Garden Tour

Well I took a tour of the garden this afternoon assessing what work I needed to do tomorrow. Seems like a lot of work needs doing :)

Tomatoes definitely need some work.

The heat and storms have really taken a toll on the plants. 

Pickling cucumbers have just about had it.

White onions I got them in the ground later than normal this year. Weeding needs done.

Carrots still growing.

Wife's sunflower in a pot. 

Squash plants. Not many squash yet. 

Zucchini plants have had it. 

Marketmore cucumbers still hanging in there.

Pulled the yellow and red onions out last weekend. Got to get them set out.

Weedy mess.

Wife's row of sunflowers. 

Eggplants doing great this year. 

True black brandywine.

If you're bored you can come help!

Harvest Monday; July 20, 2015

Good late Monday to you. Daphne's Dandelions is the place to be!
Been a good week for produce coming out of the garden. It is still a mess and needs weeded badly but I just don't have the time to do it. Here's a peak at this weeks sheet.

Yes, tomatoes are the stars again. I actually picked 22 lbs of Romas on the 17th. 

So you can imagine (no pun intended) we did a lot of canning this weekend. I took some of last weeks harvest and added in some more that I picked on the 17th and made 29 pints of pizza sauce. Then Amy went out and picked up another 20 lbs so hopefully they will get used tomorrow. 

My pickings from Friday, mostly Rutgers.  

Here's a few glamour shots (it is sad that I do these.)

Solar Flare. I already saved some seeds of these as they are definitely going in the garden next year.

Just a beautiful Rutgers. I use these for my main canning maters. 

This is a Pantano Romanesco. I salted it before I took a bite and it doesn't need salt. Interesting flavor. Amy wasn't impressed but I kind of like it. Saving some seeds anyway.

Cucumbers are still going strong along with the eggplants (surprising as we didn't do too well with them last year), peppers and chili peppers. Even got the garlic sorted out. It's been drying for a while. And the first squash of the year has been picked.

Not sure if we'll get too much more off of the green beans. They seem somewhat played out but it could also be the weather we've been having. Storm every evening then 100 degree days. I am surprised more of the tomatoes aren't split and the cukes are still alive. Still haven't thought about the fall garden but I had better do something soon. 

Hope your Monday was a good one and I'll see you soon. 

Item One of My Time

Wow, two posts in so many days.
I have said that I will share what's been keeping me busy this summer and here is one item, if you didn't pick up on it yesterday.

The Wife and kids wanted a pool so we got one. I will say it is nice to get in after a long day. I didn't put it up (done that before) but I had to stop another project I'm trying to get done to build a deck onto this thing. 

\

Sorry that I don't currently have a better picture of it right now. It will get stained this fall after we shut the pool down for the year. The only thing left this year is building a gate for it. The pool itself is 15'-0" x 30'-0" and about 48" deep? Guessing. 

So that's one of my busy spots that I hope to have off my plate by this weekend. Then back to the other project. 

Harvest Monday; July 13, 2015

Little did I know that the longest day of the year has already passed and I never realized it. Where have I been? Falls coming I guess.
Pretty good week here on the half acre. Tomatoes and cucumbers were the big stars, each pulling in a boatload of harvest. Green Peppers weren't too bad either, but the tomatoes and cukes stole the show.

Yes, you saw that correctly. I input the information into my spreradsheet in ounces and it converts to pounds at the bottom and right side for the totals. We did two pickings this past week, the last being Sunday morning. That's 26 lbs of cucumbers and 76 lbs of tomatoes. Needless to say we have been a few away and I did a canning marathon Sunday. The garden can be picked again at any time! There's more out there and I didn't finish up everything Sunday! And on top of that I came to the realization that I haven't started any starts for fall garden. :/

Use a turkey fryer stand for our canning pot outside when we water bath. Definitely helps keep the kitchen cooler.

A few pints of pickles from earlier and the bottom picture is what I accomplished Sunday; pasta sauce, salsa (salsa- mad family), and dill pickles. Notice there's more cukes. 

My tomato processor I bought a few years back. Simple design and does the job!

Oh, here's what the harvest Sunday looked like.

This is the first year I've had any luck with Mortgage Lifters and they have done us good. Really surprised as I haven't done anything different from years past. Saved some seeds this past weekend from a good ripe one. 

Partial pepper weigh- in and eggplants. 

After canning I cruised the garden, particularly the squash plants as my wife said she saw my nemesis, the squash bug. Spent a good half hour pulling and ripping leaves of eggs. Nasty things. Haven't had any squash yet but I was a little late on them this year. 

Here's the rest and yes, the tomatoes don't look the best but I have been overwhelmed with everything. 

Need to do some heavy weeding.

Wife's sunflowers. Theres more coming up somewhere. 

Onions are getting close now.

My Morning Glory returned at the water station this year. Waiting on blooms.

More about ready for picking.

Awful I know

Welp that's about it for me this week. If you looked through the photos above you may be able to pick out one of my added projects this year. Visit Daphne's Dandelions for all Harvest Mondays. 

Harvest Monday; July 6, 2015

Good Harvest Monday! Daphne's Dandelions is the host of Harvest Monday.

Going to be a quick post today as I have been feeling under the weather since Saturday and went to the doctor this morning (finally.) Not completely sure what it is but my cough was so bad Sunday that it brought me to my knees several times. Needless to say I Netflixed all day.

Here's the spreadsheet for the week. It was a good week for tomatoes and cucumbers.

Our harvest from Sunday, thanks to my wife for doing the picking. And a 1 lb. mortgage lifter tomato.

Hope to give you an update this week as to all of the other happenings around here. Sorry so short.

Happy week!

Harvest Monday; June 29, 2015

Good Monday to you. Daphne's Dandelions is the place to be for Harvest Monday.

Been gone for a while, haven't I? Well, my website got hacked by something, then I tried a few things to get it back up and running anddddddddddd I've made a mess of things and honestly don't have the time to work on it. So I'll be here for the present future until I can get the main site back up to updating, etc. Sucks because I just renewed my domain and hosting for 2 years!

Things here on the homestead are busier than anyone can imagine. My wife and I are busy at work (she's pulling in OT every week) and I have a few projects coming up that are paperwork- heavy so that's keeping me moving. She's up at 3:30 am or so and out the door by 5:30. I am up usually at 4:30 and out the door at 6:30. She beats me home by about an hour as I don't roll in until 6:30 to 6:45 pm. Reason for this explanation? Our weekends have been mostly devoted to the garden. Up at 6:00 am at the latest to beat the heat. Our harvests are ramping up and I have been managing to keep the squash bugs at bay for now. Ironically we haven't had any squash yet as the bucket idea didn't pan out. We also have lost a few tomato plants and a few of the others are having their leaves curl inward some. I have checked the soil and it was a little low nitrogen- wise so I added some blood meal. We'll see what happens. They may just be stressed as the past few weeks have really been hot with little rain. Here's an updated spreadsheet:

Yes, we are getting beans! And cucumbers. Canning like crazy in the evenings when we get time. Tonight it is salsa with the tomatoes. I kinda bunched some items on this weeks harvest but we have been keeping track of it. One item of note this past week is the taste of the Solar Flare tomato. It is a very sweet, meaty tomato and is a keeper in this house. Let me show off some pictures and I'll make another post soon to catch you up on things around the house and why I'm needing a vacation :)

Harvest from last weekend

Harvest from this weekend

Solar Flare tomato

WOF of the Week

Caught her with her tongue out

More updates coming. A lot has been going on here! Back to work.