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Old August 2, 2018   #106
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August 1st



Been a while since I updated this page, been pretty busy with other stuff.




  • Tossed some water lettuce in the pond.



  • Haul for the shore






  • At the condo (OC MD)



Food Pics

  • Fried Eggplant, Poblanos stuffed with cheese and sweet peppers, fried poppers..











I gotta say that I like the Listada di Gandia better than the black beauty, taste is better, cooks better, skin is not as tough. This is a winner.





  • Jimmy Nardello peppers fried with Burrato Cheese and French Bread, everyone raved over this. Toasted french bread would have even been better.





  • Tried this Eggplant Bacon recipe and it was a fail, however the marinade was awesome, I may try it on something else. I tried recycling it into a dip and it was OK, barely!





  • Mountains of oyster shells we found while hiking.







July 28th




OK Vacation is over ... back at home...

  • Garden pics when I got home























  • Haul when I got home








  • Hardening off a few spaghetti squash







Garden woes... gave up on the Table Dainty and pulled them. Spaghetti squash plants are dying, got a few SVB in the squash, pulled the Zucchini plant (SVB), have a few tomato plants that aren't doing well (pulled one, may need to pull two more), asparagus didn't grow hardly at all and a few pepper plants are pretty stunted.



  • Poblanos are going crazy



  • Canned some salsa











  • Why I love oregano in the garden.






  • Friendly garden critters.










Food pics
  • Spaghetti squash, feta, basil and tomatoes.



  • But first, I had to get rid of this guy.

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Old August 2, 2018   #107
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August 1st

  • Harvest after work today



  • Pond is doing well but I really need to clean the filters.







  • Made some lunches for work, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Jalapeno, Oregano, Basil.



  • I really need to get some trimming done.






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Old August 2, 2018   #108
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Looks great! Everything looks so neat. And yummy. That's one really big slug!
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Old August 2, 2018   #109
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I love this thread. The photos are great and I enjoy reading your story. Your food and plants look amazing.
No need to clean the pond filter. That water lettuce will take hold in a hurry and keep the water sparkling clear.
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Old August 2, 2018   #110
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b View Post
Looks great! Everything looks so neat. And yummy. That's one really big slug!

Thanks, yeah my daughter calls her a dirty Q-tip.


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Originally Posted by MissS View Post
I love this thread. The photos are great and I enjoy reading your story. Your food and plants look amazing.
No need to clean the pond filter. That water lettuce will take hold in a hurry and keep the water sparkling clear.

Thank you I appreciate the kind words.
The pond water is clean it's the solids that collect in the filters.
I usually pull out the submersible filter and spray it down real good with a garden hose once a month, the dirt pours out like mud.
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Old August 2, 2018   #111
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The food pictures are making me hungry! Looks delicious!

Beautiful harvest you're getting in, with a nice variety of produce. I have never grown spaghetti squash before, but started some plants for my son's girlfriend, so kept a couple for myself. Do you wait til they get a yellow cast before they can be harvested?

What on earth is that poor warped thing above the maypop picture? I can't even identify the kind of fruit -- pepper????


Looks like you are having a great summer, both on your vacation trips and at your lovely residence.
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Old August 2, 2018   #112
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Spaghetti squash should be hard when picked. It appears you can't go by color alone. Usually you pick them when golden yellow.
The two that were yellow were actually much younger than the tannish ones.
Sometimes they look Green like a zucchini, then you need to wait for a yellowish hue and test the outside with your fingernail.
It should be hard.
I will put them out in the sun for a few weeks after picking to harden off.
The squash vine borers love destroying the fruit also.

The alien plant is sunflower, curious to see if it opens our not.
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Old August 7, 2018   #113
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August 6th

  • This weekend was a bust, had to work Saturday. On the way to work, I liberated one of these for my Butterfly Garden, I also grabbed a Milkweed, but sadly I dont think its going to make it.




  • I got a few fall crops planted and I thought I was being pretty slick using old Tortillo shells to plant my fall crops, that was until the little rat dog came by and ate all the shells.



  • Artichoke



Pulled the last of the Spaghetti squash, got two more squash that are free of SVB's




Everything in the garden is in its, what I like to call, "weird stage", Crickets have taken over, plants seem to be frozen in time, the grass is even getting funky, my lawn is overcome with this weird looking grass (Bermuda?) that grows by runners, happens every year, lots of heat, rain and humidity. This runner grass is in most of my beds, planters and pots, it's even coming up through the pavers.



I cut back a lot of the Chia plants that I had inter planted for green manure.



The Hugelkultur beds are sinking significantly this year, that's a good thing, I have been direct composting in these low spots and filling in with green manures, shredded paper, cardboard and grass clippings.


I'm basically just letting everything do its thing.




  • Laura had asked Stephen to shred the mail and I thought, Hmmm, mulch and said, "I'll do it", so for the next several hours I sat on the floor painstakingly going through all the mail, separating it then shredding while watching SG-1 on Hulu. I even shredded the packing kraft paper that comes in shipped packages, I then got a little crazy and started shredding the pizza boxes.





Food pics,

  • Frittata - Havarti Cheese with dill, Perpetual Spinach, Red Onion, Ham, Milk, Eggs. The Frittatta was excellent.





  • Got some canning done made a double batch of "Ball's Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Puttanesca sauce". I learned two things from this go around with canning,

1) Don't ever double a recipe until you have tried it.
2) Don't can in the house when its 95°F outside.




  • I am totally disappointed and can kick myself in the @SS, I canned 8 jars and have 7 to go, it was a lot of work and I sacrificed 4 pounds of eggplant and 10 pounds of tomatoes from the garden.








After work today I strained the remaining Puttanesca sauce and rinsed real well, put back in the pot, added a few quarts of Crushed tomatoes, basil, garlic, oregano and a pinch of red peppers and simmered for 30 minutes. Processed in a water bath using 1.5 liter jars adding a teaspoon of citric acid to each jar.
I think this will make a fine sauce for pizza

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Old August 9, 2018   #114
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August 8th


It's too hot and humid to do any serious gardening other than some maintenance. Still getting rain every few days. Heavy rain in the forecast for tonight and rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday.



  • Was very happy to see a bunch of Honey Bees visiting the Spearmint Flowers.



  • Starting to get a bunch of Maypop Fruit, hopefully I'll toss together a Maypop Jam in a couple of weeks.







Laura made some Cole slaw from the cabbage and it was a fail! I have one head left still growing, if it's still good were going to make Galumpkis



  • My Reliance Grape plant is coming along nicely.





  • Definitely need to work on the tomato supports in the hugelkultur beds next year. I'm loosing my Box Car Willie, I may cut it down once the tomatoes are ripening a good bit. Marigolds are taking over, I need to trim them back a bit.





I removed most of the Basil, it took over the Asparagus bed, I am very disappointed in the asparagus.


  • Hardening off the Spaghetti squash, note the one in the center it was green when I pulled it from the plant, (bottom picture). I'll pull seeds from it just in case I do decide to grow it again.




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Old August 9, 2018   #115
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Interesting! I think I have a different variety of Spaghetti Squash, mine were never green, just sort of pale solid cream colored from the start. I have one squash that is hard, and it hasn't changed to yellow yet, so maybe it never will. Maybe I'll just pull it as is.


(And thanks for the 'where's waldo" turtle photo! )
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Old August 9, 2018   #116
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Interesting! I think I have a different variety of Spaghetti Squash, mine were never green, just sort of pale solid cream colored from the start. I have one squash that is hard, and it hasn't changed to yellow yet, so maybe it never will. Maybe I'll just pull it as is.


(And thanks for the 'where's waldo" turtle photo! )

Pull the squash if it is hard and Cure out in the sun for a few weeks, it will turn yellow.
Just check it real good for SVB holes, I had a few and poked a shiskabob thingy in there then poured in vinegar, I'll deal with it when I cut it open but its at least dead . lol.


Yeah, the turtles are grubs, as soon as I'm in the yard, they're looking for handouts, I always end up tripping over them.
Weed whacking the yard is a PITA, I have to take my time and check every nook and cranny before I can wack an area.


I only had one that was green, the rest were cream colored.
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Old August 14, 2018   #117
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August 14th


  • The garden is doing very well. With all the recent rain it looks like the tomato plants shot up a good bit, they outgrew the Texas Tomato Cages, the poblano on the left center is nearing 6' tall and is loaded with peppers.






  • The Reliance Grapes are doing better than I could have hoped for.


  • Did a bit more trim work on the trunk and cordons.


Removed a few tomato plants that were struggling, the plants on the hill have exploded. I pruned the Hardy Kiwi there were several main stems that were twining, so I cut them at the base and started the tedious task of unwinding the cut stem from the main trunk. I'm going to cut them just below the trellis and hopefully get a couple cardons.

  • Harvested my first batch of Yard Long beans, and cooked them, I dont like green beans and would rather eat these instead. I dont think anyone else cared for them but I think my family felt bad and really didn't say much. They were OK but I don't think I'll grow them again. I'll finish the year with them and make dilly beans.




  • Cooked another spaghetti squash, this was the one that was green (pictured above) Tried it with a Sage Butter. I liked this squash much better than the first one we tried but not enough to regrow it next year. It had a very pleasant smell when cut open, reminded me of cantaloupe. I did save seeds from this just in case.





  • I had to cut back a lot of stuff. Some things remained in the beds as mulch, other trimmings went into the compost heap and questionable trimmings went into the firepit.







  • I planted some Detroit Radish on the back hill, left and right of the tiger lilies, around the playhouse trellis and in the front Hugelkultur bed. Here I am trying out my shredded paper mulch.


  • The pond is doing real good this year, no string algae... KNOCK WOOD!! The pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter this year, they are still producing but look stunted, I usually fertilize twice in a season but just added some 10-10-10 to the peps this weekend... long overdue. I'm pretty conservative with adding anything for the plants that reside in the veggie filter for the safety of the fish. If they dont bounce back a bit, I may try to find something else to grow in the veggie filter. The water lettuce will make a fine compost this year, I may even just plop these in the hugelkultur beds as mulch.



I cut back all of the perpetual spinach and my daughter took the cuttings to the AARK for the animals, also pulled my old woody beets to feed to the AARK animals.


Added some fertz (Leftover Milorganite, yeah, yeah I know!) to the flowers and shrubs and 10-10-10 to the potted plants. I dont add any type of fertilizers to the non-potted plants with the exception of the flowers and shrubs, only compost.


The yard is loaded with critters, more so this year than any other year, the Carpenter Bees look like they're getting drunk on the Passion Flower. The oregano and Mint is loaded with insects.


  • Maypops are going nuts, next year I'm going to figure out an arbor or something for them to climb a bit neater.



  • Wasn't sure if this was a thread waisted wasp or Mud dauber

















  • Some crazy looking spider.



  • Looks like a frog with 4 eyes!

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Old August 14, 2018   #118
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Great shots of the pollinators. In my area what we call mud daubers are shaped like yours but they are gold with dark stripes.
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Old August 23, 2018   #119
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Great shots of the pollinators. In my area what we call mud daubers are shaped like yours but they are gold with dark stripes.

They can be a bit intimidating and I do see the occasional nest on window sills and door jams, even in the attic sometimes. but they don't seem to bother anyone.
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Old August 23, 2018   #120
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August 23rd



The garden is doing fairly well, all the peppers are really starting to produce, some smaller plants are growing fruit as tall as the plants and rotting as they touch the soil, I have some plants 14" tall and some are near 5' tall, go figure. I am loosing one of my Eggplant Plants, it's being shaded out by a poblano, which blows my mind. The funky rutgers tomato plant is putting out a lot of tomatoes, there is definitely something wrong with this plant, some tomatoes look beautiful and some look scarred.


I'm eating and giving away a lot of eggplant and freezing a ton of tomatoes.


The Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans have escaped and are climbing the hedges in the neighbors yard, I'm going to let these die off and harvest the seeds for pulses.



I have been using the water lettuce from the pond for fertilizer/mulch for some plants, the pepper plants aren't doing too good in the veggie filter, the jalapeno is the only one that looks decent, the poblanos look a little better than the Jimmy Nardellos, they all have peppers but small in size.

No signs of the Detroit Red Radishes I planted.


I have been messing with my Rainwater setup, I'll post that on my Rain Harvesting page when finished. Other than that I've just been tweaking the garden and doing a lot of trench composting.



























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