That's fair. Watering by hand isn't even that tedious for me but I try to repurpose all the scraps I have laying around for something more useful. Thanks for replying!
2025 Garden Thread
- Thread starter begreen
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I have everything but our patio plants on drip irrigation. It saves me a lot of time and assures that the plants get watered regularly, which is an issue with this very dry summer.
Tomato processing is happening now. This is the second batch from roasting. It was full to the brim with about 12 lbs of tomatoes plus some garlic and an onion.
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/340/340055-bc8dc2c2b01ef84375e594f71b2ed3d4.jpg?hash=mMcWQDO_k2 "[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread")
Tomato processing is happening now. This is the second batch from roasting. It was full to the brim with about 12 lbs of tomatoes plus some garlic and an onion.
DuaeGuttae
Minister of Fire
That looks great, @begreen . How do you preserve it? Canning? Freezing?
We got to enjoy the second of our Crimson Sweet watermelons the other day. A lady at church suggested that I make watermelon rind pickles. I had done that years ago when my kids were small, and they hadn't been a hit, but my two oldest encouraged me to give it another try to see if they had matured. We haven't taste tested them yet, but we did try my experimental pickled okra, and we all liked that. I also have dilly beans in the fridge now and red cabbage kraut still fermenting on the counter.
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/340/340083-cc9970576c00093290739ceb85b0749b.jpg?hash=kB2J6NJsyd "[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread")
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/340/340082-64ee3b3e43a451d40724f05e1c57a1cb.jpg?hash=Z2EQlZb7DO "[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread")
We got to enjoy the second of our Crimson Sweet watermelons the other day. A lady at church suggested that I make watermelon rind pickles. I had done that years ago when my kids were small, and they hadn't been a hit, but my two oldest encouraged me to give it another try to see if they had matured. We haven't taste tested them yet, but we did try my experimental pickled okra, and we all liked that. I also have dilly beans in the fridge now and red cabbage kraut still fermenting on the counter.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](/talk/data/attachments/340/340093-c1c93281842b225237287d53214dace8.jpg?hash=_vd3LlcROa)
From this stage it gets run through a mill, then canned as sauce.
They look like tasty melons! We are enjoying our Athena melons now. They turned out really nice.
Well, I think besides some basil and waiting for the lunchbox peppers we are about done with the garden harvest this year. Might have a few more raspberries to pick too. I am letting cucumbers go so I can get seeds. I harvested marigold and lettuce seeds so far. The pink lemonade blueberry got planted a few weeks ago and is showing great signs of life. I potted the cranberry to wait a few more weeks to get it into the ground. I'm not sure if it will like it but we didn't know what to do with it. It's a lowbush ground cover type cranberry, so I think it will be fun to use as ground cover around the blueberries and have a true berry patch.
As stated before, my Fall project will be yard cleanup and using the chipper/shredder to get some mulch for the berries and fruit trees to keep them nice and insulated. That will keep me occupied until burn season and then the garden takes a backseat to the wood stove.
As stated before, my Fall project will be yard cleanup and using the chipper/shredder to get some mulch for the berries and fruit trees to keep them nice and insulated. That will keep me occupied until burn season and then the garden takes a backseat to the wood stove.
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](/talk/data/attachments/340/340191-c1046ad1f7056e0ae95184b67c7ee2b7.jpg?hash=2IZYJPjby3)
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Cool! Looks like one of my favorite apples, Cosmic Crisp except not patented or at least you can buy a tree outside of its grow state.
DuaeGuttae
Minister of Fire
My husband is a big fan of Cosmic Crisp as well. The kids and I are more Granny Smith or Cripps Pink (Pink Lady) types. One day we'd like to plant fruit trees to replace the ones that used to grow here years ago.
Our garden is winding down, but many crops are still producing. I removed all the brassicas because of an invasion of Harlequin beetles. They were past anyway, and I didn't want to feed the pests. The squash bugs took out the remaining squash in the garden, though there is a volunteer butternut in the front of the house that is doing well.
I harvested another round of Beaver Dam peppers to ripen up inside. I may roast them with eggplant and mill them into "ajvar." I've had so many pods of okra and green beans keeping me busy that I kept putting off the shishito harvest until some started drying out on the plants. I brought in more than four pounds from the three plants. We blistered some and gave some to my mom, and then she kindly came over one afternoon and sat outside at our picnic table and sliced them in half and seeded them for me so that I could put them in the freezer.
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/340/340275-2a47e5fe0661c6141b49a0375c8d3dff.jpg?hash=1hONY4O077 "[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread")
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What we've really been enjoying this week is the "Golden Honey" watermelon. My youngest loves watermelon, and he picked out this yellow variety as the store this spring as a special treat. We had some trouble with germination but finally got one plant that produced one fruit, but it was worth it. When my mom tasted it, her comment was "I think this may be all I grow next year."
![[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread](https://www.hearth.com/talk/data/attachments/340/340273-4c7383e3f914940aa0351d3e4c3fa4d6.jpg?hash=qJ9rN9aJ5T "[Hearth.com] 2025 Garden Thread")
Our cantaloupe hasn't been so successful, but I did harvest a small one today when it slipped off the vine into my hands. They've been small but yummy, and I think it's not due so much to the variety as to a bad patch of soil under that part of the garden. Since there is no squash left, the squash bugs have moved on to the cantaloupe vines.
I have some seeds started inside for an attempt at overwintering crops, mostly cabbage and leeks. I'm hoping for an extended fall to get them well started. I think I'm going to spray the cabbage transplants with kaolin clay when I set them out in an effort to deter pests, but I'm hoping they'll move out of the garden in the meantime.
Our garden is winding down, but many crops are still producing. I removed all the brassicas because of an invasion of Harlequin beetles. They were past anyway, and I didn't want to feed the pests. The squash bugs took out the remaining squash in the garden, though there is a volunteer butternut in the front of the house that is doing well.
I harvested another round of Beaver Dam peppers to ripen up inside. I may roast them with eggplant and mill them into "ajvar." I've had so many pods of okra and green beans keeping me busy that I kept putting off the shishito harvest until some started drying out on the plants. I brought in more than four pounds from the three plants. We blistered some and gave some to my mom, and then she kindly came over one afternoon and sat outside at our picnic table and sliced them in half and seeded them for me so that I could put them in the freezer.
What we've really been enjoying this week is the "Golden Honey" watermelon. My youngest loves watermelon, and he picked out this yellow variety as the store this spring as a special treat. We had some trouble with germination but finally got one plant that produced one fruit, but it was worth it. When my mom tasted it, her comment was "I think this may be all I grow next year."
Our cantaloupe hasn't been so successful, but I did harvest a small one today when it slipped off the vine into my hands. They've been small but yummy, and I think it's not due so much to the variety as to a bad patch of soil under that part of the garden. Since there is no squash left, the squash bugs have moved on to the cantaloupe vines.
I have some seeds started inside for an attempt at overwintering crops, mostly cabbage and leeks. I'm hoping for an extended fall to get them well started. I think I'm going to spray the cabbage transplants with kaolin clay when I set them out in an effort to deter pests, but I'm hoping they'll move out of the garden in the meantime.
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