What did you do in the garden today?

It's early & I may still do something else in the garden but... I got out this morning and cut the tops off most of the Okra. Some were over 12' tall. Broke one trying to harvest and figgered WTH. Had lots of 1-3" pods @ the tops that will be put to good use.
IT RAINED!, 3 times so far today. I saw almost 1/8" in the rain gauge. I did a rain dance, a happy dance, then got down on my knees and thanked the Good Lord for not having to water today, then asked for a little more. Is that sacrilegious?
Otherwise, nothin else. Dog days.


PS: Gotta say that me & Mrs. Lobo do not work together in the garden. We both come from a subsistence farming type background. We both know how to get what we want from the earth and how to do it...In our own way. We may disagree sometines but we will agree to disagree and things usually work out pretty good in the end. And... She is a workhorse in the garden!. Thanks Mom!

Y'all have a good day!
 
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Oh! And I was watching a video about canning, and am pretty sure they gave me the answer to what happened to my peaches. It turns out, if you don't let the jars cool in the canner with the lid off for at least 5 minutes before taking them out, the pressure change can cause the liquid to bubble out, which can cause failure to seal. Since they sealed, they should be fine, but next time, I know to let them sit a little longer off the heat.
Siphoning. I missed your peaches post. It can happen for all kinds of reasons, the one you mentioned, the fact that it's Tuesday, or a bug landed on a camel's ear in Egypt, all valid causes for siphoning. As long as there is more than 50% of your jar with liquid in it, you're fine. The food out of the liquid might discolor a bit, but it's fine too.

Currently feels like 114', the humid soul sucking kind of heat. (now 115)
Chickens are about to get frozen peas for snack and the boys will get a block of ice in their trough.
I'll water the ground in the garden, but am not walking it until at least nearer dark.
420pm 116 make it STOP!
 
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Oh! And I was watching a video about canning, and am pretty sure they gave me the answer to what happened to my peaches. It turns out, if you don't let the jars cool in the canner with the lid off for at least 5 minutes before taking them out, the pressure change can cause the liquid to bubble out, which can cause failure to seal. Since they sealed, they should be fine, but next time, I know to let them sit a little longer off the heat.
Liquid loss can also be a function of how tightly you're closing your jars. Make sure they're actually fingertip tight, and that nothing (sugar, for instance, or rust in older canning rings) is keeping them from moving freely.

But don't close them so tightly they explode, of course.
 
Picked probably a pound or 2 of green beans, a few bell peppers and an egg plant. I purposely ignored my cucumber plants cuz I'm sick of those guys. I don't need anymore pickles!!
Sweet corn looks like it maybe ready to eat so I'll pull an ear or two off today for dinner to try out.
Have several nice looking watermelons but not sure if they are ready yet or not. I can never tell if a melon is ripe or not.
 
Had to water today. Sprinkler on the big beds for nearly 2 hours each bed. I’m they are not squishy or soaked….but they sure needed water.

We reserved 3 of the female white rocks we bought for meat birds, and one cockerel. They have been in cages in the run (with shade cloth covers over the tops and sides) for about a week. Let the females out to socialize today. Nothing too terrible so far with pecking order, but they will sleep in their cages tonight again. Daytime socialization for several days before we put them in the coop. They are 15 weeks old, so not yet laying eggs. But there is 3 of them, so they can move as a group.
 
Picked probably a pound or 2 of green beans, a few bell peppers and an egg plant. I purposely ignored my cucumber plants cuz I'm sick of those guys. I don't need anymore pickles!!
Sweet corn looks like it maybe ready to eat so I'll pull an ear or two off today for dinner to try out.
Have several nice looking watermelons but not sure if they are ready yet or not. I can never tell if a melon is ripe or not.
You can also try adding cucumbers to salads, and I've heard that you can make drinks with them.
 
I'm SO SICK of this heat already.... This is the reading as of 11 am. Just brutal. I'm so over it already... I was looking at radar for the entire globe and it seems there's hardly any precipitation anywhere... Seems a bit odd and concerning.
Last real rain we had was in June, just light mist during the nights otherwise. Better than nothing though.
I canned peaches yesterday, but I've never done it before, and I am concerned I did it wrong.... they sealed, but the peaches rose above the liquid... do I need to eat them sooner than anticipated? (In hindsight, I should have used all clear or all green jars)
I bet they'll sink if you have them uneaten long enough.
Yes! I just ordered some purple ones.

In fact I just ordered a whole bunch of stuff for next year as my notes were getting too long. :gig Trying the asparagus beans, edamame & the Tromboncino squash - all for the first time next year.

eta: & some new types of rutabaga & turnips too.+
I'm already making next year garden plans as well. No matter how cold and wet the spring is I'm going to start the peppers when I start the tomatoes.
No worries, anytime you can anything it usually floats to the top. No need to worry, they're good as long as you followed proper canning methods & they sealed. It annoys me when my dilly beans float to the top because it looks funny! But it's what happens.
My dilly beans floated at first too but by the time I opened them they had sunk. Unfortunately, they were inedible :hit I must have messed up somewhere.
The pullet is black and has muffs :love
Out of the 8 EEs DP hatched, 3 turned out to be roosters. I wish we could have kept them, they were so beautiful, love those muffs! :love
IT RAINED!, 3 times so far today. I saw almost 1/8" in the rain gauge. I did a rain dance, a happy dance then got down on my knees and thanked the Good Lord for not having to water today, then asked for a little more. Is that sacrilegious?
Sounds good to me, I'd love a little relief from the watering.
Siphoning. I missed your peaches post. It can happen for all kinds of reasons, the one you mentioned, the fact that it's Tuesday, or a bug landed on a camel's ear in Egypt, all valid causes for siphoning. As long as there is more than 50% of your jar with liquid in it, you're fine. The food out of the liquid might discolor a bit, but it's fine too.
Thanks for that last bit, I've had some pretty wild siphoning and the food sticking out always gives me pause.

Happy Birthday @pennyJo1960! And great garden porn @Acre4Me!

Been busy so I keep falling behind and I'll never catch up. I've been crappy fishing a LOT so between that and the garden I don't have much time at the computer anymore. The fishing has been going great! I even pick up a bass and a few trout as well.
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No tomatoes even to the "white" stage yet but I have a good deal of green ones promising me the future. The pickling cucumbers have gone crazy and are climbing over everything, lots of tiny cucumbers but I'll really have to dig for them. I'll plant them again on a better trellis next year and some regular green cucumbers as well. I've picked enough zuccs for a couple of batches of fritters (delicious) so far. Too many have been under-fertilized but the chickens are happy to have those. The wax beans are just starting to bloom, the snap peas have all been removed with carrots and chard planted in their places. I made red currant and gooseberry jelly with the crop this year.
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I left the currant stems in the pot when making the jelly and it really helped the jelly set up without any added pectin.
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Here's a recent pic of DP's lovely pond system.
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She's so proud of it and rightly so. I put up our shade pavilion next to it and we sit in the shade and listen to the water splashing. She even set a timer on the pump to shut off at dusk and on at dawn to avoid calling the local raccoons in.

Here is one of the tiny tree frogs we grew from eggs in a temporary pond in the yard, we find them all over now.
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The preying mantises finally hatched out a couple of weeks ago, I hope they have time enough to reach the size to lay eggs for next year.

Oh, and heaven help me I've been making a lot of ice cream too, fresh peach, cherry vanilla, and banana.
 

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