black raspberries ready finally.
my two plum grafts took well
pawpaw/winecap patch is doing well so far
the corner with the ugly tree is looking better. thanks to beans
my two plum grafts took well
pawpaw/winecap patch is doing well so far
the corner with the ugly tree is looking better. thanks to beans
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Hurray for the blackberries!
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well things are coming up all over. had to chop a lot of squash leaves and tomato bottoms just to see what’s what. pears are still sleep. we got a few mulberries from the rubra tree, so yes they can grow here.
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put in the two persimmon and a flowering quince with this planter by the driveway. it used to be a pile of weeds and my old tires.
was out watering the trees and spent a while talking to Mormon kids, it’s brutally hot out so I gave them ice water and had them sit down and talk about anything but religion for a while in the shade. I worry about missionary kids walking out in this weather. it’s not safe.
my pumpkins and unlabeled squashes are growing well by the peach trees:
my jujube all look dead. dammit. leaves almost all gone but they’re scratching grgreen everywhere so - maybe they’ll pop back next spring. I hope.
the side trees, birch, crabapple, scrub oak, and mulberry are all doing fine.
the sage patch is starting to go to seed, my favorite time with it. every year it spreads and that makes me really happy.
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things got fried when it was 98F and around there off and on this last week or two.
some side by side from two weeks ago (?)
melons are taking off!
put up some shade in the tomato place
no idea when to harvest amaranth . never grew it before
okra is two inches tall still
pink oysters are growing!
avocados are happy.
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shade cloth and shade cloth imitations all over; it’s meant to be over 100F today.
first batch of pink oysters. if I try these again it’ll be an over wintering variety, these don’t seem very productive here.
Minnesota midget melons are pretty good. standard musk flavor. bigger one was very sweet. one VdB fig so far. not quite ripe. small melon was too watery.
lots of propagation pots
got to move this panel trellis thing for next year. might size down the legs of the raised bed to make room for the greenhouse, I could put this the other direction to cover it like a cold frame or something to mount a cold frame on in the high winds.
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how on earth
ours had big pink flowers, otherwise the same as that
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real melons, and some squash
futsu, pink banana squash, and sweet meat
Jack be little on the vine
tomatoes freezing up for sauce canning over winter
figs are continuing, a few a day
kazakh melon. got two of them. one very good, one not ready when picked
lemon tree flowered finally. didn’t drop them this time.
no peppers save one or two; I’ll be starting the new ones in December this year, and bringing in the old ones right before frost… greenhouse is in the ground, frame finished. I’ve just got to glaze it and finish digging down inside a few inches/sandbagging the edge.
mushrooms- winecaps are still producing. pink oysters made two measly handfuls and seem dead or done. they never get very large and it feels almost a waste of time to clean and pick them. might try white oyster next spring instead.
it’s been cool and rainy last few days. it’ll be in the 80s next week or two. hoping things ripen faster now and topping the tomatoes, tomatillos, winter squash plants.
okra failed as usual. will try starting early next year and planting it out from flats
it stalled at 3 inches tall, despite extreme heat and full sun and water enough. it’s not humid here. I think that’s an issue for it
started some carrot buckets last week.
malabar spinach, nz spinach, chard and beet leaves, tomatoes, basil, pine nuts from the neighbor, mozz and dressing. was pretty good.
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It’s likely a hardy hibiscus which, according to what I’ve read, grow well in zone 5 to 9.
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What a great post!
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for 3 days in a row I’ve gotten about a pound of winecaps.
last minute attempt at okra
the avocados are really happy
fennel seed for next year
pawpaw doing good
sumac and mulberry that were about a foot tall in May, now over 5 feet tall
last minute carrot buckets
letting it go wild for a month before cleanup
finally my favorites are coming along. took forever to get crookneck this year.
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laborious effort
was digging down to the silt layer. will use the bags along the edges for more insulation at the base.
a friend in the bottle gourd. that plant did nothing. a tromboncino in the same kind of pot , soil and etc produced plenty. I’m giving up on gourds like this, even loofah never produce for me.
cucamelons arrived in my Vietnamese coriander, as if by magic.
last minute okra I planted a month ago. still not producing anything, it’s 45 day variety so I’ll hold out hope
happy avocados waiting for me to finish the greenhouse.
what can I graft to this cherry “bush”. edible stuff, will it make food or flowers only? another thing my partner picked out. sigh
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I’m having my yearly first panic about night temperature. it’ll be below 50 from now on after tonight, most likely. frost isn’t for another few weeks, but I panic at the start of fall every year.
no idea why.
the greenhouse is done all but for two top straps- it’s bolted rather poorly onto 4x6" lumber stacked at the bottom inside. then sandbags all around the outside. I will need to insulate this month, aiming to have it tucked in by the second week of October for the frosts and then, to have the heat temp gauge running by November for the freeze.
all my figs are in there to get a bit more warm, dry ripening time. the avocados and all my subtropical plants are in there too and I spent the day pulling up all the peppers and herbs to put in there in pots.
I even dug up a handful of eggplants to see if they’ll produce another round in there- some of them are flowering.
the melon patch has 6 melons in it the size of baseballs. I might get one, maybe two before it really gets cold at night.
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to organize my greenhouse. I’ve got no raised beds inside, I’m a container gardener with that stuff, but I was thinking about putting one in. I’m just having a hard time deciding where everything goes.
obligatory photos. last one looking through the old hoophouse frame at the new greenhouse. that hoophouse frame is going to be the squash trellis from now on, it did well this summer at that.
the mess inside;
the beehouse on the greenhouse;
the old frame;
advice as always is appreciated
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Suggest a Squirrelinator, trap and remove them far away, that’s what I’m doing because I know my neighbor will not stop feeding them. If you allow this to continue and you do not have any other viable recourse to eliminate the squirrels, you will only see their population and pest frequency increase. It’s probably the best $65 I have spent recently. Last week I took squirrel #9 across the river to a new home. Over this winter I expect to catch the majority and release to their new home far away!
Dennis
Kent, wa
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That’s no mess. 
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yes they’re perfect! we got one and used it last year, 30 squirrels sent over the river. this year there was only one big guy, and the dogs did their job pretty well. the grey squirrels only got into a few things
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Anji,
In the greenhouse there are a couple ideas for gaining a longer grow season. My greenhouse floor is dark brick pavers. You could either do those or you could put down dark weed cloth and either would gain and store more sun heat taking your inside temps upward another 5-10 degrees which would help a lot for plants like Tomatoes which do not do well after temps go below 50 F. We just cut off all our outdoor tomatoes to bring indoors for ripening. In the green house they can stay much longer.
If you like fresh salad year round, maybe think about a 2’x2’ x8’ long raised bed in a part of the greenhouse where salads can grow all winter. You might have to give it some heat in your zone, but my spinach and lettuce grow all winter and my greenhouse is not heated. If you construct it out of western red cedar and keep the bottom a couple inches off the floor to allow airflow, it would last 20+ years or more.
Just food for thought
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Excellent. I’ve noticed while perusing the overstock lots at masonry suppliers that dark pavers are often there.
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I’ll look for some. getting building supplies in is hard, compact car and I’m too small to load it all usually.
I spent today starting to build up a compost pile square in the northeast corner, 3x3x4 feet. it’s only one or two layer deep now, I’ll add fall leaves as I get them and I have plenty straw and woodchips.
I also had the electrician here; it’s wired from the house in case my solar doesn’t keep it warm enough, I can plug in directly on the coldest nights for a little supplemental heat. started insulating the east and north sides, the north has a door and window and that window is leaky. so I’ll probably just seal that end off completely for winter.
took photos of the melon patch. it’s starting to suffer, nights are on the 40s now but there’s a few left in there, ripening. I’ve got only a little hope for them
the old hoophouse frame made an excellent squash trellis this year and I’ll use it again next year for that.
the hazelnut, a pear graft, plum tree. and the pawpaw patch.
squash are still producing. rhubarb seems like it’s died all the way back to nothing. I’ll see if it comes back in the spring I guess. it might need a shadier spot.
a few different overviews of different parts of the garden. doing mound planning for next year.
think this is the Siberian pink finally ripening.
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