Yeah, I know, winter has barely arrived, and I'm already thinking screw you winter.
We have gotten in some snow over the last week- and it's snowing more today- I can already hardly wait till April. Hitting into the 20's, yuckola. For sure getting into daytime highs in the teens, night down to zero in the next day or two, fuckola :(
But on the bright side... I got all 20 windows and the outside door of the solarium covered with 4mm clear plastic- and it seems to be helping a lot! Instead of a 5-10 degree difference from the outdoor temps, I'm holding at around 40 degrees out there. Yeah, still cold, I know, but my main goal is to keep it above freezing. I have been running a wee space heater out there, the one I usually use to keep the chill off my fingers or heat harden paints and window goo. But I just checked the thermometer and it read 39.9, so I put one of the boys space heaters out there, set to 75. Considering it's currently 17 degrees outside, I'll consider 39.9 an accomplishment to my putting up plastic. And fixing the solarium roof of course. I'll kill the heater before bed though. I just want to prevent freezing out there, not heat the whole place to comfort. And not chance burning the house down, lol. It does make it a chilly 45 degree workroom when I'm at the beading bench though.
Pulled out the horseradish from it's bins. I actually have enough root to see us in grated horseradish for the next few months, and maybe even till next harvest! Which would be a big ole boo-yah. I also brought in the buckets and bins of glads just in the nick of time and dug them out of their containers for overwinter storage. Even though I'm going to try to not let the solarium freeze, it's still early in the winter and it could very well happen. And freezing temps kill the hell out of glads, turns the croms to mush. One bucket was pretty pathetic, but the rest of them had some nice robust croms- I'm hopeful that when I plant them in next spring I'll get a nice amount of blooms.
I signed up for a "What's left on my wish list" swap on the GW. I got about 40-45 kinds of seeds I still want, and sent of 84 kinds of seeds, so we shall see what I get back on my send off. I kind of had to add onto the wish list to help accommodate what others might be able to send me, so hopefully I will get some nice flowers and a bit of greenery in addition to the few veggies and herbs I want and still don't have. The send off deadline is Dec 15, I'm thinking so the gal can hopefully get packages back off before new years, so I'm all anticipatory about it- maybe it will be a belated Christmas gift :)
I finally had to break down and turn on the office heater today- it's still set to a moderate 60 though.
Been trying out some new bread machine recipes lately, and they have all turned out good. Particularly a garlic herb bread, it's extra yummy for making sandwiches with. The Italian bread still needs some tinkering I think, it was good but not great. I think I'm thinking more to baking and cooking right now because it's so darn cold out- I keep wanting to have the kitchen all nice and cozy filled with yummy smells. Hey, it's one of those little things to help keep the winter blues away.
It's also the time for hot beverages. I've discovered, once again, that I'm totally addicted to hot cider, particularly with a splash of spiced rum in it- or honey whiskey, I've discovered honey whiskey and boy is it tasty as hell in hot cider.
I still need to get my cold hating butt out into the cold and jack the solar lights up so they can still illuminate over the snow drifts that I know are coming up. Zip tie the ones on the fenceline up onto the fence, and maybe hang the tree base lights off the trees. Darn things don't do no good if they are buried under snow.
I still need to get into the chicken coop and see what's going on there. Now that the interior should be freezing, it's less likely that any living leftover ick will be stirring up when I clean the place out. It will be hard as hell to work it in the cold and dim interior of the coop, but we can't get chicks in the spring if the darn thing isn't cleaned up and ready to receive them once it's warm again.
Had my best friend out for a wee visit recently, and she really helped relieve a lot of the funk I've been feeling lately- she's a total gem and a ray of sunshine. Life can't be all that bad when I got a gal like her on my side. I think sometimes I forget what great friends I have because I never get any of them out here to visit, and for sure winter discourages visiting even more. I think I really need to plan in a camping weekend in the back 40 late next May so I can see all my friends again. I should get off my hibernating hermit butt once in a while and visit them too.
Of course with all the hibernating hermitage comes planning next years garden- another reason to keep my hopes up for spring. I've discovered that the nice big kitty litter jugs are also too big to fit on any shelf but the top of the mini greenhouses. That sucks, but at least 8 of them fit on the shelf, and milk jugs do fit on the lower shelves. So sometime this winter I will prep them all up, sow them with hardy seeds, and strap them up outside to do their thing. Last years wintersowing went super well, so I have great hopes that this years will go well too.
Welcome to Growbox Hill
Welcome to Growbox HIll!
Monday, November 17, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Fall cleanup
It's that time of year- fall cleanup. Mama N has blessed us with some glorious warm weather, so though I weep to pull spent plants, at least it was nice weather for it.
Smoked a lovely bone in ham over the weekend- when the price is low, I love to pick one up. I save the fat for later rendering, the bone always yields wonderful stock for many dinners to come, and there's enough meat there for a few dinners.
Been raking up lots of leaves to cover beds with. The garlic beds are under, as well as the tomato and little squash bed. Today I pulled the last of the squash, bean, and pepper plants and dumped on several wheelbarrows of leaves over those beds. The tarragon bush finally got it's last clipping and the whole herb bed is now buried too. Gotta love that free mulch :)
Planted in a bunch of spring bulbs too. Snowdrops under the cedar at the bottom of the mint border and in with the sky blue irises. Mediterranean bells along one side of the east bay of the pole barn. Mixed colors of hyacinths along a section of the south side of the solarium. And a few Gypsy Queen and Gypsy Princess hyacinths on the other side of the solarium in the wee folk garden. Slowly but surely I'm getting more flowers into the yard, and I'm rather pleased about it.
Decided the first batch of pickled nasturtium seeds were ready to try- I used a handful of them chopped up in some tartar sauce last night. A bit more peppery than true capers, but they for sure has that wonderful salty brine taste to them. Made nasturtium flower pesto and leaf pesto, both are delicious and in the freezer- I'm debating picking another batch before Halloween. Still got tons of the things out there if I so desire. I noticed a bunch of the wild chives are making an autumn showing too, so I might have to pick some to make butter or oil with.
Been dehydrating stuff too. Pretty soon I will publish this seasons preserving total- it's getting to be quite a lengthy list!
Been working on some more Halloween village stuff, a skeleton gazebo and my love printed me out the stuff for a jack o lantern water tower. I can't believe the holiday is right around the corner already!
Otherwise life has been the same ole around here. Doing chores, trying to deal with shit, work, life.. ya know... So I keep plugging away and hope things get better.
Been working on some crafting stuff, mostly beading projects. I'm starting to feel somewhat hopeful that I might be able to start selling some of it sooner rather than later.
Elections are coming up, and I'm sort of looking forward to being an election official- this will either be a good thing or something I rather not do again, we shall see. Maybe I just need something that is mine alone, and not shared. Greedy of me, I know, but I really miss having anything to myself.
At this point, I have several kitty litter jugs saved up for wintersowing. I think their bigger size and sturdiness will be of greater benefit than the milk jugs are. I still got milk jugs though, lol. I know, seems kind of weird that I tuck the garden away today and now I'm thinking about the next planting, but a girl has to plan, ya know? Through the winter I will probably make a thousand plans for the yard, and discard about 990 of them, hehe. My wish list for seeds is getting fairly small and specific to Pine Tree and Baker Creek- so even though I have a ton of trade seed, I think I might have to face it and just order seeds to fill in the little bit that I want.
I've culled out some more tomato seed- now I just need to settle in on what color I really want to grow next year.
Smoked a lovely bone in ham over the weekend- when the price is low, I love to pick one up. I save the fat for later rendering, the bone always yields wonderful stock for many dinners to come, and there's enough meat there for a few dinners.
Been raking up lots of leaves to cover beds with. The garlic beds are under, as well as the tomato and little squash bed. Today I pulled the last of the squash, bean, and pepper plants and dumped on several wheelbarrows of leaves over those beds. The tarragon bush finally got it's last clipping and the whole herb bed is now buried too. Gotta love that free mulch :)
Planted in a bunch of spring bulbs too. Snowdrops under the cedar at the bottom of the mint border and in with the sky blue irises. Mediterranean bells along one side of the east bay of the pole barn. Mixed colors of hyacinths along a section of the south side of the solarium. And a few Gypsy Queen and Gypsy Princess hyacinths on the other side of the solarium in the wee folk garden. Slowly but surely I'm getting more flowers into the yard, and I'm rather pleased about it.
Decided the first batch of pickled nasturtium seeds were ready to try- I used a handful of them chopped up in some tartar sauce last night. A bit more peppery than true capers, but they for sure has that wonderful salty brine taste to them. Made nasturtium flower pesto and leaf pesto, both are delicious and in the freezer- I'm debating picking another batch before Halloween. Still got tons of the things out there if I so desire. I noticed a bunch of the wild chives are making an autumn showing too, so I might have to pick some to make butter or oil with.
Been dehydrating stuff too. Pretty soon I will publish this seasons preserving total- it's getting to be quite a lengthy list!
Been working on some more Halloween village stuff, a skeleton gazebo and my love printed me out the stuff for a jack o lantern water tower. I can't believe the holiday is right around the corner already!
Otherwise life has been the same ole around here. Doing chores, trying to deal with shit, work, life.. ya know... So I keep plugging away and hope things get better.
Been working on some crafting stuff, mostly beading projects. I'm starting to feel somewhat hopeful that I might be able to start selling some of it sooner rather than later.
Elections are coming up, and I'm sort of looking forward to being an election official- this will either be a good thing or something I rather not do again, we shall see. Maybe I just need something that is mine alone, and not shared. Greedy of me, I know, but I really miss having anything to myself.
At this point, I have several kitty litter jugs saved up for wintersowing. I think their bigger size and sturdiness will be of greater benefit than the milk jugs are. I still got milk jugs though, lol. I know, seems kind of weird that I tuck the garden away today and now I'm thinking about the next planting, but a girl has to plan, ya know? Through the winter I will probably make a thousand plans for the yard, and discard about 990 of them, hehe. My wish list for seeds is getting fairly small and specific to Pine Tree and Baker Creek- so even though I have a ton of trade seed, I think I might have to face it and just order seeds to fill in the little bit that I want.
I've culled out some more tomato seed- now I just need to settle in on what color I really want to grow next year.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Yay garlic!
October 10..
Recently, I built two new raised beds for garlic... Today they got completed. The first layers got rained in real good, and today I shoveled in the second layer of manure. Then we took the truck out to the back 40 and dug up some sandy topsoil to top off the boxes...
Then I planted in 240 cloves of garlic. 10 kinds of hardneck, 1 kind of softneck. What all did I plant in?
12 South Haven
18 Leningrad
30 Great Russian
12 Skips 1
30 Kankankee softneck
18 Up North
6 Skips 1
18 Skips 2
48 Kankankee hardneck
16 Lawrence
32 Porcelain Pearl
Two of the beds are 3x6, and one bed is 4x6. I pulled apart all the heads I harvested this summer, and picked out the best of the cloves for planting. And now I have a rather nice heap of garlic for eating too!
October 13
So I made another 9 half pints of pickled mushrooms, and another quart of fridge pickled mushrooms. They are quickly becoming a house favorite!
The weather has been nice enough to get a bit of outdoor activity done... But more importantly, it rained last night and for a while this afternoon, and the new solarium roof is perfectly dry! Whoo-hoo for a job well done! Now that I know it's nice like that, I can get the boards off the pond, get the solarium cleaned up and pots back into place- and get back to work on the beading bench.
Started in with the seed trade lists on the GW- one of them has been nice, but right now a request for SASE is kind of turning into a PITA! I get the request if I am willing to do a SASE- I say sure, just make sure it's a bubble envelope to protect the seed. I get a long email back about how the person won't do bubble mailers, all sorts of special instructions as to how they like seed sent- and that I need to take the SASE to the post office just to get it hand stamped! Do you realize that most post offices really don't like to do hand stamping, they only want to do machine stamping? And WTF is a SASE about if I have to do special running to another city to see if maybe they might be willing to hand stamp? I have done a lot of trades, and this is the first time I've gotten this kind of fucked up special requesting on what is basically me giving away seed for free- something I normally only allow to newbies. And this person claims to have done tons of worldwide trading, but is awfully particular and fucked up about it all. And their seed list is all "oops, my shit is all crossbred, take your chances with the seed". Sigh. Trading should not be that complicated.
And today I went in for Election Official training- it was interesting, but a little overwhelming on information! Lots of details got covered. Makes me glad I get to do a second round in orientation the Saturday before elections! I am looking forward to being a participant in the voting process, pretty cool stuff to do civic duty and all.
Recently, I built two new raised beds for garlic... Today they got completed. The first layers got rained in real good, and today I shoveled in the second layer of manure. Then we took the truck out to the back 40 and dug up some sandy topsoil to top off the boxes...
Then I planted in 240 cloves of garlic. 10 kinds of hardneck, 1 kind of softneck. What all did I plant in?
12 South Haven
18 Leningrad
30 Great Russian
12 Skips 1
30 Kankankee softneck
18 Up North
6 Skips 1
18 Skips 2
48 Kankankee hardneck
16 Lawrence
32 Porcelain Pearl
Two of the beds are 3x6, and one bed is 4x6. I pulled apart all the heads I harvested this summer, and picked out the best of the cloves for planting. And now I have a rather nice heap of garlic for eating too!
October 13
So I made another 9 half pints of pickled mushrooms, and another quart of fridge pickled mushrooms. They are quickly becoming a house favorite!
The weather has been nice enough to get a bit of outdoor activity done... But more importantly, it rained last night and for a while this afternoon, and the new solarium roof is perfectly dry! Whoo-hoo for a job well done! Now that I know it's nice like that, I can get the boards off the pond, get the solarium cleaned up and pots back into place- and get back to work on the beading bench.
Started in with the seed trade lists on the GW- one of them has been nice, but right now a request for SASE is kind of turning into a PITA! I get the request if I am willing to do a SASE- I say sure, just make sure it's a bubble envelope to protect the seed. I get a long email back about how the person won't do bubble mailers, all sorts of special instructions as to how they like seed sent- and that I need to take the SASE to the post office just to get it hand stamped! Do you realize that most post offices really don't like to do hand stamping, they only want to do machine stamping? And WTF is a SASE about if I have to do special running to another city to see if maybe they might be willing to hand stamp? I have done a lot of trades, and this is the first time I've gotten this kind of fucked up special requesting on what is basically me giving away seed for free- something I normally only allow to newbies. And this person claims to have done tons of worldwide trading, but is awfully particular and fucked up about it all. And their seed list is all "oops, my shit is all crossbred, take your chances with the seed". Sigh. Trading should not be that complicated.
And today I went in for Election Official training- it was interesting, but a little overwhelming on information! Lots of details got covered. Makes me glad I get to do a second round in orientation the Saturday before elections! I am looking forward to being a participant in the voting process, pretty cool stuff to do civic duty and all.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Season on!
There are several new additions to Nightvale, my Halloween village. A zombie eatery, coffin factory, ghostly haunted house, bat aviary, some witches flying around and stirring up potions, a couple streetlights, and a few more denizens. So now the vals sprawls across the mantle, the shelves, the stereo, and the square table in the living room.
The pumpkin patch is chock full of pumpkiny goodness, the vamps and zombies hang out on main street, the witches have their own hangout on high... Grim is hanging out with the skeletons having coffee, the workers at the coffin factory can stop for a terror dog or a couple bags of blood to go, and the haunted house gets to get a little batty.
Yes, I am kind of obsessed with my Halloween village. Some folks get Christmas village nutty, I go for Halloween. There's still a small handful of buildings I want, and a whole heap of oddbits and oddfellows. In a year or two, I will build landscape for all of it, lol. At this point when I pack it all up, it will take up more space than my Christmas decor, and I like it like that.
A bunch of the buildings are on timers, so the whole vale gets active or goes to sleep at different times of dark, which is fun in and of itself.
My love printed me off an incredible Cerberus to guard the gargoyle towers and gate I have set up, and there will be a ton more printing that will go into the vale- some buildings are just too frigging expensive for what they are, so I'm going to make my own. Same goes for stuff like gravestones- why pay someone else several bucks for them when I can make them or have my hubby print some off? There are some outstanding scans out there of real gravemarkers that are just wonderful, from when they still make them look like treestumps and books and such. Then it's just a matter of painting them up nice and putting them in place. The graveyard definitely needs more markers, it's pretty darn small right now for a Halloween village.
In other news... Got a couple of moms cabinets hung up in her room, they look real nice. And finally hung the barn painting up in the stairwell. It's not fine art, something mom picked up eons ago. But it's something that speaks to all of us of home somehow.
Exciting stuff- finally ripped out and replaced the solarium skylight today!!!! Holy shit it looks so much better now. The corrugated plastic is clear, and lets in so much light it looks like there are artificial lights on out there. And with no more gaping hole acting as a chimney, there is already a noticeable difference in the temp out there- and I'm hoping with just a little more weatherproofing and a bit of a heater, I might actually be able to use my solarium as my workshop year round :) Squee with joy! If nothing else, it will be really good for the plants.
And ugh, started the painful process of sorting out my seeds. Logging what I got, deciding what I want to keep or put into the trade list bin.. Then comes coming up with the trade list. Of course there are a lot of things I want on my wish list, but then that too needs to be cleaned up- only so many beans or tomatoes one can have and be realistic about using the seed. And heritage grower that I am, I've been taking down dates on the seeds as I can, and I have discovered that some of my oldest cultivars are about 400 years old! As in early 1600's, or at least that's when they are logged as being in the U.S.. A couple of those are even older, but I don't know how much because I'm not tracking back that far in European or Native American records at this time.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
What have I been doing with myself?
Not posting on my blog, that's for sure. And why not? Been busy busy busy.
Since my last post, I've canned up many, many gallons ( I think it's around 25 gallons) of various goodies, and dehydrated many many pounds ( I think around 20 pounds) of various produce. Seriously- I actually broke the front burner on my stove with all the processing I've been doing, and I have no idea if it's even reparable or not. So now I'm down to three burners for cooking. I've been keeping a running tally of everything so far, and that will be it's own post.
Had myself a seriously wonderful time out at Holly for a weekend with some good friends. And squee with joy over some adorable beaded trees- they are so tiny and cute! I now own one of each kind, and plan on using those as models to make more because they are awesome. I had forgotten how nice Holly is, and how muddy it can be. But it was extra nice because I got to wear garb that I didn't have the opportunity to at Bristol.
Been working on some beading projects- and I think I might have found a local retailer that I can rent out some space in to see if I can't sell some of the stuff I've been making. Kind of exciting that.
Had a glorious weekend of burning for the fall equinox. All nice and legal too. Did a couple serious days of day burning, cleared out a huge amount of brush that was piling up around the firepit. And we got all the rest of what's there sorted out and organized. Now the area is clear, no longer a fire hazard in itself, and all set up nice for more burning later this year. And I think the keyhole is going to become a needle to the pond- I want to mow open a bit more space down there for easier navagating, and hopefully soon I will be able to start the cleanup on the ponds edge itself to eventually drop in a small floating dock. We actually filled the pit with ash, and had to slow burn the last of the paper products and brush. A goodly bit of that ash went to the new raised beds to sweeten the pine needles, and a smidge went to the driveway to see if it would really kill the weeds with lye leeching or not. Still need to clean the rest of the ash out, and re-configure the pit- I want to make it three bricks high instead of two, and shorten it just a little to make sure it's within legal parameters.
Built two new raised beds for garlic... and guess what? I made them all by myself! Yes, I did use the power saw and drill, and didn't ask for someone else to do it. Considering my fear of handling power tools, I consider it a victory. So now there's a 3x6 and a 4x6 bed sitting next to the first bed. I got them mostly filled, but still need to drop more mature manure on top and top off with soil. I was heartily glad that I had all that spoiled straw left from the potato bags because they pine needles and leaves just haven't really started dropping yet. But I really wanted to get started on getting those boxes filled so they would be settled by the time I planted in garlic in a couple weeks. Hopefully by harvest time next year, I will have increased yield from 72 heads to 240 heads- maaaybe enough to keep us in garlic through at least some of the winter, lol. Guess that would depend on how much gets used up next year for canning, and I sure do use a ton of garlic in canning.
The orange tomatoes this year have been a resounding success! About damn time I got those going on. Now the next challenge will be figuring out what color to grow next year, lol. I liked the Juan Flamme so much that I put the seed onto my wish list again- I was super lame and didn't do any seed preserving measures this year.
Pulled 11 spaghetti squash out of the garden, and still have a couple buttercups and 5 Long Island Cheese squash on the vine. Pulled who knows how many pounds of ball squash and zucchini out of the garden, enough that I had to come up with a couple new recipes to use them all! Two have become instant successes with the family- southern squash casserole and caviar, AKA citrus zucchini marmalade. You would think zucchini jelly stuff would be gross, but it's good as hell. We love it particularly with biscuits with dinner, yum.
The peppers have been in overdrive- I pickled rings and whole peppers, dried peppers, cooked peppers, and fresh eaten peppers- all of us have. Another bout time.
Eye of the goat bean did so well we will actually be able to eat some, have seed stock, and maybe even have a bit for trade. The dwarf taylor bush I had to container grow to save it from the critters has produced enough for seed stock, and the histada shield bean produced for seed stock.
The nasturtiums have been beyond wonderful. Darn things have eaten one whole slot on the dog run, but I got enough seed for stock, to try some as a black pepper subsitute, pickled up a jar for poor mans capers, got a quart jar stuffed with dried leaves, and still so much I need to harvest a ton of blooms for drying, leaves for pesto for the freezer, and enough seeds for another batch of poor mans capers- and the things have dropped enough seed that I realize I accidentally created a nasturtium bed. My milkmaids produced enough seed for stock- I assume chipmunks ate most of whatever else dropped. And my couple containers by the great room produced seed stock like crazy too. Now I want to fill out my palette with a couple more varieties.
The green beans were a low point- but boy oh boy did the few top crops crank em out- and the early contenders I planted late are producing like crazy so it looks like green beans might just get redeemed before the end of the season.
The herb garden is doing pretty well, but the parsley patch down on the fenceline is really growing in all it's glory- shaping up exactly as I hoped. I'm thinking next year I will finally be able to do a final sowing and pull all the recycled soup cans currently serving as a border.
Dill did really well too- I pulled a whole crop for seed, and started a second crop which is almost ready for harvest.
The mint border is filling in completely. Almost better than I had hoped for when I scrapped them into place last year. By this time next year, it will be complete and plush. I'm still on the hunt for apple mint. The toothache plant did exceptionally well in that area, I will have a serious amount of seed for next year. The lemon mint didn't do all that great, I will have to put it into a different area next year.
The lilies- sigh, some of them survived, some did not. Now it's a matter of figuring out where the survivors need to go. Some will for sure be going into the new garden area we are planning on in the front yard, focusing around that wonderful smoke tree. The four hardy hibiscus are now repotted and in the solarium for overwintering, and I picked up eight mums half in bronze and half in yellow to work into the hibiscus border. That's going to go along with the smoke tree garden. By the end of next year, that whole little area of the yard should be coming along right nice.
The solarium is already getting full of containers to overwinter, and I still have a ton of them to pull in. Nope, the roof still isn't fixed, I'm dearly hoping to get that done very soon before it gets too cold to do so. I wish I could just have someone else do it, but my luck ain't like that, heh.
But now I need to hop along and figure out what to do for dinner...
Since my last post, I've canned up many, many gallons ( I think it's around 25 gallons) of various goodies, and dehydrated many many pounds ( I think around 20 pounds) of various produce. Seriously- I actually broke the front burner on my stove with all the processing I've been doing, and I have no idea if it's even reparable or not. So now I'm down to three burners for cooking. I've been keeping a running tally of everything so far, and that will be it's own post.
Had myself a seriously wonderful time out at Holly for a weekend with some good friends. And squee with joy over some adorable beaded trees- they are so tiny and cute! I now own one of each kind, and plan on using those as models to make more because they are awesome. I had forgotten how nice Holly is, and how muddy it can be. But it was extra nice because I got to wear garb that I didn't have the opportunity to at Bristol.
Been working on some beading projects- and I think I might have found a local retailer that I can rent out some space in to see if I can't sell some of the stuff I've been making. Kind of exciting that.
Had a glorious weekend of burning for the fall equinox. All nice and legal too. Did a couple serious days of day burning, cleared out a huge amount of brush that was piling up around the firepit. And we got all the rest of what's there sorted out and organized. Now the area is clear, no longer a fire hazard in itself, and all set up nice for more burning later this year. And I think the keyhole is going to become a needle to the pond- I want to mow open a bit more space down there for easier navagating, and hopefully soon I will be able to start the cleanup on the ponds edge itself to eventually drop in a small floating dock. We actually filled the pit with ash, and had to slow burn the last of the paper products and brush. A goodly bit of that ash went to the new raised beds to sweeten the pine needles, and a smidge went to the driveway to see if it would really kill the weeds with lye leeching or not. Still need to clean the rest of the ash out, and re-configure the pit- I want to make it three bricks high instead of two, and shorten it just a little to make sure it's within legal parameters.
Built two new raised beds for garlic... and guess what? I made them all by myself! Yes, I did use the power saw and drill, and didn't ask for someone else to do it. Considering my fear of handling power tools, I consider it a victory. So now there's a 3x6 and a 4x6 bed sitting next to the first bed. I got them mostly filled, but still need to drop more mature manure on top and top off with soil. I was heartily glad that I had all that spoiled straw left from the potato bags because they pine needles and leaves just haven't really started dropping yet. But I really wanted to get started on getting those boxes filled so they would be settled by the time I planted in garlic in a couple weeks. Hopefully by harvest time next year, I will have increased yield from 72 heads to 240 heads- maaaybe enough to keep us in garlic through at least some of the winter, lol. Guess that would depend on how much gets used up next year for canning, and I sure do use a ton of garlic in canning.
The orange tomatoes this year have been a resounding success! About damn time I got those going on. Now the next challenge will be figuring out what color to grow next year, lol. I liked the Juan Flamme so much that I put the seed onto my wish list again- I was super lame and didn't do any seed preserving measures this year.
Pulled 11 spaghetti squash out of the garden, and still have a couple buttercups and 5 Long Island Cheese squash on the vine. Pulled who knows how many pounds of ball squash and zucchini out of the garden, enough that I had to come up with a couple new recipes to use them all! Two have become instant successes with the family- southern squash casserole and caviar, AKA citrus zucchini marmalade. You would think zucchini jelly stuff would be gross, but it's good as hell. We love it particularly with biscuits with dinner, yum.
The peppers have been in overdrive- I pickled rings and whole peppers, dried peppers, cooked peppers, and fresh eaten peppers- all of us have. Another bout time.
Eye of the goat bean did so well we will actually be able to eat some, have seed stock, and maybe even have a bit for trade. The dwarf taylor bush I had to container grow to save it from the critters has produced enough for seed stock, and the histada shield bean produced for seed stock.
The nasturtiums have been beyond wonderful. Darn things have eaten one whole slot on the dog run, but I got enough seed for stock, to try some as a black pepper subsitute, pickled up a jar for poor mans capers, got a quart jar stuffed with dried leaves, and still so much I need to harvest a ton of blooms for drying, leaves for pesto for the freezer, and enough seeds for another batch of poor mans capers- and the things have dropped enough seed that I realize I accidentally created a nasturtium bed. My milkmaids produced enough seed for stock- I assume chipmunks ate most of whatever else dropped. And my couple containers by the great room produced seed stock like crazy too. Now I want to fill out my palette with a couple more varieties.
The green beans were a low point- but boy oh boy did the few top crops crank em out- and the early contenders I planted late are producing like crazy so it looks like green beans might just get redeemed before the end of the season.
The herb garden is doing pretty well, but the parsley patch down on the fenceline is really growing in all it's glory- shaping up exactly as I hoped. I'm thinking next year I will finally be able to do a final sowing and pull all the recycled soup cans currently serving as a border.
Dill did really well too- I pulled a whole crop for seed, and started a second crop which is almost ready for harvest.
The mint border is filling in completely. Almost better than I had hoped for when I scrapped them into place last year. By this time next year, it will be complete and plush. I'm still on the hunt for apple mint. The toothache plant did exceptionally well in that area, I will have a serious amount of seed for next year. The lemon mint didn't do all that great, I will have to put it into a different area next year.
The lilies- sigh, some of them survived, some did not. Now it's a matter of figuring out where the survivors need to go. Some will for sure be going into the new garden area we are planning on in the front yard, focusing around that wonderful smoke tree. The four hardy hibiscus are now repotted and in the solarium for overwintering, and I picked up eight mums half in bronze and half in yellow to work into the hibiscus border. That's going to go along with the smoke tree garden. By the end of next year, that whole little area of the yard should be coming along right nice.
The solarium is already getting full of containers to overwinter, and I still have a ton of them to pull in. Nope, the roof still isn't fixed, I'm dearly hoping to get that done very soon before it gets too cold to do so. I wish I could just have someone else do it, but my luck ain't like that, heh.
But now I need to hop along and figure out what to do for dinner...
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