2023 Gardens

[Bobberineyes]

That looks great Dotch! We drive by lots o places lately that are selling wagon full of stuff like that,  happy selling!!

[mike89]

so Dotch where does all that good stuff end up!!!!  I know you give stuff away to lots of good folks...   but how much do you keep for your selfs???   

[Dotch]

A large share is given away as you said. We decorate the yard with a portion of the pumpkins and gourds, maybe a quarter to a third. That includes what the Mrs. uses to decorate the inside of the house with. She has an outlet thru the floral shop in Albert Lea as well. I was in contact with Auntie Mar Mar earlier. Her 100 year old decorated WWII veteran friend will take 10 buttercup squash. He absolutely loves them & he'll get the best of the best. We need to take him for a ride in the Studebaker before we can't while we're at it. After I'm sure that friends and neighbors have what they want, I'll see if the guy I was working with on the corn binder project wants some of it to sell online. Once the decorative stuff runs its course after Thanksgiving, over the pasture fence it goes. Sheep party down! We'll freeze 8 - 12 squash and probably eat that many fresh. Keeps forever in the freezer. Ate some from 2 years ago recently that tasted just as good as the day we froze it. Picked 8 decent cukes off the vines this afternoon. Left a couple to see if they'll get a little bigger yet. After it freezes tomorrow nite, glenn can pull them up!   😉 

[mike89]

A large share is given away as you said. We decorate the yard with a portion of the pumpkins and gourds, maybe a quarter to a third. That includes what the Mrs. uses to decorate the inside of the house with. She has an outlet thru the floral shop in Albert Lea as well. I was in contact with Auntie Mar Mar earlier. Her 100 year old decorated WWII veteran friend will take 10 buttercup squash. He absolutely loves them & he'll get the best of the best. We need to take him for a ride in the Studebaker before we can't while we're at it. After I'm sure that friends and neighbors have what they want, I'll see if the guy I was working with on the corn binder project wants some of it to sell online. Once the decorative stuff runs its course after Thanksgiving, over the pasture fence it goes. Sheep party down! We'll freeze 8 - 12 squash and probably eat that many fresh. Keeps forever in the freezer. Ate some from 2 years ago recently that tasted just as good as the day we froze it. Picked 8 decent cukes off the vines this afternoon. Left a couple to see if they'll get a little bigger yet. After it freezes tomorrow nite, glenn can pull them up!   😉

that is so great!!!   really like the old Vet getting some too!!!!   

[LPS]

Years ago when we were young bachelors and friend from Clark SD showed me how they took a small pumpkin and cut it in half. Sit each half in a oven proof bowl.   Took seeds out.  Mixed up a lb of ground pork or beef and mixed in onions, peppers, what ever you like and make a baseball and put it in the pumpkin.  Half of the ball sticking out.  Cover it with maple syrup and butter. Put in oven and bake it.  Absolutely one of my favorite squash meals. 

[HD]

Still kicking out tomatoes 

[Dotch]

Picked these last nite before Jack Frost got a crack at them. Have to see how many maters might be worth salvaging...🤔


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[roony]

Picked the last tomatoes and peppers of the season. The garden didn't freeze this morning.

[LPS]

We had frost this morning.  I did not cover the tomatoes.  There are some red ones too.  I wonder if they froze?  How long does it take to tell?

[KEN W]

Supposed to get down to the 20's tonight. I still have Caul. and Broc covered up. Should be OK.

Looks like the entire northern half of Minn has a freeze warning out tonighy.

[glenn57]

We had frost this morning.  I did not cover the tomatoes.  There are some red ones too.  I wonder if they froze?  How long does it take to tell?

my guess in 2 days. You might even be able to tell already .

The #4 said the end of the growing season will end Friday, even in the big city .

[glenn57]

Supposed to get down to the 20's tonight. I still have Caul. and Broc covered up. Should be OK.

Looks like the entire northern half of Minn has a freeze warning out tonighy.

AccuWeather has 30 ad weather channel has 35 for the cabin area??

Kinda in a low area so it's always colder then the forecast says..

[Dotch]

Predicting 31 for a low in Owatonna & Albert's Leaf tonite. 32 for Waseca. Didn't appear to have frozen any of the tomatoes so I picked the best looking ones without cracks or insect damage, including some that were just starting to blush. That should keep us in fresh tomatoes until we're thoroughly tired of them. Speaking of that, I found string beans that were still edible in the Blue Lake variety. I refuse to pick any more string beans for this year altho they were pretty tasty raw...

If it's a hard freeze usually you can start to see the water-soaked discoloration appear on the fruit where it got kissed by the frost by the afternoon when temps warm up. All the tomatoes here are on the south side of the house where they would've been sheltered although on the north side where it's more open, cannas and planters containing things like impatiens, begonias, coleus, etc., escaped relatively unscathed. Roof was white as was the grass in the pasture and road ditch. Had to scrape the pickup windshield this a.m. 

[deadeye]

Today I made what probably will be the last forage in my 2023 gardens.
I was surprised to get what I did. Not sure how the gourd escaped being picked a few weeks ago.
There are still some green tomatoes, but they may not ripen.

[Dotch]

Them gourds are sneaky devils deadeye. The thing I fear is stepping on one we missed covered by vegetation.

Wife sent me out to pick 4 o'clocks yesterday during the rain before the wind beat the snot out if them. They were for someone's funeral on Saturday. There were still a few flowering but I wasn't optimistic I'd find enough. Had also never seen or heard of them being used as part of arrangement so fully expected they'd look like crap after I stuck them in the vase. 1st pic taken shortly after cutting & 2nd was about 8 hours later. Pleasantly surprised & the wife was happy. Pretty sure the dead person won't care.

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[deadeye]

Very nice Dotch. Mums, morning glories, and some other flowers are still going strong but most have shut down for the year. Not looking forward to digging the cannas. This year some over 10 feet tall.

[Steve-o]

My wife was out cuttin flowers too before the rain, wind, and cold ruined what was left.  She gets cheap grocery store bouquets for the filler and a bit of variety.

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[deadeye]

I didn't know you have an artsy wife. Cool

[Dotch]

Our wives must never meet Steve-O...

[deadeye]

I'll see your flowers and raise a few more

[Dotch]

A sampling of fall decorating at the ranch. Made 30 - 35 cornstalk bundles after chores & breakfast. Got the shock built before noon. To be on the safe side, there's a steel post in the middle of that bad boy. It was probably built well enough so it would've stood on its own but no fun remanufacturing when the wind blows them down. Poppy photobombed the back porch. See what I mean Steve-O? I think there are gourds & pumpkins decorating the bed! 

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[deadeye]

Wow, that's some fancy decorating. Even got a couple pictures of your girl friends. 

[tangle tooth]

      Dotch, you take decorations serious. My idea of decorations is to spread leaves all over the lawn.

[glenn57]

      Dotch, you take decorations serious. My idea of decorations is to spread leaves all over the lawn.

Yea,  iffin I was a bettin man, I'd wager it isn't Dotch!!

[LPS]

      Dotch, you take decorations serious. My idea of decorations is to spread leaves all over the lawn.

Yea,  iffin I was a bettin man, I'd wager it isn't Dotch!!

OR his boss made him do it. 

[Dotch]

Postal rates are out of control up here in the Great White North...

[glenn57]

Postal rates are out of control up here in the Great White North...

hey dotch....did you bring your corgi with to the great white north??????

[Dotch]

Poppy stayed stateside this trip. Looks like it would be pretty easy to bring her along though, almost easier than for a human especially when they were dicking around having their COVID protocol pissing match. 

[deadeye]

Dug the cannas today. I was at the land since Wednesday, just returned yesterday afternoon. This morning I helped put out our Chapter MDHA hide boxes. With the rain coming in I figured I better get the bulbs dug and put up for the winter before the garden turns to mud.
Arms are tired. 

[Dotch]

Wish my cannas were dug but I was on a mission. And some are still flowering  💐 Anyway, took a cruise around the yard this afternoon as I'm thinking with weather setting in, this might be about the best we'll get for color.

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