Sheesh...I am about gardened out...put up 19 jars of peach jam today, one bushel of speckled butterbeans, one bushel of lima beans, one bushel of crowder peas and one bushel of pinkeye purple hull peas.

My freezers are full and with the exception of making some muscadine jelly and possibly canning a few more tomatoes, stick a fork in me!! It has been a most bountiful year for sure.

My largest tomato to date: 1.51 pounds weighed in yesterday to our tomato growing contest. Sadly, I am in second place with the top dog weighing in at 1.76 pounds...

Blackberry Jam in da house!!



So is peach!!!

Some of the largest and ugliest tomatoes we have ever grown!!

Maggie you just need a few more shelves built and another freezer...

Canned 5 more quarts of tomatoes today and put up four quarts of okra....glad this chit is slowing down...mama is tired.

After that, I made a big ole pot of Cajun red beans with loads of spices, peppers, onions, celery, sausage and ham in um...about to put on a pot of rice now and then feast!

Well, the hot weather has really taken a toll on the garden and I can't say I am unhappy about it. Okra is still coming in gang busters but everything else is taking a hit.

Beans and peas were a trial this year and we ended up plowing a lot under. I think the bountiful rains really messed with them.

Latest news on the great tomato contest, the last big boy weighed in at 1.85 pounds. I did not get to see it, since I have been a bit under the weather but I heard the tales. I have some late plants started in more shaded areas that may produce some additional fruit but that last one was huge!!

Dunno about all of you, but I for one, am glad the gardens have pretty much played out. I will say my late tomatoes and cucumbers are coming on gangbusters though. I started two suckers from my steakhouse tomatoes and planted one other of that variety a bit earlier in a flower bed that now has tomatoes on it. Cucumbers were planted where I had tomatoes in a raised bed and they are flourishing.

My freezers were filled; and for that I am ever so thankful. Even though it was a strange gardening year with all the rain and some of the crops were not as bountiful as we had hoped, we were successful with the gardens once again.

As I type, I have a pot roast in the oven with homegrown carrots picked today, homegrown onions, homegrown bell peppers and one giant jalapeno cooking in the oven....smells wonderful.

Pretty much everything here has played out with the exception of okra, some late green beans, some late tomatoes and some late cucumbers. One late tomato plant is producing fruit now, while two other plants are a bit behind that but looking good. My late cucumbers are amazing!! They are just now setting fruit and look great. The okra plants, which are about a dozen in number, produce enough that I put up two quarts of pickled okra today along with a jar of jalapeno peppers - sliced. Um...forgot we still have jalapeno, bell and banana pepper plants producing too. Oh yeah, I still have some Charleston Grey watermelons on the vine. Hope they will be ripe by the end of the month when we have company from Canada coming for a visit!!

Testing Imgur
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Good test!!

Well, today I worked on my fall raised beds.

Saturday chores:
1. Got up, brushed, washed and dressed.
2. Fed dogs and cats.
3. Made a cup of coffee.
4. Took dogs out and retrieved Gator from shed along with bag of potting soil and rake.
5. Pulled Gator into back yard beside raised beds.
6. Pulled all cucumber vines from trellis and out of bed putting rubbish in Gator.
7. Added bag of dirt to raised bed, raked and smoothed soil.
8. Planted 18 butter crunch lettuce plants.
9. Fertilized all new cabbage, brussels sprout, broccoli, tomato and lettuce plants.
10. Watered all plants.
11. Picked up all banana tree trimmings and put in the back of Gator.
12. Took load of rubbish across road to burn pile.
13. Went to Co-Op to pick up chicken feed, more lettuce and onion sets, wormer and dirt.
14. Put new chicken scratch and layer crumbles in bins inside coop and fed chickens.
15. Changed water in all water cans in coop and replaced.
16. Pulled Gator into backyard again with new bags of dirt.
17. Cleaned out another raised bed of all flowering plants putting debris on ground.
18. Added two bags of dirt to raised bed and smoothed dirt surface.
19. Planted 6 lettuce plants and a bundle of onion sets in the bed.
20. Picked up and loaded all dead plant debris and loaded into Gator taking across street to dump.
21. Returned Gator to shed along with rake and tools.
22. Had a shower since I was filthy and covered in dirt.
23. Dressed and fixed a Bloody Mary....

green cabbage


red cabbage, lone tomato and remaining basil with a couple of garlic stems coming back.


Broccoli on the left, Brussels sprouts on the right and my trusty yeti of black coffee by my gloves.


Butter crunch lettuce.


Last bed planted today, red sail lettuce and onions.

Put up 48 jars of muscadine jelly about two weeks ago...

Whooee...my fall garden beds are coming along very nicely...both the red and green cabbage are starting to head up, broccoli and brussels sprouts are about a foot tall, lettuce both butter crunch and red sail are looking GREAT and onions are standing tall...my broad leaf mustard greens are starting to grow well too.

So, how does your fall garden grow?

Winter/fall garden goodness

Broccoli, cauliflower,cabbage and yellow squash...forgot to add the spinach in the photo!!

fine , fine garden and pics Maggie.

That cabbage is beautiful! I have a tough time keeping the loopers out of mine, and they usually ugly up the outer leaves, some.