Feels Like Fall

 The hurricane spent twelve hours delivering less than half an inch of gentle rain and today is cool and cloudy and feels like October.  The garden is happy.

The indeterminate tomatoes are on the verge of ripening

I started some of my late season chores getting empty beds ready for next year.

We completed the last of the power pole projects.  We sank some gateposts next to the driveway into the area we cleared of trees back in 2021.  

The hard part was not planting the poles, it was getting them to match in height and location.

The poles mark the edges of the culvert pipe so if you take a big truck in there you won't accidentally hang a wheel off over the ditch.  And, if we want to we can string a chain across there to keep people from pulling in.  So far that hasn't been  problem.

Ready for Rain

 I spent my garden time today getting ready for heavy rains.  Hurricane Debby will be here mid-day tomorrow.  Most of the heavy rain is predicted to move to our east, but we will be on the edge where the cold front is coming across the Great Lakes to meet it so we can still have some storms and wind.  There are a few things you want to do in the garden when you know you have some weather coming.

I tied up my Dahlias and removed any older blooms

I picked the zucchinis (which will swell) and the nearly ripe tomatoes (which will crack)

I removed any unsupported branches and damaged, rotting or misshapen fruit

I also applied granular fertilizer to anything that I thought could use it so it can be watered in.  I applied my Milky Spore to get started killing the grubs.  I picked up and put away any wayward supports, pots and tools.

I checked the green beans and picked some to store in the fridge

There are still plenty of blooms to come

Isn't this a pretty little string of pearls?

Spicebush Butterfly

The butterflies seem to sense a change in the weather.  Tomorrow will not be a good day for them to be out and about looking for food so they are gorging themselves today and were therefore quite docile and approachable.  Tomorrow will not be a good day for me to be out and about either so I've done my best to make sure any damage from the wind or rain is minimal and that I've brought in anything useable so I won't have to run out in the rain.

Beans, Beans and More Beans

 

Yesterday I caught up on freezing beans.  This year I planted half as many pole beans than I did last year and I am still buried in beans.  And this was only half of them.  But I think I am caught up now and we have enough in the freezer for the winter.

Myrtle and Mulch

 Timing is everything.  Monday afternoon I set out to transplant all of the myrtle I had set aside in the shade from the recent wilderness reclamation.  As I finished and was watering it in it began to rain.  It rained all the next day.  Today was warm and sunny and tomorrow it will be overcast as the hurricane remnants arrive.  This weekend will be rainy and next week will be warm and sunny but not scorching hot.  Perfect summer weather for transplanting something.

Today we put on a final layer of mulch and placed some "yard art" in there.

As a reminder, below is what it looked like before.

That big round thing to the left of the plow is my PaPaw's hog boiler.  I have wanted to use it as either a water feature or a planter but have never found the right spot for it.  To use it as a planter I would have to drill drainage holes in it.  I have been hesitant to do that because who knows when you will need a hog boiler...

Next spring I will plant some blue perennial geraniums in front of it.

I still have to divide that one big grass into six sections and plant along the back but the root ball is awful hard and I will at least have to use a knife to cut it and maybe a Sawzall.  I know this because last fall I managed to whittle five sections off the edge and it was quite a chore.  Cutting through the center with a transplant spade will be nearly impossible.

Plenty of Rain

 We are enjoying another much needed rainy day.  Things have cooled off a lot so the central air can be turned off and the windows can be open for fresh air.  As usual, when I am not patrolling my garden several times a day, things slip through the cracks.  It is tempting to pick up this Early Girl branch right away, but a cool, damp stem will be more susceptible to bacteria and viruses if you touch it and scrape it up.  This can wait until tomorrow when the plant is dry.

An inspection of the stem shows that it is bent but not even cracked.  I can fasten it to a support pole and the tomatoes can ripen on the vine.  It is tempting to just remove it, which should also wait until tomorrow.  I have PLENTY of tomatoes elsewhere.  Huge tomatoes.

It is interesting to note that on each row of tomatoes, the foliage is more dense on the east side and the fruit is more plentiful and exposed on the west side.  Perhaps the plant grows towards the morning sun but the blooms emerge in the late day sun?

Pike County Yellow

Berkley Tie-Dye Green

Black Beauty

I already tasted the first Black Beauty.  It wasn't black at all.  It was hidden in the thick foliage at the bottom of the plant where it got no direct sun to color it up.  I caught a glimpse of red as I walked by.

Dwarf Peppermint and Black Beauty

I also picked some Dwarf Peppermint.  Both were excellent tasting with no hard center core and a great texture.  I am having difficulty determining when the Peppermint is ripe because it maintains green shoulders.  You have to go completely by feel.  It is time consuming feeling all of these new striped tomatoes each day!  

Tomorrow I will be pickling peppers.  These are a favorite summer treat for us.  The two orange peppers are Orange Blaze.  I was sort of underwhelmed by their size and shape but in retrospect, they are the perfect size for one person.  They are thick walled and sweet and perfect for snacking or a salad.

Another victim of the weight of rain is this Bloomquist Jean Dahlia flower.  I am not sad to lose the flower because the bloom has been open for a good week and it will soon begin to drop petals, but I will probably miss out on the two lateral blooms because dahlia buds rarely open after they are picked.  

This was my one special dahlia purchase during the dahlia wars.  The Bloomquist dahlias are very popular for their turned back petals giving them a very round, muppet like appearance.  They do not produce a lot of tubers and often have to be propagated from cuttings.  This makes them rare, expensive and hard to get your hands on.  I have already preordered the Bloomquist Pumpkin for next year.  Pumpkin was my first choice but Jean was the one I was able to get and I was pleased to find that Jean is actually more orange than I anticipated.  My photography skills do not do dahlias justice.  The true color is an irredescent copper with streaks of gold in the center.  The plant has done well and there are a dozen buds still to open

Fill In Flowers

 This time of year the annuals that I start from seed to fill in the edges are at their peak.

First Flame Celosia from seed and volunteers

El Brighto Coleus from cuttings, volunteer Celosia and Marigolds from seed

El Brighto Coleus from cuttings, volunteer Celosia

Volunteer Portulaca

Durango Marigolds direct sown

Bloody Mary Nasturtium from seed

Bloody Mary Nasturtium from seed

Bloody Mary Nasturtium from seed

Junkyard Dog Dahlia
This is the third year I have planted this tuber and the first year it has bloomed
It is still trying to figure out how to do it right

What a Difference A Rain Makes

 Today we are receiving a much needed all day rain.  So many things are starved for water including lawns and trees.  We got only a smidge over two inches in July.  And we were lucky.  Other places in the county tallied less than that.  Our average rainfall for July is 4.55"

But a rainless vegetable garden is a tidy, disease free garden.  I can already see the effects of this morning's rain.

I can see the color change between the first and second plantings of Cucumbers.  The first planting is yellowing out while the second is still dark green and should produce a few more.

The older plants are getting spots and will come out as soon as we dry up.  They are done producing anyway.

Fried Green Tomatoes anyone?
The whole branch snapped off cleanly.  Wet tomatoes are heavy

The Feverfew is browning out and flopping over.  Time for a trim.

All in all not a bad result.  We need the rain so I will accept the light damage and do a mid-season clean up in the next day or two.