What have you done today in the Garden?

The war on weeds is never over. It can be exhausting . Pulled a bunch from a flower bed 100’x20’ ,then plucked a bunch of those darn dandelions that pop up in the middle of plants the same with wild blackberry, around the boarders. I will mulch them to smithereens tomorrow with the mulcher mower. It was a cool breezy morning , nice weather . Would rather be doin something else but..weeds are calling.

Now that I have managed the pastures better this year keeping weeds and pests out , a neighbor has tansey ragwort in their pasture. So I was over there pulling a bunch out near our pasture bagged them up at the flower stage (catch them before they go to seed) , and put them in the trash. Tansey is poison for livestock as well as poison hemlock popping up too.

 

Today it cooled enough to weed the upper vegetable garden. It was mostly chickweed that had to be removed. The smoke chased me in, but it felt good to clean it up. Swiss Chard and baby carrots with dinner tonight.

 

Holy mackerel Mel, now that is what I call a veggie garden! Oh mate, that all looks so good. Swiss chard and baby carrots tonight. Oh my word. You guys are going to eat well tonight. I’ll bet you will appreciate those flavours. Chapeau.

 

@Melody Mc. oh wowwowow I agree with Sjoerd… to the tune of that ‘Holy Mackerel’ ….That veggie garden looks incredible. Lots of different veggies and so much care and maintenance to keep the plants healthy and happy.
Your harvest will be coming soon. So what all ya got there..and that lil pathway looks interesting too. Need more pics…

Yeap, It’s chick weed season here too. Been out weeding and trimming ground covers that spread out in every direction. I started early and ended up over doing it . I took a break had a chocolate cupcake and I feel energized and ready to hit the garden projects … maybe a bit later… after a quick rest . Chocolate fixes everything. I’ll be ready to get back outside and edit out a few plants that need to go later. Right now I’m glued to my seat. Will wait a day or two till all the hedging and ground cover dries out then mulch with the mower to smithereens.my favorite thing to do… Recycle those weeds and clippings into fertilizer. You know the drill….Bodda boom bodda bang… hangin in there one day at a time.

 

The silver maples, the redbuds, the cherry trees and that poor bald cypress tree (it should have been planted at my pond instead), and the ones you cannot see were planted by me. The elms were already here. My pear tree is behind that old shed.

Removing all of the things I planted is more work than taking care of them. DS is wanting to hire a friend to bring a dozer and remove a section of pines to put in a new apple orchard. Okay. IF he has the funds to pay for that, maybe we can sell the pine trees, they are around 70 ft tall and straight. I know a few local saw mills that might want them.

I did try to work outdoors today, but a rain storm moved in and that was that. I was working on digging out some large grass clumps along the fence line between my veggie garden and the pasture yesterday and this morning before the rain. I might have half of it done?

I did get a nap this afternoon. That felt good.

 

The silver maples, the redbuds, the cherry trees and that poor bald cypress tree (it should have been planted at my pond instead), and the ones you cannot see were planted by me. The elms were already here. My pear tree is behind that old shed.

Removing all of the things I planted is more work than taking care of them. DS is wanting to hire a friend to bring a dozer and remove a section of pines to put in a new apple orchard. Okay. IF he has the funds to pay for that, maybe we can sell the pine trees, they are around 70 ft tall and straight. I know a few local saw mills that might want them.

I did try to work outdoors today, but a rain storm moved in and that was that. I was working on digging out some large grass clumps along the fence line between my veggie garden and the pasture yesterday and this morning before the rain. I might have half of it done?

I did get a nap this afternoon. That felt good.

 

Naps are always a nice way to recharge our batteries. I try to sneak in one every day . Otherwise I would be a rag doll worthless flopping around . Been working on adjusting my energy levels and mindful of what plants need . A plant life for a season is much faster than my energy levels can handle. I need a low energy guide for a low energy gardener. Plants are always ahead of me they continue to grow with zero naps or breaks. So what are plant years compared to human years in one season. They have a much faster lifespan especially in veggie production , perennial's, flowers and annuals. Just sayin…

 

Oh Pac, of course plants nap. They take an extended nap all winter long, so they can grow like mad the following summer. Don’t let them fool you…or pull your green leg.

 

I'm in awe of that garden

 

Work at the allotment was mowing and strimming the paths and their edges. Picking more toms. Lifting the rest of the spuds. Of course the roses had to be deadheaded. Some beds needed attention with the schoffel.


While this amount of spuds are oké, I can tell you with a heavy heart that what you see in the trug is only half of what we dug up today…the rest were rotten and riddled with tiny worm holes. The ground was also too wet down deep where the tubers formed.

The toms are a different story— they are going like the clappers. They are ripening faster than we can pick them, in a manner of speaking. We have harvested some the past couple of days and now have enough to make concentrate from, now.



We are always trying new things, today we are changing our “putting-up” technique. Today we washed the toms, removed the green bits and the brown stem attachments. Once cored, then we cut them io cubes and put them on to boil.

Once they had broken-down and gone soft, we took them off the fire and ran them through the passe-vite* before chucking them back into the “Dutch oven” on the fire.
* Using this step means we did not have to first scald the toms to skin them. That was always a messy and time-consuming step.

When the ground-up toms had boiled for a while and lost some of the water, they were ready to be potted-up. I had the jars and lids ready right on time.

We had four kilo’s of concentrate in the end, all nicely in the glass pots. Then it was fun waiting for the lids to “tik” as they cooled.
I will just add that I turned the jars over from time to time to expose the inside lids and glass bottoms to the boiling concentrate for sanitary reasons.

The first batch is cooling now and will go on the pantry shelf this evening.

Daniel— that little girl is showing us up, mate.

 

As usual your harvest of potatoes and toms look beautiful …thanx for your pics and allowing to showing of your new toms technique. Canning / freezing is a big job. But when winter comes it’s a real treat to just go to fetch them fresh from the freezer or cubby . Lots ahead yet to harvest…

 

Thanks so much, Pac. I am already looking forward to the winter.

 

Today more weeding and at least attempted to pull or wack more wild blackberry’s from the middle of plants. Trimmed evergreen shrubs blocking paths and exits/entrances.
Things are slowing down. So nice to just take the time sit in a shady spot and just observe the surroundings. Lot’s of butterflies,bee’s , hornets and grasshoppers. And garter snakes. Found a couple just hanging in the sun.

Can’t wait to hear the crickets and tree frogs soon.


Skink

 

You are both showing me up this year! I love that!

I need to thin bean plants and uncover them tomorrow. Also dig more garlic.

Today I did cut down a big bunch of thistles, and dug up, cleaned up, replanted half of the remaining bearded irises from the decommissioned iris garden. If I do the rest tomorrow, that completes a project I started two or three years ago. Whew!

Then the old iris bed is just grass to be mowed. Easier! Repeated mowing will kill off those thistles.

 

I did not get anything done today.

I had my neighbor work on the push mower. He will work on it more in the morning. It might need another new carbeurator.

I did get a nice amount of potatoes dug up the other day, and have more growing. Those plants are still green. Most things are looking nice.

I still have not gotten the onions and garlic in the ground. I think I will plant more beans? Other people say more beans can be planted for fall. I want to plant more carrots and broccoli. My gourd vines have little gourds on them, and my butternut squash has at least one squash so far. My cukes and lopes are full of flowers, and the watermelons have flowers now. The corn has tassles and silk showing... I hope the tomatoes get more tomatoes.

I got a handful of strawberries this evening... Yum. The beans are looking good.

I have some ripe tomatoes for sandwiches tomorrow.