Late Summer 2021 {Recap}

 Lets see, what all happened last summer... I honestly can't think of anything crazy that happened. We finished up with the gardening and canning, like normal, but other than that and a few random pictures here and there, that's about all. 

My aunt and uncle got a camper and utilized that most of the summer. LaVaughn and I went out and visited them a few different times, but never stayed the night or anything. It seemed like every time they went it was like 100 degrees, so we ended up sitting inside the camper the entire time. 

I'm gonna let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Enjoy!

We had SO many cucumbers last year, including lemon cucumbers. I wanted to grow them to bad, but they're so not worth the time IMO.

I was obsessed with this Snapchat filter last year. Also liked to burn trash in the wee hours of the morning.

We canned a lot of lemon cucumbers too. Their skin is too thick for canning.

This is one of two Praying Manti that I harassed.

Praying Mantis with attitude.

Salsa canning process.

This is giving Stars Hallow house for some reason.

Eggplants that I grew last year (and didn't really eat).

Endless supply of lemon cucumbers.

A successful season of canning. Look at all those canning jars!

One of my long sweet peppers that didn't produce until like October.

This guy didn't even ripen up. 

Still pretty, though.

Idk why so many pics of this guy.

This is one of two avocado trees that I successfully grew for like almost a year.

The died in late spring/early summer of this year.

It was sad.

Always trying to find a living thing to photograph.

The literal fruit of my labor.

Garden Update (4th of July Edition)

Happy 4th of July everyone!

It feels like it's been ages since I've talked about the garden. A lot of that has to do with me not taking any photos of the garden, which is my own doing because it's usually too hot in the evenings to even worry about. There's lots going on, lots of blooming and some new sprouts. Forgive me if I've talked about this in a previous post, but I did recently plant 20+ yellow watermelon seeds. Well, not recently cause I don't remember exactly when I did and if I'm being honest I'm posting this blog super late and just backdating.

Anyways, we have LOADS of tomatoes growing, but only some of the orange cherry tomatoes actually ripening up. We also have lots of different pepper varieties that are ripe for the picking and even eggplants! Yes, those tiny little plants that I rescued from Rozier's are finally getting eggplants on them, which is super exciting. Not sure how I'm gonna cook them or if I even like them anymore, but I'm excited none the less.

Our okra plants are also getting HUGE! Like I wasn't expecting them to be this tall and have such a thick stalk, but they really do look awesome. I'm not sure when they'll start getting okra, but it should be any day now.

I took all these pics Friday and then went for a walk later that evening and took several photos after I was done. It was really hot and I was kind of rushing, but I didn't manage to get a few decent photos I think. It's been so long since I've just walked around the yard and taken photos. I can't wait until the weather cools off some and I'm able to do that daily. 

Aside from gardening and photo taking, we've also started canning. We've already got several zucchini and cucumbers, so canning is a must. We plants a literal wall of cucumber and an almost equal amount of zucchini. Canned zucchini are the absolute best, at least to me, lol.

Well, it is the 4th and there's lots of BBQ to be made, so I'm going to stop for now. I hope everyone has a happy and save holiday!

Some canning aesthetic for your enjoyment. 

The pepper plant that I've been babying for months now, lol.

Two of the eggplants!! I'm SO proud of them, lol.

Kinda awkward angle, but at least you can see them.

Eggplant blossoms are beautiful - there's also a tiny bug if you want to view it large.

The beautifully blossomed cabbage.

Corn stalks.

One of the giant okra leaves.

Delicious banana peppers.

These are giant marconi. They're supposed to eventually turn red.

Orange cherry tomatoes - delish!

Several green tomatoes.

More tomato sprouts.

And tiny tomato hairs.

Some beautiful Queen Anne's Lace overlooking the lake.

I know Queen Anne's Lace is a weed, but they're a stunning weed.

Yes, this is two beetles mating.

I really wish they weren't mating because they're so beautiful, but I couldn't waste the photo-op.

I get real close to these Chrysochus Auratus beetles, aka Dogbane beetles.

Last closeup of the iridescent bettles.

An old wooden gate up the road from us.

Of course, I found a spider.

Sickening spiders.

I'm not sure if this is an ant or not, but I love this macro picture of this bug in a flower.

More Queen Anne's Lace.

More Dogbane beetles mating.

I swear it's only cause they're beautiful, lol.

Purple weeds.

And lastly, our nations flag. Happy Birthday, America!

Summer Gardening (2020 Edition)

 So for the first time in literally YEARS we decided to put out a garden. Not just a few tomato plants here and there, I'm talking a small, community sized garden. I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post what all we put out, but in case you didn't see or read that post, I'll give you a refresher.

In the upper garden - yes, we had two - we planted tomatoes, peppers, radishes, onions, lettuce, dill, green beans, corn that the wildlife consumed and some very, very pathetic micro carrots. Let me just say that our soil is FAR too rocky for growing any type of carrot. In the lower garden next to the chicken coop we planted zucchini (yellow and green), cucumbers, acorn squash, butternut squash, yellow squash, more green beans, broccoli that failed, cabbage that failed, watermelons that were eaten by raccoons and some tiny little potatoes.

Needless to say that we spent a vast majority of the summer weeding and watering. I don't think it rained 10 days throughout the entire summer, so the garden had to be watered every single day.

We decided to try canning last year as well and ended up pickling a lot of cucumbers, canning tomatoes and even pickling zucchini. Let me tell ya, if you've never tried pickled zucchini, you are missing out, my friend. I think we picked more of those than anything! We had so, so many zucchini... like an obscene amount. I don't know how many dozens we cut up and froze and gave away, plus the amount that we pickled.

We're planning on putting out another garden this year and we'll have far less zucchini plants. I'm hoping to introduce some new produce to this years lineup. Like lemon cucumbers, okra for pickling and some different varieties of lettuce. 

I think I may have shared some gardening photos in some of my previous posts, but I tried to save them all for this one. Hope you enjoy!

Baby garden plants. This is young zucchini and tomatoes.

Our upper garden, equipped with tomato stakes.

One of our amazing basil plants that got HUGE. Didn't use it once. *eye roll*

The thyme that also got huge. I was hoping LaVaughn would make some parmesan thyme crackers, but alas, she did not.

More pretty basil.

Potato sprouts.

More pretty potato prouts.

Even more potato sprouts.

This is the lower garden where we had all out (mainly) vining plants. You can also see our flock in the background rummaging for bugs.

Onion plants.

Radish plants.

Some garden lettuce.

Baby tomatoes starting to grow.

Some of our cherry tomatoes.

Pickling cucumbers!

This was the first batch we tried pickling. We used our own spices which was a big fail. Mrs. Wages pickling pouches all the way!

This picture of pickled cucumbers and spices is probably my fave. I love the way pickling jars look.

And lastly, a jalapeno on a vine.