Butternuts, Watermelons - August 13, 2021

 

I spent three hours working in the garden yesterday.  While the sprinkler was running on the purple hull pea rows, I tackled the grass around the butternut squash and the lone watermelon.  Both the butternuts and the watermelon have tiny fruit on them.  I hope they make it to maturity before the frost comes.

We have some bodacious grass in the garden.  The cardboard and pine straw we put down have done a pretty good job of cutting down on weeding chores, but there's still a lot of grass in the un-mulched areas.  I pulled up two big wagon-loads of grass yesterday, and that was just on the one row where the squash and watermelon are planted.

There are a lot of ripe tomatoes that need to be picked.  I was too tired to mess with them yesterday.  As I was finishing up in the garden, Nanny came outside, and I asked her if she wanted to can the tomatoes.  She seemed reluctant, although she'd told me earlier in the week that she'd like to have more canned tomatoes.  It seems she has other things she needs to do.  She eventually said she might have time to can them tomorrow.  I am going to pick them this morning before I go to work, and scald and peel them when I get home.  That's half of the canning job.  I'll see if she wants the peeled tomatoes, and if she doesn't, I guess I'll be canning them tomorrow.

Garden dry, Squash bugs back - August 12, 2021

 

When I went to the garden yesterday afternoon, I did not intend to stay there for three hours.  The plan was to just look to see if the purple hull pea seeds had sprouted.  If they had not sprouted, the plan was to come back the next day and turn the sprinkler on them.

They had not sprouted.  The soil, which had been thoroughly tilled the past weekend, was dry as a bone.

I turned around to leave the garden, and as I passed by the zucchini and squash, I noticed that they needed picking.  As I started to pick, I saw squash bugs copulating on the stems.  This could not be allowed to continue.  Since there was a sprayer of bug juice already mixed up in the shed, I decided to go ahead and give the bugs a dose.  There were also lots of squash bug eggs on the leaves.  They had to be smashed.

And there was a lot of grass that needed to be pulled up around the butternut squash.  

I figured that I might as well go ahead and start the sprinkler on the peas while I dealt with the squash bugs.

Long story short (if it's not already too late), I ended up watering the pea rows, picking and spraying the squash, cutting the okra, picking the cherry tomatoes, and pulling grass.  It was almost dark when I left the garden, muddy and sopping wet from trying to move the sprinkler while it was sprinkling. 

I need to go back today and do more watering.  

Gnats - August 11, 2021

 

My house is full of gnats.

They're driving me nuts.  They try to fly up my nose.  God only knows what they do while I'm sleeping.

Where do these things come from???  Are they hatching out of the vegetables I'm bringing from the garden?  If so, how many gnat-lings am I eating without knowing it?

Over the years, I have tried all sorts of tricks to catch them.  Since reading that they'll drown themselves in a bowl of apple cider vinegar, I've tried all sorts of vinegar in a bowl in an attempt to lure them in.  Most of the time I find them crawling around the rim of the bowl.  I guess they're huffing the fumes.  But they're not drowning.

After years of seeing them hover around my kefir jar (I keep it covered, of course, so they can't get in), it finally occurred to me to try drowning them in kefir.  I poured a shot into a half-pint jar and set it near the sink, where a fluorescent light burns 24/7.  Before I went to bed, I checked the jar.  There was a gnat in it - IN IT, not ON it.  He was fluttering weakly.  HAH!  GOT HIM!  I picked up the jar and gave the contents a little swirl to sink him good, and set the jar back in its place.

This morning, there were multiple dead gnats in the kefir - far more than I ever dreamed were even in the house - and several more live ones crawling around inside the jar.  Last night's swirl to drown the first gnat was a mistake, for the kefir had coated the inside of the jar and the gnats didn't have to get in the liquid to enjoy it.  

I clamped my hand over the jar to trap the live ones and gave the jar a few hard shakes to coat the live gnats, then I poured the kefir down the drain and turned on the hot water to scald the ones that might have survived.  

One or two of the gnats managed to get away before I could get my hand over the jar, but there's a fresh jar of kefir waiting for them on the kitchen sink.  

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down at my desk to read the news.  Thank goodness I'd put half-n-half in the coffee, for when I picked up my cup to take a sip, there was a gnat swimming in it.  I fished him out and moved on.

Planted Peas, Fertilized and Watered Butterbeans - August 8, 2021

 

The Grandson spent the weekend with us.  Sweet baby boy is 6'1", wears a size 11 shoe.  I woke up two hours before he did this morning.  He was still in bed when I finished cooking breakfast, but the minute I said to The Husband, "Breakfast is ready," The Grandson was in the kitchen.

We'd no sooner come home from taking The Grandson shopping for school supplies yesterday than Granddaughter #1 called, wanting to know if I'd take her shopping for school supplies.  After breakfast, I went to get her, and we went shopping while The Husband took The Grandson out to let him practice his driving skills in the Wrangler.  

When we all came home, The Husband and I got back in our vehicles.  He took The Grandson home then met me at the auto body shop to drop off my car to have the dent fixed where the tree limb rear-ended me.  ;)

When we got back home from that trip, The Husband mowed the yard while I planted 4 rows of purple hull peas.  He finished the yard in time to help me put the cardboard back down between the rows, then we watered (and fertilized) the butterbeans.  While I was doing the watering, he picked vegetables.  

I came home, showered, and made zucchini-raisin muffins and a loaf of zucchini cheese bread.

That's enough work for today!

Goodbye Cucumbers, Goodbye Peas - August 7, 2021

 We picked every purple hull pea that was on the vines, mature or not.  Then we took up the cardboard carpet, pulled up the vines, mowed down the grass, and tractor-tilled the rows where the peas had been.  Tomorrow, I'm going to re-plant the peas.

We also pulled up the cucumber vines.  The Nephew came out while I was doing it and said, "Are they done?"  I said, "I don't know, but I'M done."  We picked the cucumbers off the vines as we pulled them up.  They were mostly nubby things, so I do think the plants really were done, after all.

I cut a bunch of okra, shared some with Nanny.  Tomorrow, we'll have okra & tomatoes for supper.  Later this week, when the plants make more, I intend to pickle some okra.

The butterbeans are just now beginning to bloom.  They need to be fed and watered.  Tomorrow, if I can get around to it.  

It's getting close to time to start thinning out the tomato plants.  The Defiant tomatoes have very few tomatoes left on them, and I doubt they'll make more.  The San Marzano tomatoes - well, I haven't been at all impressed with them.  They won't grow in my garden next year.  They seem more prone to disease than anything else in the garden.  

We still have a dozen or so of the indeterminate tomatoes, and they are still producing enough for us to have sandwiches, etc.  I guess they'll make fruit until frost.

I want to plant some fall garden vegetables.  I have all the seeds I need.  Maybe I'll get busy sprouting some seedlings this week.

 

There are weeks when I go to work, come home; go to work, come home; go to work, come home.

Then there was this week.

Last Friday night, we went to watch Granddaughter #1's high school band perform the half-time show they'd been working on for the prior three weeks.  It was HOT, even at 7 p.m.  Though the stadium was crowded, we found seats directly behind our son and his family.  I kissed Granddaughter #'s 2 and 3 on their heads, then reached for 6-month-old Granddaughter #4.  I had not seen these little ladies in more than a week because I'd had a sinus infection and hadn't wanted to expose them to my germs.  When I took the baby, she looked at me with terror in her eyes, puckered up, and started to wail.  Heartbroken, I passed her back to her mama in a hurry.  It was the first time she'd ever seemed afraid of me.  

Early this week, I went by to visit this rotten little baby, thinking she wouldn't be afraid of me in her home environment.  She was in her 7-year-old sister's lap, sucking on a bottle, half asleep.  When she heard my voice, her eyes flew open, and she sat up and gave me a wary look.  I sat down beside her and talked to her, and after a few minutes, I took her into my lap.  She puckered up again, but I kept playing with her, and it didn't take long for her to decide that I was okay.  Later, I laid her down on her tummy to see if she could crawl.  Instead of crawling, the raised herself up on her elbow and sat straight up.  It was the first time she'd accomplished that feat.  Her mom and sisters were all surprised by the maneuver, and they clapped and cried, "YAY!"  The baby just  looked at them, puzzled, like, "What?"

The next night was Granddaughter #2's birthday.  We picked up Nanny and went over for birthday cake and presents.  The little rotten baby recognized me this time, and gave me a big toothless grin as soon as I spoke to her.

Last night, the youngest three girls came over to our house while their parents ran errands.  Late in the evening, when the little rotten baby got fussy, I gave her a tour of my house.  In each new room, she looked around like she was expecting a monster to jump out of a closet.  I took her in my bathroom, and when she saw us in the mirror, she twisted around to look me in the face, then looked back to the mirror again.  She did this over and over.  How I wished I could've heard her thoughts!

* * * * * * * * 

Tuesday evening we picked vegetables in the garden.  Got a pretty good haul.  Nanny wanted the tomatoes, peppers, purple hull peas, and some of the cucumbers.  The Husband took the remaining cucumbers, the okra, and the green beans to give away at work.  I made plans in my head to go back to the garden the next day to pull up the peas, clean up the rows, and re-plant the peas.  That was before I remembered the birthday party.  The plan switched to Thursday evening.  That was before last night's unexpected babysitting.  The plan has now switched to this evening.  We'll see what happens.

Yesterday morning, I had to leave for work a little earlier than usual, as I was scheduled to work in a distant county.  I backed out of the driveway, started forward, and immediately realized something was wrong.  My car had a flat tire.  Fortunately, my old Wrangler was available to drive to work.  It hadn't been cranked for weeks.  It was parked in front of The Husband's truck.  The Husband was in the shower, so I had to run inside, grab all the necessary keys, and do a vehicle ballet in the driveway to get to the Wrangler.   On the first couple of crank attempts, I feared that the battery was too weak to start the engine.  I was yelling at it, "No, no, NOOOO!"  Finally, it started.  As soon as I got on the road, the gas light came on.  GEEZ!  It looked like there might be enough gas to make it to town, so I kept going.  What a way to start the day, eh?

Today, "if the Good Lord is willing and the Creeks don't rise" (as they say in these parts) [see footnote 1], I'll be going to the garden after work to pull up the peas.  I'll have to remove all the cardboard that currently carpets the middles so that I can clean up the rows.  I'll put the cardboard down again as soon as the pea seeds are in the ground.  This may take more than one evening.  

Tomorrow, it's supposed to get hot again.  I've promised to take The Grandson shopping for school supplies in the morning.  Maybe I can enlist his help in the garden if it doesn't rain.

* * * * * * * * 

[1]  While visiting "Constitution Village" in Huntsville, Alabama, a few years ago, I learned that, contrary to my former belief, the phrase "if the Creeks don't rise" has nothing to do with floods.  It referred to the Creek tribe of Alabama.  :)

Groundhog Day - August 1, 2021

 I spent the first half of yesterday canning tomatoes.  Got 4 quarts, plus enough left-overs to make a batch of macaroni & tomatoes for tonight's supper.  I think this makes about 14 quarts of tomatoes in the pantry.  That ought to be enough for a winter's worth of chili, soup, etc.  

The sill on one side of the back porch is still lined with tomatoes that weren't quite ripe enough to can.  Nanny still wants to can more tomatoes, so I'll take these to her when they're ready.

* * * * * * * * 

It was SO HOT yesterday.  When the canning was done, I attempted to pull some weeds from the flower bed at the back of the house, but that didn't last long.  I'd learned from a Facebook gardening group that one of the weeds in the flower bed is pigweed, and when I went outside to compare it with a picture in the post, I discovered that it was blooming.  A farmer had told me last year that pigweed is invasive and almost impossible to kill with herbicides.  It had to go.  I pulled up all I could find in that one bed and stuffed it in the garbage can.  There may be more of it in other beds, but the sun was beating down so hot on my back that I gave up after cleaning out the one bed.

As I was cooling off under a fan on the back porch, The Husband came out.  Almost immediately, I heard him give a little gasp and say, "Groundhog!"  

I jumped up from my chair and said, "Where?!" but the groundhog - if that's what it was - had already disappeared down the gulley.  

A few years ago, the gulley started caving off, eating up our back yard.  We spent a good bit of money having a dirt/concrete fill brought in to stop the erosion.  The thought of animals burrowing into that fill puts me on edge.  I said, "It's probably got a burrow in the gulley.  We've got to get rid of it.  You've got to kill it."  

The Husband said, "Maybe we can trap it and haul it off."

Thus began the Groundhog Quest.

The Husband did a little research and discovered that groundhogs are vegetarians, so he decided to bait the live trap.  We set it up in the area where he'd seen the beast, and baited it with tomatoes and watermelon.  We also set up the trail camera to capture the capture on film.

And we waited.

Off and on all evening, The Husband checked his phone, which can receive live feeds from the trail cam.  Nothing.

About 10 p.m., we went out to the porch for one last trap-check before we went to bed.  The Husband picked up a spotlight that we keep handy for wildlife viewing at night.  He shined it on the trap.  

A possum was in it.

I didn't want to "off" the possum; they're said to eat a lot of ticks.  So we decided to turn it loose.

Un-trapping a possum is way harder than trapping one.  When we finally got the trap open (by pushing down on the mechanism with a sturdy stick), the possum would not come out.  I picked up the end of the cage and tried to dump him out, but he clung to the wires and would not let go.  Finally, he turned in the right direction and scampered out of the cage and over the hill.

The trail cam did not catch the possum being trapped, but it did catch us trying to un-trap him.  

I'm not showing you that.  :)