Harvest Monday; July 25, 2016

Happy Monday to all and visit Dave at Our Happy Acres to see all Harvest Mondays.
Well I am writing this during lunch today at work so my spreadsheet is at home on my laptop. And since it is my lunch this won't be too long. At least I am posting more often now though :)
Hot. Dam hot!
That was last week and this weekend. More coming this week. No fun to go outside and immediately sweat. I did minimal work in the garden this week as 1) This weather is doing a pretty good job of finishing off the summer crops and 2) I really didn't want to be outside that much. I did do some staining on the pool deck yesterday but while I was wearing my swim trunks. At first it's refreshing but after a while it's not.

The Wife and I cruised the Raleigh Farmer's Market Saturday. We got there somewhat late (for us) but the local farms were doing well! And it's great to see this many people coming out.

Pulled our red onions out Friday evening. Got some really nice sized ones this year which makes me happy. Our onions have always been suspect. I only planted reds this year too and got the slips from Renee's Garden. Plan on getting some next year from them as well. 

I have pretty much left this bed alone after I picked the garlic except for pulling a few weeds. Those are volunteer marigolds. We didn't plant them. Maybe we shouldn't touch anything and see what happens. 

You want hot peppers? I've got hot peppers. I did a good picking on them for salsa I made Sunday and need to go out there again. 

Something has been eating my Sweet Potatoes and I'm not happy. Most are leafless now. Maybe design a fencing system next year. 

This was my picking from Sunday morning. See that big one on top? First Solar Flare that hasn't cracked this year. 

WOF of the Week. 

This goes out to Chewy this week. He had to go to the vet for an infection and as a result has to take medicine. One type is a liquid that the vet said he would love. He didn't. But he does love it with ice cream. He is one happy canine!

That's it for me for now. Until next time, stay indoors.

Harvest Monday; July 18, 2016

Hello and welcome. Harvest Monday is where everyone gets to show off their bounties. Go see everyone's at Our Happy Acres and Dave's as well.
A little slow in the garden this week AND happy that there were no beans for the picking. Saves our backs for a week. I still have to replant the ones I took out last week. A few of the tomato plants are looking sickly also and I am trying everything to keep them going. All other crops seem to be doing good. With the amount of rain we've been having (and intensity), I am surprised by that. Oh well; onward to this week.

Tomato bed with the Solar Flares in it. I grabbed one and am saving the seeds from it again this year.

Hot peppers galore. Got to pick them later this week when MAYBE it dips down below boiling outside. 

Sickly looking Brandywines. Man I can't grow them here. 

Green peppers, They love the rain. 

Sweet potatoes really are filling our nicely. 

Sorry for minimal content this week but still working on the upstairs and was on the road two days last week. Hope your week is good. 

Harvest Monday; July 11, 2016

And my first post to Harvest Monday of 2016. Where have I been? Name it. But mostly working around the house and doing that work-work thing still. Summer is always busy for our company right up until about the last 3 weeks of the year. On the home front we've been doing the gardening thing as well as working on the pool, house, etc. Seems like we'll never catch up. The weather has been somewhat extreme at times here in the sandhills with high daily temperatures, and thunderstorms in the evenings which manage to beat the crops to pieces and screw the pool chemicals around enough that everything is off kilter. It has gone fast and I'm surprised it's the second week in July already. I hope to make more appearances this year (I always say this.) Go to Our Happy Acres to see more Harvest Monday's.

First off I'll say we got our first tomato a few weeks ago. Early Girl I believe. Picture's fuzzy but it counts.

I try to keep track of the harvests and it is below. I didn't grow a winter crop. 

Welp, lets take a tour. This is an overall shot taken about a month ago. 

Peppers. Hot D*mn peppers if you ask me. I forget what they are but I grew them for the salsa mix this year. Hot.

Strawberry plants have pulled out nicely. We definitely need a few more and we didn't get any berries this year so fingers crossed for next year.

Cukes. I didn't trellis them this year as they seem to have a mind of their own anyway. Not getting too many off of them but that's OK. We still have pickles from last year. 

One of the tomato beds. Mainly brandywines (my favorite) but a couple of the plants look sickly. I try but they don't seem to do well in our area. 

First plantings of beans. Kentucky blue lake. They've done pretty well.

Three more rows of beans on the right side. The rightest row has pretty much had it so after this picture I cut them down. We'll be plating some more in the next week or so. On the left side are sweet potatoes. My first year of growing these and after weeding them they are on their way. Hope we get some potatoes off of them. Need hilled. 

Our first and second pickings on the beans. Surprisingly we've gotten 28 lbs. so far which means about 19 quarts canned. Good thing too as we are low on last years' stock. The bottom photo of the second picking also shows the last picking of the squash. I've had some good pickings this year and I make squash relish from it. I canned 34 half pints this year so the plants came out and were destroyed. No squash bugs in my garden this year! Hate them.

Speaking of squash relish...

I'll say this; with all of the rain the bell peppers are doing great. 

Same for the banana peppers.

Yesterday's canning session.

WOF of the Week. She was spending time outside on the porch with me Saturday as I was taking a break. Some dummy got his finger in the way. Until next time, happy growing and enjoy the sun.