I have been so busy here lately and the weather has been so terribly hot for us that I have fallen behind in commenting on "what I have done in the garden today". I have simply been exhausted at the end of each day. Yesterday and last night was a perfect example. After a day in the humid and sweltering heat of the lottie, then there were veggies and fruit that had to be processed...we were up until after 02:00 in the morning. Dog-tired (bekaf), I wuz. We have been doing a little something in the lottie each day and timing our visits to be at as cool a time as possible. We took a day off a few days ago and went on a little excursion, but I shall write about that on another thread. Let's see now, where to begin....I think firstly a few garden shots and comments, moving on to harvesting and then to processing...and so forth. It is all chaotic in my heat-frazzeled head right now, but if I organize it all, perhaps then it will not appear so chaotic to you as you read the account. Here goes then-- Let me start with a couple of pics of a portion of the flower garden, the dominant blooms being the purple phlox: As you can see--there is colour, but not really lusciously floral. The beauty is in the focusing. If you look at the plants and/or blooms individually, they are lovely. Here a Cosmea: The next view is of a combination of the Cosmea and the Crososmia 'Lucifer'...with a little Veronica on the side. It has been hot alrighjt, but I had to go into the bees like it or not. Gad, I was amazed at how much I would perspire! I would break-off the inspections after each hive to cool off and re-hydrate. My bride said that my T-shirt could have been wrung out. hahaha...but I just hung it in the sun and after 20 or so minutes it was dry enough to continue. I was really glad when the inspections were over. Each hive had three honey supers on top of them and they weighed a ton, so to speak. In-between the yellow and white hives is a small plastic ice cream container full of comb that had honey in it. I scraped this off the tops of the frames and on the cover board. After finishing, we sampled the flavour of the dripping combs and then gave the rest back to the bees. They take it up and then hop back into the hives and deposit it into cells again. Gosh this summer honey has a wonderful flavour. Another two weeks or so, and I can sling the frames. It is going to be a long process. Now, for the veggies garden: You cannot see a whole lot on this foto, but on the foreground is where the broadies were. They have been clipped-off at ground level and the nitrogenous roots left in place...and in-between the rows of roots we planted Phacelia (green manure). The corn is behind that and it is beginning to develop ears. Behind that are the bean wig-wams., beetroot, parsnip, Brussels Sprouts and Swiss chard. Another angle: Here on the right, you can see the potato bed. They have all been lifted and the foliage destroyed, as the blight had begun to appear upon the leaves here and there. In the background, you can see leeks and strawbs. In terms of harvesting--Well the beans are prolific as always: I want to thank Dooley again for this very useful harvesting apron. This one is mine and my bride is wearing hers. We are so thankful for them, Dooley. Thank you again. I just can't say it often enough. We use them all harvesting season long. My bride ran into this fellow whilst picking the beans. These guys can eat for Holland! They are ruthless chomping machines; however, I do like hearing them at night when we are sitting having tea in the dark. The bean haul--there are three sorts of beans here: The cues are coming along now. This is billed as a "snack cucumber". It looks great, but is a bit bland and loaded with seed. I cannot find the name of them anywhere. Onions. Some are developing white rot at the roots, so they were removed and laid out to cure for a couple of weeks. Then it was time to take them home and process them. We freeze them in for use with chilli, beetroot and other dishes--very handy: We were able to get this amount into four bags in the end and pressed them flat to freeze. Why flat?--So that they are easy to use. Just break off what you need and chuck it into the pan...then put the bag of frozen chopped onions back into the freezer. BTW--we triple bag the onions. Finally the plums. Last night's plums.... I removed the stones from these whilst the bride calculated the sugar and so forth...and then popped them onto the fire. Not one worm was in those plums. We were multitasking in this pic, doing the beetroot in the back left whilst we boiled the plums for jam. We wound up with eleven jars of jam. The bed was a welcome sight thereafter.
Awesome haul. I commend you on getting to the bee task... NOT ME! this is unbeelievably hot weather here. mid 90's most days. 33c? miserable hot. it makes my head hurt to even go out there in the mid day.
Our temps have been running between 98 and 102 degrees. Sjoerd you must have the richest soil on the planet to have flowers that pretty !
CAROLYN--Yeah, the temps there and here were the same on the day of the bee checking. It had to be done, and I had already put it off for two extra days against my better judgement. RADDANG--Thanks very much for your comments. I enjoy looking at the veg almost as much as eating it. Those temps there are annoyingly high , MART--The soil is indeed quite rich on the plots. I was wondering if it wasn't a bit too rich...based upon all the green foliage that I have this year.
Sjoerd,..man you and your Bride have worked hard to do all of that,..very nice looking Plums,..11 jars is a great harvest,..great tip about the Onions packing them flat,..i never thought of that,..awesome basket of Beans and mouth watering description of your honey tasting,..plus a wee return for the Bees,..Corn looks in great shape and your blooms beautiful,..my Phlox hasn't reached your stage as yet,..though you are having a heatwave to boost things along,..great post Sjoerd
Fabulous! I think that is the largest grass hopper I have ever seen Sjoerd! I'll bet they can defoliate very quickly!
Despite the weather you and your bride have achieved so much Sjoerd and have had great harvests. I hope the heat dissipates soon so that you'll have a more comfortable environment to work in. Just think though, if you can do all that with such high temperatures, image what you'll be able to do once it cools down!!
Thanks so much, PHILIP--I am glad that you enjoyed the posting. I am especially glad that you liked the onion tip. It is so helpful for using because often when cooking one does not have the time to stop and try and crack a big, hard ball of frozen onion chips before using in the meal. Glad that you liked the Phlox, STRATS--I enjoy it each day. Yeah NETTY--that green beast was a true monster. Those jaws of his could break the skin of your finger if one is careless. That is too right, EILEEN--I can't wait until it cools a bit.
O ... those plum jam, I can taste them ... yum-yum!!! What a harvest and a beautiful place to be in!!!
I am amazed at how much you & bride did Sj! You both must have been truly knackered. Your lottery is beautiful, such a pleasure to look at!
Your produce looks so nice, especially the plums but they are my favorite fruit! Actually, what ever fruit is 'in' is my favorite. You and your bride definitely worked hard to get everything preserved! Your beans look really good also. Our weather must be way behind you as my beans are just barely starting to form. I hope I haven't made a mistake as I planted Roma beans this year for the first time. I quit trying to grow cukes of any kind as they are always bitter. I don't know if it is the soil, me, or what. We don't eat many of them so I just buy them. We did have our first zucchini last night for dinner and we really enjoyed it!
