California - What are you doing this month?

Cute! Maybe those cherub lookalikes are from seeds that went into the compost after meal. Are they volunteers?

CapeCoddess wrote:Cute! Maybe those cherub lookalikes are from seeds that went into the compost after meal.  Are they volunteers?

Nope, planted on purpose, but then they got confused and developed an identity crisis, poor things.

Replanted corn. Mulched sweet potatoes. Fought aphids in the asparagus beans. Picked first true "mess" of asparagus beans -- having them for dinner.  Gonna mulch the melons next with wood chips under the fruit. By then it will be hot, but I won't care because I'll be on the couch for the rest of the day.

I'm starting to get excited about the coming fall garden.  A clean slate is so much fun to work with.  Remove the plants, amend with compost and start setting out the purple cauliflower, broccoli, and other winter veggies!  And, forget where I planted what and mix up the labels!  The bridal tulle was one of the few things I washed and put up this spring, and I will not delay a day like I did last fall. I did get some green caterpillars that were quickly dispatched. I have already removed the corn, torn down all of the Blue Lake pole beans and cleaned their two 1x3 boxes.  The cantaloupe are next.  One of the heat waves knocked the moisture out of the leaves and they never recovered.  The Muncher and Pickling cucumbers whenever they quit producing the nicest harvest I have had in 5 years.  Tomatoes, peppers and the eggplant will be the last.  Sweet potatoes won't be harvested until at least October if not November.  Red potatoes when ever they are ready.  A clean slate is fun.

I have 5 gallons of prepped frozen tomatoes for canning.  The tomato jungle got a good pruning to the point I found ripe tomatoes that I couldn't even see before.  The poor freezer is full of mostly tomatoes, frozen veggies from winter and this summer, and frozen orange juice from late winter. The cookies sheet holds 11 Seal-a-Meal baggies of 2017 mixed red, yellow and orange sliced bell peppers for winter cooking.
 
I won't be starting any seedlings until mid September, after a trip up the northern coastline of CA which is more like Oregon than CA, with a stop at the Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa. Expect a couple of photos!

WOW! You make me tired, S.

Sanderson, it's very exciting to hear & see how well you garden is doing this year. Seems like all the work you've done and everything you've learned has finally come together with big rewards.

Well done!

CN, I make me tired!

CC,

Congrats!  That's some nice production.

That freezer load puts mine to shame. Good work!

Yardslave wrote:That freezer load puts mine to shame. Good work!

Mine rarely make it to the fridge (except for chilling cukes). Nothing ever makes it to the freezer. Maybe next year.

Absolutely fantastic sanderson!!!

I'm jealous that you can start a Fall/Winter garden and get even more goodies from your SFG.

Ever write a reply, complete with photos, and forget to send or save draft?  So here goes another try.

I emptied Tumbler batch #3 this evening after 21 days and I am very happy.  It smells good and the only lumps are actual horse pucks that didn't break up.  Only 101*F at 6:30*F.  Tumbler batch #4 will be built tomorrow after Ken mows the new bedding straw and I cut up five 5-gallon buckets of tonight's haul of culls from the Farmers' Market.  I've already done the Starbuck's puck dance.    Expected 104*F tomorrow.    


Compare to lumpy #2 after 35 days.

"Staying Alive" is my theme song right now, both for me and for the plants.  110*F today with the following temps for the first days in Sept.  And, here it is midnight and only down to 91*F.

Look what Suz (Country Naturals) gets the first 6 days of Sept.  

Cantaloupe plants are dead, beans ripped out, tomatoes set a lot of fruit the last few "cool" days and will now just rest until sometime in late Sept when they should have a major revival.  The Muncher cucumbers just keep on producing!   Unbelievable that we have had garden cucumbers all summer instead of store bought.

I built another "pile: in the Lifetime tumbler on Saturday and this morning it reached 160*F.  From now on I will tumble and air out for a bit every day until it gets down to 140-150*F.  We are leaving for a mini vacation on Sept 5 and I want the temps down before we leave.

I ground up the dried cayenne peppers and have new strings drying.  Anyone doing this, remember to scrub your hands and face after grinding hot peppers before rubbing your eyes.     Harvest to date of sorphum is a tad over one cup.  All said and done, there should be 1 pint of dried/chaffed seeds from this year's experiment.  I wonder if the birds would like the seeds still stuck on the tassels. ??

Sept 5 we should be in Petaluma (just down the road from the Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa) so a visit to Baker Creek's Seed Bank is in order.

 Just to make things worse up here, the wind shifted, so now we're breathing and seeing smokey air from the fires up north.  Worst summer we've ever had, but the plants are still hanging in there.  Like you, S, we've been eating home-grown cukes all summer. Amazing!

My cukes died of powdery mildew. The butternuts are putting up alternating fights, one gets wiped out and then revives while the other becomes the target and gets wiped out.

The San Marzano tomatoes have done nothing.  Big plants, little fruit set and the fruit that does set gets picked off by opossums before it ripens.

The over wintered Peppers did nothing this year.  The garden has been having a horrible year.  My one success point seems to be some delicious fuji apples.

With a 97 forecast and what we call humidity, I'm not going to be getting much done.  I need to finish up the retaining wall on the garden bed and then fill.

The most productive thing in the garden this season has been the Have-a-heart trap. So far, I've trapped 18 rats, 5 bunnies, 3 opossums, and 2 voles in my veggie garden. I think the toll should be higher, but the neighbor's cats are also feasting on the rat trapps when they are not using my beds as latrines.

Yep, it seems Californians are having a rough summer, one way or another.

YS, Do you think you have so many critters is because of last year's fire + this spring's rain = abundant food and over polpulation, followed by drought and short food supply? They are invading your space for food, water and shelter?

NSR, You are supposed to be in a lovely gardening environment.

CN, heat and smoke, just lovely, NOT

S said, "We are leaving for a mini vacation on Sept 5 and I want the temps down before we leave."



Oh yes, I sense another virtual flyover may be needed. 

S, 
Yes, it seems like we are in one of those feast-or-famine cycles. The fires caused lots of animals to move to safer spots (like my area). and take advantage of  the abundant supply of native vegetation and lots of water. They feasted, reproduced, and stayed until they ate everything nearby, then began invading everyone's gardens. Seems like it's a seven year cycle.

trolleydriver wrote:S said, "We are leaving for a mini vacation on Sept 5 and I want the temps down before we leave."

Not gonna happen.

We will stay loose regarding the mini-vacation after spending Sept 6 at the Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa.  There are several fires up 101 North.  Our original plan was 101 North from Santa Rosa to Eureka.  Day trip to Crescent City and back to Eureka.  Return home from Eureka via H-299, Then shoot south on I-5 to Fresno.

sanderson wrote:We will stay loose regarding the mini-vacation after spending Sept 6 at the Heirloom Exposition in Santa Rosa.  There are several fires up 101 North.  Our original plan was 101 North from Santa Rosa to Eureka.  Day trip to Crescent City and back to Eureka.  Return home from Eureka via H-299, Then shoot south on I-5 to Fresno.

 

Beautiful country and fun places to go. Good luck with the weather and the fires.

Have fun!

Not veggies but a couple of hot weather flowers.  Close cousin Celosia self seeding out front covered with small butterflies and other flying critters.  They will soon produce hot pink cocks' combs.  Even the white vinca is surviving this horrible summer.

I turned around to go back into the house and here are healthy vincas!

Nice flowers, S. I didn't know vinca came in white. They are sure good little soldiers -- survive just about anything.