Well, i thought my garden harvest was over for the year, but Linda was out by the raspberry patch and found a second crop had ripened down low on the back side. She ate all she wanted off the vines and then brought me in a heaping handful of perfectly ripened berries, so i guess that is my bonus for the summer work.
I watered the veggie garden, that was all I could muster for as today was our shopping day...
Made a pot of 'Tree Rat Stew' (5 squirrels, tomatoes, barley, corn, green beans, peas, onion & okra). Also made a loaf of bread & a couple of bread sticks to go along with it. Then made 8 big cupcakes (pear/raisin) for dessert (I'll be danged, the tops caved in upon cooling)... Hope they taste good... I guess I could have frosted them & Mrs. Ranch wouldn't have noticed, LOL!!!
Yesterday I watered the garden & figured I'd service the water softener in prep for the colder weather... I filled it with salt pellets & when I went to replace the filter, I inadvertently broke a pipe. That was when the 'fun' started... Because the by-pass system is so compact, I was unable to just fix it, I had to build a whole new one, which took the better part of the day. I will re-insulate it today.
In the spring, I will weld up some angle iron supports & bolt them to the concrete to reinforce the PVC piping in the hope of avoiding a repeat of this...
I am giving up on the Grow boxes as a place to grow root vegetables, so added another 3 to 4 inchs of compost to the garden area, trying to make it possible to pull carrots and beets from the soil without having to dig them. This soil just self compacts from being watered.
They are forecasting another warm winter for this area, so i am going to plant some Carrots, beets, broccoli and cauliflower and Kohlrabi when i plant my onions in a couple of weeks, Normal winters are not warm enough, but if as warm as last year, it may be worth a shot.
Watered the garden & the watered/fertilized the hanging baskets after cutting about 2' of growth that was extending past the bottom of each pot (prepping for their move into the greenhouse).
These were trespassers/garden thieves. They ate our produce, so I ate them (justice was served). I'm going to get my veggies, one way or another... Corn-fed squirrels are tasty, LOL!!!
I picked all the remaining japs off the plants, and then pulled them to make room for the fall garden. Pulled a few weeds and did a little bit if work to the dirt and then got the fall garden planted. Well, everything except the onions. I went to 2 different nurseries but neither had onions. Ill try another nursery over by my work today to see if they have the 1015's. If not, Ill just have to keep calling them until someone gets some in. No pics it was pretty much dark when I got done.
Also noticed that the wood stakes/supports on my original bed are already rotting. I noticed that one of the main 2 x 12 borders was leaning out so got to looking and found the wood stakes were rotting and would just crumble in my hand. It will be fine for the fall season, but I will likely re-do the beds with some stone before spring planting. I might have to copy WR Ranch's stone border since his looks so good.
Found some small started 1015's and some walking onions (chives) at another nursery at lunch today. Will get them planted this evening, then it should be complete. Cant wait for it to mature!
Below is my garden layout for this fall. There are 2 different varieties of lettuce and 3 different varieties on cauliflower.
Everything is out of the raised garden now. Debating if I want to mess with moving the garden further away from the tree now or wait till spring. Did split my chives in half as they where starting to become to big for one pot.
Treated the 4 pipe gates in the cattle pen with phosphoric acid in preparation for painting them (for those unfamiliar with it, phosphoric acid is used to remove rust). If figured I get this done now as I need to work the cattle before winter & make some deliveries.
Fixed the log splitter (I hate ethanol-blended fuel) & then started splitting logs for firewood.
Yesterday I watered the garden & then continued splitting firewood.
Today I watered the garden, flowerbeds, trees, pots & hanging baskets. When we get back from shopping, I have to look at the clothes washer as it just developed a water leak somewhere (probably at the pump)...
The garlic was delivered yesterday. The bulbs are nice & large!!! We can't wait to see how they do in our garden!!!
Also, Mrs. Ranch decided that we need a new washer/dryer so we ran around 3 counties looking at them yesterday. I will say that they have gone up a lot in price in 12 yrs... We'll go pay for the ones she wants tomorrow.
Today I painted the 4 pipe gates in the cattle pen.
Watered the garden. Carrots have started sprouting.
Need to put up some type of small fencing to keep my new pup out of my garden. Dang dog is into everything and will wreck the freshly planted garden if I dont do something quick.
Purchased Mrs. Ranch's new washer & dryer (will be delivered tomorrow), then bought 6 new tires for the John Deere Gator 6X4, as I'm getting fed up with the flats (new tires are 6-ply, the old ones were 2-ply). It was an expensive day...
First rain in several months forecast for Saturday, so hoping it happens. Everything is tired of this salty water, The salt builds up in the tree leaves edges and look like crap, so a good rain will freshen things up before the leaves start falling.
Forecast reminded me to buy a new rain gauge as the Sunshine ruined the old one.
Again wow life gets busy when you have two kids four or under.
Anyway this week is tear down at our community garden. On Saturday my inlaws were in town so I could work on the gardens without abandoning the kids with my wife. Anyway I drove about 6 cubic yards of plant debris to the compost area and one tractor bucket of compost over to my garden bed and mixed that compost in. Surprising how fast driving a tractor returns to you.
Tonight I carved pumpkins.
We've been getting hard frosts about nightly for a week now. Forecast is for windchill around 20 F for trick-or-treating time.
Watered the garden & then sprayed the 1st coat of high temp paint on the 'coal burner' early this morning as the north wind is suppose to be kick'in up by mid-day...
Mrs. Ranch's new washer/dryer were delivered this morning. I will say that they are larger, but VERY quiet... I could only tell they were running if I put my ear against them!!!. Mrs. Ranch is happy, so I'm happy too.
After that I started delivering split firewood to our elderly neighbors as it is forecast to be in the 40's tonight & tomorrow night.
Tomorrow, I will continue splitting wood for us & probably rearrange our front room to it's winter configuration..
Planted the 'Lorz' garlic this morning. After reassessing the row & spacing requirements, I had plenty of room for 4 staggered rows & was able to increase the spacing between plants as well. Ended up planting 100. instead of 90.
Cut tree into 24" logs in preparation for splitting & stacked all logs less than 7" diameter on the smoker wood rack.