What Did You Do In The Garden?

[digitS']

Put the last of the dahlias in the ground.

Dug out some soil and buried compost. This isn't my usual way of doing things. I continue to bury "compostables" in beds in the fall and those beds are considered as ready for planting by spring.

Most of the compost that cycled through a bin was once used to mulch potatoes at the appropriate time. The potatoes are now grown in a different garden, where I don't make compost. I'm not planning to haul compost from home all the way out to them. I intend to use it in the neighbor's garden through the back fence. There are a couple of beds that sorely need amendments. It just seems like the compost is valuable enough that it should go under about 6" of soil and not be exposed to the sun and wind. Then, I will put some seed and plants in those beds.

Oh yeah, I went along several paths with the spading fork over there and came back with the long-handled cultivator to knock the weeds out of the ground.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

OK--Mower deck for the tractor came in on Tuesday, sales guy finished assembly late, we mowed with it's 5 ft wide deck and the lawn looks MANICURED!!!
We have gotten so used to our old riding mower stopping when the grass is high. It was 8 inches in some places yesterday. Or having the engine in the riding mower cut out, or having to clean out the push mower bc of tall grass.
Not ONLY does this mower slice right through high grass without complaint, BUT, it doesn't stall out.
We hit that window Wednesday, where the ground is dry, you get ALL of your mowing done, and the rain comes in during the next night and stays all day.
Pretty sweet.
Btw, it is called a "drive over deck," BUT we told the sales guy that we didn't want to do that. HE didn't want to do that either, so we pushed it under and hooked it up that way. He pointed out a part on the top of the deck that was like the Duomo, a dome with a hole, and how the weight of the tractor might crack it, since you would have to drive right over that.
It nests nicely underneath when you aren't mowing, so we plan to remove it late October for winter storage.
DH spends a GREAT DEAL of time on MY tractor.

 

[Zeedman]

Dug out some soil and buried compost. This isn't my usual way of doing things. I continue to bury "compostables" in beds in the fall and those beds are considered as ready for planting by spring.

Fall is the best time to turn organic material under, if conditions allow. But by the time frost ends the season here, the ground is usually too wet to turn over. When that happens, hopefully we get a dry spell early (in March or April) to turn things under in Spring. Fortunately, that was the case this year. Given at least a months time to decompose, most of the material will be broken down by the time I start planting.

I still hope to get one more shot before planting starts, to turn under some sulfur and/or gypsum (to lower my high pH) and turn under some composted manure. Yeah, the amendments should be turned under in Fall, but you play the hand you're dealt, with weather holding the trump cards.

 

[Trish Stretton]

I spent hours weeding Watsonia out of a bed along the boundary line. My neighbour came along with her blower clearing her drive way, giving us both a fright....I hadnt put my hearing aids in...

Mowed the front lawn and used the catch to mulch this bed, then found a long enough bit of timber to use for the next boundary edge...only another 15 meters or so to go to sort this area out.

I used a pair of tongs to pick up Feijoas and put them in a bucket for her and in return I got a fab recipe for Feijoa chutney, which I am going to try to tweak so I use what I have grown rather than buy.
I'm thinking of using the lemons that are almost ready instead of malt vinegar and my honey instead of the Brown sugar.
I just wish I had thought to freeze some of the Black Hamburg grapes, so I could use these instead of raisins.

I have a native plant- Horopito- which is supposed to be a good susbstitute for black pepper. My plant is getting to a size where I should be able to start using it soon, so I need to start learning how to do this.

 

[seedcorn]

If you could pictures with the names of vegetation that would be great.

 

[Trish Stretton]

I'll take some pics in the morning....its almost 11 pm here now.

 

[digitS']

Healthline says that both lemon juice and apple cider vinegar have a pH between 2 and 3.

I don't know enough about chemistry to really know how variable that range is. It matters little when I make a marinade. Nearly all meat that I cook on top the stove has been in a marinade. I'm very happy that I started doing this and have found infinite variety by using various vinegars and the juices of both lemon and limes.

It's all store bought, including the soy sauce and oil additions used in the marinade. I was just a little kid when I lived near citrus groves.

I'm not much into food preservation beyond freezing but imagine a chutney ingredient choice of your own lemons should be suitable, @Trish Stretton . I would "relish" some ideas about this sort of food .

Steve
who plans on sowing some carrot and beet seed, today after a little soil prep ...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Trish, have you considered a dehydrator to make your own raisins. I use mine to dry tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, and all kinds of herbs. I store them in a jar. Frees up freezer space which is precious for me in season and they are ready to use.

 

[ducks4you]

I agree about the dehydrator, but eldest DD loves her air fryer With a dehydrator function so well, I would recommend that, instead.

If You Shop The Dried Fruit Aisle, You Need This

We found the most intuitive food dehydrators.

www.goodhousekeeping.com

~$60-$4,000 for a single function dehydrator,
~$99- ~$200 for a multi function air fryer, that also makes great toast and fries.
I used my dehydrator a few years ago for drying onions and that got burnt. Had to toss them.
The herbs that DD's have dehydrated in her air fryer are perfect. It has a timer and heat setting, so if you follow directions you get the result that you need.
With a dehydrator you usually keep checking and moving trays.
I will still keep mine, bc it does a very good job with sweet and hot peppers, but when it dies, I will be getting my own air fryer.

 

[Trish Stretton]

My seedless green grape is over in a corner that i just havent got to yet...its hanging in there but not really producing enough at the moment to warrant trying to turn them into raisens. I'm sure I read somewhere that the raisens you buy in the shops are actually a type of currant and its Sultanas that are dried seedless grapes.
The Black Hamburg grapes have big seeds so I dont think they will work.

The recipe I just got given makes up 3 litres of chutney...I dont think I will be able to go through all that even with the help of y mum and daughter's family. It does last for years though.
I used to make our pickled onions, eggs and gherkins as well as fruit roll ups and both jams and fruit purees from what we grew, but when the kids left home it took me a couple of years to go through my plum puree. I just love it poured over my breakfast yogurt.

I did harvest the Jalapenos I grew for the first time and do a big jar (for me, not one of those huge Mason types), of these in white vinegar. I probably should have put this in two small jars but ne'mind.
I used to be a red chilli fiend but only like enough to give the dish a hint of spark. I was waiting for the Jalapeno's to turn red and decided I should bring them inside in case we had an early frost.
A friend who recently did a hort. course, said they may over winter here if I heavily mulch them, so thats what i have done with the four that grew. If they do survive and thrive, I wont need to resow next year.

This is the Horopito.

and this is a fruit of the Feijoa tree with a bit of foliage behind it. I like that it is evergreen, so it does double duty as a wind break as well.