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.

Red Star Quilt, Completed. 26 Aug 23.

 Here is the red star quilt that I finished this summer.  This was made mostly from upcycled men's 1% cotton shirts.  The sides and corner blocks are mainly my own design, and the body of the quilt was based on a pattern from Today's Quilter by Lynne Goldsworthy.  

I'm happy with the result.  A couple of the shirt fabrics were a more delicate weave than I should have used, and not as durable than I wish it was.  Lesson learned.  I have started cutting multicolored batik fabrics for an entirely different take on this theme.  Something to work on next winter.

Resuming Posting. 26 Aug 23.

 I haven't been posting for a while.  It's been a challenging summer, and I can't do everything I once did.

I hope that continuing to post is a sign of resilience and hope for the future.

Gardening is as important as it ever was.  Good for health, mental health, emotional health, nutrition, outlook, community, and the environment.

Disappearing Hourglass Quilt Block in Batik. 5,6.23

I wanted to make a quilt for Ning's sister, that I could make faster than the usual  cotton men's shirt upcycle quilts.  There are various versions online of disappearing hourglass.  I decided to use batik as the deeply colored parts and off-white with grey markings for the background.  I ordered precut 10-inch sampler bundles, but will also add some other fabrics.

First sew together a light and a dark square, facing together.  Sew a 1/4 inch seam all around.

One thing I discovered, is the precuts are not all perfectly square.  So it takes some finagling.

Then, cut corner to corner, both ways.  (I didn't photograph the first one, so the color is different now.

Then open what are now half square triangles, press, rearrange to make hourglass blocks.

Sew together.  That's the hourglass block.

Then cut into perfect thirds, horizontal and vertical.  That disappears the hourglass.

Now it's a nine-patch.  Rearrange the sides, corners, and middle.

Sewn together like a nine-patch, the block at the top is the result.  There are some challenges.  All of the pieces are on the bias.  The corners didn't come out perfectly on the first two blocks.  I think it still be ok with practice.  Also, the white backgrounds in the sampler aren't all what I want, so I need to replace some.

Drunkards Path Block, Pillow Sham. 5.6.23

 I've been wanting to try a drunkards path block, and wanting pillow shams to match a much earlier quilt made and like a lot.  It turned out pretty easy.  Here is the quilted pillow sham on the older quilt.

Now I want to make a few more.  

The secret to getting those round seams to work, is first use a washable 1/4 inch basting tape to connect them.  Then sew the curved seam.  Nobody tells you that.  It works very well.

Red Star Quilt. Ready to be Quilted. 5.6.23

 Here is the red star quilt so far.

It's all pinned together with the backing and batting.  I've been procrastinating actually quilting it, but I think I'm about ready to.

Also, I think I'll also make a multicolor, richly colored batik version of this quilt.  I like the pattern and how it came together.

Planter Box Made From Cedar Fencing. 6.May.23.

 Here is the second planter box, so far.

About April 15

Not much has changed since then.  Yesterday I used sealer to seal the inside, which will also be protected by a plastic liner.  Then I'll arrange six 25 gallon fiber pots on a platform inside the box and fill with a soil mix.  The main stumbling block is, I don't have the soil mix yet.

Most of the peppers will be in this planter.  Also, it will have drip irrigation.

After a week or two of dry weather, I'll stain it to preserve the wood and to look better.

Here is the one I built last year, using the same method.  Both are 100% repurposed fencing.

Tomatoes are Planted. 5.6.23

I had to take three weeks off due to eye surgery and recovery, retinal detachment. The ophthalmologist has given me the OK to resume activity now. 

I had started tomato seeds about April 15.  They grow quickly.

I planted the fresh-eating slicing, beefsteak type, and salad type tomatoes in last year's onion bed.  Fortunately I already had it cleaned up.

These have been in the ground for a few days.  Soil temp above 60, night temp mostly above 50 and day temp in 70s.  

Varieties from my saved seeds -

Reisentraube, Dwarf Brandyfred, Extreme Dwarf, Dwarf Champion Improved, New Big Dwarf, Livingston Dwarf Stone, Dwarf Golden Champion, Ukraine Purple (Not dwarf), Dwarf Johnson Cherry, Dwarf Tanunda Red.  The dwarf types and Heirlooms are all open pollinated, so I can (and do) save seeds. They are also all really good, and hard to find seeds for them, and the dwarf habit is really helpful for me.

Open pollinated, new to me - Dwarf Chocolate Champion, Dwarf Muliagul Moon, Dwarf Eagle Smiley, Puck.  

There is also an Early Girl Bush hybrid as a standby variety.  It was my best producer two years ago, but last year didn't do much.  Also, it's multi-disease resistant, which is important.

The bed for sauce tomatoes was a bigger challenge.  This was last year's garlic bed.  The corner stone blocks had tipped over and the sides splayed open, not holding the soil. To repair them, I had to dig the soil from the sides and pile on top.

Then, level the soil under the corner blocks, replace them, put in longer rebar center pole but leave some sticking out the top.  Replace the plastic lining to better preserve the wood - chicken feed bags, which are a reinforced plastic.

Now comes the important part.  I cut lengths of recovered, treated 2x4s about a foot longer than the side planks, and drilled 1/2 inch holes to fit over the rebar.  After sliding those in place, the bed looked like this.

Then I leveled the piled up soil.  There is also a big bag of coffee grounds added to the soil before leveling.  Ready to plant tomato plants.

I think those 2x4s will really hold this bed together for a very long time.  The corner stones just cant tilt or move now.  After other chores are done, I'll clean them more thoroughly and stain them along with the sides of the beds.

Then I planted the sauce tomato plants.  Five Supremo and seven Roma VF.  The Roma are my saved seeds, maybe four seasons (generations) of saving the seeds.  Supremo is a modern, multi-disease resistant hybrid.  I expect it to be more productive than the Roma, but I always like to grow two types as well as keep saved varieties going for independence.

There were some extras.  I always plant extra seeds then I don't know what to do with the plants.

I wanted to get the cardboard in place early to prevent weeds and prevent fungal disease.  I'll need to work around that when I install the irrigation.   I'm glad they are planted and mulched and the raised bed refurbished and repaired.  There are some hot days ahead.

Verbascum, Stocks, Dusty Miller, Echinacea, Rudbeckia Seedlings. 4.10.22

 I separated the verbascum, stocks, and dusty miller seedlings into their own cells.

The stratified Echinacea and Rudbeckia seedlings germinated rapidly.  Based on my starts in January, the Echinacea didn't need stratifying.  It didn't hurt, either.

This old LED distorts the image color.  The newer ones don't do that.

Starting Potatoes. 4.10.23

 The potato starts came from Fedco.  I bought early, mid season, and late varieties.  Envol, Red Norland, Kennebeck, and Elba.

I thought the brown discoloration inside one was concerning, so I wrapped it up and threw it into the trash.

The others looked OK.  Before cutting the others, I sterilized the knife by washing in hot water and soap, and then en with denatured alcohol.  I also changed to a new cutting board.

There were some small, sprouting Kennebec potatoes in the garage.  I planted the best looking ones 2 days ago.

Last year I planted too many potatoes.  It was a challenge digging them, especially with the heat and wildfire smoke.  I'm planting about half as many this year.

Eggplant Seedlings. 4.10.22

 Here are most of the eggplant seedlings.  Many of the old plastic pots are degrading, brittle, cracking and broken.  I bought these new ones.  I hope they will last longer.  Thicker plastic.  After use and hand wash, they go through a dishwasher cycle to sterilize.  I haven't tried that yet for these new ones.

I started these seeds in January.  They were slow at first because the sunroom wasn't warm enough.  They should grow faster now.

The varieties were from old seed packets.

Black Beauty (heirloom)

Black Shine (Japanese hybrid)

Nagasaki (Japanese heirloom)