Sanctuary Gardener Update ~ 9/23/13

Another week without rain here in my Sanctuary Garden. I’m not looking forward to my water bill this month, that’s for sure! But, it has cooled off finally. The high temperatures this week were in the low 80’s. I think I can finally replant some of my fall crops that didn’t germinate at all or didn’t germinate well. In the meantime, the cucumbers, squash, and beans are growing; and my peppers are starting to pick up on production again.

HARVESTS:

I didn’t harvest much this week. For supper one night, I picked 18 cubanelle peppers for stuffing, but I didn’t take a picture. However, my figs are starting to ripen on a daily basis now. This week, I harvested a dozen figs! I’m peeling and cutting them, then putting them in the freezer for when I have enough to make fig preserves.

Celeste fig harvest ~ September 19

Okay, this isn’t a harvest – yet. But it will be in a couple of days. These are my first two Boston pickling cucumbers this fall.

Boston pickling cucumbers almost ready to harvest

NEW LIFE:

The other night I was pleased to see new life on my raspberry canes! Just when I was starting to give up hope, a couple canes are showing leaf buds.

Raspberry cane new life

After being eaten to the stubs by the last batch of black swallowtail caterpillars, my dill and my parsley are growing back. (Just wish the dill grew as fast as the parsley.)

Curly parsley growing back

GROWING:

My winter squash and pumpkins are growing outside the bed and around the beds nearby.

Winter squash

My purple top turnips germinated fairly well, but the golden globe turnips did not. So, I’ll be replanting those this week.

Purple top turnips (front) & Golden Globe turnips (back)

I pulled up all my melon vines because some insect kept boring holes into the melons before they could ripen. However, just before I pulled the red watermelon vines, I found a beautiful watermelon without any holes. So, I let them live.

Red watermelon

I had a beautiful water hyacinth in a five gallon bucket that almost died. My beau pulled apart the plant, separated the dead tissue from the live plant, then put it into a glazed pot without drainage holes. Looks so much better than the five gallon utility bucket! (Thanks for saving my plant, sweetie!)

Water hyacinth

FLOWERING:

Believe it or not, my tomato weed (the one plant that I let grow) is starting to bud! I just might get some tomatoes out of it before frost. (Then I’ll know what kind of tomato plant it is.)

Tomato “weed” buds

My cucumbers – both pickling and green ones – are covered in flowers. Cucumbers and pickles are in my near future!

Green cucumber flower

I found the first female flower on my Amish Pie pumpkins yesterday.

Amish pie pumpkin female flower

Last year’s morning glories self-seeded and now they’re growing along my fence.

Morning glories

Because of all the heavy rains we had in the spring, my moonflowers didn’t germinate well. Then, not all of those that germinated survived. I planted dozens, but only a handful grew – and not too well, either. They should have covered my fence long before now, but they’re spindly looking. However, I am getting a fair amount of beautiful, heavenly-scented flowers. I will definitely plant these again next year.