What did you do in the garden today?

[Acre4Me]

The green beans I planted in late July have produced well! One more picking, maybe two.

the beets in that same bed (also planted in late July) are just beginning to get large enough, but still need time -we picked 3 decent sized ones, but the others don’t look ready.

the watermelons have done well. We will plant “Cherokee Moon and Stars” again. We picked one a few days ago and it wasn’t very red...nice pink shade though. But, texture was great and flavor was still good. There is one more on the vine, so we will be leaving it there another week or two.

fall crops: peas, spinach, mustard, cabbage, Brussel sprouts all are doing ok. I actually have seen cabbage looper moths, so I have to break out the Bt spray...don’t they know fall crops are supposed to be nearly bug free?

my oldest has a birthday later this week and has requested peppermint marshmallows and also almond bars. So, I’ll be making those today. The marshmallows have to sit a few hours before being cut and dusted, so I’ll do those later so that they sit overnight.

 

[oldhen2345]

Good morning gardeners. I guess it is really Autumn here. The lows were down in the upper 40s overnight. Nice sleeping weather. Busy day today. Got the laundry started, Italian bread is on it's first rise, the chickens have had their breakfast and I harvested one poblano pepper and 4 butternut squashes. There are still 5 moderate to large and 3 small squash left on the vine. My plan for today is to make a batch of the cherry tomato and corn salsa and maybe even a quick mowing in the front yard. The mowing is a low priority for now. After the salsa I only have tomato sauce to make and can then it's moving on to Concord Grape jam. Yum. I can hold off on the apples until the first week of October. I'm happy you posted @NewBoots so we know you are OK. I hope you have indoor air filters to help with the air quality issues. The PM10 from the fire ash is bad for every living thing. Take care and have a great day everyone.

Whoo, can I come to your house for lunch? I looked in my kitchen and all I see are ingredients- no food. Well, someone better get started on cooking ( i live alone with the dogs, chickens, fish and quail)

 

[igorsMistress]

Good morning gardeners. I got the bedding in the main coop raked around and mixed up, moved the nest box back in there and put some hay and OS in the mini coop for the newbies. Made the brooder bigger and got that set up for the babies due later this week as well and watered the sprouts this morning. Need to run to TSC now for more chick food, scratch and grit. That’s all I’m doing outside today. Still moving a little slow from yesterday and my elbow hurts. Speaking of elbows @WthrLady OUCH! Hope yours feels better soon. I’m not black and blue, just muscles. Took the pups to the park early this morning and they’re very chill now. This lady that has an annoying dog came over to us today with this dumb grin on her face and told us her dog is becoming ball aggressive. Um, we go out to the far end of the park to play ball with our dogs to get away from people like her and the dog she has no control of. It’s a shepherd and only 10 months old, our dogs would kick her butt no problem and we don’t want that. I told her if it gets aggressive with our dogs then they’ll attack her back and they’ll team up on her so she should take her away from us and probably try teaching her to behave. I mean come on, we have 2 bullies, she thought it was funny at first. Apparently she went and complained to some other people that know us about our “aggressive dogs” and they told her we go out there to keep from having problems and that our dogs are fine unless provoked. Some people should not have dogs no matter the breed. Anyway, sorry for the rant, I’m done and going to run errands. Have a great day all!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning gardeners headed to clean the coops but I never used the dog parks..
Just did not want the stupid people around

 

[Kiwibird]

Good morning gardeners. It got down to 48F overnight. I still had a couple of windows cracked for fresh air. I picked over a half pound of green beans this morning along with a few cherry tomatoes and an okra.

You're in Massachusetts and you're growing okra? I thought it needed a hot climate? I am intrigued. I might try some.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

You're in Massachusetts and you're growing okra? I thought it needed a hot climate? I am intrigued. I might try some.

I planted two large pots and put them in the front yard. That is facing west with no shade so it’s doing well. The plants are not huge, but producing fine. Okra is so easy to freeze. I used some in the soup I made for dinner last night and it gave the soup a slight thickening and very pleasant “silky” feel to the broth. I will likely grow 3 plants next year. Oh, and I’m in Northern Massachusetts near the New Hampshire border. Our average first frost is a week or two from now.

 

[igorsMistress]

Morning gardeners headed to clean the coops but I never used the dog parks..
Just did not want the stupid people around

I get that! Honestly, the dogs love to go so dealing with dumb is part of the deal I guess. The pups have a chance to mingle a bit with other dogs before we leave, after they get tired from chasing the ball first.

 

[NewBoots]

I am not certain I have seen you here before great to see you again

This made me laugh. I love your dry humor Penny,

I'm happy you posted @NewBoots so we know you are OK.

Thank you Sarah, We're good and very lucky where we are placed, the towns on either side of us are getting more of the smoke than we are and the only fire near us was one some dummy started (I suspect a cig tossed out a car window) was in this awesome campground just down the road from us but the local volunteer fire department was right on it and got it out super fast. They're incredible really. On Tuesday when the smoke here was the worst and with scary rumors flying, they were cruising throughout the town keeping an eye on things and helping to keep things calm.

All the alpacas were turds yesterday. TURDS.

Ungrateful wretches! That sounds like it was quite the rodeo.

Hope it pours where the fires are and helps y'all out. At least clear some smoke and ash from the air for you.

There's a 4 day stretch coming with 40% to 50% chance of rain and while the weather person said it wasn't likely we'd get rain every one of those days, that we should get some rain during that time period. We're safe here from the actual fires, the closest is 33 miles away in the Coquille area and we feel for the folks in the warning areas. Our manufactured home was built with fire in mind. We have a metal roof and cement composite siding on the house, but not the garage/barn. I couldn't afford it at the time I have it built but I think well be getting it metal roofed and cement composite resided in the not to distant future. And really, thanks to everyone thinking about us west coasters, it makes my heart glad.

my oldest has a birthday later this week and has requested peppermint marshmallows and also almond bars. So, I’ll be making those today. The marshmallows have to sit a few hours before being cut and dusted, so I’ll do those later so that they sit overnight.

OMG that sounds amazing! Please do post pictures when they are done.

Whoo, can I come to your house for lunch? I looked in my kitchen and all I see are ingredients- no food. Well, someone better get started on cooking ( i live alone with the dogs, chickens, fish and quail)

I wish we could all get together for a meal and party, imagine the food with all these good cooks and all the fresh ingredients!

Some people should not have dogs no matter the breed. Anyway, sorry for the rant, I’m done and going to run errands.

Rant as much as you like, crappy pet owners are the freaking worst. And taking them to a dog park is a good way to keep them socialized.

Still hazy here, I can't smell smoke in it but I'm probably too used to it by now. Harvested a good deal of assorted cherry tomatoes and picked what is probably the last of the zucchinis for this year, these hazy, damp, and sunless days have pretty much finished them off. I'm making a different cream of zucchini soup recipe than I did before (this one seems simpler and probably an easy freeze) and a batch of the zucchini chocolate muffins that someone (@Sueby ?or @Wee Farmer Sarah ?) posted a bit back. DP is taking a dozen multi-colored eggs and several types of tomatoes to a friend in town.

A little time later: the soup is done and it's better than the first one I tried. The muffins are in the oven and that is the richest and stickiest batter I've ever worked with and they smell lovely.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Well the day is half over getting ready to go look for eggs

 

[NewBoots]

I forgot to post the pictures of the sunchokes!

And those chocolate zucchini muffins are delicious!