On Monday my backup helper and I went out to the Big garden and started where we’d left off 2 weeks ago, in the bean and onion area. We got it cleaned out and then mulched.
I was 1 bale short of finishing but we can bring more up when we do the last ⅓ of the Big garden in October.
This last ⅓ of the Big garden is in really good shape, just the carrot row needs watching.
While my helper cleaned up the kale, I harvested the first of the melons. These are cantaloupe, Sugar Baby and Tendersweet watermelons.
I also harvested artichokes for supper. This has been the best artichoke year ever.
There were more ripe tomatoes and I think I will have enough for either spaghetti sauce or ketchup by the end of the week. I have to inventory these in the root cellar to see what I need.
The Anne raspberries on the far right have started producing, enough to get a handful each day. The cukes and cantaloupes have started to die back in the front of the Small garden, but most everything else is going great guns.
I wanted to see if this huge melon was ripe. I’m no good at the thumping, being part deaf. It had been out there the longest and certainly looked ripe. But when we cut it open, it was pale pink with faint orange blotches under the rind.
We cut a wide piece out of the middle and ate it outside under the trees. Lots of seeds, but not much flavor, though the blotches did have a faint orange flavor. It was sweet, but bland. Oh, well…
Back inside, I got a shower while my helper grated up one of the zucchinis for more bread. I made 3 more loaves and got 2 of them into the freezer. She was interested in kefir, so I found a grain in my jars and gave it to her. I was surprised there were some still alive, it’s been months since it was abandoned in the back of the fridge.
The old cat is failing fast, and if the arthritis doesn’t improve on Tuesday, I will see about putting her down. She was having trouble walking Monday night, and started peeing all over the house.
Not sure how much I will get done on Tuesday as it’s to be another hot humid day. Not planned anything.