Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends

[Jena]

Hiya! Yes indeed, so do I. It should be ok now, James has had to do a lot of work on it
and finally brought it home 2 days ago, then he was setting it up and last night
was the first time I could get back online.

Hope the rain has finally stopped up there.

 

[Highlander]

It has for now. Give it 5 minutes.......

 

[Jena]

LOl.... I know that feeling, it has been another lousy summer down here, and Spring was so promising.

The Polytunnel was the greatest buy ever and has saved me this year. I live in hope of a decent summer next year.

 

[Opa]

Jena, how did your garden fair this summer? With the exception of the tomatoes, mine did wonderful and yesterday I worked up one section to allow me to plant some more lettuce and radishes. Unless we have an early frost I should be able to get another harvest from them.

 

[Jena]

I have been lucky this year Opa, my tomatoes are doing well, late but coming good now, and I have had a good crop of peas, beans and beetroot. I have cabbage coming along well and loads of rhubarb. I have also just put in some late lettuce and radish and so far they are doing well. I have used the polytunnel a lot and I am looking at using it more and more.

I have also had a lot of success with potatoes this year. Next Year I will have my allotment up and running and I am really looking forward to it. I have already made raised beds and put them in place and I am now just preparing the soil in them for winter and sorting out the pathways between them, and tending the apple tree that was already there and trying to sort out the fruit bushes.

Next year will be great, I am really looking forward to it.

 

[Opa]

Glad to hear your garden did so well. We canned 115 pints of green beans, 21 pints of carrots, 21 pints each of dill and sweet pickles. I have 4 rows totalling 100' of horticulture beans that I should be able to harvest as shelled beans in another week. I can't decide if I want to can them or wait a few more weeks and shell them and store as dried beans. The harvest of sweet Hungarian and sweet bell peppers in red, yellow, orange, and green has been incredible and they continue to bear quite well. We cut the tops and seeded 4 dozen to use for stuffed peppers. After they had frozen I sealed them in plastic containers for later use. We also have flash frozen and then filled 8 one gallon freezer bags with strips of these colorful peppers. Hope likes adding sweet peppers to a variety of dishes and with colored sweet bell peppers selling in the store for $1.50 each this amounts to quite a savings for our food budget.

 

[Jena]

It makes such a difference to things Opa, I have peppers growing now in the polytunnel, and loads of herbs, I have grown red and green basil, fenugreek and coriander, and have enjoyed them all summer in my cooking. I also grew some cucumbers, but mine were not as successful as some I had passed on to neighbours. I grow chives and sage in pots near the house door and I had loads of flowers this year in hanging baskets around the house.

I have set aside areas on my allotment ready for next year and I am looking forward to being able to grow so much more. I have frozen most of my goodies this year, but I have just been looking into pickling, and preserving ready for next year. I had a good crop of strawberries this year, and I had planted a new apple tree in a pot on my patio in the Spring and actually had 3 very big apples on it, the last one dropped early this week, but they are beautiful apples, so I am looking forward to many more next year.

My son comes home every few weeks and he can't believe how much we are able to eat just from the garden. It is brilliant. I even had 2 small bunches of grapes on my vine this year, so I am looking forward to many more next year, and I started brewing my own beer, and it is good. lol....

 

[Opa]

Gardens are a lot of work, but the effort is a small price to pay for the feeling of self sufficiency you get when you enjoy your harvest.

 

[mamagardener]

Welcome back Jena, nice to hear from you again.
Well, we survived Irene, but she did a number on us here. My sunflowers were so beautiful, until she broke them all in half. The cucumbers seem like they are probably done for, and my peppers and basil are lying sideways on the ground. We also lost some trees, and branches. I can't complain too much because we only got a little water in our basement, and that was a relief because without power we can't pump it out. We lost power for the day of Irene, but lots of people around here still don't have it.
School started Tuesday without a hitch (alot of towns haven't even started yet because of the storm) and as much as I miss having the two older ones around it is nice to get back into a routine again. During the summer we were so laid back, and now the kids have to get up at 6:00, talk about walking zombies.

 

[Opa]

Mama G, I glad that you faired reasonably well from Irene's wrath. It's heartbreaking to see the tragedy still be visited upon so many.