Dirt Diva's Gardens (USA)

I shall indeed "Ghigua".  ( Beloved Warrior Woman ) 

Wow DD your garden is amazing! Thank you for all the tips and tricks, and I am glad you guys are ok.
We are in year 3 of our garden, and I have just not had enough time for it unfortunately. Got to planting late - and tomatoes straggling in. Lots of cukes though, so pickles aplenty again.
We are moving soon, and as such will have to start over - am not looking forward to that, but will not plan on moving again!
Stay safe -

My gosh have we been busy! It has been a week of canning and dehydrating and gardening galore. 



My stash is getting fuller by the day. This week was purple hull peas and green beans canned. Peppers and okra frozen.



And stuffed bell peppers. These are stuffed with a spicy sausage, cooked rice, a tomato based sauce with onions and cheese. After they are frozen we put them in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer. They can be taken out of the freezer and baked for 45 minutes to serve. 



And tomatoes everywhere.



The big roaster is going daily cooking down tomato crops into sauce to go into jars.









This week I also managed to double dig the blank spots in the raised beds and add some organic fertilizer and compost and plant lettuce, green peas, mustard greens and carrots for fall. First frost is usually around Oct 31. Countdown is on.



I have 2 big piles of finished compost ready and waiting to go to top up those beds once they are finished for the year. These piles are about 10 long and 4 foot high. That's a bunch of compost. That's also a bunch of turning. 

We are tired but it feels good to see the pantries, freezers and food buckets fill up for yet another winter. In uncertain times a little gardening is good for the soul. Since we are still under quarantine for another 6 days looks like we have plenty to do.

Everyone stay safe!

DD

You inspired me today DD- got out in the garden, took out the half dead lettuce, replanted some new lettuce, also beets, carrots and squash. I think my cat had been digging in the planters, hence why these originally never grew.

Mid September Garden:

 

The Countdown has begun! My first frost date is usually anywhere from the middle to end of October. So I am down to the final countdown in the garden. Something I want to impress on gardeners is that it is not always the amount of space you garden but how you schedule and plant that space that makes the difference. In the picture above see the bush bean plants in all 3 rows. The first row on the lower right is the oldest and are now in jars. The plants are now in a compost pile happily rotting away. The middle row of beans half way down was planted about 3 weeks later than the first has also been picked. Again those beans in jars as I canned the last of them this last week. See the beans in the row farthest to  the left about midway the picture. Those plants were planted again about 3 weeks later. These plant are still there. Three staggered plantings of the same crop. This third planting is loaded with mature beans that are drying and will become my seeds for future crops. Succession planting example at it's finest. I think once I get my canning done I will do a post on succession planting by itself. In a survival situation it could become very important knowledge. 

In the beds above as one crop was removed another crop was immediately put in it's place. The reason for this is I want small manageable harvests that I can comfortably process and preserve in a  timely manner. I am too old for those canning marathons of yesteryear where I literally canned into the wee hours of the morning every morning. I also want fresh produce from the start of the garden season all the way to frost and beyond. This will be especially important in a survival situation.  I also want variety in my harvests. This is especially important for crops like lettuce I think which matures many times in as little as 30 days. 

As those beans have been picked and the bushes composted those spaces have been replanted in autumn crops of romaine lettuce. A great variety called Jericho which is open pollinated and came from Israel. Also planted and up are plantings of carrots from the seeds I just saved last month and mustard greens. All of these crops are frost tolerant and mature in 60 days or under. The trick to fall crops for me is plenty of water and lots of fertilizer. Grow them off quick and get in and out.

Remaining in the garden and just now starting to head is 9 nice heads of cabbage. Plenty of time for these to finish before frost and it will become my winter kraut. I also planted green peas but something has pretty well wiped that out. Mr DD spotted a chipmunk and thinks that is our culprit. He dug those seeds right out of the soil just as they sprouted all the way down the rows. 

And before you ask yes that is an old mailbox in the picture. It holds my pruners, gloves, a trowel and a few other odds and ends kept handy where  I can find them easily. At the end of those rows under blue tarps are mounds of compost waiting to be spread over the top of the beds once the final crops are removed. Only thing left to plant is the garlic which will overwinter. 




On a food preservation note I am now using my new to me Harvest Guard reusable lids. Having really good luck thus far with them sealing and holding their seals. SO if anyone out there is on the fence about investing in reusable lids for your canning jars this experiment has been a success. In the U.S. canning jars and lids remain "hard if not almost impossible" to purchase. While this alternative requires a little more investment out front they are working for me. And even better they are manufactured in the U.S. by a small family owned company!




As for me I continue to process and preserve those harvests. small batches almost daily of tomatoes and just finished the green beans. I will do one more cooking of tomato sauce tomorrow and that is my final batch to be canned . The rest of the tomatoes I will start running through the dehydrator for tomato powder. 





Still harvesting okra, blackberries, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and I picked my first 2 ripe figs last week. 

***********************************************

On a personal note we have again closed the front gates and locked them. As Covid cases are again everywhere and Tennessee is now supposedly one of the 5 state with the highest infection rates in the nation we again have decided to isolate. Vaccine numbers remain low compared to other states also. We will leave the property only for medical help or to curbside pickup supplies. I had an appointment to have some minor surgery done on my arm and got a call last week that it has been cancelled due to Covid crowding in the hospital. 

Even though we have both taken the vaccine we are retired and do not have school age children so no reason to take the chance. We are happy to go into winter together and healthy and wish to remain that way. We have lots of hobbies and projects to occupy our time constructively. We have no illusions that in a triage situation we are on the bottom of that totem pole. 

The outside world can do without us and we just do not choose to join in the fun. We will leave it to you youngsters. You guys have fun with that!

Stay safe and healthy and enjoy your spring. 

DD and Mr DD

Reusable lids were bought online from Harvest Guard. I have had really good luck so far with them. Like you I stocked up pre-Covid but that was 2 canning seasons ago. While I still have some traditional lids left I have started using the Harvest Guard and stocking up on them. I would not recommend reusing the traditional lids though. 

On the fig tree they are super easy to root and get started. 

As far as isolating there is no reason not to. We have  taken the Moderna vaccine and do not qualify for boosters yet in our area. With the disease running through the local population in our state right now we can wait it out. We have plenty of supplies and have done it before. I just for the life of me can't think of anywhere I need to go or anyone I need to see right now that is worth dying over. I have a couple quilts I want to finish this winter for the grandkids and have no excuse not to get it done now! I am actually looking forward to a little winter break from gardening and canning. 

You take care in that ICU and keep that chin up! You need to talk you email me I'm a good listener.

We use compost, made here and a couple of miniature pigs...they turn over the garden beds, eat all the weeds and grass roots, manure the soil and leave gardens ready for planting straight into. They have a trailer made from an old 6 X 4 trailer, with a roof, and ramp etc, which is moved to where we need them. When not being used, they are kept in a series of paddocks behind electric wire and mesh.
Of course, a rotatory cultivator is used sometimes as well, but the pigs can break up quite hard soil, and create a wallow where they need it, which waters the sub soil.
We feed them a handful of dog food and garden scraps, prunings as well as they grub up all sorts of insects.



However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
Winston Churchill

You are welcome! I read that info also that the WHO and others have not found evidence for a need at this time. I do not think boosters are available here anyway other than maybe to the very vulnerable with underlying conditions. 

For the Harvest Guard lids I think the last time I looked there is about a 3 week backorder right now but that is not bad. The company has been pretty good in my experience with sticking to projected shipping dates. 

I see jars here from time to time also just not very many. The problem is lids and I refuse to buy new jars just for the lids when I have more than enough jars already from a lifetime of canning. I am working on just converting to all reusable lids and being done with it. I am tired of messing around with Ball. 

I see where there is a new Chinese company moving in with lids called Denali ! I would strongly suggest buyer beware. I see complaints all over the net. My experience with companies like this is not good. I was sent a free box of jars one time to test from a Chinese Company and had the lid explode. Not a wise move mixing inferior canning products and scalding ingredients.   

Sounds like a good way to end up in your ICU 

Thanks so much for your update diva I know growing season is winding down for you over there, for us it's just ramping up. Our area is having it's last winter gasp but your posts are extremely motivating so it's great to get spun up by pictures of your beautiful produce!
I'm going to start some seeds to germinate today. I've got some jiffy pellets left over from last season which I've found is one of the easiest ways to get things going in my tiny container garden. We moved house fairly recently and our yard has even LESS growing real-estate than the old one, so I'm going to have to be even more selective with how and where I plant this year. We have a long side garden which has just had a whole load of chip bark dumped on it by the owner.
Great for maintaining a low-effort garden but terrible for growing!