Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[countrydream7]

wow great idea suppose to go down to 30 tonite here

 

[Mrs Rebecca]

So the temps are dropping into the 40s tonight & maybe lower. I had no time to make a plastic hoop coop so my friend came up with this idea

Little red neck but if works it didn't cost me a thing. Plus I can still water them

Keeping them well watered will also help them withstand cooler temperatures. Good luck tonight! We are bracing ourselves for a few more days of upper 90's. I am ready for a cool down!

 

[BlueMouse]

I was out covering my tomatoes tonight, and my mother's as she's gone and I'm garden sitting. My garden now looks like a tent city with all the extra sheets over the tomato plants. Mom's garden was a nightmare because her tomato trellis is probably almost eight feet tall and the tomatoes go ALL the way up the uprights. I'm tall (I put the darned thing up in the first place) but it's a stretch for me to get covers over the top of all that.... Everything else should be ok with a light frost. Mom is more likely to get it than we are, we're in the bottom of the valley and she's on the top of the ridge, they always freeze earlier than we do even though they're only a couple miles away. I guess fall is officially here.... This year I would really like another month of summer. Just so much left to do outside.

 

[MumsyII]

So the temps are dropping into the 40s tonight & maybe lower. I had no time to make a plastic hoop coop so my friend came up with this idea

Little red neck but if works it didn't cost me a thing. Plus I can still water them

That looks great! Should work well.

We had hard rain and thunder today. I didn't get much time outside. Spent all day today making sausage. It's that time of year.

 

[Jessica Lynn]

I wish we had more rain!

Temps here at night are still in the 70s. I want cooler temps but that just reminds me that Christmas will be here before we know it. With two little girls to buy for it never gets easier! One is at that age where she wants to be so grown up but is still my baby girl. The other wants what her older sister wants! I had thought about getting both of them some plants or gardening tools along with their girly stuff. But then they will want to start a garden in the middle of winter!

 

[Leahs Mom]

The cucumbers are ripening faster than my husband and I can eat them, give them a way and feed the chickens. On another thread someone mentioned giving them a whirl in the food processor and freezing them for the chickens in the winter when fresh green produce is scarce. So that's what I did with quite a few of them this morning. They are still coming on in the garden. Now I have a way to save them before they rot. The chickens have such a glut of stuff in the compost pile, they were leaving a lot left un-touched.


I just use ziplock sandwich bags for chicken food stuffs. Maybe I can mix this frozen cucumber chop into the FF bucket this winter? Seeds, pulp, skin. It's mostly liquid. Cucumber and squash are related so I imagine it will be a winter treat for them.

I've been freezing stuff too.

I did a trial to see if they would eat a frozen then thawed zuchinni piece before I did a bunch since I didn't want to waste them. They ate the thawed one very happily, so I cut them into about 4" lengths if they were big, sliced in half lengthwise and froze the pieces on a cookie sheet. After frozen, I put them into bags. That way they won't all stick together.

I've also been freezing stuff from the local store that is still saving their old organic product for us. Never know if they'll keep doing it during the winter...hope so because then it's fresh!

I'd like to hear if your kiddos like the cucumbers once you start feeding them! I try to make fermented pickles with mine, but some got way too large this year and went to the chickens fresh. I didn't even think of freezing them.

Tonight was another meal based on fresh vegetables from the garden. I wanted to taste test one of the Burgess Butter cup green squash. Cut open and the yellow flesh was lovely. Lots of seeds.


I quartered the halves and placed them flesh side down in a couple inches of water in my baking pan.



An hour later the squash flesh was soft and fully cooked. I let it cool a bit before scooping out the centers and then removing all the cooked flesh from the rind.


Next I baked Red La Soda potatoes from my garden and then halved them, scooped out the centers and mashed the baked potato flesh with half of the baked squash. I added 4 oz of cream cheese blended with a large minced garlic clove. Then added the mashed potato/squash/cheese/garlic filling back into the potato skins. Baked in a 350 degree oven for about fifteen minutes to just slightly brown the tops.




Husband ate two and loved them. A real nice twist on twice baked potatoes. And a great way to use a cup or two of prepared squash.

Every thing for dinner was from the garden except the pork ribs. Our little store in the village ran a sale on ribs today. Easy.

That looks FANTASTIC! Like art on a plate!!! And the squash/potato/cheese mixture sounds wonderful. Very inspiring.

 

[MumsyII]

Thank you Leahsmom. This time of year is an extremely busy time. The garden is winding down and I've been canning every day. Along with an incubator full of Silkie eggs due to hatch tomorrow and three Silkie hens gone broody. The barn and runs need cleaning soon and all that has to go into the garden beds as they become available.

Over the last few days I've canned vegetable stock, pickled beets, made Piccalilli, made three kinds of sausage, and froze more vegetives.

Home made Polish turkey kielbasa. Outer link no garlic. Inner link lots of garlic. Froze as is. Then I poach it in simmering water and then smoke it outside in the smoker. So good!

Piccalilli is my sweet relish made from garden produce. Green peppers, green tomatoes, Banana peppers, onions, and cabbage. It gets better each week as it seasons in the jar. I love to mix yellow mustard into it for the best hot dog relish. You can't buy this kind of fresh condiment in any store.

I had enough vegetables to make fourteen half pints of Piccalilli.



Vegetable stock using my Calliope Carrots, more Green peppers, onions, celery, and fresh thyme and California Bay leaves from the garden.


I add Black pepper and a pinch of salt to keep it light. This is very good by itself hot in a mug for sick days. I put it in just about everything. Great for making rice or adding to braised meats.


My food processor sliced up four quarts of beets yesterday and using an old recipe, it turned this red pile into my favorite.

Pickled beets don't last long in my family. My daughter Shadow eats them right out of the jar in the middle of the night! I love them in pasta salad instead of gherkins. Makes the salad a creamy, tangy, and quite nice shade of pink. My Grandmothers old recipe.


The last of the beets made up into eight half pints of red pickly goodness.

Puppy girl, corgi, and husband are coming for the day. No canning or gardening for me. I get to be the momma all day long! She told me she wants a take home package of all the sausage types and canned goodies she can carry.

I've been stock piling tulip bulbs. 150 pink, red, and striped ones are waiting for me to get busy outside again. Oh....And we are going to build a new chick house! *yikes!* No rest for the weary!

 

[armorfirelady]

You have been very busy Mumsy. We had some cold weather here now its back in the 90s with temps back in the 50s by Friday. I have so many giant tomatoes that are green. I am hoping some start to ripen before Friday since I am doubtful we will get any more hot temps this year. I have found trying to get green tomatoes to ripen in the house does not work well for me & I dont like fried green tomatoes

 

[MumsyII]

You have been very busy Mumsy. We had some cold weather here now its back in the 90s with temps back in the 50s by Friday. I have so many giant tomatoes that are green. I am hoping some start to ripen before Friday since I am doubtful we will get any more hot temps this year. I have found trying to get green tomatoes to ripen in the house does not work well for me & I dont like fried green tomatoes

If you like sweet relish, green tomatoes work great mixed with cucumbers and onion or peppers. I used up two dozen green tomatoes in my piccalilli. Hot water bath canner recipe in the Blue book of preserving.

The weather here is breaking records. Supposed to hit 90 degrees in Seattle today. Gets into the high 70's here on the island. Perfect weather. My daughter Puppy Girl is bringing her swim suit and they are going to the beach this afternoon. I love this time of year.

 

[mlowen]

Leah's Mom (and all):
I had worm eaten (tops of the roots) carrots and cucumbers, beets, chard that did not do well this year at all. I washed and roughly chopped and ground all up together and froze a bunch for the hens this coming winter. I had a cup left over after 9 baggies full, so I've been top dressing the ff with that. They love it, so I'm sure the thawed version will be a hit come cold weather.