Farmer: Sod Busted Daily

From MyFolia

A sad day indeed. Today my grandfather passed away peacefully at the age of 85. He'd been sick for a while but was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer back in June. The country garden was my mom's idea since my grandfather had a garden every one of the 61 years he lived at his home. How was I to know that the project would spiral out of control and that I'd share the adventure via a site like this.

All in all we shared some good times, laughs and a lot of tasty produce. His favorites from this year's planting were the Arkansas Traveler tomatoes which he claimed were the tastiest little pink tomatoes he'd ever had. I could never talk him into trying the Aunt Ruby green ones but he managed to coax some monster tomatoes from the vines regardless.

We're going to miss him, but we're thankful for the time we were able to spend with him.

From MyFolia

I absolutely had to pick the first Queensland Blue pumpkin today. Over the past two weeks the pumpkin had turned blue and the stem began to dry out. The top side was also starting to sunburn and while the burlap cover helped it could only buy a little time. I still have two other pumpkins which are at least a month behind the first. By my estimate, and bearing cooler weather they should make it until October.

I also harvest the last Dixie Queen watermelon and fertilized the peppers and youngest tomato plants. All remaining plants are doing well and bug infestation is at a minimum. All we need is a little more rain.

Update: Just harvested the first planting of Basil. Cut off plants at the base of stem, bound them and hung them out to dry. Should provided plenty of Basil through the winter months.

From MyFolia

Saturday I harvested quite a few Arkansas Traveler tomatoes from the country garden. I bagged several pounds of tomatoes despite my groundskeepers love of them and obvious harvesting efforts in my absence. Actually, to quote my grandfather "Those tomatoes were really delicious and easy to peel. What were those called?" I told him what they were and that they were an "heirloom" variety. He replied that he'd never heard of them. I think he like them, even though they weren't what he was used to growing.

In other news, the Hickory Dent corn is officially DOA in the country garden. The corn missed vital nitrogen fertilization during the growth period because of vacation and as such had under developed ears. Nothing worth salvaging. Also grass had completely overtaken the pumpkin patch leaving my suburban patch as the only viable pumpkin producing field this year. As I said before tomato production is still good, the Aunt Ruby German greens continue to produce despite the fact that no one likes green tomatoes.

In preparation for the fall my dad disked under the cucumbers to make way for purple top turnips. I paid a grand total of$0.53 for 1 ounce at the local feed & seed which will go a long way. Personally I'm a big fan of the fall/winter garden. It used to server a vital purpose back in the day and besides I kinda feel like showing off by growing stuff during the cold months.

Back at the suburban garden things were starting to wind down. That was until I found four small cantaloupes forming on my Hearts of Gold. I decided to let them mature and to see if I can get any more melon out of the plant. I also thought I was done with my sweet bell peppers but was surprised to see small fruit and more blooms. I'll leave those plants as well to see what else I can harvest.

Speaking of melons, I officially pulled the last mini-honeydew from the vine. The melon was a bit smaller than the other two but was a nice shade of lemon yellow. The last one was sweet and juicy but no where near as delicious as the Hearts of Gold. I think I may skip honeydew next year.

I also picked up a nearly 15 pound watermelon from the country garden. As far as I can tell the melon is a Dixie Queen. However I planed two Dixie Queen mounds in close proximity to another "seed saver special" my grandfather had. His watermelons were very long but very delicious, and very pervasive. My idea was to cross the two and I think I may have succeeded. The Dixie Queen is a smaller, round melon. What I harvested is approximately the typical watermelon shape but has very light markings and has a very good, hollow sound when thumped. I will slice into this melon later in the week and let you know how it goes.

At any rate, that's all for now. Stay tuned for the next chapter in Country & Suburban garden as we prepare for fall and plant the winter garden.

From MyFolia

I harvested the entire batch of King of the Garden limas and came out with little over half a pound of seed for storage. There were a few ripe pods which I threw in the pot and enjoyed. In other news I also picked my first Mountain Spring tomatoes and a single Arkansas Traveler.

I'm a bit disappointed with the Mountain Spring which I purchased from a local greenhouse. They were supposed to be early season tomatoes but failed to blossom until well after I the Roma tomatoes were showing fruit. The tomatoes are large and appear to be tasty but I think production with be very light. Granted I could blame the lack of production and ripening on my soil PH which I had to make an emergency correction too. However the other plants and tomatoes are doing well leading me to believe that this is just a weaker or, gasp, ill suited breed for my growing conditions.

In other news I just dropped a few dollars for my fall crop including Yellow Multiplier Onions and French Gray Shallots. I also plan to put down a winter mix of greens in a few weeks.

UPDATE: I added some Plant Tone organic fertilizer to the watermelon, tomatoes, and four "second batch" cantaloupes. Hey, who knows if the weather is fair well into September I may see a ripe one yet!