I'm just in from watering the garden which has been a (nearly) must-do activity each day. Had a friend visiting this afternoon and I felt good she thought my garden looked fantastic. Over the years we've worked hard at building up good soil so I'm sure that's helping everything that has got to be stressed by our complete lack of rainfall.
We had zero germination sowing buckwheat on our two garden plots we chose to leave fallow this year. Between the crows filling their craws with the sown seed and our coming to the conclusion that the seed may have been a tad on the old side (arrrgh), the cover crop turned out to be a no go. But Papa Pea has taken the turn of events as an opportunity to spread lots of great compost on the bare soil which will be a benefit for next year.
My garlic needs to be dug and hung to cure tomorrow.
I planted only six cabbages (three green and three red) with the thought of using them as they matured and not trying to hold any over in the root cellar this year.
We've eaten one of the green ones and another is ready for harvesting.
The red cabbages are a little slower than the green and are just forming soft ball sized heads now.
While watering tonight, I found the first slicing cucumber. It's approaching jumbo size (not) at nearly three inches long.
The green peppers continue to put out nice sized fruits already. (It seems a bit early according to my records of past years.)
The one that got blown over before I staked them all up has called it quits and is headed toward the compost heap.
The sugar snap peas are producing and are great in our salads or just tossed into boiling water for a minute or two as that's how we like them cooked. Great for breakfast with eggs and sausage.
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We continue to keep at our Summer of the Massive Purge and it's going well. At the same time, it's unbelievable how much time needs to be put into each and every area we tackle. And most of the storage areas are ones that are oppressively hot in this unusual heat we're having this summer. It's a drain on our physical and mental/emotional bodies to stay at it for more than a few hours a day. But we also know it would be even more uncomfortable working in the outside storage areas (for many reasons) in the winter time.
We've sold some things but most of what we want to get rid of has been given away to one source or another because we just want to get it gone and be done with it.
This is the latest batch on the back porch to be re-homed, relocated or gotten rid of tomorrow. We both ran out of steam this afternoon and agreed we'd clear these items out first thing tomorrow morning.
All in all, it's a rewarding job, this undertaking, and we haven't had more than two or three drag 'em out fights as to whether specific objects go or stay. It's all worth it. So far.
14 comments:
Good for yous ! Yes I spelled it as intended.
I know only to well what it is like to muster up energy when the temperature is ominously oppressive.
I could say that if you live with it long enough you will learn ways to deal with it . That’s most likely not what you want to hear. And neither do I.
Press on and you are a beacon in a haze of humidity!
Those are some impressive cabbages and beautiful peppers! How do you keep the nasty green cabbage worms at bay? What a difference there is in the weather every year. My water barrels are languishing this July, because of our surfeit of rain, and I kind of miss the watering routine!! Glad you are making headway on the 'clear out'. Bet that gives you a good feeling!
There is nothing like a good purge of stuff to raise my spirits.Looks like you are doing great!
You are having opposite weather from me! Why is Mother Nature so bi-polar these days? We are getting a rare sunny day today and our plan is to recuperate and NOT work because we have been battling on damply in our wood lot for two weeks and burned (damp) brush all day yesterday which took three tries to light. My husband just threw a load of soggy, muddy work clothes in the wash and said "let's just stay out of the poison ivy for a few days".
I always marvel at your peppers - they do so well! I've stopped trying and that's something I'll buy at the grocery store. Oh, how I envy your purge!! I am married to a saver, not a purger. -Jenn
You're getting a LOT from your garden already. I have teeny-tiny snow peas forming; my peppers are struggling in the shade of my tomatillo 'trees,' but we won't starve – we have ZUCCHINI! Last night I made zucchini/basil pesto; it's good!
Your garden looks amazing! We are battling too much rain this year so far but I am getting a few pepper and squash. Have a great week.
I love "visiting" other people's gardens. Do you stake your peppers because the plants are tall or because of the wind? Im realizing after reading your blog that I know very little about Minnesota.
I just came from visiting two blogs where rain has created big problems. No rain is just as bad! I think your hard work on the soil over the years is truly showing its worth, especially with those cabbages. We finally have some much-needed rain today. Maybe I should do some house purging myself.
Goatldi - Living here in northern Minnesota for close to 50 years now (yikes, where have those years gone?) we've lost all of our tolerance for heat and humidity we both grew up with in Illinois. 'Tis true what you say. One does adapt (thank heavens!) to the environment, but we've not yet had to learn what consistently hot summers are like up here. This year has been so different! But don't worry about us as we just keep drinking water and taking lots of showers! (Big laundry loads, too.)
Rosalea - Those dreaded white cabbage moths are a constant threat in my garden. They make a few holes in the cabbage leaves but I never (knock, knock) find the nasty worms within the heads. I've about given up growing broccoli, though, because I can't get totally worm-free heads with them. Grrrr.
Retired Knitter - I know you understand what going through all accumulated "stuff" entails and how it can be a freeing experience!
SmartAlex - Aha! So Mother Nature is bi-polar?! That explains a lot. Good for you and your hubby for being sensible enough to take a day to relax, recuperate, dry out and avoid the poison ivy!
Jenn - I'm married to a saver also and that's why I continue to be amazed that he's doing such a great job of going through and getting rid of A LOT of his stuff! Yay!!!
Michelle - I've never known anyone who enjoys and gets so much good food from zucchini as you do! If postal rates weren't so high these days, you'd have tons of it shipping to you from we crazy gardeners all over the country.
Lisa K - Yep, we gardeners are either in a drought period or nearly flooding out from too much rainfall. Why can't we even out??
Tressa - I stake our peppers mainly because they bear so heavily that branches and even the main stems are broken by the weight. Also, we do continually have wind problems so the stakes no doubt help support the plants when it comes to that, too.
Leigh - Glad you got a bit of rain. Still no sign of any possibilities of same for us in the near future. Sigh. Not good, especially for the fire danger.
Wow your cabbages are beautiful! I never had too much luck with those myself. Good for you cleaning out so much stuff! We do tend to stay on top of cleaning out our closets every year to Etc and we don't actually have a whole lot in our garage mostly decorative stuff for the holiday seasons around the year. I envy you all that fresh garlic! I bought some local at a farmers market and it was almost really juicy. I had never seen garlic that awesomely fresh before but I usually buy at the grocery store so that's probably why. Good luck with your Purge!
Great garden photos! Good for you getting some downsizing done…we have plans to do that very thing next week! It is a struggle to make those keep or get rid of decisions! Have a perfect week, and hope you get some cooler weather soon!
Nancy - I hung the garlic to cure today and ended up with 88 bulbs. Much more than we need but none of the bulbs were what I'd call large. I've not been happy with this garlic (I've kept it going for several years) and plan to order some new "stock" to plant this fall. I haven't had a chance to harvest more green cabbage yet but MUST do so tomorrow morning as the heads are getting much larger than I want!
wyomingheart - Our temperature today was about 30° cooler than yesterday. And was that ever welcome! Mother Nature is really playing games with us. No rain in sight yet. Another day with smoke in the air, but we're doing okay. I finished the cleaning, organizing and purging of my side (yes, we each have a side!) of the big storage shed in back today. Papa Pea has gone through his side once very quickly so it shouldn't take him long to finalize it now. Good, good, good!
Oh, you won't regret the purge. I recently told another blogger friend, I look at it like loosing weight (off my shoulders). I just lost 400 lbs. worth of stuff! :-)
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