Late Summer Garden Report

I'm still pulling in 5-10 pounds of tomatoes every other day, but blight or magnesium deficiency is taking a toll here. The tomatoes probably have a few more weeks of life. I've got enough tomatoes, juice, and sauce canned, but I think I still need more pizza sauce. I'm thinking of perhaps trying to make some soup as well.

I'm still picking about 2 quarts of green beans a day, freezing most of it now. The Kentucky Wonder pole beans and the Blue Lake bush beans are going crazy, and I expect to still be in beans a month from now. The red field peas that I planted turned out to be half runner types, and the 10x10 area is now about 20x20 and the runners are taking over like kudzu. They've covered my bush cherries, and are threatening the pole beans. I've picked dry pods as I see them, but 98% of the crop is still on the vine. Interestingly, at least to me, the peas look more like what I would call white acre peas than the red field peas I planted. They are small and white. Odd thing.

Round one of sweetcorn was a disaster, so we replanted a short season sweetcorn in mid-summer. We are about a week from eating corn again, but I don't want to count my ears before they are picked. On this farm, anything can happen to corn, and usually does. The Bloody Butcher corn lodged from a downburst in a thunderstorm, but much of it is still alive, even if it is laying over. I decided to leave it alone as when I tried to stand the stalks upright, they broke. I have no clue as to how this will affect pollination. It was planted June 12, so it has a few more weeks as well. My goal for the BB is to get a few ears for seed, one or two ears to roast, and enough to grind for 1 cup of corn meal. It seems like a lot to ask out of what I have in the garden. Can anyone tell me how much corn-how many ears or pounds, does it take to make a cup of corn meal?

I'm nursing along a watermelon(GA Rattlesnake), but it just isn't growing the way I'd like. It is more round than oblong. Another odd thing. I've got squash everywhere, quite a few butternuts still out there(I already harvested 30# or so) as well as acorn squashes. The squash vines are growing on the deer netting, and it looks funny to see acorn squash hanging 8 feet in the air. A few of the hanging squashes have holes bored into them, as if some kind of wasp or squash borer drilled hole in the fruit. I took a few pictures for the blog. The summer squashes are done and gone. Peppers are still producing, and I've canned or dried as much as possible: Anaheims, serranos, banana peppers, poblano(ancho), etc. I've also made homemade salsa, of course. The okra is just starting to really come in strong. I've pickled a few jars of it, and will pickle more. I have taken a liking to pickled okra. Yum! I have sweet potato vines everywhere and expect to get 30-50 pounds of sweet potatoes next month. I never did harvest my Yukon Golds, but yesterday I went out with that intention and found a bunch of new potatoes, beautiful little yellow golf ball sized things. I decided to leave them as seed.

I had to reorganize the shelves and such to make room for everything I've canned so far. I made grape jelly and elderberry jam, elderberry elixir, horehound cough syrup, blackberry jam, fig preserves, and blueberry jam. We harvested over 50 pounds of apples a bit early to keep the deer from getting them, and I've made applesauce and apple chips. I have discovered that if you dehydrate the peelings and mix them with blackberry leaves, blueberry leaves and dried huckleberries and blueberries, it makes a great tea, so I have made a few jars of that to give as gifts. I froze about 5 gallons of blueberries, and gave that many away. We did not have any peaches, pears, cherries, or plums this year, but I still have peaches in the freezer from last year, which was a banner year.

I've planted lettuce for the Fall, but a rabbit mowed it down in one day, so I will have to replant. All the neighbors have noted that the rabbit population is exploding, so it makes me wonder if folks have killed too many snakes or too many coyotes. I have no idea of how a rabbit got inside my garden fence unless the gate was left open just long enough for him to get in, eat my lettuce and my only honeydew melon, and get out. I've also got a few broccoli plants in the ground, some Osaka Purple mustard, several brussel sprouts in the ground, a small patch of kale(I've never tried it so this is a grand experiment in taste) a couple of 15 ft rows of collards, a few cabbage plants, a 32 ft row of intensively planted snowpeas and English peas(both sides of the panel are planted, 16 ft of English peas and 16 ft of snow peas. I have both turnips and turnip greens, and have yet to plant spinach. I also need to decide where I will plant my garlic next year. I need to get busy with all that. I have also replanted carrots, radishes, and beets in my carrot bed. The carrots I planted in the ground did not germinate, but the board trick worked well in the raised bed and the carrot greens are about 5 inches tall.

The herb garden has been very productive this year, too. I've made several batches of pesto and froze that, too. I've harvested enough kitchen herbs like thyme and oregano to fill several quart jars, and I still have herbs drying in the kitchen. You might be a redneck if you hang your herbs to dry on your antler chandelier in the kitchen. :) Of course, I also use window screens and my truck as a drying oven, as well as two dehydrators, which are running right now(more apple chips today, onions tomorrow) Seriously, I've harvested and dried oregano, marjoram, thyme, sage, tarragon, savory, fennel, dill, lemon balm, chocolate mint, peppermint, 3 kinds of basil, nasturtiums, chives, violets, dandelion flowers, passionflowers, and horehound. I dried all but maybe 15 bulbs of garlic, of which I'm using fresh in canning and cooking. The echinacea did well, so I will be able to harvest that in a few years, too. This year, I planted beans in the herb bed to fill the gaps. Next year, we've decided that the herb bed will support chili peppers quite nicely.

The big plan for this Fall is to plant and grow more asparagus. We have decided to plant a 3x50 ft wide row of asparagus crowns as the little patch I have is 10 years old and just isn't enough now that Skyguy has decided he likes asparagus, too. If will take a lot of ground prep and double digging, as well as mulch to make this happen. Earlier this year, I planted a 8x15 area with Jerusalem artichokes-a gift from Rob(thanks again!)-and they are 9 feet tall and beautiful right now. The blooms are awesome. I'm not sure what the protocol is on digging the chokes, but I figure I will give them a few years, like I would asparagus, before I try to dig anything. I'm super psyched about that.

This year's garden has been the largest garden I've ever planted. I've tried to keep something going all the time. I will continue to do that, but I'm afraid that this might be my last big garden for a while. There is no way that I could have this size garden working full time. It saddens me. It is like giving up a part of myself. I guess I've been spoiled after a year at home. We all have to sacrifice I suppose. This is probably my last extensive garden update before I start working full time. :(