Katied L's the secret (formerly fairy glenn) garden

it was nice to have a bit of a low key day out at the garden.

we’re waiting for the green tomatoes to turn, although, we do have some isis candy tomatoes that have been ready. and a cherokee purple is days away from being ready!

the corn is starting to plump out while the lady bugs and friends are fattening up on all the aphids.

we might get some more beans if we can keep the groundhogs out. there was a break in the other day, but other than that they have been staying away lately.

i still have hope for the acorn squash…i know the battle is pretty much over, but plants can come out of crazy circumstances and flourish. it may not flourish, but it might put up a few new leaves and that would be enough for me.

the serpent gourds are ridiculous and phallic. i thought they would be less phallic and more serpenty. oh well, the plant has been going crazy. we probably won’t have this in the garden next year, although it may be on the outside because it looks so pretty and was left alone by most pests doing much damage.

i’m excited for the promise of a fall harvest of greens, etc. and i’m getting excited to start planning for next year! i just need to keep my pants on and wait to start planning until most of the garden is done for this year.

tricia and I planted a bunch of fall veggies—

1st sq from corn: cabbage acorn squash and zucchini bed: sugar snap peas, green curled ruffec endive, round black radish, touchon carrots hops bed: sugar snap peas under tomatoes: lettuces

watered one load

2 hours

Andy to come see what was going on in the garden. He had to leave after a while to go play risk with the boys, but he hasn’t been out for a while so he was excited to see how everything was going.

On my way back from getting a nutritious snack of peanut m&m’s and sunflower seeds, I saw a turkey family outing. Once I got to the garden, I was loving the cool breeze and the almost stormy time sitting by the potato tires, looking up at the corn blowing in the wind. I heard a noise and looked over to say hi to the turkeys finishing their outing, walking past the fence.

There was a spined soldier bug on the corn! The squash bugs are the shield bugs I see the most of, so it was very exciting to see a good shield bug!

Planted stuff—I’ve never done any kind of fall planting, so we’ll see how this all goes. old pea bed: swiss chard, red Russian kale, dwarf blue curled kale, white Lisbon onions 3rd sq from corn: black turtle beans, swiss chard, red Russian kale, kohlrabi, Spanish utah onions black bean bed: black turtle beans melon bed: round black radish

Weeded a bit

Harvested basil, mint, a few peppers (banana and hot)

Laid in path, enjoying the breeze and fall feel to the air.

Need to make a next year to do list and winter time to do list.

3 hours

The groundhogs got in because door wasn’t stopped up properly. They ate the beans, again. They pushed over the corn and took a bite out of some of the baby corn.

Also, saw lots and lots of aphids on the corn. There were lots of ladybugs that were eating the aphids and getting it on. It seemed like they were everywhere.

On the tomatoes I took the suckers off, wrapped them around the strings, and then trimmed off bottom leaves of the plants. Andy’s dad suggested that I do that because the bottom leaves just use the energy that can go to the tomatoes. While I was doing all this I took the damaged tomatoes off. They looked like mostly blossom end rot, but some of them seemed like bugs may be the culprit. I cleaned up the tomato mess from all of this, kind of. I fertilized with my new sprayer…it’s so wonderful!

Saw turkey babies following their mom into the woods. I kept hearing flapping in the trees and saw the babies following mom from branch to branch, maybe they were learning to fly.

Watered one loads worth.

4 hours