Today is another rainy day here in the panhandle of florida. Between yesterday and today we have had about 3 1/2 inches of rain with more to come. But, it has been mostly a slow steady rain, which is the kind of rain I love. As you can imagine the ducks are happy, the chickens and Kahlo are miserable, and me, well, just enjoying to day.
I was scheduled t0 work with the Master Gardeners to help propagate plants for out Spring Plant Sale, but that had to be rescheduled due to all the rain. So here I am with a free Saturday, what to do, what to do. Not that my to do list isn’t miles long, like I’m sure yours is too. But an unexpected free day, even if it is rainy is just glorious.
After a few extra cups of coffee, out I went to work in the garden, in the rain. A slow steady rain with no lighting or thunder was perfect weather to get my veggies transplanted. I had direct seeded turnips, rutabaga, and collards in the garden. The last few week have been mostly dry, and I have been spoiled from not having to water the garden in July, so the direct seeded veggies germinated but not evenly. I’m sure the spotty germination was a lack of constant moisture which is a must for seeds to germinate. I wanted to move some of the seedlings, that had germinated in clumps, to areas where none had germinated. With the temperatures in the 70’s, no sun, and slow rain, I felt the chance of these very small plants surviving the transplant was pretty high. I also had small seedlings of broccoli and cauliflower that I had intended to up pot, but decided instead to plant them directly into the garden. The tomatoes I started in the middle of July were getting pretty big so out they went as well. I am pretty pleased with the outcome, just crossing my fingers the transplants take. Here are some pictures I took of the garden this afternoon in the rain.
Lima beans are doing great. A butternut squash is also in there.
Jalapenos and eggplants that are still producing.
I’m not even sure you can see the tiny plants I was transplanting today.
Lima beans, okra, and asparagus in the west garden.
Zucchini and crooked neck squash with a couple eggplants to the back.
Tomatoes were planted.
One of my papayas has 3 papayas on it. I have visions of green papaya salad in my head.
This picture was taken a few days ago, but the banana’s are growing.
Did I mention today was a pretty good day? Well, here’s what came in the mail a couple days earlier than expected.
I finally have a full sized pressure canner. I am super excited. I know I’m a bit late for the summer growing season, but what should I can first?
I didn’t use my new pressure cooker to make them, but I made some pickled okra this afternoon. I got the Ball book at TS a few weeks ago and used the recipe from there. It called for one hot pepper per jar, but I used only a half of a Thai pepper in each and am a little concerned even that may be too much heat. I only planted one raised bed with okra so I didn’t have very many okras. I halved the recipe and made two pints. Can’t wait to try them. I think you are supposed to wait for a while before eating them but not sure. Anyhow, here they are.
Pickled Okra.
Look out world, between this book and my new pressure cooker I hope to be a canning fool.
Bonus pictures:
This is a picture I took the other day of Ghost and one of the young chicks. Aren’t they getting big?
The ducks were napping this afternoon having worn themselves out playing in the mud.
You have a lot of squash, do you have trouble with the squash vine borer? I didn’t have them this year, but I did have a worm that gets into the buds for protection. They have destroyed quite a few squash.
Yes, I lost all mine earlier this year to the vine borers. I am hoping that the borers will be less of a problem with this late planting. I had a terrible time with catepillars of all kind back in June.