Garden update

Apologies for the sparse postings lately, but we’ve had weekends jam-packed with socializing, and garden chores have been keeping us hopping as well.  Even with a scaled-back garden, August is a busy month.  It seems as though all vegetables are in harvest mode (except the tomatoes, which are taking FOREVER), and the berries are still flowing.  This translates into lots of blanching/freezing, canning and coming up with creative meals to make use of this bountiful, daily harvest. 

I spent a couple hours last evening after work blanching and freezing the last of the edamame and a bunch of green beans.  With the combo bush and pole beans we planted this year, we’ve had a constant supply of green beans since early July. When the bush beans started to peter out, the pole beans took over. They're still flowering, so I expect we're still looking at another couple of weeks of fresh green beans.  Liz, Taylor and I (nothing like putting the house guests to work!) pulled half of the edamame plants over the weekend, and Nora pulled the remaining plants yesterday.  Given that our little bunny friends decimated the early seedlings back in June (before Jim built the beautiful fence which now surrounds the garden) and the poor plants had to start over again, we ended up with a decent crop.

I have bags upon bags of frozen berries in the freezer waiting to be made into jams, and the cucumbers have taken over the fridge.  I also have a small bag of tomatoes left over from Liz and Cheryl's purchase at the Amish farm stand down the road, and a bag of apples waiting to be canned as well.  There are still tons of apples ripening on our older trees, so I may try making some apple butter in addition to apple sauce.  Guess what’s at the forefront of my to-do list this weekend?!  And have I mentioned that Nora makes a killer apple pie?!  Who knew?!

Unfortunately, our pumpkin patch, which looked glorious until about 10 days ago, has been overtaken by powdery mildew; a side-effect of the cool and wet weather we’ve been experiencing this summer.  This won’t harm any pumpkins that are already developed, but it can dramatically impact any new growth.  For anyone else suffering from this fungal outbreak on your squashes or other leafy vegetables, try mixing 1 part milk with 9 parts water and spray the stems and tops of leaves with the solution. Reapply after any rain.  You can also try spraying the leaves with baking soda (1 teaspoon in 1 quart water), which raises the pH, thereby creating an inhospitable environment for powdery mildew.  Neither will cure the problem, but can slow down the spread and better yet, acts as a deterrent (something I neglected to do, obviously).

LOTS of mildew

Not as much mildew and an adorable, little Gooligan pumpkin

On the animal front, egg production has dropped precipitously.  Some of the older hens have started their fall molt, and the others, well, are just lazy and unproductive I guess.  Daisy 2 and Made It, the young'ins, are still holding their own and producing almost every day.  I expect that will drop off as well as the days continue to shorten.