mudpies's Blog

The fruits of our labours
Aug 27, 2009 | 7:10 AM PST
Tags: ripe tomatoes , wax beans , cucumber , cucumber beetles , bacterial wilt , onions , potatoes , buttercup squash , pumpkin , gourds , crown of thorns , harvest apples , Sunflowers , shasta daisies , Echinacea purpurea , gladiolus , asters , Zinnia , cosmos , Cleome

C has been gorging himself with tomatoes for the past week.  I wish I liked them.  They look very good, but I can't stand the texture.  I do like them when they've been cooked.  I'm going to have to make juice, sauce and salsa in order to keep up with them.  I'm distributing beans all over town.  It's hard to stay ahead of them.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for our cucumbers.  They've succumbed to bacterial wilt for the third year in a row.  I didn't see a single darned cucumber beetle, but the cukes got infected, nevertheless.  I'm going to have to buy a bushel for pickling.

C pulled the onions yesterday and has left them  to dry.  We'll need to harvest our potatoes soon and store them for winter.  The buttercup squash is forming nicely, but I don't think my pumpkins will mature before we get a killing frost.  The mini pumpkins are plentiful as usual, but the crown of thorns gourd are just beginning to form.  I'm sure they'll be ready for sale before Hallowe'en, though.

One of C's customers traded half a bushel of harvest apples for a couple of bales of hay.  I intended to make them up into pies for the freezer.  I made an apple crisp and found that, although tasty, they're not firm enough for pies, so I made applesauce instead.  I found a new recipe on the net.  It calls for it to be cooked with strips of lemon rind and cinnamon sticks.  Yummy!  The lemon adds a little zing to it.  I put six pints into the freezer and made one jar to enter in the fall fair.

My sunflowers, daisies, echinacea, glads, asters, zinnias, cosmos and cleome are all in bloom in my cutting bed.  I hope some of them will still be blooming in a month for entry in the fair.

I'm just waiting for a parts delivery before heading to the farm to weed for the rest of the day.

Rain, rain, go away
Jul 2, 2009 | 8:29 PM PST
Tags: day lily , Cleome

We have had some rain every day since my last entry.  I'm reluctant to complain in case we end up with a period of drought, but we need a few days to dry out at the very least.  I haven't been near our farm in five days.  There's no point in compacting the soil by tramping around in the garden.

Instead, I went to visit my mom who remains healthy and in posession of all her faculties.  I have so much to be grateful for!  I'm afraid GG has become somewhat of a compulsion for me.  I passed a road near Mom's house called 'Wit's End'.  I don't have to tell you what popped into my mind.  I immediately thought about witt (despite the lack of the second 't'), and the names she's bestowed upon her various beds.  It made the rest of my journey pass quickly and pleasantly as I pondered over names for my beds.  Unfortunately, I didn't come up with any that I felt were suitable.  I'll keep thinking about them, though.

Mom's flower beds are a disgrace because of all the rain and because I haven't been able to weed.  I tried to tidy them up, but had to abandon the project after getting soaked and eaten alive by mosquitoes the size of small helicopters.  I'm heading back up in a couple of weeks' time and hope to make them presentable then.

I did, however, split one of her gorgeous lilies and brought pieces home for me and my daughters.  My sister gave me some cleome she didn't get around to planting, so I've got to put both plants into my holding bed tomorrow.

The weather forecast is calling for several warm, sunny days.  I need to wish all my American friends Happy Independence Day in case I get too busy in my own gardens to spend time at my computer.

A warm day, at last!
Jun 14, 2009 | 7:10 PM PST
Tags: potatoes , carrots , beets , Cleome , asters , zinnias , celosia , bearded iris , poppies , peonies

Today was one of those gorgeous days that make me feel happy just to exist on this planet - sunny and warm with billowing cumulus clouds overhead.  I need to remember to start wearing a hat and/or sunscreen.

It's a good thing the weather put me in a good mood, because C is pushing his luck again.  I spent the morning tidying my house while he headed for the farm.  By the time I got there, he had gotten too close to my sunflowers with the tiller and planted four more rows of  potatoes from some of the small ones we had remaining from last year's crop.  That makes eighteen 40' rows of potatoes, folks!  What in heck are two old people going to do with that many potatoes??  I'm going to have to sneak pails full of them into the back seats of my friends' vehicles when they're not looking!  There are still five 5-gallon pails full in my cold cellar.  I had asked C to bury them under the compost heap.

As well, he decided that we don't have enough carrots and beets in the ground.  I still have seed for both, but had decided that two rows of beets and three of carrots were sufficient.  Oh no!  He secretly bought more seed and in went another row of beets and two more of carrots.  At harvest time, C expects me to distribute them all over town - particularly to the widows of some of his deceased friends.  That's a pleasant pastime because I get to visit, but it's also the time when I need to be in my kitchen canning and freezing produce for our own consumption.  It's a good thing I love the man, or I'd compost HIM! 

I planted cleome, asters, zinnias, and celosia in my cutting bed.  I know it's late, but the soil has been cold and damp up till now.  I've never planted annuals from seed before, so this is a learning process.  Wish me luck.

I spent some time edging more of my shade bed, but forgot to take my camera with me.  Will try to remember tomorrow.  I also planned on taking a photo of some of my favourite imperial irises.  I also have violet ones, pale yellow ones and a Japanese variety, but nothing can hold a candle to imperials in my books.  My oriental poppies are getting ready to bloom.  I hope I can find a nice day to photograph them when they do.  I consider poppies and peonies to be the tarts of my garden - a little over the top - like Dolly Parton - absolutely gorgeous despite their short shelf-life.

Enough gardening talk.  Back to mundane chores.  I need to start a load of laundry.  Take care, everyone, and happy gardening.