Blissfully cooler

Waking at 5-00am and rising at 6-30am. It's noticeably cooler today here in Oklahomegrownvegland. One could almost say "pleasant".
Even cool cats like Alvin here...............

.... enjoy a bit of a rest from the heat.
It also means that the Happy Gardener can get some outdoor tasks done.
First on the list is to deal with the Persimmon tree which was (I presume) struck by lightning.

We have already lost one of the three and now it's time to fell the second.
I call in the heavy gang..................

...and soon this once magnificent tree is reduced to this..............

It's sad isn't it. But I decided to fell it as I didn't want it falling on it's own and damaging the roots of our only survivor. I add it to the woodpile
I then put in the new Chrysanthemum at the right hand end of one of the front flower beds.....

.....while at the left hand end the existing 'mum......

....is covered in bursting buds.
More blooms are showing on one of the burn piles.....

I piled a few fallen branches here after the last ice storm and have left it to it's own devices. Now I have a small island of growth which has become a bit of a garden feature. There are a few new trees established and some pretty white flowers, which are a type of creeper, have climbed the tree.......

.......and adorned it with it's small white blooms. I have no idea what they are but they are very attractive and will hopefully become permanent residents.
Here's another permanent resident..................

......one of the many Crawdads which inhabit our property. Maybe I should say "Crawmum" in this case as it's a female and she's loaded with eggs under her tail.
She lets me know in no uncertain terms...............

...that she doesn't want to be bothering with me as she's busy looking for a nest site. I spot her making a new burrow shortly after I take this snap.
Around the back, I pull some Egyptian Onions, place them on a screen.......

.... and put then undercover on the patio. They need to dry out and thunderstorms are forecast for the next few days. I also gather quite a lot of the Bulbils too........

...... and will be offering some of these around to anyone who would like to try growing some.
I say "try" but they seem to require little or no care and grow through the winter. The whole plant is edible, the tops supplying shallot type greens for adding to soups and stews when all other garden greens have long since vanished.

At long last The Happy Gardeners Rotating Composter ©™ is completed and in service.

I reckon that it has cost me around $60 to make and when you price one to buy online you will see how much of a saving that is. It makes turning the ongoing compost an easy task. No spade or fork work required. It's also vermin proof and looks a lot tidier than the wooden bins that I used previously. My main concern is that it may require some sort of covering for if temperatures drop REALLY low. I don't want the compost freezing solid as a brick.

Enough!!

Tonight's dinner is ........

Home Made Caesar Salad and a glass of chilled Chablis

Assessing this years efforts.

It hasn't been a great year for me in the garden but certainly not a complete failure.
I think that next year I'm going to work on getting the soil improved rather than growing as much as possible.
Temperatures have been unpleasantly hot these last couple of months making outdoor work a chore rather than a joy. I'm hoping things will start to cool off as September arrives.
But first things first..........................

Breakfast and............................

....breakfast reading.

Here's a short assessment of this years results:

Tomatoes and Yolo Bell Peppers.

Moderate crop but low plant growth resulting in less leaf coverage and sun scald. Probably need to get the nitrogen levels up. The hybrid cherry tomato plants were a success and pretty prolific. I wasn't impressed with the one Determinate plant I bought although it may have done better with more favourable soil and less harsh weather so I'll probably try one again.

Onions.
Low crop (excluding the Egyptians which grew like crazy anywhere)

Garlic.

Great crop, every one I planted made a good bulb. It's been cured and we are now starting to use it. I'll be putting more in the ground come early winter.

Mesclun.
This was the find of the season. I grew just the correct amount for us both and by cutting and letting it grow back got a continuous crop for quite a few weeks. But as soon as the temps hit the roof it all bolted. I'll definitely be doing some more of this next year.

Kohlrabi.

Good, all plants survived

Potatoes.
2 crops one low and one still in the ground but looks promising.

Carrots.
Poor crop, although I planted them in a bad location and the Kohlrabi plants cut them off from the sun so probably my fault.

Parsnips.
Poor crop. Out of the 4 rows I planted I have around 4 or 5 plants still growing. I'll be leaving those in the ground until the spring.

Swiss Chard.

Grew well but was completely devoured by the Blister beetles.

Bugs have been a problem again, mainly Blister Beetles, Grasshoppers and Caterpillars. Diatomacious Earth and BTK has kept the latter two in check to a certain degree but nothing gets rid of the former except hand picking. NOT a fun pastime when it's 115F+ on the heat scale.

I lost the whole top of one tomato plant........................

.....to this huge fellow.
And I found this.........

.........walking around where I work
It's a Rhinoceros Bug and apparently it's the strongest creature on the planet relative to it's size. It can lift 850 times it's own weight. I gave him to my mate and he let him go in his small orchard.

Oklahomegrownvegland evening skies............................

........of beauty and wonder.
Tonight's dinner..................................

......Asiago and spinach sausages, tomatoes with parmesan cheese, garden greens salad and basmati rice with green peppers

More bugs

Bugs of various kinds have been hitting us here in Oklahomegrownvegland.
First of all an update on Alvin's bug.

The results of his blood tests revealed that he had picked up some kind of parasite on his blood, as I had expected, and his red/white cell ratio was way out of wack. This was probably picked up from something he caught and ate or perhaps a tick or flea bite. He's been on medication for it these last 2 weeks. His appearance, appetite and general well being have improved significantly.
Getting him to take the tablets is a major operation as he can be such a "willful boy" at times but we persevere.

I too have had a bug. A bug of the computer type which just about flattened the Happy Gardener's on line activities. After much searching, cleaning, downloading etc it appears to be cleared but I am on constant alert.

Anyroad, enough of this. Lets get onto the garden bugs!
Yes, the Blister beetles have arrived and here you can see.........................

....that they have really enjoyed my Swiss Chard. I've been hand picking them off as best I can and seem to have got them on the run. For the Chard it's a bit too late so I'm going to wait until I'm sure the Beetles have gone for the season then cut it back. If I'm lucky I may get another crop from these plants later in the fall.
Temperatures have once again been extremely hot and on the few days that it's bearable to go out there I.............

....have to mow the grass. If I leave it and it rains the grass grows at such a rate that it soon gets beyond control. Also, keeping it cropped helps keep down the bug population around the house area.
My tomato plants are starting to produce now but certainly not as heavy as last year.

I need to start making some Tomato Gloop or perhaps a "Summer in a Bowl" salad methinks.
The Cherry Tomato hybrids are extremely heavy with fruit.......................

.........and I'm picking them every day.
Of the other varieties...........................

....Giant Beefsteak and...................

....Old Virginia, the plants and the crop are smaller but still of excellent flavour.
After a slow start the Yolo Bell peppers...........................

....are finally........................

....producing. Again, the plants are smaller with less leaf growth at the lower areas. Maybe I need to do some serious soil work before next years planting.
The flower beds at the front of the house are looking great.............................

....and the Black Eyed Susans are in full bloom. The Cherry Tomato plant which you can see situated behind them is producing a small amount of fruit too, even though this bed loses the sun by midday.
I re potted the Catnip plants and they are now producing their 4th batch of leaves of the season.................

........as you can see........................

.......I'll be harvesting again soon.
This weeks purchase...................

.........some wood. Exciting isn't it?
It's going to have to cool down a whole lot before I start this project.

Enough!

The munchies.

After a heavy shower the weather turned hot and steamy here in Oklahomegrownvegland.

Nevertheless, the Happy Gardener had a task to do.

After reading about all these horrible bugs over at my friends wonderful blog called http://www.theinformalgardener.blogspot.com/ I discovered these buggers................

....Bagworms. And my Conifers and absolutely riddled with them.

They have probably been attacking these trees for ages but I didn't see them. They disguise themselves so well they look like part of the tree. That bag contains a caterpillar with a huge appetite and they are eating the trees at an amazing rate.

I broke out the sprayer and gave them a good coating of BTK but it may be too late for this year.

I can but try.

Here's the second of my munching problems............

....another type of Bagworm methinks. They live inside a huge web which is spun around the tree leaves and then go to work. These too got a spraying with the BTK.

Munchers number three are the birds and they have decided to eat....................

...or should I say "ruin" almost every apple on the Fuji tree. This I'm not too worried about but I'm hoping they leave me at least a couple so I can sample my efforts.

On the way back from the Fuji I call in at the wild Garlic......

....which is now setting bulbits.

I'll be gathering some of these later and spreading them around the garden.

The untended part of the garden which I purposely let grow wild............

....is in full greenery...

as can be seen in .....

....these shots. I like to leave this bit in the hands of Mother Nature and see what happens.

I think she's doing a pretty good job up to now. I'll take more pics another time.

On the Tomato front, I pulled a few from the Determinate plant..............

....as can be seen here. But I've been a little disappointed with this to be honest. The fruit seems too big for the size of the plant causing limbs to break in places. Also, the leaf coverage is inadequate causing some of the fruit to get sun scald.

The Cherry Tomatoes are everywhere.................

In the plot and......

....the containers.

The basil bush..................

...is romping on, as is................................

.....the Dill tree.

The Yolo Bell Peppers.......................

....are appearing at last though the plants aren't a patch on last years.

Still, there's time yet.

The Garlic crop has been pulled and I got around 17 heads, all of a pretty good size.

It's now curing in the sun. Well, it was until the rain started then I moved it into the garage.

The curing could take a couple of weeks.

Alvin sleeps on the patio, unaware of tomorrows early morning visit to the vet.

Poor "Little Al" has had some medical problems these last few weeks, pulling his hair out, loss of appetite and generally looking a bit out of sorts. He's had shots for allergies, treatment for worms, ear mites, tics, fleas, lice. You name it, Al's had it stuck in or on him and he's not too happy about all the attention. Tomorrow he's going for some blood work but don't tell him, eh?

In the meantime..........

.....Wilson and......


....Tommy offer moral support, all be it subliminally.

Enough!
Everyone's eating but me?

Tonight's dinner is.............

Roast Peppered Pork..............

....Garden Fresh Red Potatoes with Rosemary.......

.....and a little Kohlrabi Coleslaw on the side.

Enjoy!