Mr. Booker's Garden -2018

I also like sitting in the garden and watch the sun come up.  the moment the sun breaks the mountain top it is like a switch on; just magic.

I have watched the bears come through and they have taken no notice of me.  Last month, over four days, I had three different bears come through, a female black bear, a skinny brown bear and a very large male bear.  One time a bear with two cubs.  Mind you, I am seated just outside my back door so I just have to take one step and I am inside. The sad thing is that most of these bears are put down as people do not secure their garbage. There is no way they are going to re-locate them.

That is the time that birds come out to drink their water and the robins start trying to tug the earth worms out of the earth. When the cats are prowling around I do make a small noise so as to alert the birds. 

While working in my car port I have had generations of swallows flying in and out of their nest; they have done so for the last twenty years.

Nice morning stories.
I wake up later, but I still love to sit in the garden with a cup of coffee and just be there.  Usually a cat comes to visit, or a robin or a bee.

Mr Booker, I am glad to see you gardening.

@Turan wrote:Nice morning stories.
I wake up later, but I still love to sit in the garden with a cup of coffee and just be there.  Usually a cat comes to visit, or a robin or a bee.

Mr Booker, I am glad to see you gardening.

Good morning Turan. I get up around 3:00 a.m but I go to bed before dark.  It's 5:25 a.m now at my house and I'm getting ready to go out to the garden and just sit. There just seems to be a smell of freshness at dawn.

   I can hear the birds chirping outside my window now. They're saying, "Mr.Booker, we're waiting for you in the garden".

    I'm going to post some pics today. My garden is truly blessed this year. I'm hoping my home made compost had something to do with it.

Please save these morning stories also in the thread I started. Just copy and paste. They will get lost in this thread.

Three Bell Peppers.


Beets in a CUP..???



Cukes.



Green Tomatoes



I'm wondering why my compost is still so hot after sitting about a month.. ????



A little worried about these nine Peppers. They look leggy to me.


This one got chopped up on my hot dogs yesterday.


 Onion bed is doing better than I expected.


Sweet taters.



My Hunny said I had to put some flowers in the garden.



  Green Zuke.



Texas Sweets.



Yellow Zuke.



Early Girls.



Salad bed. I had to take out the radishes yesterday. I was too lazy to thin them out and they were mostly Tops.  Also, I had to pull half of the lettuce yesterday in order to have enough greens to finish my new compost pile.  I left enough for a wilted lettuce salad today.

@yolos wrote:

@sanderson wrote:

Man..... We just had a big storm come through a blew a lot of my plants over. Then, the sun came back out and they're starting to straighten back up..

@MrBooker wrote:

@yolos wrote:

@sanderson wrote:

Man..... We just had a big storm come through a blew a lot of my plants over. Then, the sun came back out and they're starting to straighten back up..

Great looking garden MrB. Glad the plants are recovering for you.

Great looking garden, MrB! I love your beets in a cup! I planted beets for the first time this year, mine are just slightly smaller tops than yours at the moment. I just thinned them down in the square and added the tops to as salad. Yum!

@BlackjackWidow wrote:Great looking garden, MrB! I love your beets in a cup! I planted beets for the first time this year, mine are just slightly smaller tops than yours at the moment. I just thinned them down in the square and added the tops to as salad. Yum!

Thanks Blackjack.  I'm the only one at my house who likes beets. They're really good for lowering blood pressure plus I like the "earthy" taste. If you let a frost hit them in the fall, they really sweeten up.
        I just planted a few in those cups to test germination since they're last years seeds..

I took a few pics of my Onions this morning. They're getting big enough to start using.

Mr. Booker, well done.

@sanderson wrote:Mr. Booker, well done.

 Sanderson.   The weather seems to be cooperating with me this season. We've had some 90+ deg days so far but getting some rain as well. We had 4/10 ins of a good slow drizzle yesterday afternoon and I sat out on my "Redneck deck", under the umbrella with a cold Bud light Lime and listened to the rain bounce off the umbrella.

     Going to turn my "Drunken" compost pile this morning and post some pics.

@sanderson wrote:Mr. Booker, well done.

 Sanderson.

I turned my "Drunken compost" pile this morning while it was still cool out.This pile is only 7 days old.


I used grass clippings and shreeded leaves from last fall. I used straw on the top layer to help hold moisture.


  I was surprised at how well it had broken down when I dug down under the straw.




This pile is about 30 days old and looks really good to me.

 
Almost smells good enough to eat..   

 
   I thought I heard a Tomato say, "Mr B.. Give me sum-O-dat"..

Ok.. Just a few more pics.

Getting ready for fall. Taking out the brown tomato plants right away

I posted more pics but the site said "You are not allowed to edit any longer". Go figure.

Nice looking early compost. If you don't want to use straw on top, I found that a double layer of fine bridal tulle worked well.  The moisture would condense on it and drip back down.  I used wood clothes pins at the corners and midpoints to keep its shape and weight it down.  Note:  This is an earlier version when fly screen lined the interior of the green wire fencing.  Now, it is 1/2" hardware cloth with commercial grade weed fabric as an interior curtain.  

BASIL:


Early girls turned brown. Coming out soon.


More brown maters.


I took the cukes out yesterday to get ready to plant my Oregon sugar pod Peas.


This bed was about 10x10. I put down pavers and made it four 4x4s. Two of the 4x4s are planted with turnips and their coming up.


Some flowers and Peppers.


Maters gone wild. I took these out a few days ago. Preparing for Fall garden.


Crowded peppers got leggy. Not doing to good.


SWEET lunchbox peppers. sweet as shu-ga. Sometimes their labeled "Snackers"

VERY nice!

It looks like you are back to enjoying gardening now that you downsized.. It's still a sizable growing area.

@sanderson wrote:It looks like you are back to enjoying gardening now that you downsized..  It's still a sizable growing area.

I added about 3 to 4 inches of homemade and bagged compost to my two 4x8's this morning but it got hot so quick , I had to go inside. Looking for rain Tuesday and Tuesday night so I may start planting some fall goodies on Wednesday morning. Pics coming later.

Yum!  I get it about the end of things... 

I am in the indecision point with my Yukon Gold taters...they are mostly yellow/dead is.  Think I should dig ‘em out?  

It was sooo hot today!  I mowed, at 9:30, for an hour and a half.  Then watered for an hour!  Looks like we have a break coming!

@Scorpio Rising wrote:Yum!  I get it about the end of things... 

I am in the indecision point with my Yukon Gold taters...they are mostly yellow/dead is.  Think I should dig ‘em out?  

It was sooo hot today!  I mowed, at 9:30, for an hour and a half.  Then watered for an hour!  Looks like we have a break coming!

If the vines are dead, I would dig some of them and check them out but it sounds to me they're READY. Let us know....