Freezing Cherry Tomatoes. 16 Sept 2023.

 There have been lots of cherry tomatoes.  The most productive have been Reisentraube (red heirloom) and Golden Eagle Smiley (open pollinated dwarf, from Dwarf Tomato Project).

We like using cherry tomatoes to make the roasted feta cheese noodle sauce, which should work fine with frozen cherry tomatoes.

I froze up a batch of Reisentraube.  These are a bit bigger than other cherry tomatoes, but great flavor.

 Once frozen, they are like marbles and can be packaged into a gallon freezer bag.

I did the same with the Golden Eagle Smiley.

This is what the noodles looked like with a separate batch of Reisentraube tomatoes.  Before roasting...

After, with noodles added.

Green Bush Beans in a Half Barrel Container. 12 Sept 2023.

 After the ducks ate all of the bean plants in their yard, I planted some in an extra container.    I'm guessing there will be a pound of beans when I pick them soon.

There will be more in a few weeks, from the last, much bigger, planting.

Honeybees on Hypericum and Sedum. 12 Sept 2023.

 The sedums are covered with bees.  Both honeybees and the tiny pollinator bees.  The sedum is always popular with bees.

The tiny bees don't show in the photo, but there are lots of them.  

I haven't planted these hypericums yet.  The front border still needs some cleaning up first.  Meanwile they are still growing and blooming in their containers.

Repotting More Bearded Irises and Some Carnations. 12 Sept 23.

 I'm continuing to dig out bearded iris clumps, cleaning them up, and planting the best rhizomes in containers.

There are also some carnations that I grew last year.  They bloomed but never thrived.  I think it was bad potting soil.  Still, they survived the winter, spring, and summer again.  I decided to clean them up and repot.

As they were.

I dug out the four plants.

Cut off dead stems and scraggly stems, and hosed off as much soil as I could.

Planted three into one large container, and one in a smaller container.

I don't know if they will grow and thrive next year.  That's part of the fun.

Tomato Pie. Apple Pie. 9 Sept 2023.

 These are some of the last crop of dwarf tomatoes, "heirloom type" although not all are actually heirloom.  

I also still have a lot of the Gravenstein apples, although they go bad rather quickly.  

So I made pies with both.

I substituted cake flour for about 1/3 of the all purpose flour in the crusts.  It did make them more flaky (mission accomplished!) and they tasted so good!  But for the blind baked cruse (tomato pie), the bottom cracked and the sides flopped in a bit.  The flavor was still wonderful.

This time, I used a Mexican style shredded cheese mis for the tomato pie.  That was excellent.   I also used home made mayonnaise in the cheese mixture.  The topping includes some chopped Jalapeños. 

Some Hybrid Echinacea Bloomed the First year From Seeds. 8 Sept 2023

 These were the Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea that I grew from seeds this Spring.  It doesn't seem to matter much whether or not I stratified the seeds.

So far they all seem to be this red or reddish pink color.  Maybe the later bloomers will be the other colors, yellow or white?

I didn't expect any to bloom the first year, so this is a treat.

Bearded Iris Cleanup. 8 Sept 2023.

 I cleaned up some of the bearded iris rhizomes.  There are only a few remaining in the large bed I tried to grow a few years ago.  I moved most to other locations.  Some of that area was also potatoes last year.  I will downsize, converting that to easily mowed lawn, over the winter.  Meanwhile, I'm looking between thistles and grasses for remaining bearded iris clumps.

This clump lost its label.  If this variety blooms next year, I can figure it out.  With all of the ones I dug up, I hosed off all of the soil that I could.

Then separated rhizomes to pull out grasses and remove burnt-out old rhizomes.

Trimmed, and selected the healthiest appearing ones.

And planted into a container with fresh potting soil.

Here's another container.  These were mostly in worse shape.  Two are new rhizomes that I bought.

Bearded irises should be really easy to grow.  The challenges here are the aggressive thistles and grasses that invade the clumps, which have to be pulled by hand.  Also, in rainy spring weather, they get fungal spot and bacterial rot.  My hope here is they will be much easier to give TLC in the big containers, and I can keep them on the back patio when in season, then move to the vegetable garden the rest of the time.  

I con't know if they will bloom next year, or thrive in the containers.  I hope they do.

Buffalo Grapes, Harvest to Jelly. 8 Sept 2023

 Here is how the Buffalo Grapes looked a couple of ago.  I planted this variety because it is a Concord type that can be grown and produces in my area.   This vine has been growing for ten years.

I picked a tub of grapes.  There are more than that, still on the vines.

I cleaned up about 5 pounds of the darkest and bluest.

And made grape jelly.

The flavor is really rich.  I have to wait until tomorrow to see how well it gelled.

Buffalo is the most prolific of my grape vines, so far.  The same row also has Himrod.

Those are very tasty, but don't have that "grapey" Concord type flavor.  Some of the others had a few clusters.  They might grow faster with irrigation and fertilizer.  But I think the flavor is richer without those, and I don't need that many grapes.

Planting Bulbs in Planters. 31 Aug 23.

I emptied some containers of their former occupants, removed the top half of soil, mixed fresh potting soil with the bottom half, and added some Osmocote slow release flower fertilizer, then planted these tulip bulbs in one.

Then I covered with more fresh potting soil and a little more Osmocote.  These are settled in for the fall and winter.  They do need to be kept away from squirrels, voles, and feral cats.

This time, I'll also treat the bearded irises as container plants.  I think it will be a lot easier for me to take care of them.  I bought two more, but will also try to clear out the rest of the old iris bed, which is taken over by thistles, and recover what iris rhizomes I can, from there.  Then that bed will become mowed lawn once again.

The daffodils will also be planted in a container.

Repotting Some Dendrobiums / Planting Keikis. 31 Aug 23

 I have a couple of dendrobiums that survive all the neglect that I give them.  I decided to restore them, and have been watering them and fertilizing for a couple of months.  I repotted them now.

One had several babies (keikis) growing on old stems.  I cut off those stems at the red lines.

Then I planted in orchid bark.

I mostly covered the old stems with more orchid bark.

Now they just need regular care again.  The keikis will grow fine with no special treatment.

Today's Harvest. More Apples & Sauce Tomatoes. Orcas Pears. 27 Aug 23.

 Today the temp was mid 90s, so I wasn't up to a lot of garden work.

The Gravenstein Apple tree may have as many apples remaining as I have harvested.  I cleaned up some fallen apples (chickens eat them, whereas if left on the ground, yellow jackets thrive on them).  I picked all I can handle at the moment.  These are just from today.

Also, the sauce tomatoes.  There is probably another crop as big, ripening in about a week.  Then they will be done.

I picked Orcas Pears, most of that tree's crop.  All I need is a batch or two, to can.

They are still pretty firm, but starting to fall from the tree.  It's a challenge getting them when they are ripe enough to can, without being so ripe they become mushy.

Seeds Planted Today. Radishes, Turnips, Spinach, Lettuce, Swiss Chard. 26 Aug 23

 I planted these today, where I dug the onions.  I think they should give sone vegetables in Sept and Oct.

That's all for today.

The tablet seems to be uploading better now.  That's good.

Gravenstein Apple Harvest. 26 Aug 23.

 Gravensteins are among the earliest apples.  My only earlier variety is the modern, disease resistant, yellow variety "Pristine".  This tree is a dwarf that I planted about 5 years ago.  It may be alternate year bearing, based on results so far.  I missed the first dozen or so apples that fell on the ground.   Gravensteins are delicious, heirloom type apples (from the 1600s!) that are big, early, but don't keep long at all.  They also cook into a softer result than other apples.

I made a pie with the first 8 or 9 apples.

There are about a dozen more apples on the tree.  It's a nice crop this year.

Dwarf, Heirloom Tomato Harvest. And Tomato Pie. 26 Aug 23

 These are from a couple of weeks ago.

This was today.

The tomato pie I made.  I substituted Mexican style shredded cheese mix for the original type, and switched 1/4 cup corn meal replacing that amount of flour in the crust.  Also added a few chopped Jalapeños.  It made for a very tasty tomato pie.

Sauce Tomatoes. 26 Aug 23.

 I'll try to catch up a few posts from last week or so, until current posts.

Here is the first batch of sauce tomatoes.  The modern hybrid, "Supremo", had larger, earlier, firmer, meatier tomatoes, compared to my own saved seed plants of Roma VF.

I cooked down about 40% of them, reducing volume by 50%.  Pureed the result in food processor, froze in 1-cup portions.

I made most of the rest into salsa, and canned it.  The salsa also contained home grown green peppers, Jalapeño peppers, garlic, and onions all from my garden,

I'm not sure, but I think I will have a second crop, just as large, from the sauce tomato raised bed.

Onion Harvest. 26 Aug 23

 I've been digging the onions.  Very happy with the crop.

The red ones are the heirloom variety "Red Wethersfield".  The yellow are a modern hybrid, I forget the name.  The harvest is more than 100 onions, a good crop that will keep until Spring 2024.

The image with Rufus was the first few rows, a few days ago.

I'm letting them dry and cure, out of the direct sun.

Last year, my onion crop was very disappointing.  I think the difference is, this year I had much better (nonclogging) drip irrigation.  I was also able to keep ahead of weeds this year.