Will finished up the hay he was working on yesterday, getting it all baled up nicely. With no rain on it! Yea! Right now, he’s waiting for a bearing for the haybine. He was working on it and found a bearing was totally gone in the reel. So, he ordered a bearing today, which won’t arrive for a few days. Luckily, there’s lots more to do around here. Today, he’s working on refilling our batteries in the battery bank, in the basement. He’s been putting it off because he was so busy with the hay. Today it’s hot and muggy. A perfect day to work in the cool basement!
I went out to check our tomatoes and beans in the Wolf Garden. Holy cow, I have more Dragon Tongue beans to pick and can up! I’ve got to get the last batch carried down to the basement, but I’ll admit I put it off as my knees are still pretty sore, especially when doing stairs. The other beans out there are great, for the most part. I love those Magpie bush beans as they’re so nice and refined as green beans and make pretty, and tasty, dry beans too. The melons are also looking good. The Early Polish watermelons and Wapsi Wonder muskmelons are getting large, as our Leelanau Sweetglo watermelons and Oka muskmelons in the Main Garden. I’ve got an Oka that must weigh five pounds already. Wow! The peppers are doing well too. I had one Ozark Sweet Snack sweet pepper in the hoop house that had so many fat peppers on it that it broke off at the base. I got busy and staked the others, you bet.
This spring, I tossed some old flower seed around, here and there and am amazed at the beauty it’s added to some “plain” spots. There are some big, bright Gloriosa Daisies over at David and Elizabeth’s house that are amazing! I also have some beautiful daylilies blooming right now. Mom’s favorite was Big Kiss, and I planted one in her honor, in front of the greenhouse. Now, it’s in full bloom and gorgeous. I hope Mom’s looking down on it and smiling.
— Jackie
Our ‘root cellar’ is a large room beneath our front porch on the southwest side of house, and trees aren’t big enough to provide shade yet. Sadly, temp is 72 in there! But it is where the canning is stored, as well as potato, onion, garlic, and is our tornado shelter. I thought the underground concrete room would be the 50ish temp in summer, so am disappointed but hope shade eventually fixes it.
Some of my Crawford Pole Beans have the purple stripe of Dragon Tongue and I’m wondering if they are crossed or does Crawford occasionally do that?
My dozen tomato plants this year are Burracker’s Favorite and Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo. Wow they sure kept me canning! They both provide huge slicers, biggest was 1 lb 11 ozs, and excellent flavor. Burracker’s change quickly though to over-ripe and I lost some, while learning the ways of Yellow tomato.
With crazy weather, plus I lost the month of July due to my hubby’s injury and time up at Mayo, I am truly thankful for how much the garden provided. I’m tired, but it’s a happy tired! Potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic are done and it’s just beans and tomatoes now, and of course the apples and pears.
Thanks for the work you do and the education provided. And my arthritis aches that go along with the fun! I marvel at your constant work with pain and wish there were 4-H or FFA kids or some group that could come help.
Crawfords always have purple stripes when immature. You might add lots of insulation to your underground cellar to help bring down the temperature in there. Some folks also add AC to keep a cellar colder.
Isn’t it nice to see your pantry fill up? I love it. Sorry to hear of your husband’s injury. I hope he’s doing much better now.
How do you get your beans to grow so straight, thin, and long? Mine don’t grow so long and some get caught in branches and end up curved. They also get fat sometimes at the top and skinny at the bottom. I love your blog and your produce always looks so beautiful!
It’s the variety of beans plus the growing conditions. Providers are fatter, yet straight. Some varieties in the big stores are more curved. Plenty of fertilizer and even watering also helps beans grow nicely. (We haven’t had enough water this year, though, as we have to depend on rain in the garden those beans are in. They’re Magpie and that’s just how they normally grow.
Those beans are awesome! And the flowers too, especially your Mom’s!
All of our beans aren’t so nice because of the crazy weather but I sure love those! I’m so glad Big Kiss is flowering. It reminds me of Mom daily.
Temp 93 here and the ground is very dry. I’ll pick beans and tomatoes hopefully when it cools down tonight. I have 5 more 25 ft rows of potatoes to dig which I’ll wait on until the weather cools. I wish I had a Coolbot for my root cellar. My cellar temperature is 60 currently. I have pulled the onions and they’re drying in a shed. I don’t think we’ll get a second crop of grass hay. How do you store all your hay? We wrap ours and leave outside. My knees are bad (one replaced) and I always use a stool for picking, weeding, and resting.
We got 1/4″ of rain last night but we’re still very dry. Our potatoes are dying down with big humps under them. I’m hoping for a super crop this year.
We’re lucky as our basement, where we store everything, never gets above 50 in the summer nor colder than 40 in the winter.
We store our square bales in the barn loft and row up the big round bales in our hay yard. Can’t afford wrapping but we only lose about 8″ of cap and bottom of each bale. Can’t complain. I’ve got a little camp stool with a back on it as I still have nasty knee pain in both knees following replacement. (You’d think after a year, the first one would be all better, huh?) I will admit they’re slowly getting better though. I hope yours does too!!
It is hot-n-humid August weather as I remember growing up. Heat index may hit 115 tomorrow. At the time of this post, it feels like 85 outside. Weather person said Chicago will be lucky to get down to 80 overnight. Looks like it will 90% humidity at 6 am tomorrow morning. I refilled my wildlife water after dinner tonight, birds were happy.
And despite the weather, it is a great time of year. Harvesting, preserving, getting ready for winter.
We’re busy but happy this late summer. We had it hot yesterday but last night it cooled down and rained a bit, which sure made it nicer today. I hate the heat!!!
I’m really busy today, seeding out tomatoes and getting ready to pick that 50′ row of Dragon Tongue beans to can. Then there are apples in the orchard to pick. Sometimes I wish I were triplets!!