What did you do in the garden today?

[AllenK RGV]

Quick chicken facebook check in. Yes I live in coastal TX but nowhere close to where Laura's impacts will even be felt. Runuts and Kiki may see some impacts though. So if they are on your mind say hi prior to the probable power outages tonight. The are both west of the storm track and on the good side of the storm. If you know anyone in southern Louisiana though keep them in your prayers. The storm will have impacts on most of that state even in to the NW corner. Just to give you an idea of what the wind fields look like with a major hurricane:


Image from https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/151358.shtml?gm_track#contents

 

[pennyJo1960]

Keep all them in the path in our prayers all .. Will check for tomatillas.. Selling 5 dozen eggs about 3

 

[NewBoots]

Besides...our chicks got to check out their run for the first time today! It was so cute! A couple of the girls even managed to find a worm and a grub (not in video, sorry).

SO cute! I love the flop down and dust bathing. No wonder we get folks worried their chicks are having fits.

I made notes for next year's garden, so hopefully it will be better!

Me too, I have a note book full of notes, one side is for the garden notes, and the reverse side is for the chickens notes.

@NewBoots yes, I usually see at least 1 box turtle, sometimes 2 every year on our property. One year I was cutting grass and came upon the turtle digging her hole to lay her eggs!!

OMG that would be like seeing a fairy!!!

@NewBoots I think you'll like the pickled green tomatoes. I don't even like tomatoes really & I liked them. Plus it's great not to waste them. Let me know if you try them.

I am betting I end up with a lot of green cherry tomatoes this year so I will definitely be trying this and the green tomato salsa that @Wee Farmer Sarah posted too.

I have like 8 million yellow squash sprinkled with salt draining a bit in the sink for more chips!! I got smart & got out the food processor to slice them & I think I'll put the dehydrator outside to do it's thing today so I don't heat up the house.

I used too much oil on my last batch so they are tasty, but very chewy even after 10 hours dehydrating. How do you apply oil to yours?

I am so happy - the city came Monday morning to cut up their tree that fell in our yard, and after all was said and done, only one of our new trees was destroyed! The others in that area were a bit squashed, but only by the tree's small branches and leaves, so it looks like they will survive.

Oh that's good. I hate losing a tree, I feel like I've let them down.

Salsa Prep Time 45 minutes Cook Time 50 minutes Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes Yield 6 quarter-litre (1/2 US pint) jars

Added to my recipe folder, thanks!

They look so tiny!

They do and that is a lovely run!

Quick chicken facebook check in. Yes I live in coastal TX but nowhere close to where Laura's impacts will even be felt.

Glad to hear you're not in the path, I was hoping we'd hear from you.

Good afternoon gardeners, watering is done and critters seen to. It's so nice to have culled produce to give to the rabbits and chickens. Today the critter menu was chard, a couple of tomatoes left too close to the ground, one of the chehalis apples that fell off the tree, and kale. Our lunch will be bacon, eggs, chard and tomatoes. DP splurged and got us a couple of beautiful steaks for cooking on the outside grill tonight. I need to get out there after lunch and weed-eat the area the fire pit sits on. Maybe a couple of foil wrapped potatoes would be nice too.

In an excess of optimism, I opened the rest of the nesting boxes so now my 10 ladies have their choice of 6 nesting boxes. Glyness seems to have a 26 hour laying schedule, she laid a new egg in a different nest box at about noon like a good girl. I think she still sees me as a mama, if she's quieted after laying, my appearance sets her singing again. "MOM, look what I did, MOM!"

Oh and now we know folk's favorite tomatoes, what tomato will you never plant again? I have 2, Justinya (lots of fruit but way too bland, no flavor at all) and Principe Borghese, fragile as flower made of butterfly eyelashes, all 6 of them immediately got viral wilt and it spread to a few of my other plants. I tossed them and all the ones they infected. And I couldn't even put them in the compost bin, I have to bag them like they were radioactive and put them in the trash. Yes I'm bitter, why do you ask?

 

[Swiss]

Me too, I have a note book full of notes, one side is for the garden notes, and the reverse side is for the chickens notes.

Every year, I say I'm going to keep detailed garden notes... and every year, I don't! So, I went out and wrote general notes (marigolds overgrew the peppers, lettuces were attacked by aphids, pole beans blocked access to bush beans, etc...) and thought about how I'll do it differently, if we are still here long enough for a garden next year. I really hope we have our own place by then, so I don't feel like I have to limit the size of my garden.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Make a 10 to 1 spray bottle with dish soap and water kills most definalty get aphids I use it on roses almost all year

 

[igorsMistress]

@penny1960 did you get your eggs yet? Mine were shipped from FL to AZ on Monday and they arrived today. I dunno about slow postal service. Sometimes maybe but they've been on it for the most part.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Mine where scheduled for today but no sign of them yet

 

[WthrLady]

@penny1960 did you get your eggs yet? Mine were shipped from FL to AZ on Monday and they arrived today. I dunno about slow postal service. Sometimes maybe but they've been on it for the most part.

NO idea what is up with UPS or USPS this past two weeks. I've had packages take 3 times as long to get places, or my current favorite - go missing altogether! And that's coming and going from different post offices. UPS lost one this past week, and can't even track it!

 

[pennyJo1960]

I even texted my bud at the post office she is post mistress here
Son stopped on his way home and nothing but the keys I left in the box

 

[igorsMistress]

I made notes for next year's garden, so hopefully it will be better!

Today, I did clear some space for a fall planting. I hated to have to kill even just the 4-ish marigolds because they are just the happiest! I didn't have to kill as many as I thought I would because my cucumber plants are gone, and some pruning really opened up more empty spaces where other plants had died (I'm looking at you, Zucchini). I did pull my yellow-fleshed watermelons because they had no fruits or flowers, and I wanted to plant some (old) squash seeds that should have time to produce.
I have never done a fall garden before. It always stressed me out, knowing I'd have to kill some plants to make room for new seeds/seedlings, and trying to schedule it out and figure out which ones will be done producing when and how early to plant the new stuff.... I haven't done succession planting, either. It is kind of difficult to do when you have a little garden. The rabbits didn't touch my garden this year, so I assume I could get away with less marigolds next year. They really stayed in the middle of the yard (for the clover and maybe birdseed?). The neighborhood cats seemed to stay out, too.
So, to summarize, I planted carrots, peas, beets, radishes, squash, spinach, a loos-leafed cabbage, and Chinese kale. All should have enough time to produce before frost (unless it decides to be early). The Brussel sprouts will be a fall crop, too.

Golly, I had a lot to say, but I don't really have people I can geek out about plants with!
A picture to make this more interesting:
A Gaillardia finally opened all the way (planted from seed this spring, and apparently, they aren't supposed to flower until their second year?), and I am in love! I want a field of them to walk through!
View attachment 2306309

You can totally geek out with us about plants. We love it!

Such a pretty little flower.