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Old September 4, 2019   #76
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oops wrong spot
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Old September 6, 2019   #77
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September 4th, 2019



I finally got enough courage to tear out the Okra.Planted my Kohlrabi seedlings and used some Okra stakes for markers.













I also started a few Bok Choy seeds in seed trays.

I noticed this cantaloupe was separating from the stem so I pulled it, I haven't cut into it yet, I'm still eating the other 2 cantaloupes.



It was just starting to split in a couple places, on the stem part and the side.








You can see the side starting to split at 3:00




Not sure if that's some kind of bug but I didn't notice it when I pulled it from the stocking.





Tore out the rest of the Okra and composted, I'm amazed at the growth of these plants, they started putting out branches at the bottom and were loaded with new buds, there was no way I could keep up wit the plants and there would be no room in the freezer. These two plants were actually in the herb garden. I needed my Hori Hori to tackle these guys.








Cleaned up the Herb Garden and thinned out some of the herbs, I have a Kale plant in there that just wont quit, I cut it down to a stump in the spring, it has overwintered in here twice so far.


Smashed and composted this guy that was having a blast on the kale plant. Such a pretty bug.





Harvested my first ever apple from the columnar apple tree. The trees are on their first year so I just let one apple grow to see what would happen, it was loaded with Fly Spec that was easily buffed out. Aphids are after the new tender growth but the ants seem to have discipated, so I have just been rubbing the leaves with my fingers to get rid of the buggers!

Apple with Fly Spec last month


Fly Spec Appear as groups of few to several small (0.5 mm), shiny black fungal bodies, or thyriothecia on the fruit surface. Although these fungal bodies appear to exist individually, they are connected by mycelium to form colonies, typically in round or irregular groups 1-3 cm in diameter. Fly speck often appears together with sooty blotch and does not damage the flesh.














Some of the pepper plants have picked up on production, tomatoes are still producing, the Maypops started dropping so I'll be grabbing them and freezing to make some jam. The poblano peppers in the aquaponics are putting out some nice peppers.
Found a few hidden batches of grapes, these things taste like little balls of sweet wine.




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Old September 6, 2019   #78
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SQWIBB, I understand waiting to build up a sizable batch of tomatoes before making sauce, but a freezer full? Is it to postpone the time it takes to preserve the batch (press and jar) or some other reason?

Although I have a fair amount of freezer space, i prefer to process as soon as I have enough -although it gets tiring when I have to trade off sleep or other work to do it.
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Old September 9, 2019   #79
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Quote:
Originally Posted by taboule View Post
SQWIBB, I understand waiting to build up a sizable batch of tomatoes before making sauce, but a freezer full? Is it to postpone the time it takes to preserve the batch (press and jar) or some other reason?

Although I have a fair amount of freezer space, i prefer to process as soon as I have enough -although it gets tiring when I have to trade off sleep or other work to do it.

I'll be processing my sauce when the weather is a bit cooler. I'll continue to freeze tomatoes that are getting too ripe, cracked, bug infested, split etc...
I'm down to 4 tomato plants that are still producing.

Some will be made into sun-dried tomatoes, some will be eaten and given away.



Last edited by SQWIBB; September 9, 2019 at 11:09 AM.
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Old September 9, 2019   #80
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September 8th, 2019



I am running out of freezer space for my tomatoes and Okra.






Cut up my last cantaloupe from the plant on the hill. I tore out the plant this weekend and composted the remaining fruit. I think this one was a bit over ripe.





Butternut Squash waiting for first frost.








Removed another tomato plant.


I decided to clean the pathway in the upper raised bed gardens and pulled this guy out of the pathway. At least my pathway makes a good garden, lol.





I removed these 4 cap stones from the steps to make room for the "Root" bed so I dug them in as stepping stones. I always try to put something like this in the walkways, it reduces the amount of mulch needed when the time comes to mulch the pathway.







Last week I was able to remove one of the stumps in the pathway and today I was more than ecstatic when I got this stump out. I can't tell you how many times I tripped over these two stumps.







Mulched the pathway. So much better not worrying about tripping over the stumps.






Some Garden annoyances.






Say Goodbye to my Kohlrabi Plant.







Still getting an eggplant here and there from my Air Pots.









I made a few tweaks to organize a bit. Added a hook to hang the irrigation line. Added a few screws to the Texas Tomato Cage hanger to hold the extra cages ordered, hopefully it will be strong enough to hold seven 20" cages and four 24" cages with extensions.








Started my Sun-Dried (dehydrated) Tomatoes.





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Old September 10, 2019   #81
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Look great! My sweets seem to prefer growing their roots out of my raised beds and under paths as well.
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Old September 10, 2019   #82
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilaGardener View Post
Look great! My sweets seem to prefer growing their roots out of my raised beds and under paths as well.

Definitely a good thing lol.
How do you cure your sweets?
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Old September 17, 2019   #83
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September 9th, 2019


  • Yeah, the Aquaponics plants got away from me!




  • I am going to grow cantaloupe here next year again, I will probably save seeds from this one fruit and put in a better trellis.

Not sure what it is but it can only be one of three varieties, "Hales Best Jumbo", "Sierra Gold" or "Hearts of Gold".






September 16th, 2019


Gardening is slowing down a bit, I'm still doing a tweak here and there, the water has been shut off to all the beds, the irrigation lines that feed the pots are still on. I have been lightly watering the cover crops in the morning and evening with the rain barrel. I'll be stopping that soon as well once the crimson clover in the raised beds put on some more growth.


My Kohlrabi doesn't look like it is doing much and my Red beets suck!

My bok choy seedlings are looking good.
The salad garden is finally showing some real growth.



My Butternut squash has put on quite a bit of new growth, not sure why but I'm curious to see what happens.


When working on the herb garden I found these guys on my Kale. This has to be the neatest looking bug, even the eggs look neat.











Planted the Roman Chamomile, French Tarragon and Winter savory, in the herb garden. I made some markers also. Not sure what to do with the Kale, it's a few years old and I hate to remove it.

Planted the Arp Rosemary on the front garden by the mints and will try to overwinter, planted the Wintergreen under the peach tree in the hugelkultur bed.







A few of the tomato plants that I decided to keep seemed to have beat the early blight, or whatever it was that was killing them. Still producing tomatoes.





I really should clean up this plant a bit more at the bottom, but to be honest I really don't care at this point if the plant makes it or not, I'm still pulling more tomatoes than I can use and my freezer is full with tomatoes for a sauce.













Peppers are coming in, I always seem to get my peppers later in the season. I think next year I'm going to stick with just "Bells" for my sweets, to be honest I always end up going for the bell peppers when cooking or making something with peppers. I'm still undecided.












Cover crops are growing nicely but I think the oats are choking out the Crimson Clover and other legumes, I do this every year and every year I say, I'll plant the Crimson Clover then after sprouts are an inch high, I'll plant the oats. Oh well.




Finally got a chance to burn my yard waste.



Started working on my firepit, I need to replace some of the stones, I would love to build one lined with firebrick, maybe someday.
I'm trying to come up with a way to better insulate the Landscaping blocks from the heat, my fires always get a bit extreme!







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Old September 17, 2019   #84
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My brother dropped off some bar stuff so I upgraded my bar on the deck.




Still getting eggplants, I really need to remember to cage these guys early in the season.
What blows my mind is, none of the eggplants in the beds did well, only the potted eggplants really produced. I may stick to pots for the eggplants next year, I'm still undecided on this.




The french marigolds are all growing like weeds.

The soldier fly larva are making quick work of the compost bin materials, I love these guys. The bin was over 18" full, in a few days it was down about 20" or so. I have to laugh, every video or website I see says a compost pile has to be at least 36" wide x 36" wide by 36" high to properly work, this is bull★★★★.

This compost bin was hot when I stuck my hand in it.





I'm really having trouble with my espalier Pear tree.




On the weekends I try to make some type of Garden Breakfast for me and the better half.





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Old October 7, 2019   #85
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October 3rd, 2019




Finally got everything needed to finish the fire pit.














Testing out the rotisserie.








Cleaned up some of the concord grape vine and butternut squash vine, I have one plant that completely came back that has flowers, I'm letting it go to see what happens. These will sit outside for a week then be moved into the basement.










Beets still suck and Lettuces are growing very slowly but growing.


My Kohlrabi is not doing well.



My wintergreen died and not sure if my French Tarragon is going to make it.


Its that time of year so I started winterizing the ponds and set out the fall Mums.






This planter was for Laura's Hydrangea, she loves Hydrangeas. I gave up this planter (was leeks) because she wanted a little focal point with color on the Koi Pond Patio. Well the Hydrangea died and I asked her if she wanted to try another one, which I thought was a bad idea, or let me toss together something from some Home Depot plants.
She's happy with the results.







Removed the pepper plants from the pond and roasted some over the pit, these will be vacuum sealed and frozen.





Maypops are dropping here and there. Still getting tomatoes and peppers and the occasional eggplant.



Red Marconi








Pulled my last cantaloupe, this guy finally released from the vine, the plant is still motoring along.










I was contemplating putting in a cattle panel here for next season, this would give me and extra 8" width and I can go another foot or so up on the deck.
This is one plant.



The plant is still setting fruit, I don't expect this to ripen in time.




For Dinner today I cut open the cantaloupe for a taste test and was holding my breath!
Let me start by saying, "WOW"! This thing was sweet, it blew away any store-bought cantaloupe.
Why was this so sweet and the others hardly sweet at all? Could it be the Cultivar, were they over ripe, under ripe?
I think it was because of the powdery mildew that decimated the leaves, and/or too much water as the fruits were ripening.

September was fairly dry and I only watered this plant a few times a week.

Yes! I absolutely saved the seeds!





While cleaning up the butternut squash vines and grape vines, I decided to clean up my neighbors yard a bit. I promised her I would do it once I pulled the butternut squash and trimmed the grape vine, I was in a panic when I saw that she had someone do the yard work, these guys want to spray poison on everything.
I'm unsure how far I will trim back the Rose of Sharon, its a great divide plant between the properties, a great pollinator and also looks nice.








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Old October 14, 2019   #86
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October 7th, 2019





This weekend was finally cool enough to make my sauce, I started with 62 pounds of tomatoes, I separated the water from thee pulp before processing and tried boiling down the liquid for 6 hours or so. My intention was to add this to the pulpy sauce once it had simmered to about 25% in volume.

I placed the tomatoes in a pot and cooked until the water was just starting to steam, separated the liquid from the rest and roasted the pulpy tomatoes at 425° for 2 hours. Veggies and other ingredients were layered in the tray underneath the tomatoes.


I decided to trash the watery sauce after tasting it as it was very bitter and was afraid to add it to the pulpy sauce.

The processed sauce was phenomenal. I added the pulp from the strainer, added a bit of oregano and parsley and about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I was very happy with the flavor as was the wife unit.


What did I learn from this? For me, it's not worth the time, effort or energy to make sauce and next year I wont be making sauce and will be growing a minimal amount of tomatoes to make more room for other crops.



















My daughter was given a batch of jalapenos and wanted to make some Jalapeno Pepper Jelly. Since the kids love the cowboy candy, I thought this would be a great idea.
I helped her out by prepping the peppers and changed the recipe around a bit due to not having enough Jalapenos, plus I wanted something with a bite but wasn't overwhelming.
So to knock the heat down a bit I removed the seeds and veins, added 2 green peppers and three roasted poblanos.


I know the poblanos would darken the jelly and wouldn't be as pretty.


Original Recipe as follows


Ingredients

  • 12 oz. jalapeño peppers (about 12 med) (I used 15 seeded various sizes)
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 6 cups sugar
  • 2 3-oz pouches of Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin
  • Green food coloring, optional



Directions FOR liquid Pectin

  1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. (I ran through the dishwasher and left them in there to stay warm)Do not boil. Wash lids and bands in warm soapy water, set bands aside and place lids in hot water.
  2. Remove seeds and veins from peppers, PURÉE peppers in food processor or blender with 1 cup cider vinegar until smooth. Do not strain purée.
  3. Combine purée with remaining 1 cup cider vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
  4. ADD Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin, immediately squeezing entire contents from pouches. Continue to boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
  5. Ladle hot jalapeno jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim with vinegar. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
  6. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.
  7. remove bands and store on shelf, do not stack






Here is what we did because we can never find liquid pectin!

Ingredients
  • 12 oz. jalapeño peppers (about 12 med) (I used 15 seeded various sizes)
  • 3 roasted poblano peppers, medium
  • 2 green bell peppers, small
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 6 cups sugar
  • 2 1.75-oz packs of Sure Gel Powder Pectin


Directions FOR Powder Pectin
  1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. (I ran through the dishwasher and left them in there to stay warm) Wash lids and bands in warm soapy water, set bands aside and place lids in hot water.
  2. Remove seeds and veins from peppers, PURÉE peppers in food processor or blender with 1 cup cider vinegar until smooth. Do not strain purée.
  3. Combine purée with two packages of 1.75 oz. powder pectin. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for a few minutes, (we boiled 10 minutes) stirring frequently.
  4. Add sugar. Continue to boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
  5. Ladle hot jalapeno jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim with vinegar. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
  6. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.
  7. Remove bands and store on shelf, do not stack.


Apparently when using Powder Pectin, it needs to be added before the sugar and when using liquid pectin you add after the sugar.











Amanda was not very happy with the color and were going to try tweaking that next run, but well have to leave out he poblanos and try using less peppers.


To me what was important was the taste and I was very happy with the taste... very happy!







I installed the new LED lights on the fence last week.



Gardening has slowed down significantly. I still have tomatoes coming off and the Poblano peppers are growing like crazy.
The sweet potatoes look great. I'm just having a hell of a time with my Kohlrabi and Beets, for some dam reason I can not grow a Fall garden!
I trimmed the neighbors ivy and rogue maple trees on her back hill and chopped everything up and laid down as a mulch to keep the maple tree from seeding on her hill, all the heavy pieces I tossed in my yard to burn.


I guess she didn't like the trimmings on the hill and I saw her Grand kids and son cleaning up the cuttings.


What a nightmare, the maple trees were growing in between her fence and the neighbors fence and was near impossible getting a saw in there.


The right side is my yard where I have the grape vines growing and there's also a rose of sharon.



I planted my Huckleberry plant (Vaccinium ovatum) from Gurney's and noticed that I really need to clean this area up a bit, I plan on running a better electrical line and redoing the rocks, still undecided if I want to go with wood or rocks, most likely rocks, I think it adds a micro-climate by using rocks.


You can also see the beets to the right that are struggling. This Friday will be 8 weeks for the beets. I may use this bed for Egyptian walking onions, still undecided.



I also bypassed the Koi pond rain barrel.



Trimmed the Kale back a bit to get more light to the struggling French Tarragon in the bed.


Fish Food







Every morning I have been plucking caterpillars off of the Kale and Kohlrabi.

I'm pretty sure I lost my wintergreen plant, the French Tarragon is barely holding on.



Prepping my Lemon and Lime tree to be moved indoors. The lemon tree looks like crap and the Lime Tree is kicking butt.


Ordered a "Li" Jujube tree.


Took out another tomato plant chopped and tossed in the fire pit also chopped my neighbors maple ad tossed on the burn pile.





I was going to make a Green Tomato Jam but to be honest, the Jalapeno pepper jam we made will last us till next season so I thought it was a waste.



Planted some Bok Choy seedlings.
Ripped out the rest of my Butternut Squash plants. The plant really came back but there was no fruit set plus not enough time to ripen even if there was fruit.




Took out another tomato plant, it was loaded with tomatoes but I got tired of looking at it. This leaves me with two plants and one of those isn't doing too well.
The poblano plant is doing great, the bell pepper is doing OK, just picked a few Bell peppers this past weekend.


All my Texas Tomato cages are put away.



While putting a tomato cage around my Goji Berry plant I found a Goji berry and tasted it. OMG, I thought I was poisoned, it was nasty. I'm praying it wasn't ripe. If this is what they are supposed to taste like, I'll be tearing it out next year. I know these can be a bit invasive but was surprised to already have a runner that is about 10" away from the main stem.











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Old October 17, 2019   #87
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October 13th, 2019


Ordered a Hardired nectarine - Dwarf from Raintree nursery.


A good portion of Friday morning was spent working on this stump. I want to get it out as ASAP and put in pavers. The hell strip looks like crap. I tried growing grass here but can't, you know why? Because my neighbor thinks dirt is better than grass and I believe she has been poisoning the grass. I keep planting seed and it starts to come up, a few days later it's dead, a few days after that, its dirt!
She put a driveway where her lawn is and drives over the curb and hell strip to park. She actually put down busted ceramic tiles to drive over.

This driveway is the reason my 25 year old red maple died in a few months after the driveway was poured.












Friday afternoon my brother and I picked up a cattle panel at TSC. We strapped two 10' 2X4'S to the roof rack then strapped the cattle panel to the wood. When we got back and unloaded the panel we hung out in the yard a few hours talking and having a few beers. It was my first glimpse into what retired life would feel like, yeah he just retired this year.







I completely cut back the Kale and placed the trimmings in a bucket of Rain Water, it was loaded with some critters.







The Nasturtiums are finally growing. I decided to spray the Kohlrabi with BT, I couldn't keep up with manually picking them bastages.




All the fig trees are growing nicely but this one is growing like wild fire, however the figs are still green and tiny.




Split my Black Eyed Susan's in half and transplanted.




Digging out the turtle area and loosening with mulch and peat for the turtles to hibernate.






Cut all my fruit trees down at least 2/3rds.
Peach Before and after cut.





Apricot before cut.




The grape vine was getting out of control so I trimmed it back a bit and I am still finding grapes.




Took some cuttings from the Sweet potato vines and Basil, I'm going to try and grow these indoors in the powder room this winter.




Cover crops are doing great.




Pepperoni pizza with Garden Sauce, dam, this sauce is fantastic.





Leftover Pizza topped with eggs for breakfast.




Sealed some fruit for smoothies, Kiwi Berries,Pineapple, Bananas, Blueberries, Cantaloupe.
The only fruit from the garden is the cantaloupe





Burnt up the neighbors maple tree trimmings and my tomato plants (all green wood)




I'm slowly getting the front of the house and backyard cleaned up, I do have some mulching to do in the front gardens but I'm waiting for a frost to knock back some of the plants.


Sunday I just did a bit of cooking, I recycled some Beef Stroganoff into beef vegetable stew. I used my two last teeny eggplants and I also finally got a chance to use some of my frozen Okra. I'll usually make a stew or something from a bunch of leftovers for work lunches.



The only yard work I done Sunday was vacuum out the fire pit from Saturday nights fire.



I putzed around in the yard all day Friday and most of Saturday morning, so that's about it.










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Old October 17, 2019   #88
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If you neighbor has poisoned the strip where you want to plant your new tree you should replace the soil. That is outrageous.
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Old October 17, 2019   #89
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I have the same KitchenAid mixer as you, down to the color! Is that a food mill attachment? Do I want one?
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Old October 21, 2019   #90
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Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival View Post
I have the same KitchenAid mixer as you, down to the color! Is that a food mill attachment? Do I want one?





It's in three parts, you need the first 2, the 3rd is optional. It does a great job, however I wont be making sauce anymore, well at least in bulk. If you make sauce you will like it.
I am hoping to make apple sauce someday.

KitchenAid FVSP Fruit & Vegetable Strainer Parts Attachment

KitchenAid FGA Food Grinder Attachment



KitchenAid FT Food Tray Attachment


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