Potatoes

I dug up my potatoes the other day. The plants weren't completely dead, but they were close.

I probably should have waited a little longer, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast, and I wanted to dig them up before they all rotted. It wasn't quite as much fun as last year. When I started pulling back the straw, it was really wet, and I was afraid I wouldn't find any good potatoes.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, and ended up with about 13 pounds of potatoes.

There are a lot of little ones that could have grown more if I had waited, but I'll just eat them first.

I (half) did it!

I attempted to can green beans again last weekend, and it worked. Sort of. I had four jars in the canner, and two of them sealed. I'm calling it a success, because I now have some canned green beans.

I also made a small batch of tomato sauce. Five pints. With all the rain we've had, I thought the tomatoes would be nothing but water, but the sauce is nice and thick. I'm really hoping to get enough tomatoes to do some plain canned tomatoes next, but the weather isn't cooperating. So far, my stash isn't impressive, but it still makes me happy.

Late summer

The garden - August 23rd

We're back to regular rain but temperatures are normal for August, so it's hot, humid and at times ridiculously wet. I cut down the cherry tomato plant yesterday.

One down

The plant had been kind of sickly all season, and the tomatoes that weren't rotting on the vine were cracking as soon as they were picked, so it was time.

I decided to rig up some support for my dry bush beans (Jacob's cattle). They've basically been lying on the ground for a few weeks, and I've seen mold on several pods already. With more rain in the forecast, it seemed smart to try to get them off  the ground a little.

Ugly contraption as usual

 I didn't take an official "before" photo so you'll have to believe me when I say they're much more upright now. They had been covering the straw you see above them in the second photo.

I'm getting really close to my first red pepper.

This picture is from several days ago, so it's much redder now. I also might actually have some cucumbers this year.

I forgot to plant cucumbers when I was supposed to, so I threw this seed in the ground a few weeks ago. It's a bush variety, and it's got a few flowers on it already.

In other news, I planted a cover crop in a few of the empty areas and it's starting to sprout. It's a mix of oats and peas that I found at a local garden center. I'm thinking about thinning out the zinnias and planting some in their area as well.

Garden bath

After all the rain we had earlier this month, we are now having more seasonable weather. Temperatures this week are in the upper 80's and low 90's. It appears that the birds are happy with the drier weather.

I've seen five or six at a time enjoying a dust bath in my garden. The picture above shows four bathing spots.

And here are a few more. I should probably be using this space more efficiently, but for now it's empty, and the birds have a great communal bathing area.

Started a fall project

D built this for me on Sunday:

That's a 4 foot x 8 foot x 8 inch cedar frame for a new raised garden bed. I decided a few weeks ago that the asparagus needed to be moved out of the big garden. I have too much trouble getting to it once everything else starts growing, and it falls over on top of anything close to it.

I've read that asparagus does not like to compete with other plants, and eight inches is probably not quite as deep as it should be, so instead of putting a layer of cardboard in the bottom like I normally do, I've covered it with a tarp to completely kill the grass. When I'm ready to start filling the bed, I'll probably turn over the dead grass and maybe even broadfork a little.

Now my garden path runs between my raised beds. And poor Scout has to run around yet another garden.

I see canning in my future

August 9th

August 9th

August 11th

August 13th

August 16th

The unusually cool and wet August we've been having seems to suit the beans just fine. They show no signs of stopping any time soon.

Beans on zinnias

Beans on asparagus

Beans on other beans

Back from vacation

The garden - August 9th

I left D instructions for watering while I was gone, but he didn't need them. It has rained almost every day for the past week.

In addition to the rain, our temperatures have been cooler than normal, so tomatoes aren't ripening as quickly as they usually do. Even so, D picked a couple pounds while I was gone, and I picked almost 5 pounds yesterday.

Of my seven tomato plants, only three are growing well, so I need to be happy with every tomato I get this year.

I also picked almost a pound of green beans. These are Stringless Blue Lake pole beans.

I only saw one Japanese Beetle yesterday, and I gave him a good soapy bath. I also saw a cucumber beetle, but it got away before I could grab it. The bean plants are covered with flowers, so it looks like I'll get enough beans to continue my attempts at canning them as long as I can keep the pests in check.

I might have planted a few too many beans around this tower. Or I didn't put enough string on it. The plants are growing all over each other and any zinnia or asparagus that gets too close.

It looks like I'll be picking peppers soon.

Last but not least, some of the Jacob's cattle dry beans were ready, so I picked them. It's been so wet lately that some of the pods have mold on them.

I threw a few in the composter, but most of them looked fine on the inside. I shelled these yesterday and put them in they dehydrator for just a little while. I've never grown dry beans before, and I'm very excited about them. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to eat them.