinkhole. Live and learn. My surprise on this day was the large cuke I found hiding!
More cherries.
I decided, after eating tomato sandwiches everyday, I really needed to can what was getting to soft to keep, I know my mom and my employee wanted some but it was spur of the moment, I say that because I canned alone for the first time.
Although about the time these we freezing in the sink, I really wished I had a set of extra hands!
There was a lot of little ones.
Success! After the last time we decided to can the tomatoes with tomato juice, much more appealing to the eye. I'm so proud of myself!
Finally, after everything was pulled, dead or frostbitten we moved the burn pile inside the gate, we felt the ash would do it good since the tomatoes were planted on the prior burn pile and did well. Trouble was...we really needed to keep it small otherwise it would melt the orange fencing. Not a problem and not a problem to start a fire on this deary day, one of the perks in working with heating oil, it seems you get plenty of waste oil!
It was my job to supervise and feed the fire, thank goodness the water was right there as the wind picked up and made me a little distressed. Tartarus laid about eight feet from the flames but decided better of it after he saw me move the chair outside the gate, it got warm and too many sparks landed on his nose! Warm on his ole' bones and it didn't seem to bother him.
The veggie bed is the only place to burn, we burned a pile back in the spring and although we had sprayed water on the tender hemlock branches, the heat still got to the needles and turned them brown. I guess the tree trims will be the start of the springtime pile. No more burning outside the veggie bed.
Some of this wood is from the tree house that had been in the play yard for years, most of it being logs that took awhile to completely burn because they were thick logs. I'll save the story about the tree house for another time as it is still in the play yard.
That's it for now.....even the grass got bit. C&G Design
11 comments:
A lot of my tomatoes had hard cores. I think it was the cool nights. Tomatoes really do best with temperatures in the 80's and warm nights. I need to get busy and clean out the vegetable beds.
Marnie
Even with no gourds your vegetables far surpassed mine. That bonfire looks like fun. It's cold enough for it!
You guys sure are doing a fine job to that veggie bed. You should have lots of good results next yr.
Bonfire sure would feel good with that nip in the air.
The final pillage of the garden really signals the end of the season, dosen't it? That was an impressive fire....I know, Just another talent of yours :). I love gourds, they are always so interesting...maybe you have better luck nexy year. Hopefully we will have less rain. Hugs, Kathleen
Dawn, I am so impressed with your canning abilities! I am a bit lazy and take the freezing route instead. hee hee... Your bonfire looks wonderful to my chilly bones! We had one planned when my brother and his family were here visiting last week but Mother Nature decided to give us rain and lots of rain so no bonfire. There is plenty of time for bonfires with weenies and marshmallow roasting though...
Lucky you getting it all done for the season. I worked most of yesterday and still have to harvest some onions, peppers, carrots, cabbage, turnips and pumpkins. I was cleaning where the squash were yesterday and found 3 more (thought I had them all). LOL My other crop of peas are loaded with pretty flowers and I am hoping they make peas before I have to pull them all. I have a huge pile of weeds and plants where my beans had been and will burn it all when I am all done.
Oh Dawn what great pictures and your garden is soooo huge!! I am envious that hubby helps so much. When I started my garden years ago, hubby said he would help in any way but absolutely would NOT weed! He did that enough as a kid and hates it. I must try the newspaper method and need to get more info about that. I will email you sometime. I am so proud of you too! God girl...you are so talented...crafting and canning and a master gardener and an upholsterer and on and on! We have two HUGE burn piles here. One on the front lawn and one on the back. We cut down a lot of trees branches on the property over the years and these piles need burning but are too big now and close to the pines! To get it done we have to pull pieces out into the field and start small...adding as we go. A big job but it has to be done. I'll take photos some day so you see what I mean! I love the way the two of you work together...you've got a great guy. I do too...aren't we lucky? Now as far as potatoes go...for over ten years, potatoes were grown on the property next to me...miles and miles of them! End of season potatoe bugs covered our house and foundation! Potatoes need a well drained sandy soil and that's what my property is. I add manure for the other veggies. Carrots love it sandy too. I think everything you grew was wonderful...even without the gourds and pumpkins, you had a big abundance of other veggies! Bravo my friend!!
OOPS!!....Forgot to tell you I like your country/folk art new background! I have been thinking of doing a different one too...especially since being hit by the Crap Blog guy!%#@ Did you see that on my comments?? What a jerk! Anyway...I choose to ignore him because what I really want to say to him is NOT very nice! The guy seriously needs to get a LIFE...see what I mean!
Hi all! Yes the fire was warm, we do it at least 2x's a year, it was more when we were building the house, you know the $ they charge contractor at the dump now a days.
Mom, the other school for Monday has decided they don't want to play the last game :(. Too bad because we beat Brunswick last night. See you on the 9th. Did you get lots of taters?
Debbie, I saw that, I went to his blog, he has only two post and I thought about making a comment but my temper could show in the remarks and so I kept it. He does need to get a life and BTW I like your background.
I want to thank you for your advise today. You are right, I need to really take care of this knee. I have had 2 surgeries and 2 years of rehab on it. It is still very weak. Of course, that is the one I hit. Your garden it wonderful. Thanks for your friendship, Martha
You have a nice piece of land there I guess it keeps you pretty busy.
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