What did you do in the garden today?

[drstratton]

We do have some haze in our skies as well. My tomatoes are pretty much done. Just a few cherry tomatoes here and there. The last batch of sauce is simmering on the stove. My neighbor just texted me to let me know the local bobcat is out and about. I guess the cooler air has him a little hungrier than usual. I need to clean the coops while they are free ranging later. Hopefully the bobcat will be gone by then. Is that a Buff Orpington rooster Rene? He looks very much like my little golden girl BO’s.

Yes, he's a BO and he thinks he's pretty hot stuff right now...lol. I hope you don't have any problems with the bobcat!

 

[Sequel]

I had lots of nice cucumbers this year! I made a couple batches of the cooked and canned pickles then fermented some kosher dills in a crock. I thought oh we’ll never finish these but we can’t stay out of them. The liquid did clear up in a few days.

 

[Sueby]

@Wee Farmer Sarah be careful of that bobcat, I lost my favorite girl to a bobcat earlier in the year. In the middle of the day, not at night like people think, & while we were in & out of the house. We actually caught it coming back to grab the chicken, it had killed it & then came back for it's meal, something must have scared it off after it did the deed. DH now wears a pistol on his hip at all times, between the bobcat & the bears.

Now you guys have me wanting to grow luffa! I think I might give it a try next year!

I swear sometimes I think the planet is trying to shake us off.

I like that! As well she should be...

Dang it, I'm an idiot, I tried to vacuum seal the the muffins before freezing! It didn't go well.

I did the same! I saw the loaf shrinking & shrinking & was like nope, freeze first!

So glad it was raining - was it a lot? The sun here has had erie rises & sets from the smoke. It's so high up in the atmosphere that it's not doing anything but making a haze on the sun.

DH got the results back, negative on both the COVID & the antibody. We kinda thought we might have had it in the spring, we were both sick with something that lasted forever, but I guess not. I would have felt much better had we had it!

Ok all, have a great day.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yesterday removed half the tomatoes. Today will be the other half. Brought in the unripe tomatoes that will likely ripen eventually.

I’ll be picking the melons too. Today is the last warm day for awhile. With lows in the 40s to possibly upper 30s coming. Pretty sure they won’t be doing anything after today! But, I’m hopeful that the largest melon will be ripe and flavorful. There is a second melon (different variety) that might be ripe too. Crazy as it sounds, the one variety actually produced another melon recently!!! There is a small growing watermelon on the vine. I would have though it would not have produced anything more due to the weather!

plan to buy some more cover crop - hopefully the store has what I need. I’ll seed theunused beds now and maybe the larger bed where the melons are located.

one chicken died yesterday. About 1.5 years old Barred Rock. No apparent reason -must have been something internal. We found her in the run, so she made her way out in the morning,

 

[littledog]

Luffa gourds - we have a few weeks till frost, so not sure if we will get actual luffa from these.

Your little luffas are what mine look like now. Our first frost is usually a few weeks later than yours (but who knows, the way this year is turning out?!) so I have hope I might get one or two scrubbier out of them.

 

[littledog]

I'm considering pulling most everything and planting winter rye and/or hairy vetch... but we are supposed to have a warmer and sunny week, so maybe the tomatoes will finally ripen? Their leaves are looking pretty rough, though (yellow and spotted). I know my watermelons aren't going to produce any more, but have left them in to discourage cats from using the garden as a litter box. I'm thinking of pulling everything, except for the marigold borders, the fall plantings, and the brussel sprouts (which I planted this spring and are just now starting to bud. That feels like a ridiculously long time, since I was expecting a late spring/early summer harvest ).

Any advice/thoughts?

I don't have any advice, but my thoughts are the same as yours. I have several pounds of winter wheat seed ready to plant, but I think I have a few more weeks of growing weather than you do, so I'm going to wait a bit before giving up on my tomatoes.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Congratulations on the rain @NewBoots. Yesterday was really nice. It got up to 73F. Today it's supposed to get near 80F, then the temps get back to Autumn temps. When I was sitting out with the chickens yesterday I noticed the leaves on the maple trees are starting to turn. I got the oregano dried and bottled up. It was a half cup of dried leaves. I dry the oregano, thyme and parsley on the stem then pull the dried leaves off. It's so much easier. Today I harvested the thyme and will do the sage tomorrow. I picked about 1/4 pound of green beans this morning along with 3 okras. I have 2 more butternut squash, likely around 2 pounds each and 3 or 4 "personal" size one pounders. They all need to ripen more so I'm hoping we don't get any frost for at least another week or two so they have more time to ripen. I never heard any more of the bobcat. I've never seen it but I've certainly heard it at night. The blood curdling jungle howl , very scary. I heard my wandering band of turkeys this morning. Sometimes they spend the night in the woods nearby about 100 yards away. Not much else going on. It's kind of nice having a bit of a lull after all that freezing and canning. I'm glad you tested negative @Sueby. Since they aren't sure how long the antibodies stay in your system, you very likely could have had covid back in the Spring. Then there's the added nightmare of the different strains of the virus. Really. That's why I don't venture out of my bubble unless absolutely necessary. Have a great day everyone and I'm wishing rain for all, except for those of you in the Gulf states. I'll leave you with my other impatien. It doesn't show well in this photo, but the blossoms are like tiny pink roses. I sure hope I can keep this beauty alive over the winter.

 

[WthrLady]

@Wee Farmer Sarah be careful of that bobcat, I lost my favorite girl to a bobcat earlier in the year. In the middle of the day, not at night like people think, & while we were in & out of the house. We actually caught it coming back to grab the chicken, it had killed it & then came back for it's meal, something must have scared it off after it did the deed. DH now wears a pistol on his hip at all times, between the bobcat & the bears.

Now you guys have me wanting to grow luffa! I think I might give it a try next year!


I like that! As well she should be...


I did the same! I saw the loaf shrinking & shrinking & was like nope, freeze first!

So glad it was raining - was it a lot? The sun here has had erie rises & sets from the smoke. It's so high up in the atmosphere that it's not doing anything but making a haze on the sun.

DH got the results back, negative on both the COVID & the antibody. We kinda thought we might have had it in the spring, we were both sick with something that lasted forever, but I guess not. I would have felt much better had we had it!

Ok all, have a great day.

Doesn't mean you didn't have it. They reported that the antibody only lasts up to 3 months and therefor would not be detected after that time. I'm 99.9% sure I had it at the end of February and into March. It would be undetectable after June.

 

[Sueby]

True @WthrLady & @Wee Farmer Sarah . & it also doesn't mean we don't have it! They don't have good data on incubation & how long before you'd test positive. DH could have gotten it that day but not testing positive a couple hours later...

We got 2 more chip drops today. The pile is getting pretty big, lol.

 

[WthrLady]

yup.
DS is a student teacher.
He has mandatory weekly testing. (The students and teachers at his school do not, but he does.) Which I think is CRAZY! But oh well.

He warned the test people he has a gag reflex and that he is a projectile vomit person. He warned them thusly. LOL. They didn't listen. Now they all laugh when he shows up for his weekly test, even him.

The football team has DAILY testing. BLECH.