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

This & That

Ah…., Monday.  Oops I mean Tuesday!  Reality kicks back in. We had such a fun weekend with family. You know how it is, weddings and funerals are the only time you have the chance to see some family due to time, distance & commitments.  A few of my husbands cousins were in from Ohio and PA.  We had 2 days together, talking, eating and laughing as they relived childhood memories & we created new.

But real life kicks back in…

The boys helped me clear over half of the underbrush in the back where I will place the compost bins…hot and stick it was about 86 with super high humidity…we stopped before we melted and cooled off with popsicles. 

The wild blackberries are ripening.  Mr. Fix-It has been donning long sleeves, jeans & boots every few evenings and picking what he can. He’s gone out 2 evenings and harvested a bit over 2 gallons

This was last nights haul….he said they are just starting to ripen & we’ll both need large buckets when they fully ripen.  I believe this batch will be blackberry jam.

Mike and Jessie brought us a few of their berries as a thank you when they picked up the boys &

 

thrilled Mr. Fix-It with a cobbler.

Since the oven was already on, I used some fresh picked zucchini and made a few loaves of

Chocolate zucchini bread. It weighs a ton but is soooo good! 

Green beans are calling my name to be harvested this morning.  Since it’s already 78 degrees and they are calling for high 90s I’m heading out to get that done.  Jessie is popping in to help me can some this morning/afternoon.  I have a feeling I’m going to regret not being out at first light!

Have you harvested much this year?

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,blackberries,harvesting,canning,garden,gardening

A Day Of Busy-ness

It’s been a busy week. Not a whole lot of one thing but bits of this and that. 

Beans for seed left to dry on the vine were all harvested yesterday or,  nearly all harvested.  I was pulling plants as I went & won the prize….

Which had me yelling EEEEWWWWW and running walking away.  I know it’s just a snake skin but it leads to the question, where’s the snake! These I’m setting aside for a few days till it’s to chilly for outdoor work

The chives got a final (I think) hair cut.

Chopped up & in the freezer with the other bags waiting for soups and stews this winter

From the main garden the last of the squash/pumpkin harvest is in

Looks pretty good right?

How about adding a sharpie marker to the photo for a a bit of size perception

They are all so tiny, combined maybe enough for a meal

Tomato’s are all that’s left and they need to come in this evening as the weather man is calling for low 50’s for the high tomorrow and a cold snap over the weekend.  If that weather change wasn’t enough to curl my toes he said the 4 letter word.  That’s right S>N>O>W> next week.  I’m so not ready!

I popped in the local hardware store the other day and caught a good clearance of plants.  I scored 3 more blueberry bushes for about $2.50 each.  I planted them today and think there will be enough decent weather for them to “set” and make it through the winter.  For $2.50 it’s a chance I’m willing to take.

I’ve a bag of potato’s with my name on it waiting to be dehydrated..

Have a great day
Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,gardening,harvesting

Squirreling It Away

 

I was up early this morning watering in the garden when the sun came up.

If you lived here you would be laughing as I am so not. a. morning. person.  I may be up early but I usually need at least 30 minutes for my body to realize it’s upright and my brain to kick in.

The garden is on it’s last legs and although they were forecasting rain for the day the air had that hahahahaha rain smell.  The teasing smell that comes with overcast skies…..and that’s it. No rain.  So I was watering hoping Murphy’s law would kick in and we would get a soaker. When I was turning the water off just past sunrise I heard an awful racket behind the house and thud thud thud noises.  As I came through the patio to to see what was going on I heard a loud metallic bang …What the heck?!?!?

The squirrels we stealing my walnuts & fighting over them

. 

They were were fighting up in the trees & the walnuts were dropping and hitting the wood pile and propane tank,  I laughed so hard watching their antics.

 

There were about 10 of them stealing from each other, while knocking even more off the tree.  Made my mornings work easier.  I filled my bowl while they screeched and chattered at me like monkeys from the trees.

This is all I was able to gather today, the tree is still loaded so I’m hoping to have gathered more before I start hulling them.  A few years ago I’d gathered enough to half fill a pillowcase and would turn it every few days while they dried only to realize the squirrels had chewed a hole in the bottom and stolen over half that I’d gathered! 

I’m keeping a better eye out this year…those pesky wabbits squirrels!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,garden,squirrels,harvesting,humor