Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, September 10

Hi, everyone! Looks like our heat wave may break -- maybe next week! How is your weather treating you and your garden! Fires? Floods?

We have some harvesting going on, I see!

The photo above is lovely. It is from Hrothgar:

There are many hostas here, but THIS one is MINE!

He sent in another one, too:

Uncooperative butterfly!

He would not let me get a picture of his top, eventually he got tired of maneuvering and flew off

Take care, be well, and always endeavor to persevere!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Well, since we reported on the fair ribbons by By-Tor and the ribbons and cash picked up by The Famous Pat*, By-Tor also got a check for some of his prizes at the fair. Maybe more members of The Horde should submit their garden produce and home canned items!

A tip from MarkY:

My wife paid up for this, but she now doesn't have to pick 40# of sloshing water off the stove to empty, plus it does keep the kitchen cooler.

From Black JEM:

Katy,

Thought I would update you - from starting seeds to transplanting plants and finally harvesting and canning. Right now while it is still 80's during the day, it is getting a bit cooler at night, you can start to feel fall coming.

These pictures are from mid august - and the tomatoes were really starting to come in hard. In northcentral Indiana we had a really dry July and then a cooler and wetter August. I have canned about 20 pints of whole San Marzano tomatoes and probably about three dozen pints of salsa - and I have more to do. Cucumbers were weird, my picklers died early, and my straight conventional ones had less seeds than normal so I have been pickling them. The basil was great - we have made over 50 small jars of pesto, one of the daughters is especially fond of it.

Wow! Productive basil!

You can see the picklers in foreground, already failing, and the slicers on the left. Assorted squashes dominate the rest of the picture - the acorn squash is producing like crazy - I'm not sure of there is a way to save them longer. I'm sure I will be giving them away.

I've had awesome habaneros and scotch bonnets. I've picked over a 100 - and made hot sauce for the first time this weekend. Pretty simple recipe, we will see how everyone likes it.

Sounds too hot for me! How about you?

There is the tomato spread. You can see some of the vines are starting to finish producing, and by now more have. But I am still picking forty to fifty tomatoes every 3 days. Salsa and canned tomatoes are where most of it goes, but of course there are sliced tomatoes on the table almost every day.

Raspberries and blackberries are still coming. I've got to get leaf lettuce and radish in this week, grass has overtaken the garden so more tilling will be necessary to make that all happen. Winding up the last few months of gardening - then there will be the planning for 2023.

What a great garden!

Hey KT, I was a melon-palooza in the garden today. Watermelon, Cantelope, and I think the other one is a Tiger melon. Also a harvest of various peppers. Hey, it is what appreciates the heat of an Arizona summer. Getting ready for the big planting that starts Sept. 15th. Putting in some Cayenne peppers, Thai Peppers, Kale (three kinds) a bunch of different lettuces, 3 kinds of beets, kohlrabi, and turnips. Also a fall crop of cilantro and dill and the i'toi onions need to be put in as well.. Been getting all the various beds ready with soil amendments. I am itching to get it all planted. I know the rest of the horde is winding down but we are just gearing up here.

In other exciting garden news, my dragon fruit cactus is flowering, here is one of the 12 flower buds it is sporting. I am very excited, because I have never gotten fruit from it before, it is maybe five years old and it started as a foot and a half piece and it now has many trunks and is over 7 feet tall. I am optimistic that with 12 buds I can hopefully get at least one fruit. I don't even know what color of fruit I will get, white, pink, scarlet, and I think there can be yellow. When I get a flower I will try to capture it for you.

Also I started two dwarf Moringa trees from seed this spring. Here is one of them. They are doing very well. Hopefully if I can get it through the winter, next year it will do even better.

Happy puttering!

WeeKreekFarmGirl

I think we will have some cactus photos for later . . .

What's going on in YOUR garden?

Ah, Nature

FIRE remains a big deal in the West, with Oregon now feeling a lot of heat. I saw a comment in an earlier thread this morning that looked a little too close for comfort to me. Any experiences or tips on preparing your home, or preparing for evacuation?

This old thread (don't comment) includes some interesting information from a on fire protection rigs to set up on swimming pools, among other topics, from an old article in the Orange County Register.

Among other ideas, there is a fire retardant you can spray on your house, which can be refreshed by firefighters.

Fair warning for sensitive folks:

Hi KT, I think the attached photo shows a pair of cicadas mating. As such, it might be too risque for the Gardening thread, but I thought I would pass it along anyway.

Thanks!

BeckoningChasm

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Ace of Spades Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Labor Day Weekend

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:29 PM

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