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- #501
Crazy storm last evening with wind and driving rain--looked like a hurricane (or how they look on tv anyway--I've never experienced a real one). Winds came up super strong around 3pm and the rains started about an hour later and lasted for about an hour.
Fortunately we had pulled all the garden tomato plants (tomatoes are all ripening indoors now) a few hours earlier when we got home from church so the only things left in the garden are the corn, a few flowers that were planted in between various veggie squares (3 types of Marigolds, Nasturtiums, some Alyssum, a pink Begonia that my daughter received as a gift, and some Bells of Ireland), the cukes that haven't done squat, and the pumpkins (which are still small--about the size of a softball).
The greenhouse tomatoes are still going strong so we're leaving them out for a few more weeks, the greenhouse didn't seem affected by the winds/storm at all so we are really happy about that--should do just fine staying up all winter. Also leaving the bell peppers, celery, and a few interspersed onions in there as well for as long as possible--the peppers have been small this year but tasty, and we've been breaking stalks off the outer edges of the celery for cooking and it still keeps growing so we'll let it continue to do its thing.
And the apples are all red now so it will soon be time to harvest those as well
Canning shelves are filling up nicely and I keep going down just to look at them (and figure out what else we still need to do). Next up is applesauce, apples, chutney, and more meat and convenience meals. We continue to add meat and convenience meals all throughout the winter months, but the busy canning season is winding down now--haven't run two canners at the same time for a couple of weeks now because our more recent batches have been smaller.
Feeling pretty ready for winter, need to do some "fall cleaning" and organizing indoors after a busy summer but our yard and gardens are looking pretty good after this weekend. Hope fall lasts us a while, I love this time of year
Fortunately we had pulled all the garden tomato plants (tomatoes are all ripening indoors now) a few hours earlier when we got home from church so the only things left in the garden are the corn, a few flowers that were planted in between various veggie squares (3 types of Marigolds, Nasturtiums, some Alyssum, a pink Begonia that my daughter received as a gift, and some Bells of Ireland), the cukes that haven't done squat, and the pumpkins (which are still small--about the size of a softball).
The greenhouse tomatoes are still going strong so we're leaving them out for a few more weeks, the greenhouse didn't seem affected by the winds/storm at all so we are really happy about that--should do just fine staying up all winter. Also leaving the bell peppers, celery, and a few interspersed onions in there as well for as long as possible--the peppers have been small this year but tasty, and we've been breaking stalks off the outer edges of the celery for cooking and it still keeps growing so we'll let it continue to do its thing.
And the apples are all red now so it will soon be time to harvest those as well
Canning shelves are filling up nicely and I keep going down just to look at them (and figure out what else we still need to do). Next up is applesauce, apples, chutney, and more meat and convenience meals. We continue to add meat and convenience meals all throughout the winter months, but the busy canning season is winding down now--haven't run two canners at the same time for a couple of weeks now because our more recent batches have been smaller.
Feeling pretty ready for winter, need to do some "fall cleaning" and organizing indoors after a busy summer but our yard and gardens are looking pretty good after this weekend. Hope fall lasts us a while, I love this time of year
But it will take a dramatic drop and frost in a month. 
We usually have like a two week fall, its hot and steamy one day then we are having flurries and hauling wood 
