August 16th- 22nd, Week 21
RuthAnn’s Weekly Garden Diary
Documenting Progress and Reflections in the Garden
My attempt to document the planting, growth, harvesting, and preserving of our family’s 8000 square feet of garden.
Northeast Iowa Gardening in growing zone 4
Last frost date May15, First frost date September 15
August 16th to 22nd, Week 21
The Hummingbirds are frantic at the feeder now; their babies are all grown and joining them. I am putting fresh sugar water out for them daily, trying my best to entice them to stay a few more days. Hummingbirds can learn to recognize faces and will often come to greet me when I step outside in the morning. They know I am the one filling the feeder and I love to imagine that they are coming to thank me. It won’t be long, one of these mornings I’ll step out unto the patio to find that they are gone! They’ll have moved south for longer days and warmer temps, leaving me to brave the winter by myself, without the motivation of their energetic personalities.
What we harvested this week:
- Enough green beans for another 12 quarts and some for fresh eating.
- 8 quarts of raspberries, flash frozen and then into Ziploc bags and back into the freezer.
- 20 pounds of tomatoes washed cored and into the freezer.
- A few peppers for cooking needs
- A handful of carrots for canning needs
- 2 large bunches of celery for canning needs
- As many grapes as we can eat!
- Many bouquets of zinnias, dahlias, and amaranth
Other Garden Tasks:
The boys are picking potato bugs off the late planted potato plants daily; this is the only thing preventing the plants from being completely stripped of leaves.
Watering my green peppers every other day. I have been known to say that I rarely if ever water my garden and prefer for my plants to send their roots down deep to find moisture and in the process, they find more nutrients too. My peppers looked so promising, and we harvested a few peppers in late July. When I went to harvest peppers for making pasta sauce last week, I found zero bell peppers and only a few banana peppers, nowhere near the amount I needed. I shared my frustration with my sister whose husband grows produce on a wholesale level and she told me that bell peppers need 1-2 inches of water a week! We had a dry spell in early July, and of course I didn’t water because ‘tough love’ you know? which means that no blossoms set fruit during those weeks because the plant was stressed. The fruit that was set during those weeks would be ready now. 45 days from blossom set to mature green pepper. More like 60 days if you want red peppers.
The lesson I learned is this: If I want peppers to be ready for canning pasta sauce/marinara sauce I must watch the moisture levels throughout the month of July!
Pulled some more strawberry runners and put them into pots to get started in one last effort to get a new strawberry garden started. Many of the plants I started by transplanting runners directly into the new garden didn’t survive, due to severe neglect on my part.
Reflections
I have been working to change how I feel about autumn. For years, the season filled me with dread because it signaled the arrival of long, cold, and dark winters. My unpleasant memories of being stuck indoors with many children in a cramped space, listening to the furnace run for hours on end as we burned costly fuel trying to heat our old, drafty farmhouse while the north wind drove snow past the windows and temperatures far below zero were the primary source of my trepidation.
One day as I watched the Canadian Geese fly south, my heart sank, and I felt that familiar anxiety rise inside of my summer loving heart. As I started wallowing in my self-made pool of pity, I felt a check in my spirit and as I started to pray, I was reminded of this verse:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” — Genesis 8:22
These are the words that God spoke to Noah and his family after they left the ark. The Promise that these words contain is for us in modern day too!
If God as my father has already promised that after every winter comes springtime, then by my fretting over a season I don’t enjoy I am having the same childish behavior as my children do when they are faced with a task they do not enjoy.
The autumn and winter seasons play an essential role in allowing us to appreciate the beauty of spring and summer, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.
In the same way I often remind our children that working hard in the garden is essential if we want to enjoy the delicious and nutritious benefits of homegrown foods all winter long.
What dialogue do I have with my children when they whine and complain about a job?
“Whining and complaining does not change an unpleasant job into a pleasant job, it simply adds more unpleasantness to a job that must be done”
“You can change the way you remember and feel about a job by creating a positive experience/attitude around it.”
By fretting about and talking (whining and complaining) about how much I dislike Autumn I was creating a whole negative experience around the season. And had been doing so for far too many years.
Here are some simple things this summer loving girl has been finding to enjoy and talk about as fall approaches to create a positive experience around the season of autumn in my memories.
1.Crisp mornings and evenings drawing me into the sunshine while warmer midday temperatures draw me into the shade feels like a perfect balance of temperature.
2. Windows wide open with breezes cooling the house all day long.
I’m a work in progress, I’m sure I will find more things to be thankful for as the season progresses!
But I am open to ideas… What do you love about fall?
And if you are a summer loving girl, how are you handling the approach of fall?
