What's Growing in the Garden

Haven't been ignoring the garden or the forums these past few weeks, just finding more peace with my head buried in the garden. I knew it was coming for months but the reality was harsh when the phone call came that a cousin in PA was in a death spiral. Buried him last weekend. Sixty Nine years is just too damned young. Have just mostly felt like keeping to myself since...

Burying my head in biology too. The foliar feeding with the eggshell/cow bone solution has greatly changed my garden for the better. Been listening to some lectures from a chap named Nigel Palmer on youtube where I learned about the eggshell solution. Still waiting to get his book on regenerative gardening but his website has some great info about the nutrient in different common materials that can be made into natural fertilizers without lining the pockets of corporate America.
 
Almost forgot, the above mentioned book is on sale half price right now. Well worth full price IMHO, certainly worth half. Lots of other books in our orbit on sale, some up to 90% off.

 
Ok, all this talk about canning, preserving, freezing, "putting food by" has got Lil Mikey's juices flowing and he decided to do some canning. Found an article about an easy way of canning soup. Worked goodly!

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My daughter heard that I have not been able to harvest a ripe fig from my trees. She felt sorry for the old man and bought him some figs.

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Couple of things I'm trying. I planted some sugar snap peas august 1st to try for a fall crop, looks like they have chance with blossoms popping out. I also planted buckwheat where early peas and string beans grew for green manure and weed control. IMG_20220910_080809465.webp IMG_20220910_080752029.webp
 
Why don't my beans which I planted in August look like yours (lol)?
 
A little late to get my order in - a lot of different varieties to choose from are listed as sold out now - but I finally placed a seed garlic order. Ordered from Filaree Farm, which Tim had mentioned previously. Ordered a 1/2lb each of Chesnok Red and Killarney Red (which I read is supposed to be like a Spanish Roja).

This past week we *finally* harvested our first tomatoes. After topping them, they've finally decided to start ripening the fruit.

Still pulling in shishito, poblano, jalapeno, and cubanelle peppers. Waiting for bell peppers to ripen beyond green into their various colors - starting to now. Jalapenos have been slow to start, but now have an abundance that will hopefully mature well over the next couple weeks. Also waiting for kalugeritsas to mature/turn red - I have two plants of this and they're some of the few pepper plants I started from seed that survived a very warm couple weeks right after transplanting. Habanadas will hopefully also mature/turn color soon as well.
 
I've been looking all over the internet for bare root strawberry plants to plant this fall. All of the big nursery's want to sell plugs for around $5 each, I finally checked eBay. I found a seller offering bare root plants for about $30/25 shipping included. They claim to be a small family nursery in Pennsylvania, the reviews were mixed. I figured for $30 I'd chance it and ordered some, the only variety hardy in our zone was Albion ever baring. These arrived looking pretty dead, normal for bare root. They have been in exactly 7 days and I couldn't be happier. They are planted a little too close together because the bundle had extra. Hopefully they will get well established before a killing frost, when I will mulch them heavily with straw for the winter. IMG_20220912_142036711_HDR.webp
 
I've got my late planting of beans on a cattle panel trellis that tops out at 5' high. They're starting to bloom. I've got a 3' high fence of chicken wire around them to protect them from the rabbits. But now, something is eating on them above the chicken wire fence. The ground is dry and I don't see any tracks so I don't know if it's deer or not. Grasshoppers?
 
Deer do love beans. An electric fence wire a few inches above the chicken wire should be very effective 😊
 
Never had problems before. But there are a lot of newborns and their moms around.
 
Not a whole lot growing, few tomatoes left to ripen and hopefully some late sugar snap peas. Been digging potatoes as we need them since July, looks like way more than we need. My daughter in law takes her maple products to the farmers market on Fridays so I sent along a few red Norland potatoes. Hopefully she doesn't bring them all home. IMG_20220916_072919610.webp IMG_20220916_072958695.webp
 
Started picking apples this afternoon. Picked 3/4 bushel in about 5 minutes. These are Winesap. Going to freeze a bunch, dry some and lots of applesauce.

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Nice, I miss my apple trees that we had at the old house. Lots of wild ones here, one of them makes good pies and a mix of them all makes some interesting cider.
 
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