Kathy's garden 2020

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Whwoz
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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#61

Post: # 29731Unread post Whwoz
Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:29 pm

KathyDC wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:04 pm Thanks Bower! Yeah, I saw the podiatrist today and it's a gigantic boot for me. But, that's better than a cast! The worst part of the whole thing is trying to keep myself out of the garden, while really wanting to do it anyway.
Those boots can be a bit thing alright, been there done that right at tomato planting time! Main thing with them is to get some footwear that fits the other foot with a similar height sole otherwise it is very uncomfortable at the hips.

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KathyDC
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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#62

Post: # 29769Unread post KathyDC
Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:18 pm

Whwoz wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:29 pm
KathyDC wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:04 pm Thanks Bower! Yeah, I saw the podiatrist today and it's a gigantic boot for me. But, that's better than a cast! The worst part of the whole thing is trying to keep myself out of the garden, while really wanting to do it anyway.
Those boots can be a bit thing alright, been there done that right at tomato planting time! Main thing with them is to get some footwear that fits the other foot with a similar height sole otherwise it is very uncomfortable at the hips.
Yes! I unevenly clomped out of her office thinking, this won't do at all. They recommended something for the other foot called an Evenup, which I have on order. Life! It'll get ya!

I still am gonna sneak out into the garden tonight. I haven't been out in days, relying on help from my other half, and let's just say the help is pretty good... but I still want to go pick some tomatoes. I can't imagine having this happen right at plant-out. I would be so mad!

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#63

Post: # 29811Unread post Whwoz
Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:22 pm

KathyDC wrote: Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:18 pm
Whwoz wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:29 pm
KathyDC wrote: Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:04 pm Thanks Bower! Yeah, I saw the podiatrist today and it's a gigantic boot for me. But, that's better than a cast! The worst part of the whole thing is trying to keep myself out of the garden, while really wanting to do it anyway.
Those boots can be a bit thing alright, been there done that right at tomato planting time! Main thing with them is to get some footwear that fits the other foot with a similar height sole otherwise it is very uncomfortable at the hips.
Yes! I unevenly clomped out of her office thinking, this won't do at all. They recommended something for the other foot called an Evenup, which I have on order. Life! It'll get ya!

I still am gonna sneak out into the garden tonight. I haven't been out in days, relying on help from my other half, and let's just say the help is pretty good... but I still want to go pick some tomatoes. I can't imagine having this happen right at plant-out. I would be so mad!
I was fortunate in that some of my summer boating footwear was close enough in heal height. Mine happened as a result of a bit of careless resulting in a bit of a flap of skin being ripped loose on lower leg. Not planned, unwanted and definitely at the wrong time.

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KathyDC
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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#64

Post: # 30154Unread post KathyDC
Tue Sep 08, 2020 11:02 am

All right, well, despite doctors orders I DID get out yesterday and took a gentle clompy stroll around the rows to get a close look at what was going on. Picked off a hornworm, tied up a couple stray branches, trimmed some leaves and stems that weren't looking so great (some fungus issues still creeping up, hoping that goes away as September temps wane). Directed my other half for a typical fertilization from my garden bench. That was rough y'all. I've never felt so sentimental about an old bucket. However, it was really great to get out in the sun and DO something. No pain in my foot so I don't think I'm much worse for wear. Worth it either way.

My two Taiga plants are looking pretty tired, not sure how much longer they'll last. They do have some green fruit, my guess is they'll hold on to maturity and then that'll be about it for those plants. Otherwise, things look good. My volunteer, Blush, Grosse Cotelee, and about 4/8 of my crossed plants are still big green bushy things that are producing like beasts. One of my crosses that had a lot of fungus early is coming back after I cut it back to almost nothing. Maybe I'll get some fall cherries out of it.

Everything else is looking good, too, with green fruit. This may be the first time I have tomatoes producing past mid-September, honestly. Our last frost date here isn't until mid-November, but usually by now most everything has succumbed to fungus. I've been spraying this year, unlike past years, and it clearly has been a game-changer in my garden.

I saved seed from 3 Malinovaya Zebra tomatoes that have come ripe, but unfortunately a snafu with fermentation has left me with relatively few seeds for the Carolyn tribute. The plant is looking bushy and healthy, though, and still has green fruit - so there's still time to save more, and I will do just that.

My curious little okra plant is putting on growth like crazy now, as is my cayenne plant - both VERY late plantings from rescued seedlings - and I'm hoping that the weather will hold long enough to pick a few veggies from them both.

Otherwise things are good. Week one of the boot down, but who's counting? (marks off calendar days)

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#65

Post: # 30504Unread post KathyDC
Sun Sep 13, 2020 2:49 pm

Made my once-a-week, in the boot era, visit to the garden out back yesterday and WHEW! There is some fungus a-growin'. Several plants showing yellowing leaves, septoria on a couple too. They're all showing up for the late season! Got out the prunes and clip-clomped around. Harvested a ton of tomatoes.

On that note, about 3.5# of tomatoes total in the oven to roast for marinara sauce this afternoon. It would've been more, but I kept popping them in my mouth as I was washing them off.............


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KathyDC
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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#66

Post: # 31029Unread post KathyDC
Mon Sep 21, 2020 1:53 pm

The weather is turning cooler, and yesterday was a pretty much perfect day to be outside. I couldn't help myself and went out back with my other half for about an hour. Really, I could not have been any happier. Tied up some branches that my other half couldn't quite deal with, snipped a bit of yellowing leaves (but, surprisingly, it did not look as bad as it had the week prior -- maybe the weather is helping). Fertilized, and did a few chores. Reinforced a cage. Picked lots of tomatoes - it's shocking how many are still hanging at this point in the season. Yay for spraying! On balance, though, I think I am done with fungal sprays for the rest of the season. I'm going to count on the less hot and humid weather to carry me through.

I really will definitely not be using those terrible new cages again next year, but am not sure how I might repurpose them. Maybe as a trellis for beans or something. I do think I'm going to try to grow some snap beans next year. I got Rattlesnake beans and Kentucky Wonder from Southern Exposure and am going to give it a whirl.

Saw my podiatrist today for a three-week follow up visit and my fracture is healing well. Two more weeks in the boot then I can start transitioning away from it and into normal footwear. That's a week sooner than the best-case estimate she'd given me on my initial visit. Marking off the days!

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#67

Post: # 33482Unread post KathyDC
Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:12 pm

Well, I'm out of the boot! Probably a bit too early as my foot aches as the day goes on, but I, personally, am done with it.

Back out into the garden I have gone. I've pulled 2 more plants, but others continue to produce. I picked 3 more Malinovaya Zebra fruit which will go into the Carolyn tribute, 3 more ripe Taigas and a boatload of cherries. I whipped up two batches of salsa which were quickly snapped up by friends (and my belly).

More remain on various plants, but 4-5 of them don't have many even green tomatoes left. We've had two days so far where the weather got close to a hard freeze, but so far not quite yet. Next week looks to be back up into the 50s, so who knows... maybe I'll be harvesting tomatoes at Thanksgiving?! I find it hard to believe, but I also wasn't expecting to pull a big beefsteak off a plant on Halloween, so we'll see.

I still haven't planted my garlic yet -- the runup to the election has been brutal for me with work -- but maybe this weekend, after some of the dust settles.

And if you're in America, and you haven't yet, go vote today!

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#68

Post: # 34185Unread post KathyDC
Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:09 pm

Well, I picked my last tomatoes yesterday and I don't believe we'll have a frost-free day beyond now. So, it's time to put a lid on the 2020 veggie garden. It was certainly an adventure, not without its challenges, but also kept me sane in a strange year.

I suspect this weekend I will start the cleaning up process for real, and then it's on to dreaming of next year, and a bit of wintersowing. Thanks for following along, it has been a pleasure to share it with likeminded nutters, err, enthusiasts. :)

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#69

Post: # 34186Unread post bower
Wed Nov 18, 2020 3:43 pm

Hey Kathy, glad you got the boot off and had maters so late! Love the pileup you had for marinara sauce. It's been fun watching your garden, too. :)
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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#70

Post: # 37573Unread post KathyDC
Mon Jan 04, 2021 12:26 pm

Happy new year! Out with the old, in with what's got to be a better year. I splurged for the good champagne this year on NYE, with great draughts of hope.

The runup to Christmas and then immediately after were super busy here. I moved my elderly mom up here from Houston with me just after Christmas, which required a marathon drive down and back, not to mention all the work of getting the house ready before I left. But that's all done and we are settling out just fine. (She is fine, mobile and healthy, but lives with my sister who had to go back to in-person teaching, and the potential Covid exposure is just too great. So up here she came until our virus spread is less alarming.)

As it happens, my mom is a gardener, in fact it was her that got me interested in gardening at all, though her main interest is flowers (specifically, begonias). On Saturday we spent a few hours going through seed catalogs and planning different areas of my garden, and it was very nice time spent together.

I'm going to grow marigolds in my beds out front, plus some sunflowers planned to try to hide my neighbor's decrepit fence. And I may try some firecracker ferns in a shallow retaining wall. I'm entertaining ideas of turning part of my front yard into a native plant or pollenator area, too. Milkweed and cardinal plants, maybe.

I think that I will keep basically my same back yard growing configuration -- 3 rows of tomatoes, where I can fit around 18 total plants if I keep them trimmed up. And this year I believe I will add a trellis with the intent to grow cucumbers and some pole beans. I'm not totally sure how I'm going to do it -- but I've been thinking about rigging up something that would lean up against my fence in a sunny spot. To make this work, I'll probably have to use grow bags, but that's all right. I'd like to also grow some peppers, but last year I had zero luck germinating anything. I hope not to have a repeat of that, but you never know. I'll probably also have a small herb collection in a hanging basket. (Note to self: Buy hanging basket)

One of the things we picked out together was a cuke called Mexican Sour Gherkin, anybody ever grown that before? I was lured in by the idea that at maturity they already taste like pickles!

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#71

Post: # 37596Unread post MissS
Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:28 pm

Living with a parent is not an easy thing to do. Good on you for bringing her into your home during this very difficult time and I am so glad that you two have found the ground to bring you closer. Gardening is something that you can give and take on and still have your peace yet do something together. Enjoy this time with your Mother. The time will pass all too quickly and you will be so glad for the memories that you have shared in the garden.
~ Patti ~

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#72

Post: # 37680Unread post KathyDC
Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:47 am

MissS wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 2:28 pm Living with a parent is not an easy thing to do. Good on you for bringing her into your home during this very difficult time and I am so glad that you two have found the ground to bring you closer. Gardening is something that you can give and take on and still have your peace yet do something together. Enjoy this time with your Mother. The time will pass all too quickly and you will be so glad for the memories that you have shared in the garden.
Thank you for the good wishes! Thankfully my mom and I get along well, she's pretty much my best friend. Of course living together as adults is a really different prospect but she's gracious and understands what it's like (my dad's mom lived with them for a time and I think it was not easy). There's also the mental and emotional release of knowing that this is just temporary. There will be problems and challenges, there always are, but we'll navigate them. And considering that I've been living long distance for some time, I definitely am making the most of the extra daily time together. Happy New Year to you [mention]MissS[/mention] !

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Re: Kathy's garden 2020

#73

Post: # 37761Unread post bower
Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:49 pm

That's awesome [mention]KathyDC[/mention] . Covid has left so many people unable to help or even connect with their parents or elderly relatives, so three cheers for a happy story! Stay safe and happy new year, especially spring coming! and joys shared in the garden. :D
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