2023 Garden Wrap Up, And Other Stuff
Previous blog posts:
2023 – Another Year, Another Garden
October 19, 2023
The updates were cut short this year because I pretty much gave up on the garden in late July. Many things just didn't want to grow, and the bugs were worse than I've ever seen them. When my zucchini and butternuts died (squash bugs), and several attempts at cucumbers and cantaloupes failed (reasons unknown), I just said to hell with it. That really took the motivation out of me.
I kept picking stuff that was already growing, but I stopped weeding and cultivating and didn't bother planting anything for the fall. Hopefully the resting time, along with the weeds and grass that grew will make next year's soil better.
I did take a few pics for updates that never materialized, so I figured I'd post them now for a final update of the year, along with some other stuff from a couple of days ago.
Here's how things look right now. A little depressing, right? I don't think I've ever let weeds go like this before, but like I said, maybe it'll help the soil for next year.
I let some red romaine go to seed earlier in the summer, and when I cleared away the stalks a bunch of seed must have fallen out, which actually took root and grew on its own with no help whatsoever. No watering, no cultivating, and after all the trouble I had getting things to grow this year, too. Can you believe that?
Still getting tomatoes.
Marigolds between the tomatoes.
The okra has been done for a while, but stalks with mature pods are still standing.
A wild tomato came up where cucumbers should have been.
Some wild potatoes have come up, too, either from tiny ones discarded in the earlier harvest, or from seeds produced by a few of the former plants. By wild I just mean things I didn't intentionally plant.
Here's some stuff picked earlier in the year. This isn't all of it, of course. I only took a few shots now and then, but this was pretty much standard for this year's limited garden – except for the cucumber and stunted zucchini in the upper left pic, which were the only ones I managed to get all year.
Many of the peppers were used this way, along with some of the tomatoes.
Cut up and topped with a little extra mozzarella.
Unstuffed pepper casseroles. Same as stuffed peppers, just all cut up and mixed together.
Here's how the corn looked when it was ready to pick.
As usual, much of it had worms at the top, but there's always a perfect ear here and there.
Cleaned and scrubbed.
Mmmmmm.
Here are the red potatoes. If you remember the bug attack that killed most of the leaves in an earlier update, I'm thinking that's why so many of them are small. The plants were shut down early, before they finished growing.
Some were full-sized, though, and even had other little ones growing out of them.
Mr. Potato Head, and family. 
I ended up with 65 lbs. from the 30 seed potatoes that were planted in two rows.
Here's how they looked cleaned up and ready for cooking.
Here are the russets, from just one row of 15 seed potatoes. They had the same problem as the reds, stunted growth from the bug attack. The second 'experimental' row of russets that got planted a month later didn't produce at all. Probably too hot for them by then.
Here's the one row of carrots, stunted for a different reason – they just didn't want to grow. I even gave them an extra month. The green tops are from exposure to the sun. They were in the ground so long that the soil around the tops washed away from watering and occasional rain. No big deal, though.
The russets and the carrots. I didn't bother weighing them.
Here's a couple of dinners with sides from the garden. First, a schnitzel with red potatoes and sour cream, a piece of fresh corn, and fresh green beans with bacon and some of the russets.
And roasted pork tenderloin with some of the carrots, mashed russets, and gravy made from the tenderloin juices.
Some of the carrots also went into a carrot spice cake, one of my yearly garden rituals.
Summer green. This was from the end of July – low, evening sun shining under the clouds after a rainstorm, lighting up the front tree line.
Here was the sunset about 20 minutes later.
There were a few decent rains in August, and the grass grew thick enough to harvest.
I blew it into concentrated rows with the mower, raked it into piles, loaded it into a cart, and hauled it off to the garden.
Here are two piles of it. There's a third pile out of frame to the right. I'll spread it out and till it in later to increase the amount of organic matter in the soil for next year.
Here's the yard now, just starting to look like fall.
One of the neighbor's chickens went rogue and hid some eggs that she hatched out in secret. She keeps bringing the chicks over to forage for bugs.
Mum's the word in autumn.
More mums.
More mums.
Buddy and mums.
A Daddy Longlegs on a fall-colored marigold.
Looking up a sycamore tree.
Maybe a little hard to see, but here's a Pileated Woodpecker.
A Northern Flicker.
The Goldfinches have already lost their color for the year.
Oaks bordering the backyard, silhouetted against the late afternoon sun. Note how low in the sky the sun is now. In July it's above those trees from the same perspective.
Buddy again.
This is armadillo damage. I have it all over the yard. Armadillos were never here before the 1990s, but now they're a regular thing. I can't stand them.
The usual fall decor, set up to be seen from the driveway.
Polly and Buddy.
A nighttime visitor from two nights ago, chowing down on birdseed under the feeders.
He wasn't very nervous at all about me standing there taking pictures of him. I suppose the rut has started. Rutting bucks can be cocky and brave like that, especially young ones.
A final shot of the yard and garden for the year. There's a little fall color coming on, but most things are still green. That'll change soon, and it'll be time for raking leaves again.
Well, that's it for this year. Thanks for stopping by. Here's wishing everyone a happy holiday season, which, as far as I'm concerned, begins with Halloween.
Again, post shots of your own stuff if you want to. Gardening stuff, fall color, whatever.
nice work. good picture of polly and buddy too...
Thanks Dev. Yeah, they get along fine. Buddy even plays with Polly's tail when it's wagging and she doesn't seem to mind...when he's not chasing his own tail, that is.
after I saw the pictures of your yard, I had to take a nap. I haven't done yard work in 20+ years...
It can be a pain but I kind of like it. A delivery guy once commented that it's like living in a park, lol.
my sister has 1.5 acres and has a GPS collar on her dog to keep her on the property and the neighbors from complaining. I actually did try to do yard work at her home last year by driving my BIL's riding mower. that lasted until I took out the paving stone borders around 2 trees. of course he had it set for hare, not tortoise, and the f'n thing had no steering wheel. I instantly related to how kamikaze pilots must have felt.
LOL. Was it one of those zero turn radius things that you steer with sticks?
yes. adding to my embarrassment, I possess a commercial drivers license. my BIL drives it full bore while drinking beers. it takes him 3 to mow the yard.
Arvo.. what's wrong with armadillos?
Do they eat bugs and things or are they bit like rabbits create damage and basically useless??
They dig holes everywhere, which are not only ugly, but a little dangerous. The one that's been tearing up the yard this year is making holes big enough to stumble in and twist an ankle, and they're all over the place. They're also a potential carrier of leprosy.
I've been thinking seriously about staying up late and blowing this one away with a 3-inch turkey load.
uh, I'd rethink that idea. there's a youtube video of some dude in texas that shoots a 38 revolver at one. the bullet ricochets off the critter back at him and he gets a flight for life ride to the hospital.
There's a world of difference between a .38 and a 12 gauge magnum turkey load, which would actually be overkill for armadillos. I'm only considering it out of spite, lol. I don't really like killing innocent wild animals that are only doing what nature intended them to do, but several years ago I had to rid the world of another particularly destructive armadillo, and a regular old 2-3/4 inch no. 6 worked just fine at a reasonably close range.
Nature fighting back.🤣🤣...
If they are Native to the area aren't they protected by law?? They would be here..as are snakes..😁
Rabbits and foxes certainly aren't, when it comes to them, blast away..
Armadillos aren't ugly I think they look kind of cute... they sort of look like our bandicoots but armour plated..
No, they're not protected. They're invasive, only moving northward from Mexico and Texas fairly recently because of warming winters. They first showed up around here in the mid to late 90s, but now I hear they've made it as far as Nebraska. The wildlife code says destructive ones can be shot year round outside of city limits.
Wonderful series of photos, Dig. I enjoyed them and the accompanying stories. As a famous general once said ''we are not retreating, we are attacking in another direction.'' Just because you took a partial beating it does not mean that General Greenthumb is defeated. Next year will be your year General and the squash bugs will be squashed.
Yeah, we'll get 'em next year. Thanks, Kav.
I'm actually wondering if I shouldn't grow any squash at all next year, to starve out any squash bugs that might overwinter in the soil. I don't know if I can resist, though.
I don't think that you can nor should you. After all squash is one of the three sisters. From an indigenous perspective, it is sacred.
I usually have all three boxes checked.
You're right. I won't be able to resist.
Fantastic. Beautiful photos.
Thanks, G. Beautiful weather at the moment, too. Crisp and cool, but not cold. It's invigorating.
It's 94 here this afternoon. Down a few degrees from yesterday. Anything but invigorating.
Yikes. When does it get milder for the winter?
It's supposed to start to cool down again Saturday, and the forecast is in the upper 70s for the next 10 days with no rain, but you never know when there is going to be another heat wave.
I heard on the news last night that it actually got to 101 in our area yesterday.
And the paper this morning reported it was 102.
Jeez. Is that normal for October?
No, it's not. The usual October temperature is in the low 80s going down to the mid-70s towards the end of the month. We can have a heat wave at almost any time, but not as hot as the 100s except in the summer.
I also read in the paper this morning that they are predicting a wet, but warm, El Nino winter with more rain in the northern and middle parts of the state than around here. We did get a lot of rain last winter into the spring, even here in Southern California. If we have an El Nino like some of the previous times, it could rain a lot.
That might stave off drought conditions again, which isn't so bad I suppose.
I would hate to see any destructive flooding (I'm not in a location where that could be a problem), but I'll take all the rain we can get.
Great pics, Dig. Sorry you had such a rough time with your garden this year. There's always next year, and I look forward to seeing your garden then.
Thanks. I'm already looking forward to it, too.
I have some tomatoes still growing in the greenhouse inside and outside views
Hope to extend the harvest a few weeks
Awesome!
Yup, with that greenhouse I bet you'll be getting them well past a killing frost.
I wish I had gotten one like it years ago
I am going to dig up some ot these volunteer tomatoes that came up in the compost pile and try to keep them over the winter. Last 2 years I have had some success keeping some in the window till spring, I got 3 out of 12 that I dug up last fall to make it to get planted it spring.
Do they produce decent sized tomatoes, or are they little like cherries? I've let volunteers go before and they only produced cherries. I'm assuming it's because the parent plants were hybrids, and the second generation wouldn't breed true. If you grow non-hybrid heirlooms that might not happen, though.
Most times cherrys, but I like then and fun to see what you get
I am going to seed some tomatoes at Christmas to go in the greenhouse maybe in late March
Already thinking about next years garden.
With the tarps I didn't have that many volunteer tomatoes, but a few that came through where I planted through I did let go just to see what they turned up to be, and like yours mostly cherry tomatoes and there were a couple with fairly decent sized tomatoes.
We are at peak color now and expecting a hard freeze in a couple days. Time to remove the tarps and see what kind of mess I have and that will determine if I'll do that again next year.
Hopefully next year's garden will be better for you, Dig. I used to dig and then till my community garden plot in the fall, hoping that any insect eggs and other bests got killed by the cold of winter and to let the compost start to incorporate into the soil. Then I would hand dig again in the spring to get the soil warmed up faster. Not sure how you do things, but it's surprising that the bugs got so bad so quick
Thanks.
I've tilled during dry spells in winter before, hoping to expose bugs to freezing temps. I can't be sure, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. Still, I might try again this winter if I get a period when the soil isn't mucky, just because they were so bad this year. I've never had so many squash bugs, or a blister beetle attack like the one that stunted the potatoes. It was like a plague, lol.
Arvo Dig...thank you for all your effort and hard work compiling the photos and stories that go with it...
Always such a pleasure to read and see..yes like most things you have good seasons and bad..but we still keep trying...
Though it is a little strange seeing fruit and veg etc in reverse with the seasons of the Northern and Southern hemisphere..
Thanks, Shona. Yeah, the season thing is weird for me, too. Christmas in summer kind of blows my mind.
Wouldn't have it any other way...sun, sand, surf and the odd shark.. couldn't ask for better..️️🏖️🏝️🌄🦈
Gotta admit, New Year's Eve parties on the beach do sound like fun. It's usually freezing here.
It's sad that your garden encountered many problems this time, but what it did yield looks pretty good, and what you did with that yield is mouth-watering. How about posting your recipes for those delicious looking foods?
We're lucky here because the growing season is all year round, and we don't seem to get many bugs, even though we don't use any insecticides.
The only thing pictured that I use a written recipe for is the cake. I can certainly post it if you want it.
The carrot cake looks pretty good. What did you top it with?
Cream cheese frosting on that one, but sometimes I don't frost them at all and just use Cool Whip on individual pieces. It's not as heavy or sweet as frosting. Heck, sometimes I just eat it plain, whish is probably the best way to have it with coffee, IMO.
It's getting kind of late here now, but I'll try to get you the recipe tomorrow.
Okay, thanks, I'd like to try it with my wife's carrots.
I have no idea what measurement units you use in China, or in Canada for that matter, but I only have it in this form with cups and teaspoons. I hope that's not too much trouble.
***
Dig's Carrot Spice Cake
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each – ground ginger, ground cloves, nutmeg, salt
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups general purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups shredded carrots
1/4 to 1/2 cup hot water (as needed)
_____________________________
Shred the carrots and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 13x9 inch cake pan – entire bottom and 1 inch up the sides. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well.
Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir vigorously for about a minute.
Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir until evenly blended.
Add shredded carrots and 1/4 cup hot water. Stir until evenly blended. The batter should be runny enough to pour easily into the pan. If too thick, add a little more hot water.
Pour batter into the pan and spread out with the back of a spoon to fill corners and make thickness even.
Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes. Check with toothpick for doneness. If wet batter adheres to the toothpick, bake a few minutes longer and check again with a new toothpick.
When done, allow to cool completely before frosting (if desired).
Enjoy!
By general purpose flour I meant all purpose. Just the regular stuff, not cake or bread flour. I don't know where I got 'general' from.
You got it from General Bullmoose of course. LOL
We have the proper measuring cups and spoons. I have to go shopping at a store that carries imported goods for a few of those ingredients.
The nutmeg is ground, too. I thought I proofread that thing, lol.
Out of curiosity, which ingredients aren't readily available over there? Do you have any Western acquaintances who might have what you need on hand? That might save you the trouble of an imported goods store.
I need to get cloves, nutmeg and vanilla extract. Although I have baking powder I need to get baking soda, but I've seen that the METRO big box store has many imported spices so I think I'll find them. Most people here don't have regular ovens like we do in North America, maybe the wealthy people do, but we have a toaster oven that will hold a pan up to 10" X 12", but the degrees are marked in centigrade, and there is a number on it for 190 so I can set it just below that since 350 F = 177 C.
I don't know if it'll bake correctly in a toaster oven. I'd be a little worried about uneven heat. Maybe it'll work, but I imagine the baking time will need adjusting at the very least.
It might be too much trouble to bother with, Buzz. And with the spices being uncommon, they might be a little expensive for only needing a half teaspoon.
We do bake bread in that oven and it comes out evenly baked and pretty good. Well, today, if my wife comes back from her little farm and doesn't cooks up some of the quarter bushel of sweet potatoes she brought back yesterday I'm going to make sweet potato chips for supper.
If anyone wants to know how to make a schnitzel, it's easy. Just pound out a pork chop to about 1/4 inch thick with a meat hammer and season with a little salt, pepper, and paprika (if desired). Coat with flour, egg, and plain bread crumbs (in that order). Pan fry in a little hot oil, 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
That's it. And yes, olive oil can be used to avoid the inflammatory fats found in seed oils. You can also fold a piece of plastic wrap around the pork chop for pounding, to avoid cleaning meat juices off of your counter or cutting board.
If you don't eat pork, you can use a boneless, skinless chicken breast instead. Maybe don't pound it quite as thin, though. It won't be a classic schnitzel, but it'll still be pretty darn good.
You can also use veal for a Wienerschnitzel. I also love pork Jägerschnitzel (hunter schnitzel) with mushrooms gravy, Zigeunerschnitzel (gypsy schnitzel) with a bell pepper sauce), and Rahmschnitzel (cream schnitzel).
I dredge in flour before an egg and wash and the I usually use plain Panko.
If I made a sauce then I like to serve with Spaetzle and a green vegetable or salad.
Thanks for the reminder. I never think of that because I almost never see veal for sale.
Jägerschnitzel is probably my favorite, but most often I just eat them plain or with regular brown gravy, out of convenience.
I lived in Germany twice, each time for around four years. Some of the best years of my life.
Do you make your own spaetzle noodles, or do you get them premade somewhere? I've looked for frozen ones locally, but I've never found any.
I think that when I retire, I'll buy a Westmark Spaetzle Maker and go home made. Until then, I make do with Bechtle Spaetzle (dry) or Melle's Spaetzle (frozen).
I just found the Bechtle dry stuff on Amazon. I may order some of that. I don't know why I didn't think of that before.