What did you do in the garden today?

[milkmansdaughter]

That picture should be on the picture of the week thread! YUM!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

So, most if my garden got completely away from me this summer, and ended up thigh high in grass. The chickens wouldn't even go close to it despite the many delectable bugs in it for them. And because if the rain, the mosquitoes were eating me alive any time I got close (not to mention the very real possibility of snakes.. ). Sooo, I finally got brave, and cut it all down with a mower. Bye-bye squash, cucumber, zucchini, and watermelon plants. Under all that grass were some pretty big cukes that the chickens devoured once I cleared the area. So, I was getting ready to plant a fall garden, and found LOTS of new cucumber starts from the old plants. Meanwhile we had moved the chickens to the new big pen, but the area where their old pens used to be were just sitting there... One of them even had some kind of melon plant starting to grow on its own. So I tilled them up, added some of the new cuke plants, covered in old cardboard, and we'll see how they like their new home. Should be plenty of fertilizer!

 

[Hinotori]

I ended up with 8 cups of juice and pulp after running those through the food mill. I'll have to pick more later.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

@Hinotori, when we lived in Washington state, the blackberries grew everywhere, and each berry could grow bigger than my thumb. We used to get a group of families from church together and go pick them wild and spend a day together canning and making jam. It was sooo much fun doing it together, and the berries were all you could possibly pick for free. It will be a long time before my canes here produce enough for me to make jam! Are those blackberries or black raspberries in your picture?

 

[Hinotori]

Blackberries. We figure might as well pick the pests and eat them. These are those invasive Himalayan blackberries that cover western Washington

 

[Hinotori]

My haul from the wheelbarrow. I'll try a different variety next year.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Those are probably the kind we used to pick too. I know that there was no shortage of them when we were there. Youll miss them if you ever move.
Nice potatoes. We never got ours planted this spring. Maybe we can get a few in a fall garden.

 

[Hinotori]

There are spots of them on the east side of the mountains as well, just not choking out everything. We always picked them when I was a kid.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

We were further west, on the peninsula. I love it out there. Lots of water, beautiful mountains, and if you wanted snow, you could drive to it, spend the day, and never have to shovel the driveway. And all the salmon and blackberries you could eat.

 

[Wannabefree]

I never picked a single pea, and I've let the tomatoes go to the grass and the okra go to seed. Gonna turn it all under and get going with Fall crops, and become a minimalist in the process lol I'm tired