New England, August 2015

It's that time again! Hazy hot and humid with drought conditions and way too many people on  the Cape. 
Harvesting potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, ground cherries, herbs, onions, garlic, greens.

The word of the day is pickles. 12# into brine in the crock to ferment for the next month and 8 # BREAD AND BUTTER MADE WITH HONEY. (dumb caps loc).

Wow you win the prize for purplest beet, CC!

camprn, that is one heck of a lot of pickles. If you love 'em like I do, though, there's hardly ever enough of them.

Camprn, I did pickles too today... But not that many. I made one 1/2 gallon jar of frig pickles and then two pints I canned. And I just use the ball jar mix for mine. Nice and easy to prep with kids here. And I can make jars as needed all season long without worrying about having everything.

Photos?

It's August!

I'm wondering about my garlic. I "lifted" it a few days ago, but honestly, the soil was so dry I didn't need to lift it, I could pull it right out of the MM. I shouldn't have let it go so long without watering. The thing I'm puzzled about now is that it's here in the house drying out, and I'm not smelling garlic. Last year when I dried it in the house I had to shut that door because it stunk like garlic. I just sniffed a bulb, and I still don't smell garlic, barely.

Do you think that's a result of it having been too dry? The bulbs seem formed. Just no smell.

I've been running the sprinkler like crazy the past few days, after I realized the soil was that dry. Have to remember that raised beds are great for drainage, but if it's dry, I think they tend to dry out more quickly too.

By any chance, did you plant elephant garlic?  It has a very mild taste, and probably odor, too.

I just looked up elephant garlic! That's interesting, it's not even a real garlic. I had no idea. But it is perennial. That's nice.

I don't think mine are elephant tho - I replanted from my last year's garlic supply. I'll replant these for next year too, the biggest cloves.

Maybe it's just the fact that they were semi-arid when I pulled them, that there isn't a lot of odor. I'll let you know when I taste one.

Its warm and sunny, low 80s today but low humidity so having just a fan going in the living room makes the house cozy.
I've finally got cucumbers.

Above is Spacemaster in a container with its first cucumbers.  I counted 3 of any size and a few forming but still very small.  That's good news for me at last.  I've been waiting.  But I see the Japanese beetles have also been waiting.  They are doing damage to the leaves as you can see in the photo.  Its an ongoing battle against them every summer.  Ugh.


Among my bagged and now tagged tomatoes for saving seeds, above is a Red Zebra.  I tied red yarn around the stem from which I can save seeds later.  These I know will be tasty since I love their flavor.

Ok NHG... Now you did it! Your post made me get up out of my comfy chair in front of the air conditioner and go down to the basement and sniff my garlic. Then of course I had to take a picture of it:
None of the three varieties smell. But when I harvested them I smelled garlic so it must have been  the  few green leaves that were left that I was smelling. And mine are pretty potent once I opened them, much more so than Store bought. That's why I love them so much!  Although my coworkers may not since I've been eating it for two days with everything.

Better bring the pot of parsley in...

CapeC....I've got to tell you a story.  I was in the 6th grade and every lunchtime a certain boy would go home and eat lunch with garlic in it.  He'd come to school reeking.  Finally, after a few days of this,  the teacher told him to "Please, don't eat garlic at lunch."  He couldn't smell it but the rest of us knew at once he'd been eating garlic and in a closed classroom it got pretty rank.

Too funny, QB! I never notice garlic on people. Anyway, it keeps the vampires away.

Garlic is so healthy.

Thank you thank you thank you, CC! I feel so much better now. I could swear last summer the garlic wafted thru the entire house for a long time. I like your hanging method!

Now everyone is going to sniff their garlic.

NHGardener wrote:I just looked up elephant garlic! That's interesting, it's not even a real garlic. I had no idea. But it is perennial. That's nice.

I don't think mine are elephant tho - I replanted from my last year's garlic supply. I'll replant these for next year too, the biggest cloves.

Maybe it's just the fact that they were semi-arid when I pulled them, that there isn't a lot of odor. I'll let you know when I taste one.

I grew elephant garlic last year. Nice, and very mild. That it's a perennial sounds weird; you grow it just like regular garlic, by dividing cloves and planting them.

Re the soil being too dry, I thought you were supposed to stop watering a while before harvest with onions and garlic anyway.

Look how brown the grass is:

The only green part is the crab grass.


I'm drinking a V-9 smoothie right now and, with the exception of a piece of avocado, it's made entirely from the SFG - kale, carrot & top, parsley, beet, tomato, pepper, cuke, nasturtium & green beans.  Very pink!

Wow CC, that photo is crazy. The good thing is you don't have to mow the lawn this summer!

I've been running the sprinkler in the garden (sometimes it oscillates, mostly it gets stuck) pretty much every day and it's STILL dry out there. It's absolutely crazy.

Interestingly, our area is so boggy that most of the lawn, which has barely been cut this summer because I'm trying to save the food sources for the bees, is still pretty lush, but those raised beds drain so well they need to be watered well. I planted peas the other day and I have to really work at keeping the soil moist for them. I hope they even sprout.

Have to say tho, I'm not seeing many bugs/slugs out there. I pick kale and there's barely a cabbage worm on there. I saw a wasp walking on the kale leaves, and I wonder if it snacks on the protein worms.

I think my asparagus bed bit the dust. I planted it on a mound which isn't right for asparagus, it needs a ditch instead, and the soil probably dried out and was too shallow.

Had baked ziti tonight with kale, walking onion, and garlic in the sauce. My kale plants out there are HUGE, I haven't been eating much of them this summer, but they are pretty to look at, I'm pretty sure it's healthy just growing these things.

CC, where do you find your smoothie recipes, or do you just add this and that?

CC, what kinds of garlic did you grow?

CC,  How did you get on top of my roof?  That's my lawn!

After leaving the sprinkler going for over 2 hrs. yesterday, it DID finally downpour last night! So that's, of course, the way you get it to rain.

Some of my buckets out there look like there's 2". I wonder what the official total may have been.

I know they got more rain.....and some hail, to the north and west of me.
I got 2/5" of rain.  Cooled off the earth.

Haha, sanderson...I understand drought conditions more or less.  This is our 3rd summer.  Mowing has been minimal...have to say I DO like that part.

NHG, I make the smoothies with a little of this and that, but in general it's 1 fruit to numerous veggies.  And you're right about the MM drying out quickly.  I'm still watering it twice a week.

SR, the 3 garlics I harvested from left to right: grocery store, California, Bulgaria Purple I think it's called.

We had a fast and furious t-storm run thru here a bit ago.  I wish it had lasted for hours instead of minutes.  Just enuff to make puddles on top of the dusty earth and soak the inside of my car.  

Wall o' squash:  

Wall o' beans:  

Wall o' maters:  

Row o' parsnips:  

Row o' squash:

...and the beet goes on:

Yum! When are you inviting us over?

Only two of my tomatoes have turned reddish, and both of those have big bites out of them due to the voles or moles or whatever those things are that keep scurrying under the strawberry plants when I go in there. You just wait till end of September. I'm letting the chickens loose in the garden to turn my soil over, and they'll find those critters..... Really need a cat!

I've started freezing green beans - have the ziplock freezer bag in the freezer and add to it every couple days.

Nice stuff, CC! Love how big your beans have gotten, and I got the same puzzled impression I get when I scan most people's garden photos here -- where's the disease??? The blight? The got-hit-by-lightning or torn-to-pieces-by-jaguars that I see in the local gardens?

Marc, I wonder the same thing! CC's garden looks so darn healthy.

sanderson wrote:     CC's garden looks so darn healthy.

I blame the seaweed! Don't forget, NE is way behind the most of the nation. Maybe our time is coming, or maybe we've got it beat this year. Stay tuned...

Nice pics, CC! I haven't grown garlic in forever, maybe will give it a try next spring. What squash is up,the trellis? My patty pans are bush types. And Imforgot how stringy the Kentucky Wonder can get if you don't get them young.

Wow, NHG, never thought to keep adding to the freezer bag! Thanks! Do you blanch them first?