Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Chipper/shredders don't do well with cornstalks unless they're bone dry. Otherwise too much moisture and the chipper/shredder jams. Lawnmowers do much better job.

We've had a week of 40F nights. Can see the cucumbers in the greenhouse pulling back now. Two watermelons seem to be maturing. Tomatoes still coming in at a furious pace. Outside the greenhouse, our sweet corn is right on schedule and likely will mature in about a week. I'll likely lift the potatoes and some of the carrots soon.

Rainstorm threat for Saturday prompted us to lift the remaining potatoes Friday morning. Took 3-3.5 hrs to dig them up. Managed to fork only 4 of 'em, so ate those for lunch.

That's a good haul (and gentle digging). How will you store them?

Storage is in the dark garage. Since it's insulated and attached, the temps are pretty cool and usually above freezing.

Looks like somebody generated well over a 6 digit kcal income this year! Funny that you have them in bankers boxes. I used to store my rare book inventory in a barn in stacks of bankers boxes on pallets. BTW, do you know how to tell if dark blue potatoes are green? I've never grown them before and many I am harvesting were planted very shallow.

Our garden has now been almost entirely overrun with volunteer tomatoes and zucchini. I even have tomato plants coming out of the lawn! Also, a big pumpkin plant coming out of the open air compost. That's what I get for throwing heirloom stuff in the worm compost.

So for the past month or so, I've able to harvest 3 pounds of tomatoes+ 1 large zucchini (size of a forearm) + a handful of chili peppers every single week! Guesstimating some 15 pounds of tomatoes this season so far.

I chop the zucchini into 1/2" cubes and fry those first in a big pot. Then I chop two large onions (fist sized) and throw them in when the timing is right. I put all the tomatoes in the vitamix (I fill it up with tomatoes) along with the chili and blend it at high speed. That gets poured on top. Precooked black beans are added at the end. Spices: paprika, oregano, thyme, basil, cumin, garlics. That results in roughly 6-8 meals.

WHAT? No lentils? Yeesh.

Oh man, you eat solely lentils for a few years and people think you're going to do it forever.

Wandered by the compost pile to yank the onion growing out of it. There's also a vine twining around which I'd assumed was a cucumber... turns out it has one ugly cucumber, er, half-sized cantaloupe growing from one disposed of back in late June! Guess I'll have to start some cantaloupe next year in the greenhouse. The onions (one divided into 3?) appear to be walla walla that grew from a tossed out scrap. Still haven't peeked at the potato growing in the compost (like I need more potatoes, LOL!).

Speaking of melons, I plucked the largest of a pair of watermelons in the greenhouse. Nope, not even half-ripe yet. Makes me think these are from the larger icebox variety rather than the single-serve variety.

Does anyone do sheet mulching? We're prepping some new beds this weekend so they'll be ready for the spring. I planned on using cardboard boxes for the bottom layer but I've read that they can attract pests, and now I'm a little worried since these beds will be near the house.

Today's treat is corn-on-the-cob. Better late than never!

jennypenny wrote:Does anyone do sheet mulching? We're prepping some new beds this weekend so they'll be ready for the spring. I planned on using cardboard boxes for the bottom layer but I've read that they can attract pests, and now I'm a little worried since these beds will be near the house.

I did sheet mulching with cardboard down at the bottom layer inside new raised beds, and haven't had any problems!

I ate my Lakota squashes and Delicata "Candy Stick" squashes during the last month, and they were delicious! The Lakota was nutty and dry, and the Delicata was very sweet.

Yesterday I pulled up the final tomatoes, cukes, squash, etc. My winter beds, which I began back in August, are doing well. I think I planted some of them too late (mid-Sept), but it's an experiment for me, as it's the first time I've tried to overwinter veggies.

I've been using sorrel in potato gratins and potato soups (recipes here). It's a very easy herb to grow, and surprisingly tasty. You can't find it in supermarkets around here (not even Whole Foods), so you have to grow it yourself. Very worthwhile!

Half my beds are sheet mulched. The other half are double dug. I detect no difference. They both get rid of the lawn equally well. One requires more work, the other requires more money.

Probably the last of the tomatoes.

Y'all may have heard about the storms(*) that blew through Oregon/Washington Thur-Sat... well, the only thing they did at our place was blow the doors & panels off the greenhouse. We kind of expected that and will now work on finding a more secure attachment method that's removeable for summer heat. No rush on reassembly as we're well above freezing this week, though now the tomatoes are over-watered.

I picked all the squash and corn before the storm hit. Also picked 20 tomatoes & a green pepper on Friday after collecting the greenhouse panels scattered around the property.

(*) Really, it was pretty typical of winter storms here. 6"-7" of rain Thurs and 1"-2" every day since then. The only exception was the number of tornadoes that appeared and it's hard to say whether we're just better at noticing them or whether it really was an unusual number.

DIY rainwater collection systems ... http://morningchores.com/rainwater-harvesting/

@JP: Thank you very much for sharing the DIY rainwater link. It's very helpful to see different options laid out. Adding a rainwater system is on my to-do list for next year.

Beautiful tomatoes, by the way! I can practically taste them. Our tomato plants are still producing but the fruits are getting smaller.

I just had some beets from the garden. Pink pee!

A lot of the DIY rainwater collection systems used garbage can or industrial reservoirs. Make sure you understand the effect of UV light on plastics before you invest time and effort on these systems.

Yesterday morning it snowed, about a half inch. Didn't freeze until this morning, but we had plenty of leftover snow coverage. I took out the kitchen compost to our pile and then decided to wander through the winter wreck of the garden, seeing as how this is our first freeze of the year and the sun is shining. Poor garden... my thoughts turned briefly to grabbing a shovel to do some cleanup, but, oh yeah, everything is frozen, so not workable!

Plucked some kale leaves to augment my lunch salad. Yes, we're back to salads mostly sourced from the store at this time of year. Wanted to avoid that, but wasn't possible with house sale effort. At least we had fresh tomatoes from mid-July through the end of October and I plan to do better next year!

Hmm, first freeze/frost not until December 6? That sure feels like a record.
Edit: Seaside's average first frost date is Oct 11. Up the valley & 300' higher elevation where we live, it's probably a week sooner. Couldn't quickly spot any record dates for this seasonal item, so would have to go plowing through temperature records.