What did you do in the garden today?

[Elyrian1]

That's a good point about the weather/extreme stuff. I've driven through tropical storms and blizzards, hunkered down when tornadoes ran too close, driven through mild flash floods and had the good sense to go around not-so-mild ones, and been caught in a dust storm while loading kids and groceries into the car. Only thing I'm missing so far is a full blown hurricane hit and a noticeable earthquake. I'll pass, thanks. But then I don't like any of it.

Watered the garden and checked for produce. None ready yet. The tendrils opposite the watermelons aren't crispy yet, so... I'll wait another day or two.

 

[TJAnonymous]

My late season pumpkin vine has started flowering. However the two female flowers both died before they ever flowered. Derp.. Hopefully that isn't a trend. I don't have a lot of runway to work with...

 

[Sally PB]

I lost rather large amounts of green beans due to no one eating them. I couldve frozen them but would forget to put them in the freezer. Actually i thought you had to blanch them first.
do you have to blanch them first? Or is just better to do that, instead of necessary?

I've frozen them raw and blanched. The blanched ones were much better.

I’m guessing it’s fine to leave the luffas on the vine . They are still very green. The vines are still flowering and new luffas are still appearing.

Be sure you pick them before frost! Frost will ruin them.

 

[jerryse]

Ahhh soft water . Iron water up north . I was afraid I would start to rust . Frost advisory again tonight . Got to bring my potted coleus in .

 

[Sally PB]

I dug the last two rows of potatoes, Elba variety. I really like these. They're white, round-ish, big, and pretty plentiful.

I dug my carrots. I haven't cleaned them off to see what they look like.

The onions that I planted in July after I dug the garlic didn't bulb up. So now I know that planting onions in July is pointless and won't do it again. I wouldn't have bothered, but a friend gave me the sets, so I figured, eh, why not?

Possible frost tonight. I'm ready. It can all die off now.

 

[Iluveggers]

I tried once not to blanch beans and they were very hard. not sure if those beans were hard anyway but I always blanch them.

I have tried blanched and didn’t like them. Tried fresh frozen and they were squeaky. A friend canned 8 pints of my beans for me this year, if I like those I might invest in a pressure canner. I wish I could preserve cucumbers in the winter…the store ones don’t taste right to me…


We get blizzards up here which can be cold an annoying, but if you are prepared aren’t going to destroy your house. As much as I hate snow, I’m not afraid of it! I think I’d take snow over tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. Would probably move to zone 6 though if I could instead of 5, would make it just a smidgen longer for my garden!

 

[WthrLady]

Nothing today but figuring out lumber needs for the hoop house roof rebuild. 12ish 2x4x8 should do it. I still need to remove the cattle panels.
Otherwise, I'm just watering the lonely giant mums, and waiting for the horseradish to die back for the season.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm guessing Aaron is without power by now... Hoping things don't get too crazy for him tonight...

Anyone here in the Carolinas?

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm currently watching Fox News who is showing all kinds of video replay. Not sure if they are showing Fort Myers, Naples, or wherever but I am mildly surprised that there are no sandbags around these homes. I'm not talking about areas where there will be storm surge but areas where there is other types of flooding.

 

[Ascholten]

I'm currently watching Fox News who is showing all kinds of video replay. Not sure if they are showing Fort Myers, Naples, or wherever but I am mildly surprised that there are no sandbags around these homes. I'm not talking about areas where there will be storm surge but areas where there is other types of flooding.

Im in Jacksonville so wont get the true joys until tomorrow really.
Ft Myers is under water. For those who are not familiar with the area, when you get 20 inches of rain or however much this thing is predicted to dump on them, sandbags are not going to help. the water just is everywhere, itll literally just seep up out of the ground at that point. It's going to last hours too so even with sand bags it'll just seep around until your house is flooded too, they really are not effective down there, especially when a block or three away there is a canal that leads straight to the gulf.

Storm surge is like a super high tide, the water will come from everywhere, like the Tsunami waves you seen in Japan it's similar, the water will run from the ocean, up creeks rivers canals etc, flood the sewer systems and then come out the sewer drains and just saturate the very land and get soggy soaky and flood, you really can't keep it out unless you build yourself a sealed building and keep pumping it away.

I seen some pictures of down there already, my parents lived in cape coral basically right where this thing hit. They have passed now but I still know a lot of their friends neighbors etc, and seeing their old house, up to the roof under water, and knowing so many other people's homes down there, are now....gone....it just makes me sick. Then I KNEW them .. of COURSE I DID, they were my parents, and i know they would not have evacuated when ordered to, they would have ridden it out... and died this time... this isn't a good night for me seeing all this unfold.

Aaron