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Post by datgirl on Oct 16, 2024 15:03:45 GMT -5
Went out to see if there was any freeze damage in the garden. Yes and no. Green beans were half and half. Zinnia's done. Good thing I picked a great big bouquet yesterday. I decided while I was out there and the sun was shining on the garden, I would pull the bean out, so I did. Those babies were really wound around the trellis. All that's left out there is a lot of Borage that the bee's are still all over. Will pull out the Zinnia's and save some seeds tomorrow I think. I have the Moon Flower all covered up. Hoping for a miracle, since it's supposed to warm up into the 70's by Friday. There are so many buds on it, I just had to try and protect it for a few more days. I did take a peek this afternoon and saw a couple of buds still intact.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 16, 2024 18:01:45 GMT -5
I just had to try and protect it for a few more days It's always worth a try! |
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 17, 2024 4:37:06 GMT -5
Not much was affected by freeze Tuesday night. I moved the 2 Sun Patient over near the furnace air outlet. One is fine, the other is frosted. The basil bit the dust, removed it. Brought in a bunch of Kale, washed it all and found only 7 worms, that doesn't mean there aren't more......it's ready to freeze this morning. Canned 8 pints of chick peas, this morning I'm doing navy beans.
Had a rep from the company we bought kitchen cabinets from 8 years ago come out and look at them. I've been after them for 4 months due to the white paint yellowing, which was guaranteed not to. He took lots of pics and said he will send them to the people who make decisions, likely will get all new doors and drawer fronts. He mentioned possibly painting the frames as well. We'll see how it goes. He didn't mention any cost to me, I'm sure that's coming.
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Post by centralilrookie on Oct 17, 2024 5:46:28 GMT -5
Yesterday was quite busy in central Illinois, sweetheart got the grandkids to school while I did the morning chores. We then went to the FIL’s to pick up a stand up antique kitchen cabinet that was his parents originally. While she went to an appointment I ran the ripper thru the gardens. I then turned my sights to the culvert, that I bought a year ago, that needs to go in the creek to access the back of the property. Some tractor work and tree trimming with the pole saw and I felt like had things going my way until sweetheart pulled in and wanted to pressure wash the wood fence ahead of staining next week. She sprayed both sides of better than 350’ of fence and I moved the hoses and tried to make things easier for her. I had to turn on the headlights to bring the truck and tools in from the abandoned tree trimming project. I’ll head back out to the creek this morning.
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Post by datgirl on Oct 17, 2024 10:44:50 GMT -5
Well I unwrapped the Moon Flower. A lot of leaves are toast, but not all of them. The unopened buds look good. It's not supposed to get as cold at night for the next week. I think I'll still throw the one sheet over it at night until some of these buds open. Next year will plant them closer to the house instead of out in the garden.
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Post by binnylou on Oct 17, 2024 12:00:30 GMT -5
centralilrookie, what’s a “ripper”? Might that be what we call a chisel plow?
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 17, 2024 21:30:01 GMT -5
A little of this a little of that. Started laundry and as I took yet another glance at all those cob webs that have been hanging and draping all summer I finally said 'today is the day". The washer/dryer are in a large closet with built in shelves to the ceiling. Wiped down each shelf, wiped and rearranged all the stuff on said shelves, got rid of some things.
Hand washed a summer dress I won't be wearing again til next year, Photographed a couple of things I will give away on Buy Nothing.
Then moved outside. Pulled out the sunflowers that have been pecked clean then used the pitch fork on that bed (needed some aeration and fluffing) then fed it compost. The plan is to plant zinnias in front of the sunflowers next spring and something blue- maybe bachelor buttons (or something more long lasting. Suggestions?)
Also cut down the echinacea and bee balm and ornamental oregano. I'm slowly getting ready for when the leaves fall and I can blanket the perennial beds for their winter sleep.
And lastly, topped off the gold fish pond, cleaned the algae off the waterfall rocks and then made a dash for the house as the first round of rain started.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 17, 2024 22:11:25 GMT -5
Today my only "harvest" was trimming back the bay laurel plant, getting it ready to bring indoors. And something I always do, before bringing these things inside, I let the pots dry out some (not hard to do this time!), then water them with some orange oil - first, spraying a half strength solution (I had some leaf scarring from full strength spray - 4 tb/gal) on the plants, and letting it drip into the soil, and after the leaves are totally covered, I water it with the full strength solution, let it dry well again, then water it later on with some Bt israelensis, for fungus gnats, repeating every 30 or 40 days, while inside.  Trimmed all this off the bay laurel, getting it ready to go inside. 10-17 by pepperhead212, on Flickr Tomorrow, the Makrut Lime trees get trimmed, and there's a lot more to trim! The weather is warming up considerably, which is good, for doing these things. I trimmed the curry tree a while ago, but will probably trim a little more, before bringing it inside. Tomorrow I will vacuum up as many of the dry leaves as I can (not many down yet!), and put them on the garlic row. Hopefully, I'll get more, soon. |
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Post by Latitude33 on Oct 17, 2024 23:37:46 GMT -5
Worked the the community garden club's "members plant sale". Tomorrow is the first day open to the public and Saturday is "Art in the Park" and plant sale. Being 15 to 20+ years younger than most of the group, that made me the Gofer or as I prefer to think about it, the Cabana Boy. Lots of fun and interaction.
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Post by emmsmommy on Oct 18, 2024 1:20:33 GMT -5
It's been a bit of a hectic week. First it was the dreaded doctor appointment about my feet. Doctor diagnosed an Achilles tendon sprain in my right foot and an ankle sprain in the other and ordered X-rays and referred me to a podiatrist She previously worked with the podiatrist and said that there's a possibility I'll be in a boot for a few weeks. Disappointing PTO meeting with nine in attendance and very little accomplished. X-rays the next morning followed by a trip to the bank, thrift store and groceries. Rummaged through every sweater there and managed to find two that were wool for an attempt at felting. Found another denim chore coat for a fifty cents and discovered a quarter in the pocket, so more of a bargain. Scored a cartload of boxes from Walmart's deli too. Had a notification of test results within the hour and doctor called later in the afternoon to confirm no fractures had occurred. Wednesday Mom, another lady and I did a thorough cleaning of our community building as we're having a large meal next week. Mother-in-law asked to keep kiddo for the day as there was no school. Yesterday I made mini pumpkin cheesecakes for a meeting and worked on paperwork. Knowing I'm inevitably going to have to take it easy, I rewatched some slow-stitching videos on YouTube and pulled out a few things I worked on earlier in the year.
Today will truly be my day! Hubby will be working and I have absolutely nothing planned. Will probably survey the garden a time or two but will likely spend most of my time reducing my thrifted denim pile as I have several projects I'd like to finish this winter. Herb conference Saturday and I honestly considered not going except I paid in advance.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 18, 2024 6:14:29 GMT -5
Got 200 garlic planted yesterday. Yay!! Watered another area to dig for a few shallots, pulled out 4 broccoli for that space. Cut down frosted Canna, not digging any, I'm done with them after years of back breaking digging in the Fall. Today I'll be cleaning leaves up in the back yard, it's to the point where dog poop becomes invisible. Canned 8 pints navy beans yesterday. I've got enough beans canned up for a while. Next is all those frozen tomatoes. Charged up batteries for the lawn tools, trimmer and leaf blower. Broke down extra boxes for recycle. I get to saving them then end up with too many.
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Post by reuben on Oct 18, 2024 12:16:29 GMT -5
Planted 2 lbs of Chesnok Red garlic, even though there's apparently no reasonable chance of rain for the next six years. Based on the forecast, we could go the entire month without appreciable rain.
I didn't plant the 2 lbs of the German White because I started to run out of room - I need to take out another tomato plant, and those suckers are still producing, albeit slowly. That's my excuse, anyway.
I'll probably plant the other 2 lbs come hell or high water (high water - hah!) before I leave town no matter what. The weather's still warm, but after two weeks of almost daily drizzle in September, we haven't had any precipitation since. Just morning dew.
Baked another loaf of whole wheat bread.
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Post by Mumsey on Oct 18, 2024 16:30:40 GMT -5
Long chilly walk this morning even though we didn't go til 0730. Came home and watered the small area where I plan to put 20 shallots. Picked a few broccoli shoots. Instead of vacuuming leaves, mowed and bagged them, too windy to try to get them into piles today. They went on the garlic bed. By then the ground was soft enough to dig, so did that. On hands and knees I went through the clods and broke them up by hand. Planted the shallots and covered with grass clippings/leaves. Gotta get a couple bales of straw yet this Fall.
Went inside and did a few boring household chores, which included cutting up a gigantic Cushaw squash. I roasted some of it in cubes, not too bad, kinda the texture of acorn/spaghetti squash. Then sliced some to freeze. Baked some slices and froze those, don't know which is the best way. It's kinda bland and light in color inside. Back outside at 2:00, emptied out all but 5 pots. Did a lot of organizing and ditching of crap in the garage, stuff I haven't used in 2 years and probably never will. There's an old McCullough chain saw that won't start, think I'll advertise it for free along with the 2 extra chains. Next Spring there's gonna be some serious ditching of stuff up top in garage. DS doesn't like me to climb the ladder so I don't unless absolutely necessary, like to get pots or some such stuff....I'm not near so daring as I used to be now that I'm alone. Brought in the power washer and all fishing poles, trolling motor, etc. Hung the wind chimes from nails in the garage rafters, it's a PIA to box them and then try to untangle in Spring. Actually put 2 old rugs and an old pair of shoes in the garbage, totally worn out, as I am right now!!
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Post by breezygardener on Oct 18, 2024 17:19:06 GMT -5
An errand day today. Picked up a couple of on-hold books at the library, picked up a bag of Blue Buffalo dry cat food at PetSmart that I had ordered online & got a nice discount on, then stopped at Walmart for a few groceries. (I know it sounds like we seem to do an awful lot of grocery shopping, but our house was originally built by the original owner as a "vacation" home, & thus the kitchen/appliances/pantry storage are sized for that. Thus we have to do more frequent grocery runs - lol!)
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Post by datgirl on Oct 18, 2024 18:47:34 GMT -5
Another beautiful day so I got a lot of stuff done outside. Really thinned out the Black eyed Susan in the front garden. It really started to take over. Planted a few grape hyacinth bulbs someone gave me. Shoveled some fresh dirt into the spaces where the BES came out. Added some dirt to the beds under the kitchen window too. The soil is so dry, I really had a time digging in it. Moved on to a side garden and cut down the Peonies and the Hibiscus. Dug out 2 clumps of Phlox that were just too big. Hubby came home and we moved more downed trees into the burn pile. I'm tired.
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