October's Garden (2024)

 

The summer garden is finished. We didn't think summer would ever end. Normally, the hot weather breaks around the middle of September but this year it remained in the low 90s up until two weeks ago.  I am glad to see it finally go.

Everything has been either eaten or stored away deep within the pantry.  I feel safe and content and am not fretting over the future. The winter garden is out except for onions and garlic. As my neighbors were clearing their gardens and laying them to rest, we were planting again.  It has been a busy month and we are tired - very tired. 

Bill has continued to share the garden workload and has done more than I. Watching his face when he saw the large amount of food as we ingathered was thrilling.  He now understands how much it really takes to prepare for the year.  It is one thing to see a weekly basket of groceries from the store but quite another to carry a year's worth of unprocessed food into the kitchen.

It has been a rough month but well worth the work. We are both ready for a long rest. 

Last Month's September Garden (2024)

Last Year's October Garden (2023)

September's Garden (2024)

This has been an unusual month. Something terrible produced something good. At the beginning of the month, I pulled a muscle in my back and became bedridden. In addition to working full-time, Bill took over everything including the garden.

He isn't a stranger to it but has only helped when I asked. For the first time, he was responsible for everything. He made the daily inspection trips to the garden, watched it change, learned to spot problems and decided when to harvest. The pupil became the master and I love it. Our conversations have been long and interesting. He now sees what I see and understands what I have been talking about forever. He sees the work involved and the rewards that can be achieved. I have a partner in the garden.

When I was able to sit in a chair and "supervise", he began clearing the spent vegetables and planting seeds for the winter garden.  It was a blessing to have someone do all the heavy lifting.

This is the only yellow squash left and its days are numbered. The experiment to plant zucchini, spaghetti, and yellow squash under nets later in the season after the squash vine borers were (hopefully) gone, failed. It wasn't anything I did but something the seed companies did wrong.

I purchased seeds from three different reputable companies and everything had crossed. It's anybody's guess as to what they are now. They don't taste like spaghetti or yellow squash but more like butternut. Next year, I will buy all new seeds and once again try to grow zucchini, yellow and spaghetti squash. 

The moschata variety (resistant to borers) squash bed in the front of the garden (which was the potato bed planted in the massive pile of horse manure in the spring) is taking over the yard. 

It was planted late so it is unknown how much can be produced. It is impassible but if you peep under the leaves on the edges, hidden squash can be seen. This is going to be a surprising treasure hunt.

The first frost will arrive this month so it is time to start the fall harvest. For the first time, I'm excited and look forward to sharing the discoveries. 

Last Month's August Garden (2024)

Last Year's September Garden (2023)

Through the Garden Gate

August Garden (2024)

 

The garden appears to be a wee bit out of control, but alas, that is August.

There is a method to this madness and the jungle is organized chaos. (I see it even though others can't.)  The goal is to waste no space and push the garden to the max since this is premium growing season. This is the time of the year when all of the the seeds I dropped into an empty spot becomes evident.  Something is going to grow in the bare soil - it will be either a vegetable or a weed.

In this bed, the okra will grow tall and should be over my head by the end of summer. Instead of leaving the soil below unproductive, the lower leaves have been trimmed to open up the understory for a new experimental vining squash, Teot Bat Put. It is larger and more aggressive than expected.

A cantaloupe is at the  end of this row and is supposed to trellis up a wire support. It has refused to cooperate and insists on spreading along the ground. Everything doesn't always go according to plans.

This corner has cherry tomatoes on the left growing up the fence and over the arches attached to the field fence. Sweet potatoes spread below. In the center are sweet peppers and to the right are tomatoes with winter squash underneath. The tall arch in the back is covered in lima beans and the water sprinkler can be seen high above. We haven't had one single little drop of rain this whole month.

The horses keep the fence row clear; hopefully, they won't devour the tomatoes growing toward them that are only a mere few inches from their reach. 

The right side of this corner looks impassible until you get up close.

There is a narrow passageway beside the squash vine located under the tomatoes and a tunnel below the lima bean arch at the end of the row. You must watch where you step and duck to get under the arch. It knocks my hat off every time. I may have to crawl through on hands and knees before frost hits.

Lima beans are slow to get established since they can't bear any cool weather. This year, they were started a month earlier in March and then transplanted into the garden in April. The harvest began a month earlier! It has already made a huge increase in the output compared to last year.

Frosty Lima beans are huge and will swell even larger when cooked. Their flavor is a unique from other varieties. The roots take up a small space and there are only three plants growing all together. They have grown over this arch for two years in a row but it has been easy to plant the roots in different spots to avoid any nutritional deficiencies.

The been pods are hidden in the leaves but can be found when looking underneath. We almost missed the early harvest because we weren't expecting it and didn't see them until they began to dry

Not everything has been a smashing success. The garbanzo beans have been a failure. They look spindly and the pods are dropping before maturity. Bummer. We like garbanzo beans so it would be great to be able to grow them.

Bill built a new structure from the old chicken yard doors.  The broken, storm tossed chair with the short leg (caused by a weed eater accident) was placed inside.  Everything around here keeps being recycled and repurposed until it falls apart (I am included in that list). Green beans were planted to make a shady spot for my frequent coffee breaks.

The plants on the sunnier left side (south) are twice the size of those on the right (north) side. The back of garden continues to get shadier as the trees in the woods grow taller. There is one empty spot to the left of the arch that has not been reseeded yet. It was caused by a thieving racoon who dug up my sweet potatoes. Bill caught him red handed. Something will be planted there when/if there is ever rain in the forecast again.

This is the view while sitting under the green bean arch facing the morning sun. The right (south) side of the garden is already in full sun. The shade on the left (north) will last until after lunch. A new patch of purple hull peas doesn't seem to mind the low light and are blooming. The pole protruding in the middle of the peas holds the sprinkler as it is moved from spot to spot.

Tomorrow will be the first of September and the green beans over the arch are only just now beginning to bloom. They obviously don't like any shade at all.

Even though they can't seem to produce a bean, at least hey keep me cool as I rest.  Not everything that appears to be a failure really is. The green bean arch has been a smashing success for me. 

Last Month's July Garden (2024)
Last Year's August Garden (2023)

Through the Garden Gate

Amish, A Trip to the Produce Auction

 

There is an Old Order Amish community about 50 miles from us in Ethridge, Tennessee. We just visited and purchased produce. When my boys were teenagers, I traveled there once a week to buy fresh milk, eggs and vegetables. It was hard to cook enough food to satisfy their ravenous appetites. 

There were some subtle changes in the community. Fewer families are raising crops.

Some have switched to milling wood.

Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the US and it is experiencing a massive housing boom. New apartments and houses are being built at record speed. The urban sprawl has sadly, reached us. Every single time we drive somewhere in any direction to go anywhere, we notice another new construction site. Hundreds of new houses are being built everywhere. We are about 50 miles south of Nashville and Ethridge is about 70 miles to the southwest. It puts them in a unique position to profit from the growth

It also means with less crops more people are vying to purchase what is available. We experienced sticker shock at the family operated roadside  produce stalls. The prices were often higher than Kroger's. Even though the Amish produce is fresher and better quality, I have to drive 50 miles and then go house to house seeking what I need. The long trip to the Amish isn't always worth the effort.

There is an auction that sells produce in bulk three times a week. The houses in that area still raise large crops. 

I attended the auction looking for bulk vegetables to can. (Picture taking was not allowed and if you tried to snap one, they would call you out over the loud speaker. Don't ask me how I know.) It was packed with commercial retail buyers in semi-trucks purchasing large pallets for restaurants and grocery stores. Money was no object - they had a quota to fill and the higher costs would be passed on to their customers. It was a blessing for the Amish sellers but difficult for the few families like me who were looking for deals. Last year a ten pound box of tomatoes sold for about $10, this year they were $25.  A highly prized box of Cherokee Purple tomatoes could easily reach $50.

The auction was held on a 95 degree day, in an un-airconditioned crowded shed with two auctioneers chanting on loud speakers at opposite ends simultaneously. I walked back and forth for hours going from one sale to the other and when the big buyers finally reached their quotas, I was able to swoop in and grab what was left. I got a mountain of yellow squash for $30!!!

I'm so happy! This makes up for all the failures due to squash vine borers destroying my plants. Never have I ever had more that 4 quarts of squash in my freezer at the end of the season! 

It was a labor of love working from sunrise to sunset blanching, freezing and canning. We have been eating it everyday and still haven't tired of it. It was worth all the work. 

Amish, My Adventures

Amish, Buying Milk

Amish, A Trip in the Rain