Summer is fading fast

This morning I actually put a denim shirt over my singlet when I was on the patio with my morning coffee.  There was a definite chill in the air. Trees in back are dropping leaves..most are just plain brown from the late summer heat.

Over the weekend we harvested the last of the potato’s.  All in all I estimate roughly 30-40 lbs. if I add in those I snitched for meals the past few weeks.  We started out with just 2 Lbs. of seed taters.  My watering,( or lack there of) was inconsistent enough about 1/3 have healed splits in them.  I’m hoping they will still store well. If I had stayed on top of watering I probably would have had a much higher yield.  For the first year in the ground I’m happy with what we have & learned a lot. For example, I learned you don’t need a 6 inch trench..(which I did in the first small section.).  I think you can just about toss the spuds on the ground!  In the main tater bed I planted half of the spuds trenched a few inches & the other half I scratched a planting line. I kept them well covered with loads of compost & there really was no difference between the 2 sections. They actually produced much more than the smaller deeply planted bed. 

Most of the tomato’s in the main garden are done & the plants pulled.  This is the last large harvest I’m sure. They are all bagged in the freezer with the rest of the harvest waiting for canning in cooler weather.

Most of my potato’s produced these tater berries.  After doing a bit of research I learned you can plant them & they will produce seed taters which can then be planted the following year.  I may save a few to try but, I’m not dedicating much space for a 3 year process…..although I probably should

I’ve been so wrapped up in everything else I totally forgot about the strawberry bed once they were done.

It’s loaded with weeds & I’m afraid a lot of plants got choked out or are dead.  It’s on the list for the next few days chores.  Spring will tell if any survived

Remember the weird random squash that came up and took over the garden?

After the vine died back this is what I have.  Can anyone recognize the squash/pumpkin? It has a squash/pumpkin smell and texture…..

But hit with a lawn mower its yellow inside

I bet there are over 30 out there in the garden waiting to be harvested!  Now I need to figure how to store and preserve them

The herb garden is doing pretty well so far….I’ll get photo’s tomorrow

Have a great evening

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,garden update,harvesting,potatos,lessons learned

Starting The Garden Clean Up

When I really just want to blow it up.

I went out this evening to pick the last of the green beans.  I thought they were done a few weeks ago but when I was was considering pulling them up, it rained and they were just covered with blooms again.  Well, these beans are hard as rock in any size from those that need a few days to ready to pick.  No idea what happened there but they are being pulled.  There are still a few of the original plants with beans I left to dry.  I should be able to pick those after the weekend.  Other that that the beans are done. Mr. Fix-It was mowing with the tractor and I laid out piles of bean plants on the lawn which he kindly mowed over chopping them up for the compost bin. 

One of the cantaloupe plants that sprouted in May, has just sat all summer with barely any growth.  I started to yank it up also and noticed it now has 6 melons on it.  They had grown into the beans.  I’m not sure how we avoided stepping on them.

The Amish pumpkin I was so excited finally had pumpkins?  Anything smaller than a baseball is rotting at the stem and falling off. The larger ones, so far so good…but I’m not holding my breath.

I know it was a terrible year in the garden for nearly everyone.  The drought or flooding..but I tell you when I was yanking up those beans I nearly started bawling.  I worked my butt off this summer, weeding crab grass that seems to grow a foot overnight, carrots , spinach, ANY greens and peas that did not germinate after 3 separate plantings. I had enough green beans for about 20 pints, 5 darn beets, mutant watermelon, yet tomato’s and peppers out the ears.

I’m having a pity party I know, I can’t stand whining (Love wine) but when I think of most of that darn work was in temps like high 90’s to over 100 degrees, hauling water and the outrageous water bills we’ve had….I’ve nothing to show.  Not even any weight from my big old rear end,  I think that is what has been the clincher!

I did learn quite a bit and will apply that knowledge to next years garden….which the majority of will be in raised beds.

OK, the pity party & whining is over.  Turn in your party hat

There’s always next year right?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,Garden Fail