I’ve fallen behind again with my garden report and activity summaries. It’s been a bit rough for the past week+ with maybe last summer hurrah severe pollen allergies and resurfacing of my hip joint pains/bursitis (I’ve learned that tightly wrapping the upper thigh muscles to the hip joint with ACE bandage while gardening helps, actually… then wrapping again in the morning on the off day. Both only until/if swelling or itching makes the bandage unbearable, then staying off my feet to allow recovery.)
Not keeping up makes it hard to remember details
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
…
- I feel like I shared that 9/19 harvest photo before elsewhere, mentioning that the broccoli is the one Aspabroc that overwintered and survived in the Sunflower Hoophouse?
- Prok persimmons and Chicago Hardy figs are rapidly ripening
- We’ve had our first significant dip in the temperatures — down to 42°F — Ahead of this forecast (48°F) on 9/21, I harvested almost all of the Dae Jang Geum Korean chamoe. It turns out that these taste like overmature cucumbers when still green or underripe (and are tasty when cut into cubes and cooked in tomato-based or light broth soups)
- I also harvested the one Nutterbutter butternut that fruited and matured
- I was able to hand pollinate two more Sweet Greek Red butternut type C.moschata squash blossoms on 9/21
- I’ve added multiple layered clear plastic as ground mulch for them to hopefully increase and retain ground temperature. The leading vines have now extended to the third panel on the trellis. All three fruits seem to have been set successfully as of 9/25
- The watermelon and chamoe vines were not able to withstand the low temperatures and they have declined to the point of no survival. Remaining fruits have been harvested (except for just one more chamoe not pictured).
- Powdery mildew (and the low temps) are overtaking the zucchini in the Sunflower Hoophouse. There were no male blossoms to pollinate this female embryo yesterday.
I intend to pull the plug tomorrow — There are two more fruits that will be harvest size today or tomorrow, and other small ones will be harvested prematurely.
- This leaves the cherry tomatoes that are continuing to produce, and hopefully these large fruited tomatoes will manage to develop to at least blush stage and come in before frost.
- Oh, and the sweet peppers. Let’s not forget the sweet peppers even though I forgot to include them in the collage
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
I’m leaving them to fully color and mature hopefully. I might put up a tunnel or a windbreak surround….
![Idea :idea:](./images/smilies/icon_idea.gif)