June 17 - 25, 2012

Temperature Range:

• lows: 60 - 70° F
• highs: 83 - 94° F

Rainfall: 0.05"

Planted:

• amaranth
• black oil sunflowers
• sweet potato slips

Harvested:

• potatoes
• peaches
• blueberries
• yellow onions
• multiplier onions

Egg Counts:

• Sun. 7
• Mon 6
• Tues 6
• Wed 6
• Thurs 9
• Fri 6
• Sat 6
• Week's Total: 46

Observed & Accomplished:

Sunday

• day of rest

Monday

• picked blueberries
• harvested onions
• harvested more potatoes

Tuesday

• finished harvesting potatoes
• weeded
• 1st cukes will be ready to harvest soon
• I think Mrs. Mean might be laying her eggs in the Broody's nest!

Wednesday

• latest garden post on my homestead blog
• weeded
• planted amaranth in old potato beds
• planted BOSS with cucumbers
• applied 4 cups dolomitic limestone and 3 cups bone meal to each bed
• picked about a gallon of blueberries
• 1st day this summer we broke 90°
• light rain, welcome after planting those seeds

Thursday

• weeded front herb bed; near impossible because of all the wire grass growing there

Friday

• froze blueberries

Saturday

• finished planting sweet potatoes
• applied dolomitic limestone to both sweet potato beds
• weeded tomato aisles
• noted some beds are muddy, some beds are dry as a bone
• picked blueberries (almost 2 gallons)
• other hens keep laying in the broody's nest. She has 5 or 6 eggs now; only supposed to have 3
• late afternoon thunder & a sprinkle

Oct. Wk 2, 10th - 16th

Temperature Range:

• lows: 46 - 60
• highs: 70 - 82

Rainfall: sprinkle

Harvested:

• last of black turtle beans
• state 1/2 runner bush beans
• last buttercup squash
• Swiss chard
• zucchini
• sweet pepper
• sweet basil
• dill seed

Preserved:

• froze 4 quarts potato soup
• 13 quarts canned sweet potatoes
• froze 2 doz. eggs
• froze sweet pepper, both green & ripe
• dehydrated bananas (store bought)

Accomplished:

• shelled beans for seed & soup
• finished pulling black turtle bean plants & buttercup squash vines
• watered fall garden
• pulled out blackberry vines & as many weeds going to seed as possible
• husked amaranth & stored in trash cans for chicken feed
• pulled out okra plants
• cleaned out chicken coop & spread litter lower 1/2 of garden

To Do:

• finish goat fencing
• finish organizing 2010 saved seeds
• thin beets
• thin turnips
• thin carrots
• finish harvesting bush bean seeds
• till
• re-pot aloe vera

Oct. Wk 1, 3rd - 9th

Temperature Range:

• lows: 44 - 54° F
• highs:  66 - 80° F

Rainfall: none

Harvested:

• sweet peppers
• Swiss chard
• beet greens with baby beets 
• dried State 1/2 runner beans (for seed & soup)
• buttercup squash
• dill seed
• sunflower seed heads (last of)

Preserved:

• froze sweet pepper
• froze eggs

Problems noted:

• black rot(?) on curing sweet potatoes

Accomplished:

• started removing amaranth seed from heads
• pulling dead bean plants
• pulled out the last of the dead sunflower stalks
• thinning beets & eating steamed thinnings
• hilled fall potatoes (mostly volunteers)
• sprayed zucchini plants with Soap Shield (copper solution) for powdery mildew
• cleaned out old cantaloupe bed, pulling dried vines & weeds with seed heads
• fed weeds to the goats (much appreciated)
• working on new fencing mostly
• husked popcorn
• shelled dried sweet corn for seed

To Do:

• finish amaranth seed
• get something to store amaranth seed in
• mulch fall garden
• work on fall fruit tree & shrub nursery order
• finish pulling out dead squash and cucumber vines
• clean out chicken coop & spread on garden for tilling
• till summer garden
• plant green manure cover crop of annual rye

Homestead Cuisine:

• baked chicken, steamed baby beets with greens, potato salad with pickle juice in mayonnaise and ripe sweet pepper

Sept/Oct Transition Week (Sept 26 - Oct 2)

Rainfall: 3.1 inches

Harvested:

• zucchini
• black turtle beans
• sweet peppers
• buttercup squash
• sunflowers

Problems noted:

• powdery mildew on zucchini
  

Preserved:

• froze 1 pint pumpkin
• froze eggs
• froze sweet peppers
• cured sunflower heads

Accomplished:

• Sorted stored potatoes. Some going bad, all sprouting
• Composted bad potatoes
• cleaned out pantry fridge for sprouting potatoes
• made potato soup (it's getting to be that soup time of year)
• pulled black turtle bean plants & sunflower stalks
• shelling saved seeds: radishes, turnips
• Finally visited my area food co-op and got a one month trial membership. I will probably join.  They do buy produce from members so maybe this will be an outlet in the future. They also told me about an area locavore group. It's good to be finding some area resources.
  

To Do:

• spray zucchini for the mildew
• sort sweet potatoes for storage
• shake seeds from dried amaranth heads
• finish cleaning up garden
• plant more radishes
• mulch fall garden