August 25, 2012 - A Little Bit of Garden

I've been neglecting the garden blogging lately.  After all, this is supposed to be a garden blog, not a house painting blog or a grumpy old Granny telling off the salesman blog.

I may have been neglecting the garden blog, but I haven't been neglecting the garden.  Well, except for my zinnias and marigolds that are in desperate need of deadheading.  Although you can't see them, there are paths throughout the entire garden.  Nice, weed free paths.  In a few spots, the vines have overrun the paths and have been ruthlessly stepped on, being the only way to reach some of the back garden beds.  All of the tomato plants are falling down from their weight, but so far I've only grabbed the shears and cut one of them back to better reach its neighbor, the one with the better tasting fruits.  I wonder how many are rotting on the vines though, as the foliage is too thick and heavy to see through.  I have to do some weird contortions when I go on my tomato hunt each day, most of which require me to view the plants from an upside down position.  The corn is done.  Many of the stalks have been cut down and removed, some have been cut back and will be removed once the squash vines are finished with them, and the final planting will be removed as soon as I get time to do it.  I picked the last half dozen ears last night, and had to toss them all away.  Worms and insects had fed too well on them, there wasn't enough left for us to eat.

It was actually cold enough in the garden this morning that I had to wear a heavy sweater.  Just for you, my dear readers, for the following photos I braved the cold, dewy morning in my pajamas and slippers.


The fall garden is growing great!  Carrots, two varieties of bush beans, cabbages.

The fall peas didn't germinate well.  I'm undecided whether to leave them like this or to get into my stash of "good" peas and fill in the gaps.

The kennel jungle garden.  It's a lovely, shady spot to sit on a hot day.  Just look at the size of those Brussels sprouts!  It's still iffy whether they will ever grow any sprouts, but that tallest one is nearly 4' high.  It was still too early in the morning when I took this photo, but Grandpa Ott morning glory, back behind the garden bench, bursts forth in glorious bloom as the sunshine makes an appearance.

I think I'm going to have a cabbage surplus this fall.  It's a good thing Mr. Granny and two of my kids like sauerkraut!  All of the cabbages are the miniature Gonzales variety, so the heads will be softball sized.  I need to get the beets out of the covered bed, and get my fall spinach planted there.

There are a lot of nice sized butternut squash left out there.  It will be a while before this one is ready to harvest, but I noticed quite a few that can be picked any time now.

Some of the cantaloupes are huge!  The three melons that are growing up the ladder support are all big and heavy, much more so than those growing on the ground.

Those on the ground may not be as large, but they are numerous.  What does one do with an over abundance of cantaloupe?  I guess I'll have to freeze them and learn to like melon smoothies.

Yes, I'm still getting lots of broccoli from the spring plants.  It looks like they'll bear right into winter for me.  This giant is 4' across.  It's also the plant that "died" last spring.  It was tiny and wilted, and looked as though the stem had rotted.  I buried the stem under the soil, and before long the plant survived and grew.  And grew, and grew.

The garden doesn't look much different than it did a month ago, except for the fallen down tomato plants that were once shed roof height.

One last photo, for 5olly.  Most of this Black Cherry tomato has fallen over the side of its cage, but some branches are reaching for the rooftop.  I'm not going to drag out the ladder to pick cherry tomatoes, so it's going to get lopped off to a reachable height.


Now I have tomatoes to can and a house to paint.




26 comments:

  1. Looks great. My butternut are starting to come in like crazy--a great crop this year. And I don't eat them....but I do trade them for wood chips and Donkey Doo-so I'm glad it's a good year for them.
    Still no dang tomatoes though. Cripes!

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    1. Sue, come up here and grab a paintbrush and I'll give you my tomatoes. Heck, I'd give you my first born!

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  2. My "fall" beans are just starting to bloom. I think I'll get beans long before fall hits. I've never tried another sowing of beans before and it seems to be working well. Too well if I really wanted them in the fall. But I'm happy to have them as the summer beans aren't producing anymore.

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    1. Daphne, I think I got carried away with the beans. My freezers are full! Luckily the pole beans have slowed a bit.

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  3. Your garden is till looking great. Everything is so lush and green. I hope your melons are sweet as the fruits look grogeous. I'm glad you Grandpa Otts are doing good for you!

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    1. Ed, I hope the melons are good. That first one, container grown, tasted terrible. I didn't even weigh it, I threw it in the compost and dumped the container. It was a tiny melon though, and I found the container was terribly ant infested.

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  4. Nice garden! Amazing how many cantaloupe you have. I watched a program on tv where they made melon balls, froze them on a cookie sheet, put them in zippy bags, then took them out 3-4 at a time to use as ice cubes in their drinks. It added a nice twist to a drink, and didn't water it down when the ice started to melt like water would.
    ~~Lori

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    1. Lori, the cantaloupe seeds wouldn't germinate, so I just kept planting and planting, then they all came up at once! I didn't have the heart to pull them, I know someone will want the extras.

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  5. That's it, I'm going to copycat what you do and have a beautiful garden too!

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  6. I am in absolute awe of your garden! It's beautiful and looks just as fresh as in the late spring/early summer. My fall planting has fallen a bit flat, but I still have a few things to look forward to. Your melons look incredible! Yum!

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    1. Nutmeg, I didn't show the sweet potato/zinnia/allysum garden that looks horrid right now. Not weedy, just overgrown and in need of some trimming, edging and deadheading. Tomato alley is rather embarrassing, too. Way overgrown and crowded, we can't hardly walk down that side of the house.

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  7. Whoa, your garden is so inspiring. I wish I knew your secret.
    The one where aphids, spider mites, flea beetles, fungus, blight and cabbage loopers all don't belly up to the table before you can blink.

    Oh and those slippers? I love that style-except for the mud on the bottom.
    Git yerself a pair of slip-on mud shoes (like Crocs) you can park right outside the door. That's what I do, makes life easier for me, less floor cleaning.

    O. My beloved and I are planning on building a new house on a couple of acres. (HOA forbids 'fences'.) So! I plan on adapting your idea of a garden perimiter all around the b-yard w/ a small barrier (like you have) dividing the doggy/grassy area from the tasties. That way I can keep my little dog safe from chasing all the scary cars. LOVE your design. Thanks

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    1. Barbee, I have two pairs of those slippers, and one is usually on the back porch waiting for me. I didn't have mud on the bottoms this morning, but I sure did have grass clippings from walking across the wet grass!

      No aphids, spider mites, blight or cabbage loopers (yet), but corn smut, corn ear worms, nasty little black weevil things, earwigs, sow bugs.....we all have our crosses to bear.

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  8. I am sure you would much rather be out gardening than painting! Your fall garden looks wonderful as does everything else! Nancy

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    1. Thank you, Nancy, and yes I'd rather be gardening! It will be nice to have a freshly painted house with all new windows though. I've been pushing Mr. Granny for this for a couple of years now, and finally got my daughter to help convince him!

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  9. Wow, Granny, those cantaloupes are beautiful. I would tuck the ladder ones in nylon stocking and tie them to something though! It would be so sad if their weight broke the vine. One of my trellised pumpkins did that last year and i nearly cried. You could probably chop, ball, or puree and freeze the extra cantaloupe to add to all sorts of things over the winter.
    Glad your garden is doing so well, still wishing for tomatoes here... but not quite willing to pick up a paintbrush again to get some. ;)

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    1. Anywhere, those on the ladder are actually sitting on the rungs or on the little ledge that holds the paint pan. I went out to show the melons to my son last night, and four of them had picked themselves! I had just checked them two nights earlier. Two of the four were a bit over ripe, so I'm going to have to really watch them closely from now on.

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    2. I should have known you had it covered. I, on the other hand, am not so smart and happily let my 17 lb. pumpkin dangle until the trellis cord snapped and it tumbled to its doom. Lol, I definitely learned my lesson though.

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  10. Your garden still looks so amazing! Mine is a horrid mess, and we've been ripping it all out this past week. It's been so traumatic this year I can't even bring myself to post photos LOL... but at least I did get a lot of food from it, it just looks awful out there haha!

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    1. Erin, I'm going to start clearing some things out of mine. I know, with all the house painting and tomato saucing, I'm just not going to be able to keep up with it all. There's always next year.

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  11. Hahah. You're mad! We were warned yesterday up the allotment that we're about to get a weed notice.. Not good! Your Black Cherries look much better than mine, although I think one might actually be going red! (Or should that be black?)

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    1. 5olly, I told you that tomato was eating the shed roof. If it weren't stuck under the eaves, it would be growing up on the shingles!

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  12. That is really cool! It is indeed very cool garden.

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  13. It is certainly robust! I need to get on the fall planting soon!

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    1. David, I do think I got a bit carried away with the melons and squash! I did think I'd be cleaning up the summer garden before the fall garden was ready, but it looks like most everything is just going to keep right on pumping out the produce.

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