Yesterday it started raining here around 10 am and it hasn’t stopped since. And it’s been lovely. If only we had gotten a good soak about two weeks ago everyone’s lawns wouldn’t be so brown and crunchy.
Oh well. Some summers are like that. I’m just glad the grown is finally getting a nice drink.
The HH told me he read online that we’re down about 7 inches in rainfall in our area for the year so far. This makes me wonder if we’re going to have a really wet fall, or just remain in the negative this year. Only time will tell I guess.
How My August Gardening in Coastal Maine Goes?
Last fall when I was cleaning up the kitchen garden I tossed all the dead plants and flowers down on the lasagna garden and surprise surprise, some volunteer petunias popped up. I just love when that happens, don’t you?
Out of all the gardens this year {kitchen, religious, lasagna} the lasagna garden is by far doing the best. It’s loaded with squash and corn right now and I think it will be interesting to see what we’ll actually get to harvest once everything starts to ripen down there.
The deer seem to think I’ve planted a garden just from them and have already eaten about 99% of the sunflowers, 75% of the beans. Strangely enough though, they don’t seem interested in the tomatoes {KNOCK ON WOOD!}.
A delicata squash!!! I found one. The Chef will be so happy.
Up in the kitchen garden though, it’s a different story. So far we haven’t had any intruders this year {not even any chippys munching on my tomatoes} and everything is doing really well up by the house.
I have absolutely no idea what kind of peppers these are. The Duck Lady gave me a few of her extra pepper plants and I mixed them in with mine and so I have no clue. Do these look familiar to you?
And those Boston picklers I planted… HOLY COW MAN are they ever prolific! If you’re looking for the perfect cucumber seed to plant next year, get the Boston pickling cucumbers. You won’t be disappointed.
Just don’t turn your back on them because they’ll quadruple in size if you miss a day or two of picking. 😉
A typical harvest these days.
The tomatoes I’ve been canning, but beans I’ve been freezing in quart sized zip baggies every few days and I think at last count I was up to 16 quart sized bags in the freezer.
They’ll be great this winter as a side dish and in all those pot pies we tend to eat during the colder months.
Some people don’t blanch their beans before freezing them, but I do. I just trim the beans, dunk them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds until the color of the skins change and then plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking process.
After that I drain the beans and lay them on a clean dishcloth to dry before packing them into portion sized {about 2 cups} zip baggies and tossing them into the freezer.
I don’t know about you, but I absolutely LOVE reaching into the freezer and pulling out a bag of homegrown goodness during the winter months. It’s like being able to pull little gifts from the garden and it puts a smile on my face every single time.
Life is good!
So what’s new in YOUR garden this week? What have you been harvesting these past few days? Have you planted any of your fall crops yet?
Have a good one,
~Mavis
Julie says
I’m harvesting tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, Swiss chard, kale, eggplant, and green beans. And herbs, I just dehydrated sage and basil. I’ve put in some garden seed… carrots, white Russian kale, and a bit of bok choy. But I was a bit early on seeding the bok choy so will be redoing it.
Wendy C says
In South Carolina here and we just did a bunch of fall planting Monday. It’s my first time trying a fall planting here, so we’ll see what happens.
Tammy says
I’m in SC too and am looking forward to growing a fall garden. I haven’t planted anything through.
TC says
Without a deer fence you will lose so much of your harvest. I have a problem with planting seeds and very young plants, the bugs get them so quickly so now I take a plastic water bottle, cut of the bottom and then put the baby seedling in it put the cap end in the soil about 2″ down and you can water directly into the bottle so the water gets directed right to the roots, you can leave it there all the time as the plant will grow above the bottle. You can use small bottle or large one’s whatever you have and depending on the plant and it gives some protection for those tender plants for quite a while. I guess if you still have issues you can spray oil on the outside of the bottle so it is harder for them to climb up it.
Mary says
Love the blurb on green beans, same exact scenario here!
Pam F. says
No idea on the peppers but hubby thinks they’re Ancho Peppers or Ancho Poblano peppers. I’d cut one off and march over to the duck lady and ask.
As for the butternut squash, I decided to try the smaller ones this year. Seems a new novelty veg comes out every year. Fun to grow though.
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes! Thank you. I planted Ancho peppers and totally forgot! 🙂
Linda Sand says
I saw that picture of petunias and I swear I could smell them!
Susan says
We are harvesting lots of pattypan, straight yellow and crookneck squash. Very few zucchini
Did a first picking of yellow beans and green beans and have just been eating them. Do want to do a couple batches of Dilly Beans
Going to have a nice crop of delicato
Hubby planted some old carrot seeds and beets a couple weeks ago and they are doing great!
Tomatoes are slowly coming in. slowly. Walla Walla onions are ready. Made a couple batches of onion rings to eat and also made some for the freezer.
Lettuce is starting to bolt. Need to plant another row. Kale is looking sad, too. Need to replant that,
Corn will be ready soon. Wasn’t looking good at first but now it’s really right on time and about 8 feet tall.
The biggest bust this year was the snow peas. Planted them along the fence and the deer had a feast on them. Only got a handful
Mavis Butterfield says
I love the teeny tiny patty pan. I think I’m going to add those to my list for next year. Thanks Susan!! 🙂
Cecile says
My garden, I should say Cherry tomato plant is doing amazingly well! I’ve only had one before in a pot and it never did this good! I’m getting at least a pint and a half every two days off of it since they started to ripen! There’s only the two of us and four when the kids come home for a visit so we’ve been eating them with our breakfast, our pickety bit platters and in various types of salads to use them up! I’ve even given the neighbours a couple zip bags full! I’m hoping for a warm fall so all the tomatoes on it actually turn red; I bet I have at least 4 pints left to ripen. As for your massive pickling cucumber, you should make cucumber jelly with those ones. My grandma gave me her recipe for it and it’s basically just the white part of the cucumber put through the blender then add sugar and pectin and a couple drops of green food colouring to make it look cucumber-ish! It’s great for entertaining and having with cream cheese or on brie but even better on toast with Boursin pepper cheese for breakfast!
Terena says
Hi Mavis. I live in small-town Saskatchewan and the deer regularly strip any unfenced gardens. However they rarely touch the tomatoes. Older gardeners tell me that they don’t like ‘hairy’ leaves (usually!).
They also avoid the onions, chives, garlic and leeks as they don’t like the smell. I’ve had success planting a ‘hedge’ of chives around some flower and vegetable beds, in case you want to try that. But really, the deer are unpredictable in their appetites!
Lyn says
I am not sure, but the peppers look like they could be Anaheim to me. Your garden is lovely by the way, and your posts always brighten my day!
Patti says
I am glad you are seeing the results of the lasagna garden. It is amazing to me. We have four “grave size” plots and we produce a huge amount of food from them using this method. We have added stock tanks around them to be able to grow more. And we have a tremendous amount of cherry tomatoes growing out of our compost – from the old plants, I guess. Gardening is so fun!
Christine Hagen says
That looks like a pimento. If they are, they are not hot. They are thicker than a bell and dehydrate nicely.
Tiffany F says
I love Boston picking cucumbers! They’ve been a favorite for a few years. Petunias are also my favorite. I always put a large pot of them on my front porch. I normally drop the dead heads back into the planter when I pinch them off but last year I dropped them down into the flower bed by the porch. This year I have a 4×6 foot flower bed FULL of petunias. Unexpected, but I love it!
Annette says
Tiffany,
Do you get budworms on your petunias? They obliterate my petunias every year.
cindy says
Your veggie garden is amazing and your harvest will be awesome.
Jules says
Mavis, I’m wondering how your green beans taste when you cook them after freezing them. I’ve always canned my beans but if they have a fresher taste with freezing I might just try that!
Teresa J says
I was late getting my garden started this summer and I’m constantly fighting what I believe are aphids,. I only used half of my lasagna garden and left the other half covered.