Last ditch effort

Cooler days have arrived, and evenings in the garden are actually pleasant for a change. Jude is enjoying the temperatures too, and requires much more time playing Frisbee until tired. Not much is left in the garden these days, but it's possible to get another round of squash in before frost arrives later. One thing that always makes me smile is volunteer tomato seedlings that always sprout from seeds that find their way into the soil.



Here's a zucchini plant that was started amongst the late round of corn a few weeks ago. It's got a legitimate shot at producing something before late October, and is doing quite well in the swc.



See this little stinker below? It's a volunteer that sprouted in the main raised bed, and was carefully relocated here. I'm thinking it's yellow crookneck, but will have to wait and see...



Below are the pear peelings left from making the pear butter the other day. They're a great addition to the compost piles, and we'll get this batch heated back up in a few weeks. I really look forward to tending to the piles over the cold months, because it keeps me busy during the off-season.



In other news, the new trellises are coming along nicely. Cooler temps have allowed me to work on the project in the evenings after work, and I'll put together the blog post on it when finished. Due to having to use my phone for everything now, every picture has to be uploaded at the same time. I'm thinking around 20 pictures should do it, hopefully.

Also, if I haven't visited anyone's blog lately, it's not because I don't want to. Circumstances in my life right now leave less time to do so, and taking care of my own blog is even difficult. Sorry....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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Pear butter

Words can't describe how much work went into making these 6 jars of pear butter, but it was definitely worth it in the end. I use the same recipe as Mrs. Ginny does, and the addition of orange juice and nutmeg really makes it delicious. No fancy kitchen appliances here - everything is done the old fashioned way. Gosh, what I would do for a setup like Mrs. Ginny...Needless to say, my hands are killing me!



As soon as the pots are cleaned from making it, I've got this many more to deal with. :( I'm thinking another batch of pear preserves.....hopefully they'll stay firm until the weekend, because I really don't want to stay up late again on a weeknight. I was really dragging the next day at work after making these jars.



Take care, and happy preserving

EG

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What mole problem?

Hehe - #3 for the year.....

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Growing frisbees?

I'm sure that's what Jude wonders right now. I mean, they do look like white Frisbees on a stick, I guess.....



Just for kicks, I removed one the other day - just to see her reaction...haha...Yeah.....She gave me "the eye".

Anyway, it's been a busy weekend for me, and about 50 lbs. of pears were picked from a nice man's tree this morning. He needed his air conditioning repaired, and was glad to get rid of the fruit, as well. Hmm....I'm thinking pear butter this time....



Also, a couple ears of the early sunglow corn was harvested. Due to the recent storm that toppled everything, this will be the extent of it.....



These were picked too, and one was already eaten...it was just "ok"...



In other news, work has begun on the new trellis. Tons of photos are being taken, and I'll definitely have to give the post it's own page on the blog. You're gonna like it, you're really gonna like it. :)

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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A time to build

It's no secret that keeping this year's garden maintained took an unbelievable amount of labor from myself. When mid-July arrived, it almost became unbearable satisfying the watering needs of the swc's amidst brutal humidity and temperatures consistently in the upper 90's. High winds plagued the tall plants, and I can't tell you how many times things were stood back up.
Well, next year those problems will become a distant memory. That's because my favorite time of year is almost here, and things will be constructed on the property to address those 2 issues.

A new trellis will be built for the swc area, and a substantial amount of rainwater storage will be added so that abundant collections during early spring will last throughout the entire summer.

The trellis will be 16 ft. long and 5 feet tall, and of course follow suit as those constructed before.

The added rainwater storage system should increase the overall holding capacity to 770 gallons. Materials are already on hand for both projects - I'm just waiting for cooler temperatures to arrive.

I'll post about both as progress is made, and hope the info from each will help some of you readers out there.

Take care

EG

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A change of pace for the garden

This time of year always brings both joy and sadness with it. Joy - because of the great reduction of workload needed for the water-thirsty plants has finally arrived, and sadness - due to the loss of lush, green growth in the garden until next spring. With most of the garden cleanup already behind me, remaining plants need very little attention these days. I find myself pacing the yard - just looking for something to do, but end up simply reminiscing about the gardening extravaganza that recently took place. The self-watering containers have had their tomato cages removed, plant foliage resides in the nearby woods, and only bareness remains.




Trellises that were previously engulfed in foliage from watermelon vines are now naked from their absence, and only the removal of knee highs from the wire mesh is still at hand.



Only one tomato plant remains, and this would be a black brandywine that is growing in the recently built 6 gallon self- watering planter constructed from recycled cat litter buckets. The funny thing is, I really don't have a logical explanation for keeping it. Perhaps it's my reluctance to accept that the end is drawing near? Probably....



In other news, more improvements are being thought of, and I can certainly say that a couple would really make next year's experience much easier. The only problem is, the problematic muscle issue with my lower back really controls how quickly they are finished....
I'm also anticipating the upcoming muscadine grape harvest in a few weeks, and can't help but wish that each grows to a bigger size before finally mature. Grape jelly will be made from most, but at least a quart of the extracted juice will find itself in the freezer for something later.

That's all for today

EG

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For Granny and Gingerbreadshouse7

Since Granny and Gingerbreadshouse7 couldn't help but notice the butternut squash in the background of recent harvest pictures (and apparently I have too much time on my hands), I couldn't help but dress them up a bit for a photo opportunity of their own. Ha!




EG

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More melons to come

It's been a couple of years since growing "cool green" variety of honeydew melon, and my memory tells me that it takes a long time for one to get ripe. As a matter of fact, it takes between 100 and 120 days - much like pumpkins. However, since the outer skin is beginning to turn bright yellow now, it won't be long. For the record, these don't slip from the vine like cantaloupes do.....



Photo below - here's one of the smaller ones growing next to the blackberry patch. In all, there are 5 of this variety awaiting their time to finally become fully mature. All I know, is that if they're as good as the last one grown, it's highly possible that a misdemeanor will be charged for my streaking through the neighborhood out of pure joy. Haha!



Photo below - one thing that's pretty cool about growing some of the really small varieties, is that slinging for support isn't required at all. Since the soil beneath is very soft, I just simply wait for them to fall to indicate their ripeness. That's the funny thing about most varieties of cantaloupe - they detach themselves from the vine when maturity is reached..



Photo below - some of the beans that were planted a few weeks ago amongst the melon vines that were recently removed. With a little bit of fertilization and consistent watering, these should grow like crazy in another week or two. Snow peas will take the place of currently growing honeydew vines, and should be planted around the end of August.



In other news, i'm gonna do a very special post for Granny and Gingerbreadshouse7 in the upcoming days. It seems both have been eyeing my butternut squash in the background of recent harvest photos. :) You won't want to miss it...Hehe....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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Some of the harvest from the week

Harvests continue to come in pretty well from the garden, but due to last week's weather mishap, this should be the last of it's kind for the year.



Photo below - here's the tomatoes that were salvaged from the plants that were blown over. They'll ripen just fine on the counter, and should provide me and my parents plenty of them to eat for at least 2-3 weeks, I figure. Any that aren't eaten fresh will be frozen, of course.




Photo below - seeds from various melons have been saved for next year's garden, and only honeydew melon seeds are still left to gather. As you might expect, plenty will be shared with my readers during the winter months.



In other news, i'm planning on adding another trellis to the garden. It'll be used for supporting vining vegetables that are grown in the area where all of the swc's are located. It's purpose will be to address the problem of high winds that have caused problems 3 times already this year. Even though it's a lot of work to get done, i've grown tired of having my stuff blown over. Besides, i'm known as "the builder" in my closeknit group of garden Blogging friends.

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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It was a windy night....

Storms passing thru my area during the night always wake me - as did the one that interrupted my peaceful slumber this morning at 3:15 am. Man, the wind was really rocking the trees surrounding the property, and easily reached levels greater than 60 mph, I bet. Because so many things are grown vertically in the garden, damage is always possible when such an event from mother nature takes place.

Tomato plants 2 weeks ago....

And then this morning........

Yeah, as you might expect - I was completely shocked from the damage. Oh well, at least Jude made out just fine - because it would just kill me if something were to happen to my gardening buddy.

Oh well, I'm sick of tomatoes anyway, and my gardening workload has been decreased by at least 75% due to the tomato plant's early demise.
However, there's always other things to make me forget about such disasters - like this Swan Lake charentais melon that was shown from last week's harvest picture.....Oh, it was absolutely wonderful, and this variety will be grown again next year! Lots and lots of seeds were saved from this rare melon, and there must be at least 100 on hand to share with my readers.

As you might guess, all green tomatoes were pulled from the damaged tomato plants, and will be allowed to ripen in the house. Hopefully they won't all ripen at once, because there were 30 lbs. of them!

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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Jude the mole catcher

Moles really take it to the yard each year, making it a never-ending job to fill in the holes left by their burrowing. Jude can smell where they've been, and occasionally catches one of the varmints. This video was taken of such an occurence, and I decided to share it with you. It's treated like a new toy for her to play with, and she never actually kills them. That part gets left up to me - which is off-camera, of course....

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Harvesting something new

Here's most of what was harvested last week, and missing from the picture are several tomatoes that were given away to friends. What's new, is the little yellow colored melon in the back. It's something that I remember planting seeds for, but due to losing a few plants early in the season - the same location got planted with another variety. In the end, 2 vines were grown next to the same trellis - French Orange cantaloupe, and also this very rare charentais. It's called "Swan Lake", and is native from the orient. I can't wait to try it.

In other news, the squirrels are really taking it to the tomatoes. This happens frequently in times of drought, and we haven't had a significant rainfall in quite some time. Due to this annoyance and the fact that it's so brutally hot, I'm not going to refill the swc's anymore with water. Besides, I'm sick of them, and can barely stand the sight of one right now....

Also, the melons in the largest raised bed are almost finished, and most will be harvested later in the week. The largest picked so far weighed only 15 lbs., and I'd have thought for sure that it would have weighed at least 20. Oh well, it's not always about how much they weigh that's important. But taste is everything....

Take care, and happy gardening

EG

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