What have you done today in the Garden?

We have yet to clean the soil from the potatoes, but they're safe out of the sunshine.

 

Growingpains, that is a magnificent potato harvest! What variety did you plant (sorry if you've said, but I didn't do a search)? We plant potatoes, and it's always like a treasure hunt to "dibble" for the first little ones, and then when we dig and come up with baskets and baskets of potatoes, we are thrilled! Disclamer: I am thrilled, my husband, after an hour or so of digging, less so.

 

Good grief, That is a haul! we don't get nearly so many potatoes from a hill. Great job!

Well, today I baked bread... I made 24 loaves for my markets tomorrow. I think that is a record. 10 were garlic bubble bread from the blue ribbon recipes from Taste Of Home. those were 20 oz loave. I made 10 of them and the rest was sourdough and potato bread in 16 oz loaves.
Then I went to the garden and the high tunnels to water and pick tomatoes. I picked 5 bushels of tomatoes for tomorrows markets. A few greenbeans, 60 or so, cantaloupe, 8 watermelons, Kevin picked me a bushel of peppers and 2 pints of raspberries. I am tired and going off to bed ... after I get a shower.

 

Marlingardner, they're white potatoes. I forget the name. Possibly Kennebec? Kennebec white.
I'm too old to do gardening on a large scale. We grow enough for our own use, most of the
winter.
Carolyn, I wish to have your energy.

Today I picked a few tomatoes and one zucchini.

 

Today I weeded the big garden (kinda, there are still some ponderous weeds out there), watered the pepper plants, and communed with the chickens.
Growingpains, I may try some Kennebecs next year--we were told only red potatoes would do well here, but the Yukon Gold did very well this year. I'd love to grow three colors of potatoes!

 

Marlin, if the man who sold me the seed potatoes hadn't told me, I wouldn't know the difference.
I have grown Pontiac Reds with fair return. I want to try Russets in 2016. They're good for baking.

 

Toni, cosmos are a wonderful flower, but they do tend to self-seed and spread!
If anything I have (seeds, starts) fit into your back garden plans for next year, let me know and I'll be exceedingly happy to contribute whatever I can!

 

One good thing about lots of Cosmos, Goldfinch eat the seeds with gusto.

My garden experience today involved a surprise. We bury our peelings, etc, as compost for next year's garden.
I dug in one corner, unearthed a white egg, smaller than a tennis ball. I gently scooped it into the shovel,
laid it on the grass, and scooped again, uncovering yet more small, white eggs. I realized that our resident
Snapping turtle had sneaked a nesting site without my being aware. Quickly, I scooped the first egg back into
the dirt, covered all and chose a different corner for compost.
A few years back, our Snapper tore into our garden, faking a nest. Then, a few years later, I accidentally broke
several of her eggs while digging. I'm so glad I did no damage this time. I replaced them so quickly, I'm sure
they will hatch.
I learned that eggs incubated at a temp of 64 degrees hatches females, temps somewhere in the 70s hatch males,
while temps somewhere between this low and high will hatch both male and female.

 

Weeded the yellow beans that I planted a few weeks ago and found a nest of bunnies right between the rows.... don't ask about them, Frank says I am not allowed to tell you what I did with them because it might gross someone out. I am not having 12 bunnies mowing down my hard earned Fall garden. I won't tell you what I did with the groundhog living under my shed and taking out my broccoli..... either.

 

Wow GP--Look at them spuds!! You have to be really proud of that good harvest.
What kind are they anyway? I am so happy that you were able to upload this foto.
The only thing that I did on this rainy day was feed the bees a bit. We have had so much rainy weather lately that I am giving them some invert sugar solution to eat so they will not have to break into their winter stores. Hopefully they will put some of the solution up for later as well. When the sun returns, they will be able to forage for fall sugars in the fall bloomers.

Just before I went away for another little trip, I harvested an enormous amount of beans, toms and the last of the sweet corn. After all the moaning this spring, I can't really complain now.

Picked some blueberries yesterday and made jam today, cleaned and dices a few kilo's of onions to freeze-in and processed a mass of beans. The work continues...in spite of the rain.

 

Carolyn, the groundhog I understand, but baby bunnies?
Oh, I know, but they're SO adorable. Still, you are a farmer,
and all is fair when food is at stake.

Sjoerd, I believe the potatoes are Kennebec whites. We cooked, mashed and froze 10 quarts.
Living in a trailer park leaves little room for storage. Still, frozen mashed potatoes taste great.

 

Yah, I know... sounds so brutal but 12 of them? Yep... have you ever seen what they have done to a garden.... 12 of them on top of that. and I have fruit trees. Have you ever seen what a hungry rabbit in the winter can and will do to a fruit tree. GRRR! They went to a good use, though. They volunteered to go the the raptor rehab center....

 

We sat on the patio this morning with our coffee--71 degrees! We enjoyed watching the birds feed, and the hummingbirds decide if it was safe to come to the feeders about 6' away from us, that the rest of the morning ran behind schedule. Who cares! Sitting outside on an August morning in Texas is a rare and wonderful treat.