Dirt Diva's Gardens (USA)

August 15, 2022

Garden Update



The dog days of summer are just now ending in the northern hemisphere. Milder temperatures and plentiful rains have returned to the mountain plateau and higher altitudes. The gardens are lush and heavy with fruit right now. My days are long as I scramble to keep up not only with the harvesting but also the continual weeding, washing and preparing of the produce for canning, freezing or dehydrating of the almost daily harvests. 

yellow crookneck summer squash (heirloom)

Determinate paste tomatoes



Shell Beans

Louisiana red beans. This is a variety of red pinto type bean grown in my native state of Louisiana. These beans are always served in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Monday. Monday was tradition laundry day and these beans could be simmered on the back of the stove while the laundry dried on the lines. Still served in the finest French Quarter restaurants to this day on Mondays. 



Watermelon

This variety of watermelon turns completely yellow when ripe and the vines tend to be yellow as well. It is an heirloom very old variety. We grow this variety because we are both color blind and it is easy to tell when they are ripe for us. 



Cantaloupe heirloom variety "Minnesota Midget". This is a very small 2 person size cantaloupe that we grow on trellises and fences throughout the property. Very fast to produce and ripen. It turn completely yellow on the outside when ripe and disconnects at the stem. 



It is now approximately 60 days till projected average first frost at this altitude. As crops are cleared we continue to plant fall crops of frost tolerant short season vegetables such as cabbages, lettuce, beets, carrots, turnips, spinach, mustard greens and green onions. 

I couldn't possibly love your updates any more than I do dirtdiva! It's so encouraging to see the huge crops that you get and how many different things you have growing. It makes me very excited and motivated to get my own garden ticking over. 

And I'll admit, the winter blues hit me every year. I'm absolutely miserable in the cold and the region we're in right now is freezing. Ok, it's AUSSIE freezing lmao. But seeing all the bright colours in your pictures definitely perks me up

Our hottest temperatures here are usually from about mid July to mid August. This year has been different in that our hotter weather hit in June accompanying a short dry spell. I guess we shall blame it on global warming. Right now the daily highs are running about 78F (25C) and night time lows are running about 55F (12C).  While the weather has been a bit challenging it is still better than much of the western and central USA right now which is locked in a drought. Our rainfall has picked back up and the foliage is pretty lush right now for which we are extremely thankful. It won't be long though before our leaves will be turning. Our first frost is usually around the middle of October. 

This is the time of year when everyone scrambles to get in as much dry hay as possible and get that firewood stacked and ready for winter. 

This area is a big timber producing area with scattered small farms running predominantly horses and cattle but also a few goats. An area traditionally known for poorer soils very few row crops are raised here. There were once several large coal mines but they have all played out now. It is mostly acres and acres of trees and lots of State and National Parks. Almost 3/4 of Tennessee is forestland.  

I'm absolutely miserable in the cold and the region we're in right now is freezing. Ok, it's AUSSIE freezing lmao.
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Bwahahaha.... LMAOROF... GASP... "AUSSIE freezing" That is the best description I have read.. It is all about location, location .....and growing zones....

Here in our zone 2 we have gone into late September temps and the like.. My friends in Alaska saying the migrating birds are starting to form up and leaving. In the first light of morning I can hear the sand hill cranes on our big pasture next to the pond..

Whilst it can get to zero or below here, by 10 am its 20 deg and tops out at 25. Frost on the ground and frozen dogs water dish. Its now nearly 5 pm and temp is 26.6 deg c.




This tagline is SHAREWARE, to register send $ 5 to fr//hwm$22## no carrier....

That sweet potato fruit leather sounds AMAZING! Hubby said it sounds really good and as he's the 'exploratory' cook in our house I wouldn't be surprised to see a batch or two being made in the next few weeks lol.

September 8, 2022



It seems as if our house reflects our lifestyle right now with tables, counters and most horizontal surfaces covered with cooling jars, ripening vegetables and drying seeds. The dehydrators are running most days as are the pressure canners, roasters and crock pots. This particular day the table holds rotel tomatoes which are tomatoes, green chilies and onions cooked down. Okra and tomatoes in quarts and quarts of canned chicken in broth. 


Taco Soup in quart jars containing fresh tomato sauce, ground beef, onions, black beans, corn, chili powder, cumin and garlic. 


I have also been canning Barbecue beans which contain navy beans, fresh tomato sauce, maple syrup, ground beef, onions, garlic, chili powder and ground mustard.


Sweet potatoes are curing now in banana boxes where I can keep an eye on them until they are good and dry. 

What a bounty! You're absolutely right, getting everything processed in time before it starts to go bad is like a whirlwind of long days and lots of coffee. I remember many years back going to a tomato processing weekend with a Greek family. It was an amazing amount of fun, but no one sat down all day and I slept half the day following.

And that was ONE type of produce, for ONE weekend. They did it every weekend for about 4 weeks. I'd have keeled over. I don't know where all the tomatoes came from but the friend that I went with said they had just run out of their last jar from the last season so they clearly knew exactly how much they'd need.

October 2, 2022
Zone 6B or 7A (USA)

Autumn has arrived to the mountain. Leaves are falling and our concentration switches to putting the garden away and gathering as many of those leaves as possible for compost. We continue to harvest cucumbers, winter squash, tomatoes, okra, blackberries and figs. Cool weather tolerant crops that continue to grow are cabbages, lettuces and greens. Average first frost date is about 2 weeks away. Nighttime temperatures have dipped down to 40F (4C). We have not had rain for about 2 weeks and add in falling leaves to that scenario and fire chances increase.

Smaller harvests now at the end of the growing season are going into the dehydrator which is pretty well running daily at this point.



My figs are huge this year. Figs have been a great crop for me but are a gamble every year and because I am at the very Northern range of their growing zone. They do freeze back to the soil every year but as the trees get older they rebound faster every year to produce a regular crop but just making a smaller tree. Every year I always have figs left on the tree at frost though that have not had ample time to ripen. A great tree for fruit because they propagate easily and have very few pests or diseases in my area other than birds. 



While figs make great jams and preserves they also dehydrate easily and mine eventually go into mylar bags with 02 absorbers and then into buckets with gamma lids. They can be eaten as a snack out of hand but we like to add ours to oats. 



I continue to dry sweet potato leather from the small sweet potatoes and ones that were broken or damaged at harvest. I add a little cinnamon, apple juice and maple syrup and then dry on parchment paper. Once dehydrated I take then off parchment paper and dry a little further than the leather stage and break up into pieces. 



The other great crop dehydrated is okra. Once dehydrated very dry it takes on an extremely nutty flavor and makes great snacks out of hand that can be added to soups and gumbos as well. Okra is rich in vitamins A and C and also magnesium. 

Foraging right now the forests are rich in walnuts and wild persimmons. We gather walnuts every year and store but do not grow them on our property because they secrete a substance called jugalone that poisons the soil under them preventing plants from growing under them. 

October is also the time to plant garlic which will be harvested early next summer. Once I deal with excess fruit in the freezer and either dry it or preserve in jars my canning year should be done. Lots of winter squash and sweet potatoes stashed and the two freezers are overflowing as is the pantry and food storage buckets. Another successful year in the gardens.

Outside of the garden gasoline here is up to about $3.39 a gallon and food and utility prices continue to rise as does the inflation rate. 

I rarely hear of any local Covid infection in my rural location anymore although I do occasionally see someone with a mask on. 

So as my garden year ends most of the Australian gardeners are just beginning the new growing season. May your 2022-2023 gardening endeavors be successful. 

Happy Gardening.........DD