Working in the garden.
Last weekend we were very busy working in the garden. I’m very happy with our raised beds. Weeding is so much easier and not overwhelming at all. Now outside of the individual beds looks like a jungle. We have to watch out for lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Ok, for real though Farmer Derek is going to weed eat out there as soon as he has time. This is so much easier than pulling weeds in the whole garden by hand. The weeds in the paths also keep the garden from getting muddy and our feet stay clean. This is a major bonus when you wear flip flops all of the time.
We have around 25 tomato plants in the garden. They were a little out of control and falling over. We took some time to stake them and tie them all up. They are looking much better now and I’m not quite so embarrassed by them anymore. We have had a lot of rain so our tomatoes have been splitting on the tops before they ripen all of the way. I’ve been picking them as soon as they start getting some color on them and setting them on the deck rail to ripen. We also canned up 8 quarts of tomato sauce and have more to do soon.
All of the heavy rain knocked down all of our Glass Gem Corn stalks. I had planned to let the corn cobs dry on the stalks but ended up having to harvest them all. Thankfully, they were all ready to be picked. They were all so beautiful and had great color variety. We even got a rare striped one. This coloring skips a generation and the Indians used to plant the striped kernels as good luck for rain. I tied up the corn by the husks and hung them in the basement to dry. They will hang for a couple of months before they are ready for popping and grinding.
We found (or I should say my arm found one on one day and a cluster of babies the next) these nasty little boogers on the corn leaves. They are the Saddleback moth caterpillar. It felt awful when I got stung and made me feel woozy. I also got blisters immediately where they stung me. I quickly applied my “bug bite” essential oil roller blend topically. Within minutes I felt normal and the blisters started going away. I used the same protocol both days I got stung. Be sure to watch out for those little guys! They hurt!!
We have another round of green beans growing and starting to bloom. Also, we have two more packets of seeds to plant and hope we have time to get another good harvest. I can’t wait to can up some more beans for the winter. We also have eight squash plants starting to flower and get baby squash on them. I’m excited about getting another round of fresh squash and freezing some for later use as well.
Our Cushaw pumpkins are getting really big. I can hardly wait to can some for pies, muffins, and bread. I’m going to save some of the seeds to plant next year. We will also roast some to eat. All kinds of pumpkin yumminess will be going on. Thinking about it makes me feel like fall.
Speaking of fall, we have carrots, broccoli, cabbage, and potatoes for fall harvesting. I’d also like to get some garlic planted for next years harvest.
I think that pretty much wraps up the garden stuff for this week. What’s growing in your neck of the woods (or garden)?
Your produce looks beautiful. I would love having all that gardening space. Mine is very small. You might want to try laying down newspaper and deep layers of wood chips over that between your raised beds. That has really worked well for me in keeping weeds at bay. I have seen it used in all the community gardens too. It’s very nice to walk on.
Thanks! That is a great idea. 🙂 We need to do something for better weed control.
Love seeing what other people are growing!