Less heat, more rain.

Sunday 14th September

Rising at 8-00am to....................

Skies of beauty and wonder...............................

....and a sunny but refreshingly cooler day.
Oklahomegrownvegland received heavy rain all day yesterday and most of the night too so the Happy Gardener had to resort to inside work such as.....................

.....tomato seed collecting/cleaning/soaking/drying/labeling/storing. And admiring the seedlings growing indoors......

.....such as the Catnip shown here.
But today, outside work is possible, though the soil is very heavy due to the rain.
Plot 5 gets dug over and hoed level. This plot has been covered over since last weekend so the soil is comparatively dry. I then plant my first 6 plants of the fall.
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(L to R) Cauliflower, Kohlrabi, Cabbage. I then replaced the plastic cover but left the ends open. When I took the cover off this morning to work the soil it was pretty hot and muggy under there. Hopefully, leaving the ends open will allow the air to circulate. The plot was then sprinkled liberally with Iron Phosphate to deter my friends "The Woodlice" from taking over.
I then dug over Plot 2

This plot had not been covered and the soil was far too heavy to work so it received a light turning over and weeding. It was also clogged with roots, really thin and straggley ones which I presume are coming from the trees and creepers which grow on the border of the property. I need to dig this more next weekend if the soil gets to dry out a little.
The volunteer Tomato plants in Plot 4 are doing well. I'm going to have to decide on what sort of support I'm going to give them soon......

....before the fruits start weighing them down. My aim is to keep these plants short and bushy so perhaps stakes will suffice.
Here's a small reminder that messy times are approaching...........................

....and these few leaves will soon be followed by a whole lot more. I never rake them from the grassed areas of the garden, preferring to leave them in place. Many insects find shelter under them during the winter and this in turn gives a supply of much needed food to the birds when other sources are low.
I do however seem to get a huge collection of leaves accumulate at the northern end of the house and I want to collect some of these to use in the plots next year. So I made this................

The Happy Gardeners Patented Leaf Storage Bin. ™ © ®
The cardboard at the base is to try to deter weeds and grass growing through the bottom. Now when the annual mountain of leaves collects in the usual place I can gather them up and store them in here.
A quick stop to admire............................

.......the companion Marigolds in Plot 6. They have really thrived this year and added wonderful colour to the garden.
The African Blue Basil..............

.....is once again covered with Honey Bees just as it was last year around this time. These plants will always find a home in my garden
Darkening skies of beauty and wonder...........................

.......and time to eat.
What could be better than some.....................

.....Homemade Tomato and Basil Soup with warm crusty bread and butter.

The recipe for this delightful dish is available from http://cookingdunkinstyle.blogspot.com/

I highly recommend that you try it.

Preparing for Fall

Sunday 7th September

A lovely sunny day here in Oklahomegrownvegland, a day to lift the spirits of the Happy Gardener and inspire him to start preparing for the coming Fall.
I already have a number of established seedlings in the growing room but I need to prepare somewhere for them to grow outside.
The chosen place to start is Plot 5 where the potatoes were.
I'd pulled the remaining spuds a couple of days ago and today I gave the plot a really good digging over and a thorough weeding. It then got a liberal sprinkling of Iron Phosphate to deter any woodlice.
Then I was off to the local lumberyard to pick up a few things for the covering.

I purchased 4 pieces of lattice, 1.75" x .25" x 7ft and some screws. I already had some clear plastic sheet left over from when I last did some decorating. It was only medium thickness but I thought I'd give it a try. The plastic sheet was 12ft x 12ft approx.

Two opposite edges of the sheet were sandwiched between the two lasts and then screwed together.........

Here's a bit closer view.

The framework is simply 18 inch long pieces of rebar driven into the edges of the plot then 7ft lengths of plastic piping (which I already had) bent over in an arch and pushed over the rebar....

.......as shown above.
The plastic sheet is then laid over the supports..........

.....like this. The lattice strips makes it easier to roll the cover up when you want to remove it for planting/weeding/watering etc. I'm going to leave this plot covered like this for a week then dig it over again before transplanting any seedlings.

While I was out there I checked out some local wildlife..............

This friendly Garden Spider refused to pose for a snap and ran for cover in the tomato plants.
But, these guys were too busy working to bother about me and my camera...............

Honey Bees, there must have been around 30 on the Basil plants, a heartening sight indeed. They were joined.............................

.......by a number of Carpenter Bees.

Next, a project I began last weekend
I've started saving seeds from the tomatoes and here is how I'm doing it...........

Take your chosen tomato and slice it in half across the middle (its "equator").
With a spoon, scoop out the seeds and their gelatinous "goo" into a clean cup or container. Add a couple of tablespoons of water to the seeds. Cover the container with a piece of plastic-wrap and then poke the plastic-wrap with a paring knife or pen point to put a few small holes in it...this is to allow for air-transpiration. (A little fresh air needs to get in and out of the cup to help foster fermentation.)

Place the container of seeds in a warm location (I use the top of the refrigerator).
Now you must wait for fermentation to start and this usually takes a few days. Each night remove the plastic-wrap, stir the seed and water mixture, and then replace the plastic-wrap.
After a few days you get a scummy film form on the top surface..............

............as shown above. This helps destroy many of the possible tomato diseases that can be harbored by seeds. Take the container of fermented seeds to the sink and with a spoon carefully remove the scummy surface. Then pour the container's contents into a fine kitchen sieve and rinse well with running water. Shake to remove as much moisture as possible. Put a coffee filter paper onto a plate and spread the seeds evenly onto it. Leave to dry thoroughly, about a week, then store in paper packets.

The long weekend

Friday 29th August.

Rising at 7-00am.

The day starts with tea drinking, crosswording, reading and generally lounging around as my long weekend stretches out ahead. I've decided to set myself a couple of small tasks each day and when they are done I shall take time out to relax and catch up on computing, e-flurrying and reading.

Todays task is........................................

..............mowing the bloody grass. I've finally got the whole garden cut down to an acceptable level. It's taken a few weeks but now the sprawling front of the property looks like the 7th hole at St Andrews Golf Course. Well, ok I exaggerate slightly. Even the kids all came out............

.....to admire my handywork. They stay out of the way when Dad is racing around on the mower making lots of noise. Now ALL I have to do is go round with the weedeater but that's not on the schedule for today. I finish the day with a bit of "pottering" around and whilst doing so noticed that one of the Flowering Dogwood saplings......................................

............has got a flower. The other sapling has a bud forming on the top too.

That was all the work done for Friday. Time for feet up and a read.

Saturday 30th August

Rising at 8-00am.

The sound of Alvin calling at the bedroom window starts my day. After a light breakfast of toast, cheese, tomato from the garden and some low fat milk I'm off out for a trip to the lumber yard here in town to purchase water pipe insulation, wood, wall plugs, screws and a masonary drill bit.

Todays task is...............................

.........fixing the front garden tap, or faucet to you American folks.

The first really severe winter we were here I was very naughty and left both front and rear garden hosepipes attached. These were both "frost resistant" outlets, or so I thought. The following spring I discovered that both had split and were leaking. So, I replaced them. Last winter I was a good boy and removed both hosepipes before the heavy freeze arrived. The front outlet STILL split. Aggghhhh!!

OK, I'm neither a plumber or a carpenter but I replaced it again, lagged the pipe through the house wall and on the inside too.

Then I mounted the whole lot onto a wood base so hopefully it should keep the frost out. I will, of course, still be removing the hosepipe before any freezing occures. The whole thing went as planned and when I turned the water back on there were NO leaks.

Completing this one task alone gained me 2 Gold Stars and 4 Brownie points from my wife.
Now, all I have to do is paint it............................mutter, mutter.

I was a little hot and bothered after my plumbing/carpentry chore so decided that no more work outside would be started. I had planned on re staking the willow tree but it can wait until tomorrow. Instead, I checked and water the veggie seedlings which are growing indoors.

Cabbage and Kohlrabi are romping along. I may have to repot the cabbage again soon.

Catnip (left) and brussel Sprouts look good too.

OK, that's me done for today. In the fridge I have a couple of very cold beers, with my name on, awaiting my immediate attention.

Sunday 31st August

Rising at 8-00am.

Todays task is................................

Re-stake the Willow Tree.

This tree was badly affected by the last ice storm and I've been gradually pulling it back into shape. At the start it looked..................

...................like this. Then with a bit of work...........

.......like this. And now.......................

.....this. So it's coming back to shape, slowly.

A look around the tomato plants shows that plenty of fruit is still available......

and I harvest around 3 lbs.

The volunteer plants seem happy enough..................

.......and one plant has it's first tomato.
Home grown peppers, onions and herbs were added to some of the ripe fruit I harvested to become.......

...more gloop for freezing.
Monday 1st September

Rising at 4-00am. Yes, thats 4-00am.

Couldn't get back to sleep so got up and read until 7-00am then went back to bed until almost 10-00am.

Todays task is..............

Repot all the seedlings. This I decided while laying awake early this morning. I did the lot......

Here we see Cabbage in the foreground, Kohlrabi at the back........

....and here Brussel Sprouts in the foreground and Catnip at the back.

I then did a bit of touching up on the house paintwork and dug up.......

....a few potatoes. Well, 6lb to be precise. I only have one more potato plant to harvest now and that works out great because then Plot 5 will be available to start the fall planting in a couple of weeks.

So now my long weekend is drawing to a close and I'm happy that I got at least some of the things I'd planned to do, along with plenty of of R&R.

Time for.......................................

...............dinner.

The short weekend.

Sunday 24th August.

Sunday morning.
Rising at 8-30am and breakfasting............

..............on eggs, toast, fresh peach and low fat milk. The peaches are from the garden of a co worker and they are absolutely delicious.

Breakfast reading.......

The cats are getting an upgrade in their eatables and are being switched from a totally dry diet of kibble to a mixture of wet and dry. The aim being to get them onto more wet than dry as it's much healthier for them. My cats are like willful children and it will be an uphill battle.

OK, back to gardening.

Here's the good news.
Next weekend will be a longer than usual break as I'm taking Friday off as a vacation to go with Labor Day.
Here's the bad news.
I had to work some of this weekend to make up for it. Oh hum.
So, the Happy Gardener's Adventures in Oklahomegrownvegland were slightly curtailed. Even the blog got left until Monday.

Herbies new belt arrived mid week and I fitted it late Saturday afternoon so he was ready for action. We had rain during the week but fortunately it managed to dry out enough by Sunday (my one day of rest this week) for me to attack the long overdue delights of mowing.
It was a BIG job and pretty much ate up the majority of my day. But it's done, again..........


And once done is a delight to behold.

Tomatoes are still ripening on a regular basis.

All three varieties are still producing.

My volunteers are now all in place and I've started pruning off the suckers as they sprout.

I've no idea if these plants will produce anything but Plot 4 isn't doing anything at the moment so it may as well be put to use with this little experiment. The only other thing in there is this............


.......rather fried looking Birdseed Sunflower. I've left him in situ as there's still quite a number of seeds to be had if the birds want them.

One of this seasons heros, the Yolo Bell Peppers.

Still producing at an amazing rate and supplying plenty of red and green peppers. My wife's Stuffed Peppers are on the menu for sometime this week.

And, finally the seedlings. Some Brussel Sprout seeds went in late last weekend and I purchased a replacement overhead lamp as one of the old ones decided to go on the blink. Some of the larger seedlings were transplanted into bigger pots.
Everything is now germinating.

One week old Brussel Sprouts, These are ready for thinning down to one plant per pot.

Repotted Cabbage.

More Catnip seeds have germinated but the seedlings are still small so I've left them in their little fibre pots.

Repotted Cauliflower.

Repotted Kohlrabi.

Bit of a rush this weekend. I'm looking forward to a, hopefully, more relaxing weekend next.