Gardening

[Sarongman]

I also filled my Mazda BT50 with a few slurps of unleaded not long after I had taken delivery and did the same thing filling it right up to the top of the filler pipe and also getting a jerry can full for a few regular top ups. Four years later, the car is still going strong despite dire warnings to the contrary from some pundits. There must be a threshold, but I for one, am not going looking for it! Garden wise, sadly I've just buried our new Border collie pup who was run over this morning. We are looking to move, if we can, to somewhere further off the road as the cars travel here like bats out of hell.

[Kirbstone]

Sorry to hear about your little border collie, Sarongman. It's a gut-wrenching thing to have some idiot run your pet over. Frankly I just cannot understand how some motorists can do that.
Very fortunately for us we have a bit of space and a 150-yd. drive out to a very rough little road which is not used by the boy-racers, so we haven't lost a pet here. Mind you, we did invest in proper fencing all round and a decent pet-proof gate, which is kept very shut.

Re: wrong fuels, I've heard that it's worse to put diesel into a petrol car. Here the diameter of a diesel nozzle won't fit into the pipe of a petrol car, not the other way round, however!.

Tom

[straightfairy]

It's a gut-wrenching thing to have some idiot run your pet over. Frankly I just cannot understand how some motorists can do that.

As someone who has hit what were obviously pet dogs/cats, I can assure you it's not a matter of choice.
I've hit 3, 2 dogs and a cat.
All 3 ran out of a drive onto the road. Even though i braked, could not avoid.
One of the dogs hit the front wheel and was concussed, but otherwise ok.
One I hit full on its side with the car front (Dulux dog). Dog rolled over and carried on running, didnt even see where it went to check for injury.
The cat definitely hit the diff under the car (sickening thud) but also rolled and kept running. Must have been injured though.

[sapphire]

Well, the garden has been a joy all summer.

The cukes did get powdery mildew, but before I pulled up the vines I was able to collect about 8 pounds which I will be turning into dill pickles.

I harvested a bunch of green peppers which got turned into stuffed peppers and frozen for later enjoyment. The tops of the peppers got chopped along with some onion and also frozen. Harvested a canteloupe for the chickens. It was a bit underripe, but the birds enjoyed it anyway. There are at least 8 more ripening up. The birds are also enjoying the greens (lettuce, kale, collards) that I planted for them and the sweet corn that I buy from a friend's farm. They also get the occasional canteloupe and watermelon and the weeds from the garden. Those birds eat so well, that the egg yolks are orange, creamy and most tasty.

NEWS ALERT: Iolanthe has hatched out four chicks so far, one yesterday and three today. Yesterday's chick is black, todays chicks include one light colored one and two with chipmunk stripes. I didn't check for tufts and rumps because Iolanthe was so upset that I was looking into her nest. Poor girl. Molly is still sitting on three eggs. Iolanthe has another 10 eggs or so under her. Given the way the genetcs work in this breed the probablities are (for those eggs that are fertile): 25% clean faced, 50% tufted and 25% dead in shell. The tufting gene is homozygous lethal. The tufts are a form of cranio facial deformity and are quite attractive if the bird is heterozygous, but the deformities that occur when tufting is homozygous are incompatible with life. Still, I'm very excited to see what I get.

Back to veggies, the cherry tomatoes are ripening up and the plum tomatoes are just beginning to blush. When the plum tomatoes come in, I'm looking to put up sauce, salsa and tomato jam.

Bountiful beans, tasty broccoli, some big heads of green cabbage and little heads of red cabbage. bunches of hot peppers that will get pickled and put up for the winter. Herbs: parsley, basil, oregano, mint, sage, borage and one lonely nasturtium flower.

We have had caponata from the eggplants and there is definitely moussaka in the future. After that, any leftover eggplant either will be made into caponata and canned for the winter or moussaka stuffed cabbage leaves and frozen for the winter. I'll also be making regular stuffed cabbage leaves for the winter.

This years garden has been a true joy. It is beautiful and productive and easy to maintain. Thank you Carl for all of yoru hard work getting the "bones" of the garden set up!

[Kirbstone]

Now there's a letter to warm any hard-working man's heart! Nice for him to have a spouse who is so industrious.

I envy all your successful plant varieties, Diane.

T.

[sapphire]

Tom,
Thanks! I am so happy with this year's garden! And the fresh veggis are so tasty! I'm not sure that Carl has had a fresh off the plant pepper before this. He was so impressed by the aroma and flavor.

I'm not completely sure why, but gardening is important to me. It probably goes back to my mom teaching me to be as self reliant as possible.

Not sure about the industrious bit though. I'm pretty lazy. But thanks for the thought.
Diana

[sapphire]

Well, the cucmbers have been transformed into dill pickles. I harvested 8 pounds or so of eggplant. Made moussaka. Will make more to freeze. Three heads of cabbage are ready to harvest. They will be turned into regular stuffed cabbage, moussaka stuffed cabbage and Italian cabbage casserole and frozen for later. Someday, I'll get a proper pickle crock and make sauerkraut. The tomatoes are coming in. Hopefully, I'll make tomato jam later today. Sauce and salsa will be done at a later date. There is a bounty of hot peppers waiting to be pickled and green beans waiting to be canned.

Chickens have eaten all of the greens I planted for them. I need to plant more, although some plants that I cut, but did not pull are growing new leaves.

On a sad note, a skunk ate three of the baby chicks. The babies had gotten out of the coop and couldn't find their way back in. Rather than chase them all over, I waited until sunset and crawled under the coop just in time to come nose to nose with a skunk as it snatched the third baby. I grabbed the fourth and put it in the nest box with its momma. Amazing that I was nose to nose with a skunk and came away unsprayed. Momma hen did peck me though. What a brat.

[Jack Williams]

We call them "weedeaters" here. Makers call them "Linetrimmers".
That's the engine on a stick device mentioned back a bit.

[Kirbstone]

Our grapes, grown under cover of course are very late this year and most of them will never ripen due to chronic lack of Sun. My MM won't let me go near them, but samples them herself, as the evidence shows.

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Near my work I pass this little front garden most days. The guy has nothing else to do, and we are agreed that it's all a bit over the top, with clashing colours, &c. Maybe he works for the Town Council, who do this all over the place at our expense.

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T.

[straightfairy]

Some clashing colours maybe, but a lovely garden!

On a lighter note. I am now the proud owner of two fresh, ripe, orange tomatoes! (they are supposed to be orange, btw)
Not quite sure what to eat them with, but none ripened last year and all got turned into chutney, so I'm pleased I have two at least.

[Kirbstone]

I just don't like chutney, period. Living in UK North you probably get our today's weather tomorrow....and you're welcome to it! Damned windy & cold, with VERY frequent squally showers. Wanted to mow the lawn at the back of my practice & I couldn't get out there. Don't you even contemplate sending us your icy Easterly blasts off the Yorkshire moors in this direction...at least not yet.

Our north boundary is largely composed of blackberry brambles, this year without so much as a single edible berry on the lot of 'em. Further South though, the road from our holiday bolthole in Kerry down to the beach is a veritable linear blackberry farm.
Also last week we were down in New Ross, not far from the SE coast and the field where we parked the boat trailers had seriously scrumtious masses of blackberries, which my MM laid into after I had left and on arriving home there were several pounds on the kitchen table......Lots of jam coming up this year.

...and another interesting seasonal crop over which we have no control at all....Field Mushrooms. The weather men gave us one warmish week this year...the first week in September and the result....mushrooms everywhere! Man, don't they taste something else?. About 50-odd percent of the mushrooms sold in the UK are grown here. Not far from me there are two such farms. I certainly wouldn't want to live beside one of them. Driving by, you can small 'em coming & smell 'em going.....and the farmed mushrooms all taste so-so....Tesco's.

T.

[sapphire]

Harvesting, harvesting. All of a sudden most everything has gone beyond ripe. Got to pull the canteloupe vines and get the bed ready for winter. Got to plant the garlic and shallots. Got to harvest the red cabbage and the rest of the peppers. I let the tomatoes go too long and most of that crop is gone.

Have five new chicken babies. One I rescued from the skunk, another born/hatched the next day and three that I bought that arrived yesterday..

Harvested a rooster that I could not sell/place.. Will turn him into mediterranean chicken sausage tomorrow.

The old walnut is shedding branches and fruit. Need to figure out if it tis time to take the old tree down. It does have offspring along the property line. Despite some failures, this year's garden has been such a joy.

[sapphire]

The summer garden is mostly done. Cantaloupe are finished and in the bellies of the birds. Still have red cabbage, various peppers and the sweet potatoes to harvest. Maybe a bit of leftover broccoli. If the weather will cooperate, I'll plant garlic, shallots, radishes, beans and peas.

Pickles are made. Chili in the freezer. Hot peppers are singing their "pickle me" song. Wanda and I will drive to Maine to pick up and share a pig for the freezer.

New Mexico Green Chili Stew is on the stove with the New Mexico chilis and Poblanos from the garden. The market had tomatillos so they went into the stew. Some Oktoberfest Sweet Potato, Bacon and Beer soup will get its start tomorrow.

While it is cool, wet and dreary, I'm not suffering from the heat.

Toffee the bantam hen is more stable on her feet in her larger pen.

The baby chickens are growing and flying. The adults are molting. Egg production is down.

Another garden chapter opens.

[Kirbstone]

It's a positive mental exercise keeping up with all your knowledge of veg. varieties, Diana. Well done. I expect Carl might well put on a pound or two this Winter, he will be so well fed. Only right and proper after all that preparatory work earlier in the year.

We've just taken a 3 day break in Galway and watched the Sun go down on Galway Bay...obscured by leaden clouds with 3,000 miles worth of moisture in them racing at us in succession out of the West at 60 MPH, so intervals when it was possible to walk out at all were short and only possible wearing appropriate space suits (illustrated). A walkabout there in search of evidence of liquid water on the Planet was rewarded with very positive readings in minutes, literally.

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Now it's back to our own very sodden garden....

T

[sapphire]

Tom,
Carl's metabolism is stuck in hyperdrive. The green chili stew turned out most tasty. Will scour the garden to see if there are more chilis for more stew to freeze up for the winter. Oh, good golly, this stuff is tasty!

Was able to obtain a load of blackberries and process them down into the base for blackberry cordial for the winter.

Monday's temperatures look like terror for the remaining unharvested veggies so lots of stovetop processing in the mix to get stuff into the fridge/freezer. I do not know if you get much eggplant, but I've got a super easy, super tasty, put away for later dinner option if MM is interested.

All over this area, farms are offering up oodles of fabulous produce. It is an embarrassement of riches. And to the north, there are pigs, steer, lambs, goats, turkeys, ducks offered for the freezer. Harvest time in New England offers many riches. One only has to look to find it. Wish I had a freezer.

Speaking of MM, her "costume" looks much like what I got suited into to decontaminate critters from New Orleans that came to Massachusetts after hurricane Katrina.

Time for snooze...
Diana

Oh, BTW, there is an "A" at the end of my first name.