What have you done today in the Garden?

Today I picked a few green peppers for Un-stuffed Peppers and I can never resist plucking a ripe tomato from the plant.

 

The Fall clean-up has begun:


On the foreground you can see that the bean plot has been cleaned, min-tilled and donkey manure applied. On top of that, plant debris (corn stalks and bean vines) has been piled up as mulch. In the distance I have Borage growing as a green manure ans Phacelia is growing on the plot to the right.

We also began cleaning up the back of the lottie. We have a tall stand of bamboo-like grass that we chopped off down to the ground. We are going to pile it up over against the greenhouse where the toms are petering out as well as the peppers.

Tomorrow we have guests coming and hope to return to the lottie the day after.

 

Ahhh, Sjoerd, you bring out my streak of jealousy.

Today, just weed pulling.

 

as soon as it cools off I will start cleaning up the garden but today I picked raspberries, strawberries, a few zucchini cleaned up some junky tomatoes in a greenhouse and then it was about too hot to do much more

 

Carolyn, your picture of the future Swallowtail butterfly reminds me to check on mine. Each day I see it growing bigger and bigger. I just hope birds don't eat it. They usually feed on Dill, but this one is feeding on Parsley. I grew plenty just in case.
Today I set out 4 rows of garlic. I wanted to order different types, but each type I chose from Seed Savers was sold out.

 

thats a bummer you couldnt get more, but are there any farmers markets near you? go see what they have. we have three different vendors with garlic at ours and I doubt any are the same. I bought some to use for a recipe but the cloves were so huge I decided to plant them instead.

I found a chrysalis of one a few weeks ago but it eventually turned black. I guess it died. i was so sad. I was watching and watching it. told everyone not to touch the cart that I found it on. maybe it got too hot.

 

I can do just that, Carolyn. I rather doubt they have any. I called Farm & Home store and they only sell garlic in Spring.
I;m sorry about your blackened Chrysalis. There may be more around unseen by human eyes.
And now I will go out into the horrid heat and look for mine.

 

In the community garden, I harvested my fingerling potatoes & had some for dinner. Delicious! ! Also harvested tomatoes & rainbow carrots.
BTW, do I let the soil dry on the potatoes, then brush off before storing?

The other photo is of the rainbow carrots. I still have a slew of them in the groundthat I will harvest as needed.

I have been rehabbing my perennial beds. They sorely need it! I have done maybe half of them. How often do you all rehab perennial beds??

 

Nice harvest, Cayuga.
I enjoyed seeing these foto's so much.

 

I don't have any perennial beds, but the advice has been once established to divide once a year or as needed. I find them to be too much work. keeping them weed free? not me ever. just don't have the time to devote to them at this point in my life. your haul looks great, too. I love fresh potatoes. yumm!

 

Cayuga, a lovely batch of potatoes, and yes, rub excess soil from them, allow them to dry away from light. That's so the skin doesn't turn green making them a danger for eating. Speaking of potatoes, I found a nice one yesterday as I set out garlic. It seems we always miss a few. Speaking of garlic, I bought two humongous heads of California garlic today at a farm market. My question is, is it softneck or hardneck ?

Perennial beds. I try for as little care as possible due to veggie gardening. I divide when necessary and I have the inclination.

 

GP, thanks for your advice. I'll put the potatoes in a dark place. I had forgotten about that.

Re garlic, if you pull the cloves apart it becomes obvious if it is a hard neck or soft neck garlic. The hardnecks have a hard stem running up from the knot of roots. Giant California garlic sounds wonderful! I hope you have a good crop.

My perennial beds have suffered from neglect ever since I took a plot in the community garden. I am trying to rectify that but it is overwhelming.

 

Cayuga, thank you so much for the info on hard-neck garlic. I'll be checking mine shortly.
We have a perennial flower bed that was lovely the first two years, but it's quite large and the weeding wears me out. I have decided to let it run wild. If someone else in our trailer park wishes to step up and care for it, there could be beauty again. In my 80s, I feel like subtracting the chores.

 

GP... you are awesome. in your 80's? you rock!

 

It is not only time to make the plots winter-ready, but it is also time to clean the plants from the sides of the canals. I made a start yesterday and today was Food Bank day----Ouch! Those muscles were a bit stiff this morning. There were two large stands of Lythrum that caused the most problem. The rest of the little plants were easily removed. I am wondering if the rail-road company will be cleaning their side now.
The bamboo plant had to be chopped down and that was also a whole-day job. The long canes we cut up and used them on a path as well as saved some for staking next year. The distal bit we will use to cover beds with.
Now I am waiting for the courgettes to finish...they just keep on producing!