September 22, 2023
We are having a lovely stretch of warm, sunny days, great for working outside and getting things done. There has been a touch of patchy frost two nights running, but it wasn't severe, and I covered the cherry tomatoes, (which are bearing like crazy), the pepper patch, and the watermelons.
A few pictures of some of the pretty flowers that are blooming. The marigolds are a bevy of cheery blooms.
and some red poppies are blooming now....
I am still waiting for the red peppers to turn from green to red. I harvested most of the green peppers, diced and froze them. This summer's patch has been a lot less productive than last year's. I left the smaller green peppers on the plants, hoping that maybe they will get a little larger. Until a severe frost is forecast, I am leaving them alone and will continue covering them on cool nights.
One of these will be our next victim!
It is now tomato and apple time. I had to strip the fruit from my tomato plants a while ago, as the plants were badly blighted. Every couple of days I sort through the tomatoes spread out in boxes, processing them as they ripen. A batch of chili sauce is cooling on the counter now.
Apple slices have been dried and frozen, the first batch of apple sauce is on the shelves, tomorrow will see another batch canned, and hopefully a third one will keep us in sauce until next year's apple harvest.
Hubby has been busy....
I tore my tomato and bean patch apart after dinner. Didn't know there was a nettle in the middle of it! OUCH. Are you getting smoke from the brush fire at the airstrip? We're getting paranoid about these brush fires.
ReplyDeleteApparently all the rain encouraged blight on a lot of folk's gardens this summer. I've never had it before. Still have to clear out the bean plants. So much to do this time of year to get ready for winter.
DeleteNo smoke here. How big was the fire?
Your cold frame looks fantastic! Buried like that is a great idea. I know you will get a lot of use out of it. Sounds like you've still got a lot of garden productivity going on. Frost though, I'm not ready for that!
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of painting water jugs black, and burying them in the back 1 foot for heat sinks, as it will be awkward accessing the back. We used what we have, so try to work around as best we can. It will all be an experiment, but hope to grow greens later in the fall and earlier in the spring.
DeleteThe garden is mostly flowers now, although the squash patch, and potatoes have yet to be harvested, and the herbs soldier on.
You say summer is done and dusted but doesn't sound like your garden is yet! Isn't it wonderful all the home grown food a garden provides? Our Zestar apples are very close to ripe and the Honey Crisp are close behind but we don't have much of a crop on any of the other trees. Darn. Just too cold (and long) of a start to our year. It's amazing the things you two keep doing to add to your self-sufficiency on your homestead. So interesting to follow. Happy first day of fall!
ReplyDeleteExactly, Mama Pea....summer is over, today is the first day of fall! Happy fall to you as well.
DeleteApples we do have, so furiously stashing them away in many forms. (Taking a break while another canner full of sauce does it's thing.) This year I have also foraged choke cherries, (had to share with the Bruins. It was neighbourly of him to leave a calling card full of choke cherry pits in the front yard, so I went hunting for them!), and blackberries which are stashed in the freezer for later processing.
It has been a cool, wet summer here as well. Things got off to a slow start, but now feeling overwhelmed as there is so much to do to get ready for winter.