August 2012, New England

Nice Job!

Wow Camp...look at all those jars! And beans! You canning people are amazing! Maybe someday I'll attempt that, but for now it goes in the freezer.

I love the idea of a longer growing season. I've already been thinking about winter gardening and hoping Rowena posts everything she does so I can try to follow.

Do any of you winter garden? If so, what do you grow?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:

Do any of you winter garden? If so, what do you grow?

CC

The best I can do is simply extend my season. I have no greenhouse with heat, so when December winds blow, or the deep freeze of January and February are upon us I take it easy, do research and finally take a break... until the garden seed catalogs start showing up in the post box...

Geese were flying yesterday.

camprn wrote:Geese were flying yesterday.

ACK!

GG

YIPPEE...the geese are flying! Spinach planting time! I'm ready with 4 different types!

CC

camprn wrote:Geese were flying yesterday.

and that means......what exactly?

cpl100 wrote:

camprn wrote:Geese were flying yesterday.

and that means......what exactly?

... winter wont be far behind the geese...

Oh. That is not good news to my ears!

I saw one of these stink bug nymphs in my garden yesterday. A cool looking critter.
http://awaytogarden.com/garden-bugs-i-have-known-knowledge-is-power

camprn wrote:I saw one of these stink bug nymphs in my garden yesterday. A cool looking critter.
http://awaytogarden.com/garden-bugs-i-have-known-knowledge-is-power

Bet he didn't look to pretty after eating your plants, though!

Hey SFG friends, I have food growing!



How do I determine when to pick the beans (Red Burgandy)?

These two pictures show my SFG from two different sides.

Featuring Swiss Chard and beets:


Showing carrots and beans:



None of my first planting of red scallion germinated apparently. But the second planting did (in a different square). Very odd...maybe the heat? I guess I will try again. The pictures don't show the radishes that are growing. They are supposedly going to be ready in a week, but I don't see any shoulders, just leaves. They are fairly shaded by the overwhelming bean plants and the beets next to them so maybe they will be later?

Nice, cpl! Congratulation! Well done!

Everything, especially the chard, looks lushes. My chard hardly ever get that big coz we keep eating em. Hopefully we'll get sick of it soon so I can freeze some for winter.

I pick my beans at many different times (usually coz I'm eating them right off the vine while surveying the garden;) but before they start making big bumps. You'll know.

CC

cpl100 wrote:

camprn wrote:I saw one of these stink bug nymphs in my garden yesterday. A cool looking critter.
http://awaytogarden.com/garden-bugs-i-have-known-knowledge-is-power

Bet he didn't look to pretty after eating your plants, though!

Naw, it's so late in the season, I let the wee bugger go on his way.

camprn, you have to start squishing your garden pests so they don't make their way over here.

I have like all those pests on my plants. The striped potato beetle, the squash bugs, the japanese beetles... The hornworms seem to be gone now tho, and the slugs are still out but not as much.

Interestingly it seems that even tho my squash vines are all eaten up, they keep growing, so I guess maybe further along the vine they might root and keep growing, I'm not sure.

My tomatoes are really starting to turn red now, I get a couple biggies every day, the cucumbers and squash are starting to come in, the green beans remain strong, and the strawberries are taking over the place - have to prune those but hope to give the runners away.

Haven't gotten around to planting any fall crops. I would've loved to have planted spinach but oh well. But the broccoli that has been there all along is starting to produce, and there's some cabbage but I'm not sure what's going on with that, if it's going to make a head or if there's such thing as loose leaf cabbage, and then there's a cauliflower head that's growing too.

Sure doesn't seem like winter's coming this week....

It's not too late for spinach here, though you may want to start them in the house.

Thx camprn - maybe Agway has seeds? I may try starting them indoors.

Been working on building the compost ingredients - grounds from the local coffee place, bartering tomatoes for sheep manure, and even cutting up the brush pile...

CPL, Nice veggies! the chard looks ready to harvest! so yum! I pick my beans when they seeds start to obviously develop. You can harvest sooner if you prefer soft tender beans with out seeds. I love those purple ones, so pretty.

I have beans coming on and I will have to deal with them in a few days.

In other news...
Checking the suspected queenless hive... some of the girls festooning on a crosswired deep frame.

Isn't that just so cool?