Gardening.

My peas are all done. Red and yellow potatoes are out of the ground and curing. Onions are done curing and bagged up. Bush bean production has slowed but still producing, zucchinis are cranking away. Crimson runner beans are skyrocketing and hopefully start producing soon. Got a whole bunch of bush beans, some arugula, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and spinach in the ground where the onions and potatoes were removed. Hopefully they'll get going fast enough before my first freeze!
 
I like gardening, though I'm not an accomplished gardener or anything, but I do enjoy seeing the plants grow.
I quite enjoy weeding, and keeping the garden tidy.
I also enjoy weeing while I'm out in the garden too!
 
parcelboy2 said:
Cut both front and back lawns (mostly dandelion chopping ) also weeded around some shrubs
Brought a blue flowered Hydrangea plant today so we now have a pink, white and blue ones
Tomatoes coming on good as well
Click to expand...
To keep it blue, bury a few old iron nails in its roots if your soil is alkaline (chalky). Or add lime in small quantities if you have acidic soils. I'm on chalk and they all go pink eventually unless I pot grow them.
 
Pulled up the snow peas and harvested what was left. Most of them had actually go to seed.

Also picked the first tomatoes and stuff to make salsa or tomato base. The problem was the tomatoes were few and not the best of quality so I used the tomato and vegetable mix to make Honey barbecue sauce.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: TreeLad and dogboy
The Honey barbecue sauce sounds very nice. Nothing like homegrown and homemade.
 
Peas and plants all gone, bok choy planted in its place. Crimson beans have climbed the trellis and are getting ready to start fruiting soon. Cucumbers FINALLY have started growing and fruiting. Been harvesting almost every day. Cut back the bush beans and they've started to grow back and fruit again. New plants coming up. Zucchinis are going crazy, and even though I am picking through them every single day, I still find a monster or two. Found a Zuc a couple of days ago that was as big as my arm from finger tips to elbow (length and width), hahaha! It was in plain sight and I couldn't see it until it bumped my leg. My biggest sunflower is now open, it's approximately 17'-18' tall and the flower is approx. 1.5'-2' across.
 
Last edited:
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: dogboy and egor
I am leaving on a 7 day cruise tomorrow. I finished the canning projects I had and started preparing for the cruise.

I did not have to many ripe tomatoes and the grapes were not looking ready at all.

Then Wednesday I went out to water the garden and sure as )(*)(* the tomatoes look like they are going to all ripen at once and the grapes ripened over night.

Oh well still going on the cruise and will deal with the crops when I get back.
 
Oh boy...
 
Got home Sunday. Just dealt with getting home, something to eat, and getting ready for bed.

Then I went out this afternoon after doing Laundry that had been kept in a suitcase for 6 days, cleaning up dishes and picking up my puppy from the boarding shelter. to pick tomatoes, onions and peppers.

To my surprise I only had a few mush balls, but the rest of the tomatoes were in good shape. Picked about 30 lbs. The peppers did not fair very well in the heat so I have a lot of burn/brown peppers.

However I still had a lot of Plabono/ancho chilis and the first night of our cruise on of the starters was roasted Plabono and corn Soup.
I just happened to pick some extra plabonos and picked up three ears of corn to try to clone that soup.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: dogboy
Well I did another tomato picking yesterday and worked on them and the parts for my tomato base all day and finally got the two batches of tomato base processed this evening. I got 28 1/2 pints canned. If I get a smaller picking next Friday I will be very close to shutting the garden down for the year.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: dogboy
I've started shutting down some of the beds already and planting cover crop. I'll do the same to the rest probably this weekend.
 
Got all of the tomatoes and pepper plants pulled for the year.

Put 3 boxes of tomatoes out on the curb and they were gone within 4 hours.

I have a very large bowl filled with the 4 types of chili peppers. I filled the dehydrator with the first batch of diced peppers to dry and make chili powder. Most of the rest are on standby when the dehydrator is empty and then reloaded.

I kept the nicest 14 peppers out and roasted them for 30 minutes last night and then ran them through the Folly-food-mill and made a puree that I am going to make a roasted pepper and corn soup for dinner tonight.

If it turns out like the soup on the cruise I will post the recipe in the food group blog.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: Seasonedcitizen and dogboy
Monsanto is NOT a company you want to associate with-in any form !!!
 
Well the after season/preseason work is going well.

I actually got the blackberries and Boysenberries are trimmed and trained for next year. And it is actually done before February for once.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: Labrador, Seasonedcitizen, dogboy and 1 other person
egor said:
Well the after season/preseason work is going well.

I actually got the blackberries and Boysenberries are trimmed and trained for next year. And it is actually done before February for once.
Click to expand...
I'm always impressed with your knowledge in growing all these wonderful things.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: Seasonedcitizen
Greenhouse up and running first week of February. Started potatoes (last years starting to chit), onions (sets and seeds), pepper seeds, beans, carrots, sunflowers, spinach, bok choy, and arugula. Started some onion sets in beds late February after turning cover crops in to the soil in all beds. Just transplanted greenhouse onion sets, spinach, bok choy, arugula, and planted carrot seeds outside. Planted a whole bunch of peas in the main bed as a cover crop before corn in a couple of months. First harvest from the garden, lots and lots of green onions.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: egor and dogboy
Many of our plants got nuked during that Northwest ice storm. We lost power; I moved as much into the house where it stayed above freezing, but our greenhouse froze up. Our jade plant population was slashed by about 50%, and the fatalities were all either older specimens, or little ones who had, ironically ,already survived a different freezing incident.
Unlike that one, this one wasn't my fault.
 
Last edited:
egor said:
Well the after season/preseason work is going well.

I actually got the blackberries and Boysenberries are trimmed and trained for next year. And it is actually done before February for once.
Click to expand...
Will you get any berries this year, or is it an every-other-year sort of thing?
 
This year is the first time when I try to take care of our raspberry, I neglected them for years but I was weeding, tied them and sprinkled wood chips there last weekend. It's one of favorit fruits so I look forward.
 
Labrador said:
Will you get any berries this year, or is it an every-other-year sort of thing?
Click to expand...
They are a two year plant. The stuff that will come up this spring will produce fruit next year. So there is always two years of growth going at the same time.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: Labrador
Back
Top