Turning into August, Garden Update

 Garden update this weekend...

Eggplants

Eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, & Coxcombs

Eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, & Coxcombs

Bean harvest from the garden

Porch swing in the garden

Hibiscus

Hibiscus 🌺 

I have a number of pumpkin plants blooming, but none setting fruit. I went around hand pollinating blooms for the pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash. But I heard somewhere that blooms need to be pollinated at least 10 times to increase the chances of having a healthy fruit. 

🎃 

Pumpkins blooming

Cucumbers blooming 

Canna Lilly flowering

Late Summer Garden Harvest

This garden year hasn't been as fruitful. I was able to harvest some greens early summer, but late summer garden has only provided a couple batches of beans and cucumbers. 

I will say, though, the canned beans and pickled cucumbers will last me until next garden year.

Here are a couple pictures over last month's garden harvests.

August 15, 2023 

Wednesday, September 6th 2023

Potato Harvest & other nature things of August

This garden year has been quite...lacking. I feel that I haven't been able to harvest a single thing from Spring to Summer. But! I finally harvested my potatoes...

Golden potato harvest from the garden. We've been eating on potatoes- making fried potatoes, smashed-baked potatoes and mashed potatoes.

I'm still crossing my fingers on the peppers to fruit. They are healthy looking plants with very minuscule fruits growing. My corn is a bust- but not a waste- I normally end up using my corn stalk for fall scenes, anyway. I've never had luck with the crop.

Alas, I've got some seeds down in the ground. I cleaned and tilled a spot that I had thr potatoes growing- and sowed lettuces, spinach, and peas. On the other side of the fencing, I have to transplant some broccoli plants I bought from the store.

I fenced around the garden because my grandma's cats are wreaking havoc again- she has about 20 of them at this very moment, so it's been a challenge with the garden this year, among a million other challenges.

My garden has shrunk since a few years has passed; but new adventures are to come...Sometimes, I think to myself- "I'm going to start a new blog- of foraging and small or big adventures, and travel"- and just forget about the domesticated life...live more nomadically... 

When you go on adventures- you get to find rare orchids in the foothills of Appalachia near a boggy area...

Fringed Orchid growing at a nearby pond. Fringed orchids apparently like it boggy. 

The path of orchids lead up to this pond with an inviting little dock...

And, it's always a good time to see some people from your past and chug a beer...

Drinking some kind of pickle juice hot sauce beer.

I like an adventure, but I like some routine too...i go to my grandma's and grandpa's about every Sundsy- admiring flowers...I took pictures of my grandma's flower garden...Her hibisci are ravishing.

 

Pickling & Prepping Fall Garden

On Monday, I drove out to one of the gardens, and cleaned up the rows of potatoes. 

I was able harvest some more I dug up; and then I tilled this patch. 

I blocked this patch off with fencing to keep the vining cucumber and squash plants away so I could plant a small fall garden.  

I managed to weed, till, fence off, AND sow seeds actually! I sowed Romaine and butter crunch lettuce, Collards, Spinach, and Arugula seed. 

While cleaning up the cucumber and squash patch, I harvested some cucumbers and pickled these 3 small jars with some apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, fresh dill from my apartment garden, and salt, black pepper, and mustard seed.

Peach & pears + Squash & gourds in August

Yesterday, I worked in the garden placing cardboard on each of my cushaw squash and gourds growing. I didn't take pictures of the cushaws, but here are a few of the little gourds growing...

Today, I investigated my other garden. I was not pleased. I hadn't been able to tend to it in months. It was out of control with weeds that were taller than houses. But, almost all of my peach and pear trees had fruit. 

There were probably hundreds of peaches, but the majority were rotten or rotting. 

Grandma canned the beans and potatoes I harvested last week...

Here I have harvested some cucumbers from the garden. 

I aim to pickle some of these cucumbers I harvested yesterday too. I was gifted some peppers, so I want to pickle the peppers with the cucumbers. 

Gourds everywhere & garden flowers

 I know I have been taking pictures of the same garden features this year; I have not been able to get to my second garden which was my Food forest garden. Unfortunately, I'm not sure when I'll ever get back there. 

I digress, though; in this garden, I tied up my corn on yesterday. They were flattened by the flooding; so I bundled them on posts. Around the corn are gourds growing everywhere and beans making another flush. I'm going to lick the beans tomorrow; but I wanted to show you a couple of cute gourds that will be going in my Fall scene.

Fall will be upon us before we know it. For a month it has been 80 to 90 degrees everyday; but I feel the summer creeping out. 

The cucumbers are finally producing.

And, my Grandmother's flower gardens are never boring...