Today I had to trim some of the butternut squash vines back so we could mow by the fence.
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A few small squash were sacrificed, but it's not like I need that many anyway.
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They sure are big and beautiful!
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There seems to be more on the fence than on the ground in the garden.
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I counted 14 large butternuts at the fence, and I know there are several more in the garden. I think I'll start snipping off the small ones, because I'm really in squash overload!
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This one is nice and fat, and nearly 11" long.
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But this one, on the ground in the garden, is the largest I've seen so far at over 13".
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There are several smaller ones, too. These are all close to 10" long so far.
The Fall Garden
It was over 100F outside again today, so I didn't get very much done.
I made carrot seed tapes last night, so got them all planted this morning. I'm covering them with narrow boards until they germinate, hopefully it will keep them from cooking in this heat. I also started making a makeshift trellis for the snap peas. I was going to pound in a fence post, but I needed something higher than the metal posts I had, so I grabbed the old lattice panel and screwed one side of it to the fence. I cut lengths of wire fencing and hooked them over the top of the fence, then used small cable ties to fasten the first one to the lattice. I'm also connecting each of the narrow wire fence panels together with the small cable ties. I really wanted a trellis I could walk behind, but this will have to do. At least I can reach through the openings in the fencing if need be. I still have more sections to put up, but the heat was too stifling so I had to go inside.
This afternoon I pulled all the early corn stalks from their section of the east garden, then dumped a bucket of composted cow manure right in the middle. I planted a hill of cucumbers there, as I expect the early ones to give up the ghost within another month. Maybe we can get a few fresh cucumbers here before the first frost. See my neighbor's 5' high crabgrass going to seed next to the fence? Isn't that nice? Just what I love to see next to my garden :-(
I hope my butternut do as well as yours. I use those for "trade" here. It's one of the few things that actually grew this year.
ReplyDeleteOur temps couldn't be more different. I was out picking blueberries this morning in a heavy coat-it was 40 degrees! Beautiful working weather, but gosh, we could use rain.
And I have to say (again!) how amazing I think you are doing all that by yourself and in that heat to boot!
Sue, it's cooler this morning, only 75.4 in the shade. At 8 AM. Predicted high of 101. Again.
DeleteI'm happy to hear you are getting squash! You made it sound like your garden just died and went off the face of this earth, LOL! I'll bet, knowing you, it's still beautiful even (half?) empty!
That is crab grass? Ouch! I've got a neighbor that grows a patch of garlic mustard on the other side of one of my fences. But luckily for me my fence is solid cedar. I do have a two inch gap underneath, but I stuffed the gap with hay to keep the seeds from blowing under like they have done in the past. I had one neighbor that let the weeds go to seed next to his chain link fence (yes the one along my garden). But at least he has those slats in his fence which keeps a lot of it out. And he had someone in to weed whack it yesterday for the first time this year (yeah!).
ReplyDeleteI wish I had your butternuts. I haven't seen any baby ones yet. They had better start setting if they want to get ripe before frost.
Yes, that is crabgrass. After she pulled all the weeds and planted rhodies in there, I thought they would keep it cleaned up. NOT! You can't even see the rhododendrons now, it's solid crabgrass, milkweed and lamb's quarters. I'm tempted to hoist the weedeater over the fence and take care of it, but Mr. G absolutely put his foot down over that idea. Not that I ever listen to him, but....
DeleteWhat a wonderful haul of squash, Granny! We aren't going to be getting anything this year. It's been too dry and hot to get them to grow. However, my volunteer pumpkin in the tomato garden is doing great.
ReplyDeleteLangela, you can make me a pumpkin pie! I always make butternut "pumpkin" pies now. You can see why. Last year I had 192 pounds of winter squash, but I had both butternut and acorn. I wonder what this year's haul will be. Heck, I still have two butternuts out in the garage from last year! And they're still good! And a bunch in the freezer. What on earth will I do with all of these, LOL?
DeleteYour squash is amazing! I grew butternut winter squash last year, but this year I tried to grow "Red Kuri" and the squash vine borer took all my vines out:-( Do you find the butternut to be the best you have grown? Is it the only squash you grow/have you had problems with other types before?Please share any wisdom- I do have some lemon squash left, but I have no winter squash this year. I do wish I had your squash vines-lol...amazing! robbie:-)
ReplyDeleteRobbie, it's usually the only winter squash I grow. Last year I also grew bush acorn, but I didn't find it to be as versatile as the butternuts, so now that's the only ones I grow. All of my kids like them too, so I can count on getting rid of a few that way.
DeleteI love your blog Granny. Love it. I just thinned our 110 feet of carrots here...white, yellow, red, purple, and regular orange. I have 5 gallon ziplocks of baby carrots in my fridge that my kiddos are quickly devouring....I thought of you while thinning! Lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, Angela, would you trade carrots for squash? LOL, my early carrots were an almost total fail, and the later ones are still too small to pull. I do hope this third planting has time to mature! I never thin carrots, it takes me much less time to make the seed tapes than to thin them. I think one packet of carrot seeds, made into seed tapes, would grow at least 1000 carrots, maybe more!
DeleteAs crazy as it sounds I like thinning carrots! Hehehe. The sugarsnax variety orange carrots are so perfect for fun stir fries and having cute little slender carrots is such a novelty...I would give you carrots, too bad I'm about 3 hours away! I made my husband a carrot cake out of my yellow and white ones. He says its the best carrot cake ever....hopefully he's not being biased ;-) I love the purple, but they bleed purple into everything so they have to be cooked separately. Carrots are one of my favorites in the garden!
DeleteAngela, a garden without carrots isn't worth growing! I've never had such failure with them, although I did have a problem with root knot nematodes in the new garden plot last year. At least they grew well in a different section of the garden. This year they came up and then just disappeared. I'm quite sure it was pill bugs, as they really ravaged the early spring garden.
DeleteYour butternut is awesome!!! Turned cool here! One extreme to the other it seems! Nancy
ReplyDeleteNancy, it "cooled down" here, too....it's only 93 this afternoon, instead of the 101 we had yesterday! We shouldn't get any more triple digit days now.....I hope!
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