What did you do in the garden today?

[fuzzi]

The after picture of the garden. I spent quite a bit of time on it and not even halfway through
View attachment 3937956

Much better!

 

[akroberts1085]

Much better!

Thank you.

 

[Sueby]

You're welcome! Hope he gets it fixed. Just curious, why is the electric one better than just using a pot on the stove?

It frees up the stove, doesn't heat up the kitchen as much, and you don't have to babysit it.

Yes - that! ^ I have a very tiny kitchen so I have to work as efficiently as possible, so having the canner on the table or the other side of the stove is great. I, in the fall, will also can outside on the deck & use the burner on the grill to cook jam & use the canner on the table.

I'm on an herb dehydrating mission today. Parsley and oregano are done, tarragon is in the dehydrator and thyme and marjoram are waiting for their turn. I just might get them all dried today.

I need to dry some sage today, I've never done it before. I usually just pick it, wash it & freeze it but I'd love to dry & grind it. Thanks for the reminder, going to do it now!

 

[Sueby]

@WthrLady I can't believe you have a frost warning!

 

[Smokerbill]

I thought I was all done with blanching and freezing beans, but I was wrong. Got a good haul from the garden this morning. I need to make a bigger box-basket.

When these tomatoes ripen I should have enough accumulated to make 6 pints of tomato sauce.


I made some stewed tomatoes this morning using mostly stuff from the garden. I threw in a cup of store-bought pasta sauce that was in the freezer, just to get rid of it.


These Romas are from my possibly-dwarf tomato plant. It topped out at around 18" tall. I'm saving seeds from the best fruits to plant next year.

 

[Nomadicus]

I cut the okra and eggplant today and that is all I'm doing today. Tomorrow I need to top some of the okra as it is about 7's tall now. By topping it will bud out fast in lower branches that will all bear until frost some time in November.

 

[Smokerbill]

Very nice! That looks great.

Mine are coming along; they're still at it. Slowing down now though. I'm not really sure when I should consider them done. I got some weights in them yesterday. That pushed the liquid up out of the pepper mash. This is a new experiment.... I've only ever done lacto ferments without weights, and sealed in bags.... I changed out my lids for the auto venting ones. I sanitized everything with starsan when I did all this. The big jar had a culture of yeast up on the rim of the jar where a tiny area of peppers was out of the mixture. I scooped that out with a starsan coated spoon and sanitized that spot with starsan.

I tasted the mash yesterday as well. It is delicious, all-be-it, a little saltier than I expected. I think adding some vinegar to the mix when I blend it will level it out though. *Shrug*

My fermenting peppers started acting weird a couple days ago. The plastic covering the top started to get sucked downward instead of being ballooned up. Figured I better open it up and check it out.

I pulled off the thin plastic wrap that I pressed onto the surface of the peppers. Looked good, no kahm yeast or other baddies were growing, just clean, red peppers.

I pressed the pepper mash down, covered the surface with a new piece of plastic wrap and put the lid back on.

It tasted good. Tart, salty and peppery but not too hot. I think I'll let it continue aging at room temp for another week or two then put it in the fridge.

I might just leave it as-is and use it as a spoonable condiment. I think it would be good on burgers and hot dogs that way.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Yes - that! ^ I have a very tiny kitchen so I have to work as efficiently as possible, so having the canner on the table or the other side of the stove is great. I, in the fall, will also can outside on the deck & use the burner on the grill to cook jam & use the canner on the table.


I need to dry some sage today, I've never done it before. I usually just pick it, wash it & freeze it but I'd love to dry & grind it. Thanks for the reminder, going to do it now!

I dry sage and I discovered it needs a much longer time to dry because of the fleshy type leaves. I just packed my last batch of oregano a little while ago. I’ve “bottled” the equivalent of approximately one pint jar. I need to switch to another herb now.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I've got over 4 acres here to police for fire ant mounds. It keeps me busy. I think the things that say they will kill the queen doesn't do the job for somehow there are some of the workers that are equipped to create another queen in another nearby location. If you don't catch it soon they have spread out into another dozen mounds.

There are about 80 acres that's been farmed where I am. I have a small 2 acre parcel, but the European Fire Ants have been all over this place for decades. They make deep tunnel systems instead of mounds. No way of knowing exactly where Queens are but there are multiple Queens across the acres of tunnels. This particular type of Fire Ant can Never be eradicated. They survive cold temperatures & have been thriving all up & down the east coast, into Canada, Maine, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland & who knows where else. Unfortunately, they're thriving & here to stay. They love moisture so I guess the only areas they won't be as prolific are desert climates. Any area with humidity, moisture, water in the form of ocean, lakes, rivers, etc. they will be thriving, so that's pretty much the entire USA eventually.

The maps of their travels are so outdated! They've been in Delaware for decades.

https://ant-pests.extension.org/european-fire-ants/

I got Antixx, a bait with Spinosad. It did help knock down the numbers but I can see them if I look down at the ground anywhere here. They have some wicked painful stings, sting multiple times, hang on stinging even when you try to knock them off & leave swollen welts. One got inside my glove when I was shoveling, it was about 60 degrees outside. My hand swelled up like a cartoon hand, for 5 days. I'd compare their stings to the mean red wasp stings, as I've gotten hit by both more than once. Just Nasty.



Antixx bait is yellow, they carried the little chunks 50 to 75 feet! They do some remarkable ranging. I'd drop some Antixx down where I saw some Fire Ants crawling around, they'd check the bait out, & pick it up & carry it. A long line would start carrying the yellow chunks, then another line, they'd quickly establish 3 or 4 coming & going lines in different directions & I followed them, thinking maybe I can find out where there main tunnel hub is. Yeah...I followed them ALL OVER. 75 feet I followed this one industrious bugger. Multiple lines led to multiple holes, which led to multiple tunnels. I can't even tell you how many places I dropped Antixx bait. I even put down little marker flags. I came back around to check all the piles & within 1 hour ALL Antixx pellets had been carried off, down into their tunnels.

 

[Nomadicus]

After fire ants decimated my Irish and sweet potatoes this year I'm not a happy camper. I'll probably plant more zipper cream, purple hull, and black eyed peas this coming year and not bother with any of the potatoes.