September 6, 2008: No More Whining!

I got my whining off my chest in yesterday's blog. I'm in a much better mood today, thanks to Sinfonian, who made me realize I'm not the only one who is bored with my garden right now. And it really isn't that bad. I did give my neighbor, Pat, three lovely crookneck squash, a perfect zucchini, two cucumbers and three tomatoes yesterday, and she gave me a big bunch of sage for drying. I also snipped a big handful of fresh chives for the butter & sour cream mixture for our baked potatoes last night. They were delicious! Mr. Husband doesn't like real baked potatoes, he says they are too dry, so I chunked up some carrots into the bottom of my new small crockpot, seasoned them and added a tablespoon of water, then I put two foil wrapped new Yukon Gold potatoes on top, put on the cover and let them cook all day. They came out firm and moist, with a wonderful fresh flavor. A small dab of butter on the carrots made them quite tasty, too.

This morning I picked enough green beans, from the old patch, for tonight's dinner, along with two more little crooknecks and a big bowl of cherry tomatoes. And greens! Just look at all the mesclun, red leaf lettuce, beet greens and carrot thinnings! That should please my spoiled rabbit.




Yes, autumn is closing in on me quickly, but there is still so much life in the garden. There's the new life. Seedlings of lettuce, carrots and spinach are popping up out of the ground. The carrots will never mature before it's time to close the garden and head to Arizona, but the rabbit will appreciate the tender young greens.




The new bush beans will be producing soon.




Where will the ski pole beans go from here? I've already added the neighbor's broomstick!




If the warm weather holds, I'll have an abundance of tomatoes.




And a few peppers.




Even though powdery mildew has taken a toll on the summer squash plants, they are still producing.



And this little fellow is helping!




Alas, powdery mildew has also struck one of the cucumber plants.




But it isn't affecting the cucumbers.




Mr. Husband installed the new kitchen faucet that I had purchased yesterday, and he had a bit of help. And I've heard of "plumber's crack", but how about "plumber's belly"? He's been awfully helpful lately.....do you think he feels guilty about the board fight?


9 comments:

  1. What a nice neat garden you have and cute dogs. I had a daschund, chiwawa, terrier mix a while back and she is still missed.

    I just found your site on Garden Web and noticed sinfonian comments here, I visit his blog quite often, small world.

    I will add your blog to my blog links over at http://veggiegardenblog.blogspot.com/

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  2. Small world is right! I just visited your blog tonight, after reading your post on Garden Web. You are quite the photographer, your photos are fantastic and your sauce looks delicious!

    Thank you for the compliments, on the garden and on the puppies. They are just 7 months old and spoiled rotten.

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  3. I think I've got the same wilt/blight you do, but it's also not impacting my fruit and veggie production. I didn't know what it was but my cukes have had it for a while on the lower leaves. I do think that area has stopped producing, but the rest of the areas are doing well.

    And yeah Dan, Granny and I are fast friends!

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  4. After reading a few (quite a few) blogs of others, it looks as though it's a very common ailment when cooler weather comes. There are some possible controls for it, like sprays made of milk or (I think) baking soda...I'll have to investigate that one further. Of course, these are best used as preventative measures, not after the fact, so it might be worthwhile to check them out next year.

    I was so happy to find Dan's blog! Talk about beautiful gardens, beautiful photos and recipes to boot! And I've spent most of the morning checking out his favorite blogs, and there are some very good ones.

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  5. I accidently came across your blog yesterday and I have enjoyed it so much. Even though we are miles apart, you have inspired me. We just built a 4x4 raised bed with cinder blocks this morning and I can't wait to plant a fall crop. Originally, I wanted to plant asparagus but I'm not sure if I will have enough space. I only have room for 3 4x4 beds and I may not be patient enough to wait 3 years for harvest. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!! Betty from Georgia

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  6. Granny, I wrote a comment to this post yesterday....did you get it?

    EG

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  7. Betty, thank you! I'm happy to hear I have inspired you. Like you, I'm contemplating asparagus, but I'm pushing 70 and who knows if I have time to wait for it, LOL! My grandmothers both lived into their nineties, though...maybe I should take a chance.

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  8. Hey Granny! I'm not a blogger myself (I would be a huge letdown because I'm just not consistent on this computer stuff), but I sure do get a lot out of your blog! (And Engineered Garden's...just visited and complimented him on his bug photos!). Being new, I really get good info from pictures more than descriptions so seeing powdery mildew on a plant is very helpful.

    - Laura (your bud from GardenWeb SFG)

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  9. Laura! I'm so happy to see you here!

    My dear, if you want pictures of powdery mildew, I'll go take one that REALLY shows it! What you see in the ones I've posted are mild. The one's I've been cutting off are just nasty.

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