When all is said and done here I've got to say that all in all we've had a pretty successful garden this spring. The biggest fail? My beans. They just didn't produce well this year. I'll have to do the unspeakable and actually buy some over the winter I suppose. It happens. We've already got new plans for next years beans.
I'm just now starting to get the hang of this whole gardening thing. It reminds me time and time again that those of you who have those seeds tucked away for an emergency don't have much of a chance in a SHTF situation. I'm not saying that I do either, but I've got a much better shot at it than the "uninitiated". And lets be honest here, the fact that we've got the drip line irrigation is a huge factor in our success.
And speaking of gardening ... Call me crazy but I want to get out there in the garden to trim up and cut back the tomatoes. There's a bunch of dead stuff on them and I want to try and get them healthy enough to make tomatoes for fall. YES you read that right! I'm going to try for some Fall tomatoes. Since I've found there's a market for them around here it seems I'm not as tired of tomatoes as I thought I was! With the cool front bringing us some lows at night cool enough to set fruit I'm hoping to get another round of tomatoes. We'll see how that goes. I've been putting it off for almost a week now. As soon as it dries out I'll get started on it.
I planted a little over half a row of Dixie Peas this year. We both really love the flavor and even the texture of these peas/beans. The thing is that they've got smallish pods with 3-4 peas in them that tend to grow toward the bottom of the compact plant. They are kind of hard for me to pick at just the right time to get fresh ones. They will/do dry on the vine. That's fine by me but they have to be watched because once they dry you only have a small window of opportunity to pick them before they split their shells and the dry beans will fall to the ground. All in all they're a pain in the a$$ but dang they are good! I'm still pondering growing them again next year.
The squash is still doing well. I hold my breath and cross my fingers that the %$#& squash bugs don't show up. I'd really love to be able to can some. I know, I know. Folks say you shouldn't can squash. I say why not? We don't mind if it gets soft during the canning process, it's still yummy!
The grasshoppers won't allow new beans to get started. It seems they think that bean sprouts are pretty tasty. We've replanted them three times so far. I don't know how much longer we have before it just gets to cold but once the garden dries up some, I'll stick some more in the ground. I've also got to get my garlic planted soon. At least around here I've got a pretty good size window of opportunity to plant it. It's on my "list".
Sue, from over at The Little Acre That Could asked if I would do all this over again next year. Absolutely! As much as I fuss I just love doing this. (mostly) I really do love it. It's a different way of life and I'm trying to embrace every last bit of it. This place is something I've dreamed about having for years and years. Of course I didn't know we would end up in Oklahoma but I've grown ok with that! lol I honestly believe that we were meant to be here on this little piece of land. Besides, it sure beats living in a R.V. park smack up next to the freeway! It's quiet and I get to dig in the dirt and there is close to NO traffic out here. I can even see the stars at night. What's not to love about that?
I used to have a huge garden but don't anymore. Envey you eating all that fresh stuff. You even have eggs to go with it, right?
ReplyDeleteYou know I don't guess I've talked about the chickens in awhile have I? They are doing well. After the snake at 4 of the babies this summer I had three left. Can you believe they are all three hens? YAY!!! I
DeleteI would and will do it again but I rarely put in a Fall garden of any kind. By September I am done with gardening and moving on to other projects.
ReplyDeleteI had the best bean year ever this year. In fact I am simmering some for ham and beans right now. The trick for me was to give up on bush beans and go to pole beans which I been breeding for years now.
As much work as it takes I can understand doing other things this time of year. There always seems like there is so much to do.
DeleteI'm glad to hear you had a super bean year! I can almost smell those ham hocks.... Yummy.
As for the beans, I had both pole beans and bush this year. Neither did well at all. They all bloomed like crazy but produced very little. I'll be looking at finding some different beans for next year.
Sci,
ReplyDeleteYou go girl......whip those tomato plants in order. I bet you'll have buckets of more tomatoes again too.
I can't wait to do it all over again next year!!!
I figured you would call me crazy Sandy! Oh, I'll have you some of those pepper seed soon. They are drying right now. I must be a glutton for punishment cause I'm already thinking about next year.
DeleteIf you have to peel and cut up squash to can why not just steam in a big pot and freeze in family serving sizes? That's what I do. Sometimes I do up with brown sugar/salt/butter and other times just plain. Also do bags of just cubed that can be easily brown/seasoned in the oven. Yum. We have to buy all our squash as we are totally plagued with squash bugs. Aggravating as when we lived in Mi we were even able to raise 30# Hubbards!
ReplyDeleteDianna,
DeleteWhat a great idea about cooking them with the brown sugar. I don't peel my yellow squash. That's probably because my grandma didn't either. I live in an RV with one of those small chest freezers (it does double duty as counter space) and just don't have the room for putting up veggies in it. It seems though that every summer I find myself wishing for another freezer and a fridge! don't mind the canning. If something were to happen and the electricity were to go out it's one less things for me to worry about.
Wow! That's some big squash. I've never grown any squash that got that big. So far our yellow, butternut and acorn are doing ok. We used some naturalish type pesticide this time around and so far I've not seen any. I've still got my fingers crossed.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to say hello!!