The gardening continues

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks since I've blogged.....Sometimes, I become completely engulfed by the many chores, projects, and daily activities - and just have to get back to normalcy, if you could say that there's anything normal about me.....Anyway, there's still many projects that have to be completed over the next few weeks - mainly, designing the landscape for a memorial in my town, and also working on the second refrigeration unit for an exothermic generator at a local industrial plant. (Yeah...I'm completely covered up with tasks that don't include gardening). I'll only be able to blog maybe twice a week, but at least I can share my thoughts and photos with all of you once again.....It's good to be back, and I've missed all of you. The shed construction is still as it was when I last blogged about it. It'll have to wait for a while.......

BTW....this is gonna be a really long post, and if you only have time to look at the photos, i'll certainly understand. As you can imagine, alot of changes have taken place in the garden over the past 3 weeks, and i'll try to be brief with my thoughts.

First, let me tell you that the corn was harvested, and the yield was mediocre at best. Those plants that were grown in the sfg did exceptionally well, but the ones in the earthtainer scrap pieces did poorly. Oh well, now I know not to try it again! We froze all of the ears in their husks, and even grilled some last weekend. Needless to say....it was very good! After the stalks were removed from the garden, zucchini was planted in it's place. Those new plants are doing quite well, and hopefully will produce a good crop sometime during the month of september.

The cucumbers have also played out already, and the area has been replanted with more. I've completely lost track of how many quarts of pickles that have been canned, maybe 24? (Some of which, were made with cucumbers that one of my friends at work gave to me).

I only picked 5.5 gallons of blackberries this year, because most evenings were spent carrying 5 gallon buckets of water out to the garden. It was ridiculous! Good lord.....those 6 earthtainers for the tomatoes used 12 buckets of water every 3 days during the recent heat wave we've had. Toting 60 gallons of water 150 feet is for the birds. I'm really gonna have to re-think this watering thing.....

The yellow squash produced a few fruit, but the plants have really suffered from the heat, and completely shut down. As you can guess though, they have rebounded, and are starting to produce again - thanks to cooler temps.

The white potatoes did horrible, and termites used them as their new home. I couldn't believe it when they were dug up, and termites started emerging from the holes that they had tunneled into each tuber. With 2 failed plantings of potatoes this year, none will be tried in the future.

Here's some pictures that I shot recently of various items, and I wanted to show them to you - even though it looks much differently now.

Photo below - Here is the first fruit to form on the mountain hoosier watermelon vine (the big one), and there are a total of two. Both have been supported with knee-highs, until further support is necessary. This picture was taken 2 weeks ago.

Photo below - Spaghetti squash. This plant is growing in the 18 gallon swc next to the new trellis, which was supposed to be butternut. Yes......I got my seeds mixed up. Can you believe that? There's fruitset on 5 so far, and we don't even like that variety.....Thankfully, I have a friend that loves them, and has been giving me zucchini. In return, the spaghetti squash will eventually be given to him.

Photo below - powdery mildew has reared it's ugly head in abundance, due to the hot, humid environment. I didn't have time to prevent it from happening, but the new plantings have been sprayed with copper fungicide - which will keep it from forming.

Photo below - The paste tomatoes are gonna come in pretty much all at once, and that's certainly a good thing! The roma are doing much better than the opalka, and will be the only one grown next year. I'm learning that there's some varieties that can't take the heat that we have here. Mortgage Lifter is another that hasn't done well.

Photo below - The cowpeas have been doing pretty good, and are being frozen as they mature. We love these things, but shelling them can be a real pain.....I wish more had been planted, but the white potatoes were occupying 10 squares for several months.

Photo below - Here's one of the sugar bowl watermelons, that's still hangin' in there.....There's fruitset on 4, but aren't growing as big as expected. I sure do hope they'll get bigger than this, because the package said 20-25 lbs.

Photo below - Congo watermelon, which has since been supported with netting. It's much bigger now, and I can't wait to try this variety. Like most of the other melons, only a couple of them have been allowed to form.

Photo below - Look at the melon box now! The pumkins were planted on the left side of the bed, and have already grown all the way across the top to the right - then about halfway acroos the next section of trellis. I'm guessing the vine length is at least 18 feet long, with only one pumpkin formed so far.

Finally, here's a couple of Cherokee Purple tomatoes that were harvested 3 weeks ago. The taste was impressive, and more will be grown next year. Both measured 4" across, but none have been this good since.

Without a doubt, the most abundant harvest has come from the green beans - which are being frozen at least 1 or 2 times a week. I can't stand to see a green bean right now.....The okra is coming in too, but not at an accelerated rate yet. That should change in a couple of weeks, though.

In closing, i'd like to say that i'll try to keep up with everone's blogs, but may not have the time to leave comments.....I just don't have alot of spare time right now, as I hope you'll understand. I'll try to get some photos in a few days, then post them when I get a chance.

Take care, and happy gardening

EG - who is so tired right now......