Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cool, but no more rain - A couple of roses - Random thoughts

Let's get the weather out of the way. It is much cooler this week but, so far, no more rain. We are down 5 inches so far.

I milked yesterday and Willow is limping again. Usually one shot of LA 200 takes care of foot problems. I just had Oxy-tet 100 (half the strength) so gave her another shot. I think we need to make a town run and get the stronger solution....or load her and take her to the vet.

We neither have allergies to oxytetracycline so I won't hesitate to use her milk, but I don't think it will clabber with the antibiotic. I will try a quart to see....be interesting.

I checked the garden after milking and picked okra again and a few other things. I am appalled at the tomatoes. Lots of damage from the stink bugs (white scarring under the skins) but I am canning them anyway.

The cherry tomatoes are all volunteers from years past. The little pear shaped ones are from the yellow tub tomatoes I get at the local market. They are very sweet. The black cherries are from a tomato a neighbor gave me and the larger pink ones may be pink ping pong from last year.





The large tomato needs to ripen more. It is Anais Noire/Black Pineapple, a greenish black marbled tomato, very tasty. The cucumbers were still good. I did a couple of jars to put in the fridge just to test the Pickle Crisp. I wonder how long I need to let them set to detect the crispness?

Roses

This rose, Belinda's Dream, is a very good one for me. She has survived the onslaught of the killer J. Beetles and is returning to bloom. Actually she has been in bloom all summer. Now I must tell you she is planted at the base of a compost pile (behind the fence). There were still 1 or 2 beetles on the blooms.


and a single bloom up close,


The two tricky heirloom roses are bouncing back too. There was one perfect bloom on Baronne Prevost,


Random Thoughts


Yesterday morning was the first morning in a while that I stayed outside to do some gardening. I did weed the corner bed by the back door, trimmed back the spent hesperis and hoed up the bare ground.....thinking it might be a good spot to plant some fall lettuce.....right by the back door.

I didn't work long but realized that I finished feeling invigorated physically and mentally. That is what gardening does for me........so I am not quitting. I just need to get things to a manageable size. That will be the hard part. I feel so good when I complete a little project like that one. It has to be good for you.

I have several things I want to talk about, but this is way too long. I will list them to remind myself.

The two jars of trial Pickle Crisp Pickles
The Aloha Rose
The raccoon
Freezing okra
my self seeded trees (for Ilene to see)
My piggyback eggplant
Maybe the little backdoor area for lettuce??

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful produce and the roses are beautiful!

    Hope Willow improves; she is an important part of your life.

    Is Pickle Crisp something you buy to add to the cucumbers? Never could make a decent dill pickle for the girls when they were still home-always soft!

    Loving the rains and cooler weather!

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  2. Loving this fall weather in August! I heard a fire truck a little while ago come out our way, hope no one has damage. My father in law was in a terrible mood yesterday when we went to visit, it's hard on my MIL to see him like that. He has to get stronger before he can come home. We are going to visit her sister tomorrow in Fort Smith so that should improve her spirits a little. Beautiful roses, tasty produce...can't wait to hear about the raccoon!

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  3. Dear Glenda ~ I love seeing your produce. I'd like to know how you are doing those cucumbers in the fridge.

    I'm glad to hear you are not giving up on gardening. It makes me feel good when I accomplish little projects too, and like you I'm going to try to cut things back somewhat. Make it easier on myself.

    Enjoy your day living there on your little farm.

    FlowerLady

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  4. It's interesting that you had plants start from tomatoes you had last year. I'm considering saving the seeds from some tomatoes from the farmer's market and winter sowing them.

    I read a blog the other day and the guy had dehydrated some okra. He said it made a tasty snack.

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  5. We had so many volunteer tomatoes this year I would have had to buy any..wish I had known this in Feb when I ordered seeds! ;)

    Your produce looks gorgeous and OH the roses....

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  6. Wish we could get some cooler weather. I love the roses.

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  7. I started eating my refrigerator pickles (using Pickle Crisp) within 24 hours - no patience here. Nice flavor from the brine and really good crunch to the pickles. Now, 2 weeks later, still tasty crunchy pickles. And, good grief, I've still got cukes coming!

    Last 2 days in the mid-70s and feels like Fall. Glad your foray out to the beds invigorated you. I know the feeling, you get a project done and you feel you can take on another one, no problem.

    That's a nice haul of vegs. And your roses are just lovely, as usual.

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