September gardens. What are your plans? Post your pics.

[Faith-manor]

My garden is in the winding down stage. I have a ton of carrots just now ready to pull. This was from my second sowing. I am really happy with their quality and flavor. They are Scarlett Nantes. So they are shorter, more stubby. Mark likes them, but he is such a traditionalist. "Why didn't you plant the regular, long skinny ones?" Me: "Dearie, they were going into a not very deep, narrow raised bed....the one you bought from a kit from the home improvement store. I can't adequately grow a 9-12" carrot in one of those when the bed is only "12-16" deep or whatever that one is." He felt bad about questioning my judgment, and came back to say the carrots are yummy, and he is impressed that I was able to grow so many. And guess what Mr. H. I have more of those seeds left in the packet, and so these will be used again next spring. So the carrot plan is not changing.

The scallions, a long row of them in front of the carrots, seem pretty spindly. They never became very robust. I blame the carrots which grew in such a frenzy. I will give them another week, and then pull them and see what is what. Maybe with the carrots out of the bed and a little organic vegetable fertilizer, they will put on a little growth before it gets cold. I don't know a thing about growing these. So whatever happens is okay. No disappointments.

The steam burns on my two fingers are healing. The fingers are sore, but not so bad that I can't use them. I can pick a mess of tomatoes today, and will be canning them. But between the half peck of farm market romas that I bought and what is easily 12 lbs of tomatoes I have from the garden, it is going to be more than 12 quarts of tomatoes. So I am just going to freeze the leftovers, and I can make something with them this winter. I am getting tired of all the canning.

I sent our sons home each with the following:  5 quarts of plain tomatoes for chili, 7 pints of mild taco sauce, 5 jelly jars  of peach salsa, 3 jelly jars  of hot salsa, 2 jelly jars of pickled jalapenos, and a long string of red chilis to hang up to dry in their kitchens. I have some hanging in mine, and I like to look at them. They smell great, and look festive. I also have a long string for my mother in law. She likes to make pickled asparagus and puts a red chili in each jar. And I still have another 25 chilies ripening in the garden.

We have to do something with a whole bunch of egg plant. I have no idea what though.

And I have four bell peppers to pick plus a bunch more jalapenos. But again, I am so tired of canning that I think I will just freeze them.

Apples will be coming on soon, and I will be busy with the dehydrator. I am going to try to have 4-5 quarts of apple chips for each of the kids and my son in law who loves them very much. So that isn't going to be a small job.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Faith-manor

[gardenmom5]

Dh is in charge of the vegetable garden.  He has also tried planting asparagus, but not sure how it's doing when he really hasn't watered it.

i've been working with a woman to whip my yard/gardens into shape.  I simply can't physically do much before I'm done.  I don't have before pictures, but it's been lots of weeding, and putting down bark.  Need to spread Preen onto the bark.  have been putting down edging blocks in other areas.  Dh rebuilt/replaced the posts for the trellises - and now, finally, after a few years (because we also had to rebuild failing rockeries), I'm planting my roses at their base.  New Dawn, and Awakening.   I'll put down soaker hoses before mulch.

for one area - I paid a group of entrepreneurial high school students . . . . The way they were pulling my crocosmia, I wonder how many will come back next year.  I also found a few clumps of grass - um . . those are grass clumps, why did you leave them?  I fear they pulled all my lilies where they worked too.  but it was a hard area (sloped, soft and sandy).  and my muscari, and my scillia . . . sigh. . . . 

putting down solar path lights along the edge of my driveway and our private road.

I keep looking for little arborvitae to plant to replace the six I planted last year that the deer ate . . . . I like planting trees in the fall, when the rain starts so I don't have to water them.

[Faith-manor]

My daughter in law stopped by this afternoon to raid the garden for cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and carrots to go with her hummus. It made me so happy to have those garden fresh things for her.

[Melissa in Australia]

14 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

My garden is in the winding sown stage. I have a ton of carrots just now ready to pull. This was from my second sowing. I am really happy with their quality and flavor. They are Scarlett Nantes. So they are shorter, more stubby. Mark likes them, but he is such a traditionalist. "Why didn't you plant the regular, long skinny ones?" Me: "Dearie, they were going into a not very deep, narrow raised bed....the one you bought from a kit from the home improvement store. I can't adequately grow a 9-12" carrot in one of those when the bed is only "12-16" deep or whatever that one is." He felt bad about questioning my judgment, and came back to say the carrots are yummy, and he is impressed that I was able to grow so many. And guess what Mr. H. I have more of those seeds left in the packet, and so these will be used again next spring. So the carrot plan is not changing.

The scallions, a long row of them in front of the carrots, seem pretty spindly. They never became very robust. I blame the carrots which grew in such a frenzy. I will give them another week, and then pull them and see what is what. Maybe with the carrots out of the bed and a little organic vegetable fertilizer, they will put on a little growth before it gets cold. I don't know a thing about growing these. So whatever happens is okay. No disappointments.

The steam burns on my two fingers are healing. The fingers are sore, but not so bad that I can't use them. I can pick a mess of tomatoes today, and will be canning them. But between the half peck of farm market romas that I bought and what is easily 12 lbs of tomatoes I have from the garden, it is going to be more than 12 quarts of tomatoes. So I am just going to freeze the leftovers, and I can make something with them this winter. I am getting tired of all the canning.

I sent our sons home each with the following:  5 quarts of plain tomatoes for chili, 7 pints of mild taco sauce, 5 jelly jars  of peach salsa, 3 jelly jars  of hot salsa, 2 jelly jars of pickled jalapenos, and a lack of string of red chilis to hang up to dry in their kitchens. I have some hanging in mine, and I like to look at them. They sleep great, and look festive. I also have a long string for my mother in law. She likes to make pickled asparagus and puts a red chili in each jar. And I still have another 25 chilies ripening in the garden.

We have to do something with a whole bunch of egg plant. I have no idea what though.

And I have four bell peppers to pick plus a bunch more jalapenos. But again, I am so tired of canning that I think I will just freeze them.

Apples will be coming on soon, and I will be busy with the dehydrator. I am going to try to have 4-5 quarts of apple chips for each of the kids and my son in law who loves them very much. So that isn't going to be a small job.

Scallions are spring onions I think. Will they overwinter there?  Will they sort of restart in the spring if left? 

Here they grow year round, deviding each year getting more and more. 

The spring onions here in the green grocer still have roots on them. When I first started the veggie garden many years ago I bought some full grown ones from the green gorcer and planted them. They were very droopy, but after a while the new shoots came and they were a decent size  quickly 

[Melissa in Australia]

Dh just sent me a photo of the veggie garden. See if I can attach it 

[cjzimmer1]

5 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

My daughter in law stopped by this afternoon to raid the garden for cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, and carrots to go with her hummus. It made me so happy to have those garden fresh things for her.

I talked DS into stopping by and picking up a shepherd's pie I had made.  I was needing to make freezer space for the peaches.  While here, I was also able to send him with a couple of quarts of sunsugar cherry tomatoes a couple of red peppers and a small cantaloupe.  I was glad to help him out with his grocery budget but also really glad just to move something out without having to process it.  Like you I'm getting tired of it and there is still much to do.

[cjzimmer1]

Saturday we cleaned and froze 40 whole peppers for stuffed peppers this winter.  Sunday I canned 8 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Tonight I froze about a quart of cherry tomatoes plus put another 4 quarts in the dehydrator.  That with what DS took emptied the picked cherry tomatoes, but tomorrow is picking day for those.  I filled the rest of the dehydrator with sliced tomatoes (so probably close to half a bushel) and weighed out the 20 pounds I need for tomorrow's batch of spaghetti sauce.  Still have about 3/4 of a bushel on the table to dela with but I picked them a little less ripe than I normally would since rain is forecast and I didn't want them to split.  I'm hoping they will hold till Saturday because I'm not sure I'll get to them before then. 

Tomorrow's project is turn the 20 pounds I weighed out into spaghetti sauce and then can it. Blanch, slice and freeze the bushel of peaches on my table.  Pick the cherry tomatoes (and hope it is smaller than the last picking which was 7-8 quarts worth). 

I need to get the eggplant picked but it keeps getting pushed off because I run out of energy (Iron is very low and I need to go get an infusion but just it just takes a while to work through the medical system to get it all set up). 

Raspberries are starting but from the looks of it, it will be a smaller crop so hopefully we will be able to keep up with everyone just going out for fresh snacks and not have to find time and energy to pick and process.  

Enough peppers have turned colors since this weekend, that I need to make another pass and get them picked too.  But since I have no fridge space, we will have to clean and core them the day I pick so they can go straight into the freezer.  Might be able to squeeze that in Friday afternoon but we shall see. 

I think my watermelon will be ready soon too.  I haven't grown them before so not sure how to tell when they are ripe.  Google says when the tendrils start drying up near the melon so I'm watching it closely and hope I time it right.  

I discovered a lone volunteer cucumber plant in an area I ripped up last fall and then covered with wood chips (for my future perennial flower bed) a few weeks ago.  It's on the path to the compost bin so I assumed DS dropped something there.  Was out today and picked 2 cucumbers off it.  Since my other cucumbers all succumbed to the wilt over a month ago it was a welcome surprise. What I find most interesting is that it a variety I had planted last year and not this year so the seed had been laying out there all year and still took until July to germinate.  Such an interesting thing.  It is a parthenocarpic variety which in my experience are much heavier producers than others and this guy seems to be following that trend, he's absolutely loaded with baby cucumbers.  Hope the cucumber beetles stay far away and this guy keeps producing into October when my indoor cukes should be starting.  

[wisdomandtreasures]

The pumpkins are looking good, now that I've cleared all the weeds that were hiding them. 😀 Today I canned 3 1/2 pints of peach butter and 2 quarts, 6 pints of tomato sauce.

[Faith-manor]

8 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Dh just sent me a photo of the veggie garden. See if I can attach it 

That looks beautiful, Melissa!

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I talked DS into stopping by and picking up a shepherd's pie I had made.  I was needing to make freezer space for the peaches.  While here, I was also able to send him with a couple of quarts of sunsugar cherry tomatoes a couple of red peppers and a small cantaloupe.  I was glad to help him out with his grocery budget but also really glad just to move something out without having to process it.  Like you I'm getting tired of it and there is still much to do.

I know! I am tired of it too. But, I just keep at it. I don't want good food going to waste, and supplementing ds and dil with a nutrient dense produce makes me content. They ate cherry tomatoes, pepper sticks, and carrots fresh with hummus the minute they got home. Picked fresh, fully vine ripened, organically raised, I know those things are like eating big multivitamins only better. Ds doesn't always eat very well know that he is in grad school, publishing articles and columns, and doing free lance editing. Knowing they were going home to eat these things filled my mamma heart with happiness. 

Today I am making a small batch of peach salsa, canning roughly 7 quarts of plain tomatoes, and Mark wants me to can more mild enchilada sauce. I might just blanch and freeze the last of the tomatoes I have ripe at the moment and make enchilada sauce fresh throughout the winter. I keep dried garlic bulbs around, and yes, will have to buy not fresh, shipped long distance onions. But I will have peppers and jalapenos frozen from the garden as well so the flavor profile should be very, very close. I just don't feel like canning for the entire day when it is 94 outside, high humidity, and the air conditioning is struggling to keep up.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Faith-manor

[Carrie12345]

I have harvested around 5 tomatoes (including cherry, lol) 4 zucchini, a bell pepper, a handful of various hot peppers, 2 servings of small potatoes, 1 cucumber, and some herbs. All summer.

I have 1 melon growing, a few pumpkins, an eggplant or two, and the sweet potatoes might be okay. Don’t know if 1/2 my corn will mature in time. The other half is 6” tall at best, with bitty ears and hates me. In the same bed!

It makes me feel better to know an excellent gardener around the corner who also had a garbage garden this year.

Im putting up a small greenhouse before the snow comes, and I’m hoping to get a lot of bulbs in the flower garden. First I need to get some farmer sleeves and figure out additional protection because bulbs give me horrific hives.

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Scallions are spring onions I think. Will they overwinter there?  Will they sort of restart in the spring if left? 

Here they grow year round, deviding each year getting more and more. 

The spring onions here in the green grocer still have roots on them. When I first started the veggie garden many years ago I bought some full grown ones from the green gorcer and planted them. They were very droopy, but after a while the new shoots came and they were a decent size  quickly 

Yes, scallions and green onions are the same thing. I am so new to this, I have no idea if they will overwinter. Really clueless and should look that up. In Michigan, we get a lot of snow and some ice where I am at so I really need to see what things can over winter and which ones can't. I know they will freeze for sure since everything is in easier beds. Even with covers, there won't be enough heat to prevent that. So I think that just like radishes, they could be a cover crop and then filled under in the spring. But, that is me thinking but not really knowing. I should spend some time today with my nose buried in my gardening books.

[Faith-manor]

1 minute ago, Carrie12345 said:

I have harvested around 5 tomatoes (including cherry, lol) 4 zucchini, a bell pepper, a handful of various hot peppers, 2 servings of small potatoes, 1 cucumber, and some herbs. All summer.

I have 1 melon growing, a few pumpkins, an eggplant or two, and the sweet potatoes might be okay. Don’t know if 1/2 my corn will mature in time. The other half is 6” tall at best, with bitty ears and hates me. In the same bed!

It makes me feel better to know an excellent gardener around the corner who also had a garbage garden this year.

Im putting up a small greenhouse before the snow comes, and I’m hoping to get a lot of bulbs in the flower garden. First I need to get some farmer sleeves and figure out additional protection because bulbs give me horrific hives.

I am sorry your harvest was so bad. That is discouraging. Might I suggest that you get some good compost and a nice fertilizer, and add that this fall so it has time to grow good organisms? Doing it at the end of season might get you further than waiting until it is nice in the spring because just as soon as the top layer of soil thaws, it will begin perking in the bio world, but since it is cold, wet, and miserable, most gardeners won't be out trying to amend beds that early.

[Carrie12345]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I am sorry your harvest was so bad. That is discouraging. Might I suggest that you get some good compost and a nice fertilizer, and add that this fall so it has time to grow good organisms? Doing it at the end of season might get you further than waiting until it is nice in the spring because just as soon as the top layer of soil thaws, it will begin perking in the bio world, but since it is cold, wet, and miserable, most gardeners won't be out trying to amend beds that early.

I will be playing with some soil amending, but I really think it was primarily the weather. We “grew” a LOT of various fungi in nearly every bed all summer. And the lawn. And the woods. Keeping the dogs from eating random mushrooms has been a whole thing!

[Faith-manor]

18 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I will be playing with some soil amending, but I really think it was primarily the weather. We “grew” a LOT of various fungi in nearly every bed all summer. And the lawn. And the woods. Keeping the dogs from eating random mushrooms has been a whole thing!

Oh yuck! Ya. Weather is not great in the summer with climate change. I did well this year. But I think at some point in the future the Michigan summers are going to be ruined, too hot, too humid, and I will need to embrace spring and fall gardening using hoop houses over my raised beds.

[wisdomandtreasures]

I thought the tomatoes were winding down. I went out with one bowl to see if I could find "a few". Uhh...

My littlest chubby cherub was born right at the beginning of garden season so our tomatoes never got staked. We were a bit distracted by him. 😉 They're all in a big jumbled mess so quite a bit of digging is involved. 😉 Just when you think there can't be any more, move a vine and there are 5 more! 

Still plenty of orange and green ones ripening...

Edited September 6, 2023 by wisdomandtreasures

[Faith-manor]

15 minutes ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

I thought the tomatoes were winding down. I went out with one bowl to see if I could find "a few". Uhh...

My littlest chubby cherub was born right at the beginning of garden season so our tomatoes never got staked. We were a bit distracted by him. 😉 They're all in a big jumbled mess so quite a bit of digging is involved. 😉 Just when you think there can't be any more, move a vine and there are 5 more! 

Still plenty of orange and green ones ripening...

A few? 😂😂😂😂 Your plants really got you on that one!

 

Of course, I haven't been out to the garden today - been making peach salsa and processing it - so Karma being what it is, I may regret this post! 

[Melissa in Australia]

1 hour ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

I thought the tomatoes were winding down. I went out with one bowl to see if I could find "a few". Uhh...

My littlest chubby cherub was born right at the beginning of garden season so our tomatoes never got staked. We were a bit distracted by him. 😉 They're all in a big jumbled mess so quite a bit of digging is involved. 😉 Just when you think there can't be any more, move a vine and there are 5 more! 

Still plenty of orange and green ones ripening...

Last year my daughter just ran her tomatoes through the food processes to slice them up a bit, put them in zip lock bags and packed them in the freezer. She said it was way easier than peeling and bottling (canning) and worked fine in cooked dishes. She doesn't mind the small bits of skin. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I liked her idea but don't have the freezer space, so I just ran mine through the food processer and packed them into jars and bottled in the usual way without blanching and peeling. Way quicker and the skin is in very tiny bits, hardly noticeable in the cooking at all. 

I found slicing was the key, if I blended then it put too much air in the jar, resulting in only half full jars after they were finished bottling. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Melissa in Australia

[wisdomandtreasures]

I don't bother blanching, peeling, or seeding mine. I just remove stems, chop into quarters, and stick them in the crockpot. 4 hours on high, an hour without the lid to let it cook down and thicken, then I blend with a stick blender and can it. 🙂

[cjzimmer1]

3 hours ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

I thought the tomatoes were winding down. I went out with one bowl to see if I could find "a few". Uhh...

My littlest chubby cherub was born right at the beginning of garden season so our tomatoes never got staked. We were a bit distracted by him. 😉 They're all in a big jumbled mess so quite a bit of digging is involved. 😉 Just when you think there can't be any more, move a vine and there are 5 more! 

Still plenty of orange and green ones ripening...

Gee I think I could have written this post except the reason my tomatoes didn't get staked is because I sprained/fractured my foot and it was too painful to make the effort to stake them.

But looks like you have a busy week ahead of you!  Hope you have lots of uses for them.  I'm finding I have enough made of my normal things and am trying to figure out what new things I can make to use up the surplus.

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I liked her idea but don't have the freezer space, so I just ran mine through the food processer and packed them into jars and bottled in the usual way without blanching and peeling. Way quicker and the skin is in very tiny bits, hardly noticeable in the cooking at all. 

I found slicing was the key, if I blended then it put too much air in the jar, resulting in only half full jars after they were finished bottling. 

I use the stick blender which doesn't whip them as frothy as the stand blender.  Then I cook them another 15-20 minutes (but have to stir often).  That gives it enough time for the extra air to work it's way back out.  But I gave up removing the skin on tomatoes years ago.  As long as they are fine pieces I don't mind them at all.

[Melissa in Australia]

I put them in the bottles raw then steralize. 

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Last year my daughter just ran her tomatoes through the food processes to slice them up a bit, put them in zip lock bags and packed them in the freezer. She said it was way easier than peeling and bottling (canning) and worked fine in cooked dishes. She doesn't mind the small bits of skin. 

I would love to do the shorter method, except sadly, I have texture issues and hate the skin. 😭 I am "the fly in that ointment".

ETA: But I do not mind the seeds, so at least I don't have to go to that extreme.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Faith-manor
Typo

[Melissa in Australia]

Amazingly I have a capsicum plant that over wintered itself and is in full leaf still. 

Our area had the warmest and dryest winter on record

[ikslo]

I have nothing going on in this heat other than some nice looking basil starts, my fruit trees getting bigger, and my lemons starting to turn yellow. The garden - pffft. 

[popmom]

Goodness gracious! I feel like I don't even belong here with all y'all's ginormous harvests! 

@Melissa in Australia it is great to hear from you. Your garden looks amazing! I hope you can be home soon to enjoy it!

I am debating what to do with two of my 4ft x 4ft beds. These are the beds that were full of strawberries that died. The soil depth had gotten really low in those raised beds. I am going to add Black Kow and my own compost to prep for fall planting. Not sure what I will put there yet. Probably carrots in one of the beds. The spaces (not raised beds) where I had beans planted I am just going to plant a cover crop. Cereal rye or buckwheat. I won't be able to do that until October. 

I have some beautiful lettuce growing in my Aerogardens. Love those things.

[Faith-manor]

8 hours ago, popmom said:

Goodness gracious! I feel like I don't even belong here with all y'all's ginormous harvests! 

@Melissa in Australia it is great to hear from you. Your garden looks amazing! I hope you can be home soon to enjoy it!

I am debating what to do with two of my 4ft x 4ft beds. These are the beds that were full of strawberries that died. The soil depth had gotten really low in those raised beds. I am going to add Black Kow and my own compost to prep for fall planting. Not sure what I will put there yet. Probably carrots in one of the beds. The spaces (not raised beds) where I had beans planted I am just going to plant a cover crop. Cereal rye or buckwheat. I won't be able to do that until October. 

I have some beautiful lettuce growing in my Aerogardens. Love those things.

Hey, I am probably just running on pure, dumb luck with my garden, so don't let that get you down! If spent more time out there, those plants would have been self mutilating and giving up on life. 😁 This is a total fluke for me. Who knows what next year will be like. That said, I think Michigan, surrounded by Great Lakes climate, seems to be a good place to garden. Many of the gardeners on these threads face conditions that would have stopped me in my tracks.

[wisdomandtreasures]

These are the tomatoes that never end! They just grow on and on, my friend! This lady started growing them, fully knowing what it was... and she'll continue canning them forever just because these are the tomatoes that never ennnnnd.... 😉

Picked a few potatoes, too! Ahem. 

Edited September 9, 2023 by wisdomandtreasures
Typos

[Faith-manor]

27 minutes ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

These are the tomatoes that never end! They just grow on and on, my friend! This lady started growing them, fully knowing what it was... and she'll continue canning them forever just because these are the tomatoes that never ennnnnd.... 😉

Picked a few potatoes, too! Ahem. 

I love your potatoes. I think I want to try growing some next year.

You have the energized bunnies of tomato plants!

[popmom]

I have been able to pick a precious few maters, and they have been excellent. So I am happy. 🙂 

 

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

These are the tomatoes that never end! They just grow on and on, my friend! This lady started growing them, fully knowing what it was... and she'll continue canning them forever just because these are the tomatoes that never ennnnnd.... 😉

Picked a few potatoes, too! Ahem. 

Look at all those lovely tomatoes (even though I can totally understand feeling like they will never end).  I see you cooking them down.  What are you planning to do with them?

 

I had planned to grow potatoes but between my bad foot and the extreme surplus of peppers plants from the greenhouse, they just never happened.  I do have some starting to chit on my counter so I will stick them in buckets and set them around the cucumbers in my basement.  I did the last year and the overflow light was plenty to keep the potatoes happy.  

 

[wisdomandtreasures]

3 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

What are you planning to do with them?

After cooking down, I blend them into sauce. 🙂 I decided to do a batch of diced tomatoes, too.

 

Edit: I just counted and I have been able to can 99 jars of homegrown tomatoes! 11 quarts of diced tomatoes and all the rest are sauce. Whew!

Edited September 10, 2023 by wisdomandtreasures

[cjzimmer1]

3 hours ago, wisdomandtreasures said:

After cooking down, I blend them into sauce. 🙂 I decided to do a batch of diced tomatoes, too.

 

Edit: I just counted and I have been able to can 99 jars of homegrown tomatoes! 11 quarts of diced tomatoes and all the rest are sauce. Whew!

You have been busy!  I haven't done any plain tomatoes since 2020 since I'm still working through the massive amount I had that year (That year the greenhouse was left with tons of tomato plants so I planted every one I could squeeze in and ended up with somewhere between 800-1000 lbs of tomatoes and I didn't have a pressure canner so everything was canned as just plain tomatoes). This year I'm doing things like spaghetti sauce and dehydrating which all shrinks down to a much smaller storage footprint.  

But it's a lot of work but feels so good all winter to eat food you grew and preserved yourself!

[wisdomandtreasures]

13 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

somewhere between 800-1000 lbs of tomatoes

Holy kookamongas! That is impressive! 👏

[Faith-manor]

I did my count, and have 18 quarts plain tomatoes, 28 pints of various taco sauces (half are hot, half mild), 14 jelly jars peach salsa which contained tomatoes as well, 7 pints mild salsa, 7 pints medium salsa. 39 quarts plus the tomatoes in the peach salsa, so maybe 42 quarts total of canned tomatoes. I have another batch ripening, but the Amish paste plants are really dying down so there will only be a small amount of tomatoes after this, and I will just blanch the skins off and freeze. So I think I have had about a bushel plus a few from my 8 plants.

I am sharing with my kids, but is this isn't enough since we are a tomato heavy use family. I still have bell peppers, jalapenos, and chilies to use, so this coming week I am buying a half bushel of romas and making more. Next year, I am going to grow 16 Amish Paste. I think that will give us enough. My mom grew early girls, and then bought Roma's to fill out. She is canning for herself and for our DD.and her family I really appreciate that because if is a LOT of work to try to preserve harvest for four households. And next year, C and dil G, will not have a roommate in their other bedroom, and intend on your putting up a lot of shelves. G loves my garden produce and wants to "put up harvest" too, so she is going to come and learn to can with me. This makes me really happy.

I have canned 12 jelly jars of pickled jalapenos. The only other person besides Mark who uses these is A, and we will see him next weekend for a wedding so I can give him 6 jars.

I have 90 chili peppers strung on threads and hanging up to dry. They are very pretty in the kitchen, and smell great. I am also harvesting the celery this week. Four huge stalks. We will keep one for eating fresh, but the other three will be chopped and dehydrated. I love having it around for soups and stews. Scallions will be pulled too.

I ended up with 200 carrots. We have been eating fresh, but I have also diced a bunch and frozen them for winter cooking. I have a gallon size bag of them.

The final count on cucumbers was 52 from the four plants.

12 heads of broccoli. Much of that is in the freezer as well.

14 eggplants. I ended up giving almost all of them away. I don't cook with eggplant, and Mark only got around to making eggplant curry once. So I told him we won't be devoting space to 4 plants. We will do just one in a 5 gallon bucket.

2 full quarts of dehydrated grape and cherry tomatoes. That is a LOT of grape tomatoes. They dry down so tiny. I really enjoy them in that texture, and drying seems to bring out text he sweetness. I had some on my tacos the other day.

We only had a few radishes. I am going to try to do more next year because Mark and A really love those things.

We had a lot of snow peas in the spring and through June. I will definitely be growing them again along with some kind of sweet, shelling pea since we love those in soups and casseroles.

Basil. I have harvested a lot of basil. I have some more to do tomorrow, and then I will be pulling the plants. I have one in the window as a house plant for winter.

Apple season commences on Tuesday after I get the purchased tomatoes processed. Between that and the wedding (I am decorating for it), I will be fairly worn out by Sunday the 17th. I will still have more apples to do, but after that, I want to take a break from the kitchen, prep the garden for winter, and start making my Halloween quilt.

[Ausmumof3]

On 9/6/2023 at 12:45 PM, Melissa in Australia said:

Dh just sent me a photo of the veggie garden. See if I can attach it 

We have a running family joke now because DH used to comment on how awesome someone’s fruit tree netting set up was every time we drove past. Now every time we go past the kids are like “look at the netting! How good is that!

All that to say what a great set up! 
 

 

[Ausmumof3]

DH is mostly doing the gardening at the moment. We have broccoli heads forming and unfortunately cabbage moths. Loads of spinach and kale. Snow peas slowly getting going. We dug up about 5 or 6kg of potatoes the last few days.

Fruit trees are mostly flowering but sadly I think we lost two peach trees to curl leaf last year. The orange tree has finally cropped after years of waiting but the oranges don’t seem to sweeten much. 
 

We still get a handful of jalapeños and mini capsicums from last years plants every couple of weeks. Loads of herbs if we want them.

[Ausmumof3]

On 9/7/2023 at 6:43 AM, Melissa in Australia said:

Amazingly I have a capsicum plant that over wintered itself and is in full leaf still. 

Our area had the warmest and dryest winter on record

I want to say yay, but summer is scaring me 😞 

[Faith-manor]

1 minute ago, Ausmumof3 said:

DH is mostly doing the gardening at the moment. We have broccoli heads forming and unfortunately cabbage moths. Loads of spinach and kale. Snow peas slowly getting going. We dug up about 5 or 6kg of potatoes the last few days.

Fruit trees are mostly flowering but sadly I think we lost two peach trees to curl leaf last year. The orange tree has finally cropped after years of waiting but the oranges don’t seem to sweeten much. 
 

We still get a handful of jalapeños and mini capsicums from last years plants every couple of weeks. Loads of herbs if we want them.

I am sad about your peach trees and the evil cabbage moths.

[Ausmumof3]

Just now, Faith-manor said:

I am sad about your peach trees and the evil cabbage moths.

Yeah! The cabbage moths are such a pain. The peach trees I have mixed feelings about. They were seedlings from my dads orchard and the fruit is kind of small and annoying to process so although it’s sad to lose them we will have space for something a little better hopefully. 

[Ausmumof3]

Also we planted some flowers this year 

They are making me 😃 

[Faith-manor]

24 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Also we planted some flowers this year 

They are making me 😃 

Gorgeous!!!

[Faith-manor]

37 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Yeah! The cabbage moths are such a pain. The peach trees I have mixed feelings about. They were seedlings from my dads orchard and the fruit is kind of small and annoying to process so although it’s sad to lose them we will have space for something a little better hopefully. 

I can understand that. We let an ornamental cherry die here. I wasn't willing to invest time and money into keeping it going. It didn't produce any fruit worth effort. I want to plant a Montmorency cherry in its place.

Is there any beneficial insect that eats the moth larva?

[Laurel-in-CA]

Summer was late this year (much less risky fire season!) and in my few raised beds we have mostly tomatoes and basil...two japanese eggplant, which have given me about 5 total eggplants. The Sungold has been prolific with cherry tomatoes as usual, and I planted pineapple tomatoes which are big beefsteak heirlooms -- yum! Some grape tomatoes and san marzanos. I just planted 2 raised beds with asparagus crowns...they're right down the middle of a 3' wide bed and I'm wondering if I can plant carrots or greens along the sides???

Anyway, I don't can or dry, so we are enjoying whatever we can fresh. This winter I have to add compost and alfalfa pellets, and then I will probably top that with some water-retaining garden soil for next year.

[Ausmumof3]

8 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I can understand that. We let an ornamental cherry die here. I wasn't willing to invest time and money into keeping it going. It didn't produce any fruit worth effort. I want to plant a Montmorency cherry in its place.

Is there any beneficial insect that eats the moth larva?

‘Lacewing larvae, damsel bugs, shield bugs and ladybird beetles feed on eggs and larvae of both pest species.’

I found this. We do have quite a lot of these insects but clearly they’re not keeping up. You can also get a superfine insect mesh so I guess we could try that.

[cjzimmer1]

22 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

‘Lacewing larvae, damsel bugs, shield bugs and ladybird beetles feed on eggs and larvae of both pest species.’

I found this. We do have quite a lot of these insects but clearly they’re not keeping up. You can also get a superfine insect mesh so I guess we could try that.

Amazon.com : Portable Chicken Run Hen Coop,Walk-in Poultry House,Outdoor Gardening Net,Easy-up Small Animals Enclosure for Protecting Pet and Plant with Metal Frames and 10 Stakes in Backyard and Farm : Patio, Lawn & Garden

I have one of these that I grow all my brassicas under.  For the first year ever, I haven't had to deal with a single worm.  With the zip open sides, it's easy to get in to weed and harvest but keeps the critters out when closed.

[DawnM]

Once we move we have plans for a greenhouse.   My oldest son loves to garden and hopefully we will have some year round options in there!

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, DawnM said:

Once we move we have plans for a greenhouse.   My oldest son loves to garden and hopefully we will have some year round options in there!

I thunk that is a lovely idea.

In one of my gardening books, I was reading that when we disturb the soil to plant, weed, harvest, we stir up beneficial microorganisms that cause our serotonin levels to rise which is the scientific explanation for why gardening is a confirmed treatment for mild depression. I am going to guess this is why time spent in nature works since if one is hiking, sitting in the grass, picking flowers, etc. this mild disturbance of soil still occurs.

I now want a greenhouse. But winter here is harsh enough that we would need a rather robust one with heating because it might not stay warm enough just with solar energy when the temps and wind chills are zero or worse.

[cjzimmer1]

1 minute ago, Faith-manor said:

I thunk that is a lovely idea.

In one of my gardening books, I was reading that when we disturb the soil to plant, weed, harvest, we stir up beneficial microorganisms that cause our serotonin levels to rise which is the scientific explanation for why gardening is a confirmed treatment for mild depression. I am going to guess this is why time spent in nature works since if one is hiking, sitting in the grass, picking flowers, etc. this mild disturbance of soil still occurs.

I now want a greenhouse. But winter here is harsh enough that we would need a rather robust one with heating because it might not stay warm enough just with solar energy when the temps and wind chills are zero or worse.

I'm in the same boat as you which is why I've turned to indoor gardening.  And while I didn't know the bit about the soil, it just confirms my decision to do my indoor gardening in soil instead of the more popular hydroponics.