New England August 2014

We got about 3 lbs of potatoes out of our 2 whiskey barrel planters. Considering how little effort was involved and how delicious they are, I think the experiment was a success. Will definitely plant again next year. I would like to plant a lot more, so need to find more space!  LOL

Well, looks like we're headed into *hot* and *dry* the next few days. This ought to help with "heat units" (at least, if you're growing sweet potatoes) for those late maturing plants. Is everyone still watering? I haven't been, but high 80s and dry for 3 days probably means that whatever is left out there needs water...

NHGardener wrote:Well, looks like we're headed into *hot* and *dry* the next few days. This ought to help with "heat units" (at least, if you're growing sweet potatoes) for those late maturing plants. Is everyone still watering? I haven't been, but high 80s and dry for 3 days probably means that whatever is left out there needs water...

I watered yesterday because the dew point was so low. I will water again tonight when I get home from work.

It *was* hot today, wasn't it?  I went out just for a little bit and I all but ran back inside.

BUT, while I was out, I discovered that I have a spider mite infestation in one of the beds, dagnabbit!  The little buggers are all over the bush beans and the zukes.  I'm going to have to do some serious spraying after work tomorrow.  I thought it would be too hot to do it today.

Been canning the last 2 days and put up 8 pints of tomato sauce,  12 jars of salsa verde and 18 jars of raspberry jam.



Tomorrow I'm going to try Annie's salsa recipe.

mollyhespra wrote:It *was* hot today, wasn't it?  I went out just for a little bit and I all but ran back inside.

BUT, while I was out, I discovered that I have a spider mite infestation in one of the beds, dagnabbit!  The little buggers are all over the bush beans and the zukes.  I'm going to have to do some serious spraying after work tomorrow.  I thought it would be too hot to do it today.

Actually, it was virtually perfect today! We finally got out of the October-like chill.

And I guess you now know what it feels like to have a spider mite attack.....
Like, when my marigold plants were pretty much decimated!

Good going lyndee!

Thanks Camprn.  How's your canning going?

Yikes, spider mites. I probably should check my bush beans, they're looking a little weathered and I don't think the beans are near maturing yet. It's the first time I've tried growing dried beans so I've mainly just watched them this summer and see what they do, not sure what to expect.

Lyndeeloo, beautiful canning! Now that's something I need to learn how to do. Did you use a pressure canner or just do it yourself?

Picked 2 more yellow squashes yesterday. Butternuts, pumpkins & watermelons are still sitting out there nicely. Potato plants have a little too much green to dig just yet I think. Oats (for green manure) have come up nicely in the empty garlic bed, and now it's also overrun with volunteer tomatoes! Those tomato seeds sure are hardy. I guess they didn't get killed in whatever compost I collected, so that they've really sprouted almost everywhere. For now I'm just letting them go, who knows, maybe I'll get a tomato or 2.

I have a large pile of grass clippings from lawn cutting. When leaves fall I'll get a large pile of leaves. I hope to get a large pile of seaweed starting 10/1 when parking permits are no longer needed. And I really need a truckload of chips, will try to drag the husband with his rusty old pickup to a nearby dump where they offer them for free, even for non-residents I believe. It's a lot of manual labor.

One more note, I found this great little book: The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese natural farmer in the early 1900s. It seems he was organic before organic was a thing. But he mentioned not staking tomatoes, letting them lie on the ground, because they develop root systems off their stems. I had noticed that last summer when my volunteers invaded the onion bed, they lay on the ground and had lots of roots develop all the way up the stems. I'm not sure I'd do that because then they are easy access for rodents (I did catch 2 mice with my traps, but no voles) but it's something to consider.

Thanks NHG!  So far everything I've canned has been boiling water bath canned. I have a pressure canner but haven't used it yet this year. 

Here's this morning's harvest. 

Got lots of nice beet greens when I pulled the beets, so they will be on tonight's dinner plate.


It is so beautiful out this morning I spent time puttering in the garden, but I better get the canner going or I won't get anything done today.

Looks great, Lyndeeloo!  I've got to do some canning today as well...!

Lyndeeloo - What do you do with your beets? And do you use beet greens as salad greens? I've never thought about growing beets. I know you can make borscht but I never really liked the taste too much.

Edit: Wow, look how nutritious it says beets are. They will definitely go in my garden next year. If nothing else, I can put them in smoothies I guess. What variety did you grow?

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/11173-top-10-ways-to-cook-beets.html

NHGardener wrote:Lyndeeloo - What do you do with your beets? And do you use beet greens as salad greens? I've never thought about growing beets. I know you can make borscht but I never really liked the taste too much.

Edit: Wow, look how nutritious it says beets are. They will definitely go in my garden next year. If nothing else, I can put them in smoothies I guess. What variety did you grow?

http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/11173-top-10-ways-to-cook-beets.html

You have time to grow some small beet greens this year, if you have room in the garden beds.

Nice, Lyndeeloo!  Look at that great harvest and at all the food for winter! 

Well, on my way out the door this morning I saw that my PM resistant Burpee Burpless cukes got the PM.  I don't know how since it's been so cool here.  Guess yesterdays 75 did them in. I'll have to milk spray them at lunch today.  Crud.  Altho they've stopped producing anyway so what diff does it make. As have the tomatoes, beans & squashes.  A coworker gave me more canning jars & I just bought a bigger fridge so I need the food to go in them. Guess I'll have to hit the farmers markets.

NHG, what if the tom plants were laid down in a SFG 11" high box?  You think the critters still get to them?

CC

Thanks all!

NHG,  I grew Detroit Red beets this year. They did well. We steam the greens like spinach. Butter, salt and pepper or drizzle a little vinegar. LOVE THEM. You can use them the same way you use spinach, but small leaves are better for a raw salad. We also saute them in olive oil and garlic. Yummy. We love all of the beet plant I usually leave the smaller stems on the greens when I cook them. I prepare the beets boiled or roasted. If I can them I make pickled beets. Special occasions I make Harvard beets. Grandma used to make them and I just LOVE them. Sweet and tangy.
I planted more beets about two weeks ago in hopes of more greens and maybe some baby beets.

NHGardener wrote:
One more note, I found this great little book: The One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese natural farmer in the early 1900s. It seems he was organic before organic was a thing.

There are some very good youtube vids on him, including some professionally done. There was one three-parter I found especially enlightening about how much desert even ancient man created from what were once fruitful areas, and how Fukuoka methods were being used to reclaim it.

NHGardener wrote:If nothing else, I can put them in smoothies I guess.

They're GREAT in smoothies, NHG!

Thank you all, I'm so excited to hear about the beet news. So many things I've never tried before, like kale before this summer, now I use it ALL the time. There are so many nutritious vegetables out there that we can grow even more nutritiously, and probably don't cross the plate of average families too often, so it's great to hear about.

CC, my things have a lot of PM as well, but like you say, many things are winding down now. I don't know if 11" would be high enough to keep out the critters - maybe! My beds are getting to be 12" with their double deckers (except what has sunk below ground) but looking at them, they still look scalable. If I did catch 2 jumping mice in the traps, which they look like, they say those can jump 3 feet.

There are some very good youtube vids on him, including some professionally done. There was one three-parter I found especially enlightening about how much desert even ancient man created from what were once fruitful areas, and how Fukuoka methods were being used to reclaim it. wrote:

Wow! I'm going to look for those now.

My hibiscus bloomed!

Can anyone identify this bush? It's basically growing as a weed, but the pollinators go crazy over it.

Looks a lot like my oregano plants, whose leaves have hardly any taste, but I dunno. Bees go nuts over that, too. Supposedly the ones with white flowers have more taste, but mine are pinkish-red.

It's pretty. How tall is it? Does it have milky sap?

It's probably about 4' tall. I'll have to check for sap tomorrow.

I also want to take some late season photos now, particularly how some parts of the squash plants are showing newer, brighter green leaves again, and the old garlic bed with oats as green manure and how it too has become overrun by volunteer tomatoes, and how thriving the volunteer cherry tomato plants are. There must be something very hardy about cherry tomato plants, plus the critters don't seem to snack on those like they do the big tomatoes. Still finding big tomatoes that are half eaten. I hope it's nothing bigger than a mouse...