Dog Dayz of August

It’s the first Monday in August 2020...must be time for a garden update! 

First of all, allow me to state the obvious: it is hot. And humid. When I clocked my morning walk today at 7:30, it was already 72° and 94% humidity. The forecast has a chance of rain today, but I’m not holding my breath...been there, waited in vain for that. You can probably tell how hazy that picture is. Hot and hazy.

Anyway...

It’s a good time to take stock of how this year is going in our gardens. One thing is certain, spending copious amounts of time in one’s gardens is a great pandemic survival technique! So, I will count “daily gardening” as a plus for this year so far.

We gathered an amazing amount of blackberries from the four 2-year old plants that are located in what we call “the fence garden.” It’s an area along the backyard wooden fence that runs north to south, which we have tried to protect from the dogs by adding a parallel wire fence, allowing for about three feet by thirty feet of fruit and flowers. Next year we hope to add some blueberries to the mix. The blackberries have finished for the year, so we will be cutting off the canes to prep for new growth for next year’s berries.

The year-old Rose garden is better than we’d initially thought, owing to our fear of losing so many new plants to the drought last Summer through Fall...when the poor babies had little to no established root systems. We did lose a few, but we’ve added six more from an auction of Alba’s roses (she the former president of the Gwinnett Rose Society who passed away late last year and who asked that her roses be auctioned for funds for the GGRS). Every single one of them seems to be thriving! And although the garden itself is starting to look weedy because it has been entirely too hot to work in it lately, it continues to give us bountiful blooms for our dinner table display. 

Also in the plus column was the decision to sow so many flowers in and around the kitchen gardens. The zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers have been attractive assets, both in color and in being pollinator magnets. From mid-morning to early evening, we enjoy the activity of a record number of bees, butterflies, and birds. And we pack the vases of roses with many more colorful blooms!

In thinking about the Kitchen gardens, I think if I had to pick a veg winner this year, it would have to be our beans. We have picked enough to eat and to freeze...and given several “messes” to neighbors. I staggered planting several varieties, starting as early as March, and I pick them on a near-daily basis in order to keep the vines productive. 

However, a remarkably cold and wet April delayed planting of almost everything else, meaning all crops are behind schedule as far as production is concerned. And then Mother Nature turned up the heat and turned off the taps in July, meaning more stress on the already-stressed tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and corn. More stress=less...and smaller...produce. Sigh.

Still we continue to enjoy our little slice of Heaven on Earth here in Georgia...hot and humid as it may be. I am spending some time, researching plants to create a Dye Garden, hoping to make a match between two of my favorite activities: gardening and knitting. Speaking of knitting...here’s a picture of a recently-completed cotton shawl that was done for a Ravelry Mystery Knitalong (MKAL) called “Dog Dayz.” Timely, yes?

Anyway...again...

I’ve identified the area of the yard that will be converted from lawn to flowers, and I’ve started purchasing seeds to start the plants for Fall. I’ve also designated my old crockpot for a dye-pot, and I’m researching how to create dyes from the plants I grow as well as how to dye different yarn fibers. More on that at another time...

Between now and then, though, we came up with a rather unique way to both kill the grass in that area AND beat the heat of August: a play pool on any old rug! Missy M ordered it to be delivered here in time for her week-long staycation this week; Mr. T aired it up with the air compressor; and we filled it and hopped in yesterday! Ahhhh...

It's Almost a Wrap!

One would imagine that the Kitchen Garden as well as the Rose Garden would be settling down for a long winter's nap. One would be wrong.

Even though we had frost and a freeze in both October and November, we are now experiencing a period of balmy, Spring-like weather here in the Piedmont of NC. So, my December pictures of the harvest from our gardens are quite unexpected.

Enjoy them while you can. At least that's our approach to this wacky weather!

Raised bed of greens:
7-Top Turnip (left and right); Collards (center)

Raised bed of lettuces; hoops and row covers showing

Ready for my salad:
bibb and red sails lettuces; spinach; and carrots

What is this narcissus doing blooming
in the Rose Garden in December?

Christmas centerpiece: roses, mums, n
arcissus, rosemary, and pineapple sage...
all from our garden!

First Frost

What a busy week we gardeners in the USDA Zone 7b Piedmont of NC have had! First frost arrived almost on time in the wee hours on Wednesday 10/24, followed closely by our first freeze this morning. [Want to find out the average dates of First and Last Frost for your garden? Go to the Dave's Garden site and enter your ZIP code: http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/#b]

My own To Do list to prepare for First Frost (which research assigns to October 20 for HPNC) included:

1. Harvest warm-season crops that would be injured or killed by frost or freezing temperatures. Tender crops still producing in our Kitchen Garden include green and jalapeño peppers, okra, and eggplant. Here's a photo of the green pepper haul, below.

2. Cover cool-season crops -- meaning all the cabbage family crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and collards), lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets. Turnip greens  (shown below with a row of nasturtiums pre-frost) are actually better after a light frost or two, so I choose not to cover them. I also didn't cover the peas, since they grow up a fence and already have a straw-mulch.

This is the most labor-intensive part of the frost-prep work. I had to install the hoops, spread the cover fabric out in order to cut to size for the 5 new-this-year raised beds, spread the covers, clip to the hoops with clothespins, and anchor the edges of the covers with rocks. You see I had a helper with that whole cutting and anchoring process below. Ahem.

We bought these GardenQuilt fabric covers four years ago from Gardeners' Supply (click here to go there: http://www.gardeners.com/GardenQuilt-Cover/11748,default,pd.html).  They work splendidly and have outlived their promise of two years' service. I've stored them off-season in the shed, folded (more or less) in a laundry basket, making sure they are thoroughly dry before putting away. Since we had 40 foot rows, we ordered the 50' length...hence the need to cut them down to fit the new 6' boxes. (The Row Garden is now mainly for Warm-Season crops.) Because this is a fabric, not plastic, I can leave the covers in place without worrying that warmer temps will damage the crops. What's not to love?

3. Bring vulnerable container-bound perennials like citrus trees, ferns, herbs, and palms that are living north of their Zones into the plasticized screen porch for Winter protection. There are a couple of mature and mostly yellow lemons on the Improved Meyer Lemon tree, along with one full-size green (immature) and loads of tiny little lemons from a recent late blooming. I imagine the little ones won't survive the drastic change in available light, but a gardener can dream, can't she?

4. Empty soil out of clay pots to keep them from cracking from expansion during a freeze. While working at my potting bench, I potted up some crocus and tulip bulbs to spend the Winter in the shed...and to be brought out in late February to encourage Easter-time blooms. And then, I pulled all my zonal geraniums from their containers, shook the soil off the roots, trimmed the stems by half...and put them in a paper grocery bag to also spend the Winter in the shed. Iowa State Extension's site has a great guide to dormant storage and overwintering geraniums here: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2004/9-17-2004/geraniums.html

5. Cut all open blooms on zinnias and roses to bring inside for a huge vase of fresh flowers. There are worlds of buds on both that may not survive a hard freeze, but aren't far enough along for a bouquet. Sigh. Still, I must focus on how much we have enjoyed all the beautiful blossoms this year...and hope that a few last until the warmer weather on the way. I also gave the basil its final haircut, since this heat-lover won't survive temps below 50 degrees...popped the cuttings into another vase, hoping for a rooted branch or two to pot up. Fingers crossed...toes, too!

Whew! I need a day of rest...how about you?

Tomatoes for Later

Not all 'gardening' takes place outdoors, as you know. As this busy Monday comes to an end, I'm enjoying one of those indoor gardening-related activities: making salsa from the bounty harvested over the weekend. Salsa...such a fabulous way to enjoy the fruits of our labors after we have said goodbye to the season.

Actually, I've divided this activity into two parts...over two days: prepping the veggies on Day One, and cooking and canning the salsa on Day Two. I find that it is easier on my back that way. 

I'm following a recipe for Fresh Vegetable Salsa from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine (©2006 Robert Rose, Inc., p. 203). Only making one tiny change...leaving out the cilantro, since I can't stand the taste. Hate. It. Know that I will be happier with the final product if I make it my way. Am using finely chopped celery leaves as a substitute. 

Day One:

First, I gathered all the ingredients together: tomatoes (I'm using mainly Roma and Juliets, with some globe or slicing varieties like Jet Star, Big Daddy, Brandywine, and Mortgage Lifter to get me to the 7 cups called for in the recipe), onions, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, and garlic...all grown in our Kitchen Garden this year. There is a lot of prep work in making salsa...a LOT of peeling, coring, slicing, dicing, seeding, and chopping...and I take whatever shortcuts I can to help.

One of these step-savers is using the power of boiling water to help peel all those tomatoes. Drop clean whole, unpeeled tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for a minute or two (depending on the size), and when the skins start to split, scoop them into a large bowl of iced water (shown below). Voilá! The peelings slip right off! A sharp knife makes quick work of any core.

After chopping all the ingredients, I stirred everything together into the stainless steel pot that I'll be cooking the salsa in...and let it rest in the fridge until Day Two.

Day Two:

I waited until the house had cooled down for the evening to start the cooking and processing...which steams up the kitchen...and the cook...pretty well. First, I cooked the salsa for 30 minutes...tasted it...added a bit of brown sugar to temper the strong vinegar taste...then cooked it for about 30 more minutes. I like a thick salsa rather than a thin one.

I then got my big spaghetti pot out and filled it full of water. This serves as my canner...and with the strainer insert...works very well. Twenty minutes in a boiling water bath and here are the results: 8 half-pints of what I'm calling Mildly-Wild Salsa. 

I used the 8 jalapeños called for in the recipe, but I decided to live a little dangerously by including the seeds of 4 of them...and the seeds and membranes are where the heat hides in hot peppers. And I followed the excellent suggestion in the Ball book on how to handle chopping the peppers: use latex gloves.

We'll be enjoying these tomatoes long past the end of the season.