What did you do in the garden today?

[vall]

Been tidying up the yard, corn is gone, removed a tomato plant from the nematode plagued garden that had giant roots and only one tiny spot of nematode damage - very happy one of my treatments worked. Now that the corn is gone I can see the luffa that climbed into the corn patch - only three this year but one is absolutely gigantic. Oh, and the grocery store limas are pole, not bush, surprise! That garden has a 4' chicken wire fence around it so I guess they'll climb on that.

 

[Acre4Me]

busy weekend, nice weather. Great weather today too! Picked some beets but left them outside bc neighbor came by to chat and then I forgot them.

kid has decided rabbits aren’t something they want to continue with. We have a home for one. The other three, along with some chickens, will go to the auction soon.

the new adopted boy cat (pics posted a few weeks ago) wants to make friends with Penny, the current barn cat, but she’s pretty clear she’s not interested. However, she is less pissed-off now that it has been a few weeks of him on the other side of the barn (in his roomy cage), so she has seen him and smelled him for the past few weeks.

 

[Sueby]

Hey all. Busy day canning. We made 14 quarts of pickles 50 or so jars of jam & I made a huge tub of hot sauce, to be canned tomorrow. It was 15 lbs of peppers, so I'm not sure what I'll get out of that. I need to run it through the mill tomorrow & can it.

My chicks shipped today, hopefully they'll be here quick.

 

[NewBoots]

Made and pressure canned 3 pints of tomato soup, I've got tomato paste nearly done on the stove (didn't scorch ) and the water canner and 4 & 8 oz jars are heating up to receive it. It's going so well so far I think I'll make a lot more. Rained off and on most of the day and this morning the gauge read 2 inches so that's awesome.

 

[Acre4Me]

stove (didn't scorch ) a

First batch of applesauce scorched it took quite a bit of effort to get all the black off the bottom. Only positive was tossing the hot pan of apple sauce on the compost pile and seeing all the yellow jackets die!!

 

[Acre4Me]

Shocker: found REGULAR mouth canning jar LIDS in the store…I haven’t seen those in nearly 2 years!!! I bought several packs, but not a huge amount.

 

[karenerwin]

Only positive was tossing the hot pan of apple sauce on the compost pile and seeing all the yellow jackets die!!

That's one way to get rid of yellow jackets!

 

[karenerwin]

@Sueby were you the one that was looking for ideas for a Christmas jam or jelly? I came across a recipe ( I have not made it yet). It is for " Caramel Apple Coffee Jam".
We don't drink coffee so I have to make a special effort to get some so I can make this. I think it sounds like something that a lot of people will like. If you are interested, let me know and I will write out the directions.

Spent the day sorting, washing, crushing and straining a 5 gallon bucket of grapes that the grandson and I picked at my friends vineyard on Saturday. I did the other 5 gallon bucket Saturday night. I think I got a total of 8 or 9 bags (6 cups each) of grape juice. Now when ever I have time I will make more grape jelly. The plan tonight was to make more Apple Pie Jam and can up some sliced apples. My daughter and a different grandson and I went apple picking on Thursday afternoon. Not sure if I'm going to get to the apples tonight or not. I'm already feeling pretty tired after finishing the grapes and getting the water bath and jars ready to go. I'm going to try to power through and do at least 1 batch of something with apples since the water bath and jars are finally ready.

The Grandson that spent the weekend with me had a lot of fun helping to pick green beans, cherry tomatoes and jalapenos from the garden. And he loves looking for chicken eggs. Unfortunately, some bird(s) have started eating eggs in 1 coop. We found the remains of 4 eggs in there 1 day.

 

[Swiss]

I'm already impatient for spring. My husband took a reference picture of what my garden looks like now so I can compare each year. I am dreaming of decomposed straw, and beautiful soil, and buying all the seeds, and starting all the seedlings, and building a greenhouse, and buying all the fruit trees, and buying all the harvest preserving equipment/supplies....

Anywho, for the past 3 days, I've been harvesting beech nuts, and they are on a rack in the kitchen to cure. I thought they'd get darker as they cured, but I was wrong.

I do look forward to roasting them and seeing how different they are from the very few I have tried raw.

"Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January all-year long with the dream."

ETA:
The final dimensions are 23' x 28'. That's small for a mostly 1-person garden, right?

 

[tripletfeb]

Question for you gardener peeps. Every year that I plant roma tomatoes, they get end rot. I heard that is from not enough calcium in the soil. Can I just grind up my chicken's egg shells and put those in the soil through the winter? Or is adding lime better? My garden is a raised bed that I add compost soil in from a community near me who lets people take it for free. It's mostly composted yard waste and leaves. I would love to hear your thoughts!