CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing in August 2016?

Kelejan ... Forgive me for jumping in here and starting the August 2016 thread on your behalf.  I hope all is well.

Thank you for restarting this August thread. Kelejan did start one but I changed the name and moved it to the food section because the thread had info on a freeze dehydrator. I was going to let KJ know what I did but you already replace it. Thank you both.

Thank you TD and sanderson. No problem with what you have both done.

Been busy today gathering apples from my very old tree that I gave TLC these last two years after years and years of neglect.  Last year I had a bumper crop of smallish apples but this year fewer apples but much better quality and size. I processed about twenty pounds and all of them were perfect with no skin blemishes and no little creatures living inside. As today was hot I stayed in and processed them for freezing.

This evening was cooler and much more comfortable to do some physical work outside so I cleared one 4x4, placing compost on and watering thoroughly ready for seeding. Then did some weeding of the creeping buttercup that wants to take over my wood chips.  It is easy to pull but there is quite a lot of it and I am wondering if the compost I got from the city had too many live seeds in it.

My tomatoes are doing well, plenty of fruit on them.  No idea what they are as they were gifts, but I do have one Black Krim that has lots on it.  Since taking my trees down I now get ripe tomatoes instead of having to bring all the green ones into the house to ripen them. I did like the idea of picking off a tomato as I needed it.  There are always late ones so I expect I will be able to do that anyway.

My rhubarb as is doing well from the small piece I was given in the spring.  The leaves are huge and there are about four stalks growing strongly; a good augury for 2017?

Kelejan ... what amazing thing are your growing that gives you so much energy. I want some of it! 

trolleydriver wrote:Kelejan ... what amazing thing are your growing that gives you so much energy. I want some of it! 

TD, I really do not have that much energy; that seems to come over that way when I am writing.

Perhaps it is that I pace myself then focus on what I am doing at that time, then write about it in detail so that it seems that I am Wonder Woman.

I do try to keep myself in good health, eat as well as I can but not too much, drink my water (when I remember), look after my teeth as I think that is a central part of good health, etc. etc., and the most important part is one's attitude to life; there is always light at the end of my tunnel and I am always working towards it even if I never get there.  I also never try to keep up with the Jones's and appreciate what I have.

TD, I am impressed myself with what you accomplish in your garden and enjoy what you have contributed to this forum.

Kelejan ... you have identified several important points:

• Pace yourself
  
• Eat well and do not over indulge
  
• Drink lots of water
  
• Take care of the teeth (absolutely key to good health)
  
• Have a great attitude to life
  
• Be content with what you have
  

You are a terrific role model.

Role model!

I got home tonight and pulled out my bean, peas, and zucchini plants. All dead. They couldn't keep up with the heat. I have a couple spaghetti squash still hanging on but the leaves are all dead, and a couple cucumbers. I have carrots I can probably take out now too. My tomatoes are actually doing really well, a few varieties with lots of nice green fruit throughout. A few weeks ago it was the reverse for everything. 

I think I need some form of shade next year.

StrongAsMeat wrote:
I think I need some form of shade next year.

+1

So sorry to hear that, SAM. That is a hard lesson to learn and I hope you can get some late plantings in before winter.

TD and sanderson, thanks for the compliments.  I was a late developer in that aspect of my life: e.g. it wasn't until I had a broken tooth that gave me great trouble when I was in my fifties that I realised the importance of caring for my teeth. I was always tired, stressed and in the midst of money troubles and finally bankruptcy and I had no money to fix teeth.  But then a friend of my brother-in-law, who was a dentist, fixed me up and I paid him $20 every now and then to pay off the debt. It took three years and I have stayed with him ever since and to him I attribute to my return to good health. There are many good people in this world.  As there are many good and kind people on this forum,  Gardeners? I love them.

sanderson wrote:Role model!

+1

has55 wrote:

sanderson wrote:Role model!

+1

Yep.  Kelejan is the bomb!

Gotta agree! Kelejan, you are truly an inspiration!!!

This is a test of hosting an image (using the forum host image button) from my Android phone.

If it works this is a photo of my daughter's veggie garden in Cambridge Ontario. I've not yet convinced her to do SFG but she grows great veggies. She did use my suggestion of cardboard covered with mulch for her paths. She is also growing mellons etc on trellises.

You are right, the veggies do look wonderful, TD.

Very, very nice for a traditional garden. Covered isles, trellises, organized, green, healthy, etc.

awesome!!!

It's so hot that grandma and grandpa had to join the grandchildren in their relatively small pool. No photos will be posted so as not to scare forum members.  

trolleydriver wrote:It's so hot that grandma and grandpa had to join the grandchildren in their relatively small pool. No photos will be posted so as not to scare forum members.  

LOL! We had the opposite scenario. Our daughter has her 3 grandsons for the week. We keep our hot tub at about 95 degrees, so it was cool enough for the little kids to use as a swimming pool. I don't think this will scare the membership.   (Kids make me tired, so I just snapped some pics and ran back in the house and hid.   )

trolleydriver wrote:It's so hot that grandma and grandpa had to join the grandchildren in their relatively small pool. No photos will be posted so as not to scare forum members.  

Thank you for your consideration of our sensibilities, TD.

I really do not know what the temperature was in our town, but walking from an air-conditioned room after playing a game of crib at the Seniors' Centre into the great outdoors was like walking into a sauna.  Previously I had left home to catch a bus there, but broke the journey to do some business but stayed talking too long and missed the connection by a couple of minutes.  It meant waiting for two hours as it was that time of day when the bus drivers take a break etc, so I decided to walk the rest of the way.  Big mistake, as I had left home in a hurry and forgot my hat, sunglasses and water bottle. It will not happen again. I really, really, do miss having a car.

Kelejan, All that walking instead of driving is a blessing in disguise. It means that you can actually walk, really walk! It keeps you in shape. Sunglasses, umbrella and water next time!

Yes, sanderson, walking is a great help to me to keep me in good health.  Luckily today it must have been ten degrees cooler than yesterday and was very pleasant as I walked today to the local funeral home to attend a service there for a friend.

I was lucky enough to know several people there so it was no problem, there being no buses later afternoon,  to get a lift to the reception that was being held Uptown and to be returned right back to Downtown and then I was taken straight to my door.  My ride was very interested in my garden so I showed her around, as I had spoken about it at the reception to the table where I was sitting with several others who also seemed very interested in what I was doing in the gardening world.

Tomorrow I have no obligations so I hope to spend some time in the garden and perhaps just get some sitting in and looking at planning the future.  Even though retired I always feel I should be doing something and it is rather hard to break that habit and just enjoy looking at what I have actually done.

The garden has reached that stage where it is not as fresh and green as earlier due to the very hot and dry weather we have had these past two weeks and the weeds are slowly encroaching.  This is where I try to do half an hours weeding on a daily basis.  The lawn is beginning to get a few "golden" patches so I know it is time for the grass to have a rest and that it will all come back later when the cooler weather sets in. 

I have noticed  that the sun rises quite a bit later each day now and it will soon be Fall, and the flyers are out touting "School Supplies".  I bet the kids hate being reminded of that. I never used to bother about things like that as most of our supplies in my days were new pencils and composition books.

I was out of town for two weeks so I had to rely on my hubby and neighbours to water the garden. Luckily I asked two sets of friends (as the other thought that it had rained enough and watering was not necessary). The gardens all looked lush a green when I got home- but the weeds were busy growing too. The hot weather we're having seems to be a my tomatoes and peppers happy. The lettuce, kale, and herbs are doing fine too. The blueberries, raspberries, and red currants are all done but looks like I can expect a new harvest of strawberries and rhubarb soon. Pie anyone?

Way to go, Mimi.  Sometimes on can luck out with someone who knows when to water, other times one gets unreliable "helpers".

Glad you only had weeds to deal with.

Today, in between watching the women's cycling in the Olympics, I did some more apple freezing and peach canning.  Also watered the garden and of course it rained quite heavily this afternoon. More rain promised this week.  I can work better when the weather is cooler but that does not help my tomatoes get ripe.

Today I chatted with my neighbor as I was walking home, Bruce, and he asked me if I would like him to chop down some cedar branches that were hanging over my roof.  I jumped at the chance, and will be giving him some prepared apples for his freezer and a couple of cans of peaches that I produced today. He will also take the cedar stuff to the town compost pile and in addition any bags of stuff that I need getting rid of.  He will be here tomorrow.

What a great neighbor!