Gardening Gardening

‘‘Twas time. My size 10.5 for reference.

 

That is a big 'un.

 

Freaking deer got me again.
Jumped the fence around the garden behind the house. There must have been a few of them as they completely wiped out 5 twenty five foot rows of grapes that I finally had a year with no black grape fungus, my swiss chard and carrots that were just starting to recover from the heat are gone, my tomatoes are gone and I had 20 tall giant sunflowers I planted late and was pushing are just big tall stems. They jumped that fence last year late as they ate carrot tops but didn't bother with anything else.
Disappointment is turning into something more dire.
I don't garden because I'm broke, I like the fresh, mostly organically grown food and the challenge of seeing how much I can put up for the Winter, kinda like people had to do years ago. Sort of a faux homesteading without the necessity.
Years ago it would have been a <somewhat> simple task of staying up one or two nights with a shotgun and dispatching them.

Might try the eggs in water spray someone mentioned, but I don't have much left to spray it on except to try to make the whole yard <stink>.

Last year I took my tomato cages and put over the strawberries to protect them but they mowed them down 6 or more weeks ago. Some people mow the strawberries down in the Fall anyway but I've got no babies to redo a new bed for next year.

Always something.

 

Couldn't like this post Bill. I feel for ya. I lost close to $1,000 in sweet corn to the deer this year. Fortunately they don't bother that much else other than my soybeans. Solar powered fence charger is what you need for next year.

 

So I chopped up and cooked one of my small buttercup squash for dinner last night. It was really tasty. It wasn't that big and the outside looked like it was over ripe. there were no seeds inside but it tasted better than the one I bought to see what they were like. I hope I can harvest a few more before the slugs get them.

 

Beer traps for the slugs.

 

Sounds good but no beer or anything alcoholic in this household.

 

Indian corn time!

 

Nice!

 

Decorative or edible?

 

All corn is edible. Sweet corn is the only one that you'll likely enjoy eating. Although even field corn isn't too bad if you pick them at the right time.

 

Yes and yes. Mostly used for decorations but can be ground for corn meal.
And a fun fact.

 

Starting to get a bit discouraged with the "fall garden" I've tried to get going this year, seems to me the squirrels and chipmunks are way bigger savages this time of year then throughout the normal spring/summer growing season. They keep eating all the sprouted plants clean, digging in the pots uprooting other sprouts etc. Got some other stuff going like cabbage which is maturing nicely after recovering a couple months back from wood chuck damage. Other than that I think the fall greens and radishes might be a bust!

 

Gettin down to the end.
Breakfast today. A red pepper and the last july 4th tomato



Breakfast/brunch yesterday
Leftover spaghetti noodles, hot peppers, oil, butter, garlic.





Sad that the garden is done...
But firewood gathering season is just revving up.

 

Last of the jalapenos.
Stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bread crumbs, spices...
And wrapped in bacon, of course!

 

damm, I missed the announcement they were being made... they look fabulous!!

Might be my last pepper harvest. The frost put a hurtin’ on my plants.

 

I had 1 jalapeno turn dark red, i thought it might be hot but it wasn't.

I spent 6 hours canning and making peppers yesterday, my hands were burning till 10pm last night.
Had to watch where i touched...

 

Been there! We love jalapeño poppers but boy are they a lot of work. I didn’t grow any this season and you are making me regret it!

 

I purchased a food dehydrator and used it to dry my habenero peppers before pulling the plant. It was loaded and provided enough for shaker full of crushed dry peppers for home and one for the cabin.

 

I've added some to chili and canned some jalapeno and it seemed like the heat cooked all the heat out of them. The canned ones weren't bad at all, but I had cut them up bare handed. Sorta carefully. Washed my hands several times but still got some in places I wished I hadn't.
It went to 31ºF supposedly last night around here but I still have tomatoes. Peppers look OK too. Now we have another week of not so cold weather so I can give them all some more time. Days are short enough I really don't think they do much this time of year. Spinach still looks real good.