Let’s hope what’s growing underground is equally impressive!
And it is!
57.75 pounds of sweet potatoes.
Not too shabby!
Sweet Potatoes As Far As The Eye Can See!
We Did It!
With the help of three little tomatoes and several not-so-little squash we surpassed our goal of harvesting 375 pounds of veggies from the garden this year! As of October 15 our total is 377.55 pounds – and there’s still more to pick, like sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, chard, bell and poblano peppers, butternut squash, and even a few carrots.
We’ll wait till everything is harvested before we set next year’s goal.
Butternut Squash Harvest
I couldn’t wait any longer. I think they were ready, anyway. I picked seven. If you look closely there’s another one growing in the back of the bed in the center. He’s still green so I have to leave him there for a few weeks.
A week before I picked them I discovered a nest, in the ground, large enough to compromise the integrity of two of my four plants. I don’t know what kind of animal it was, but the nest was about eight inches deep, full of fur, and invisible until the plants started to die back in September. I hope the babies were ready to leave when their cover was blown.
Next year I’m going to grow my butternut squash on a fence or trellis to open up some garden space.
Variety: Waldo PMR F1 by Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Four plants, direct seeded in the garden, the first week of June. Harvested September 21. Yield to date: 14.13 pounds (there’s still one more out there)
Propagating Figs
This poor Brown Turkey Fig has had a hard life. I had the best intentions when I bought it. I planted it in a good size pot with good quality potting soil. After that, things kinda went downhill, not intentionally, of course. One year it got stuck in a corner of the yard with no sun. The next year it was brought out of its winter hiding place too soon, and nearly froze to death. Then it was left too close to a flaming fire pit, whereupon all its leaves turned brown and crispy and fell off. When removing the damaged branches, I’m afraid I may have been a bit heavy-handed with the pruning shears. It’s a wonder it’s alive at all.
When I bought it, it was a nice little tree, so I’m going to clone it. I took a few cuttings on September 6th. It might not have been the right time of the year to take cuttings, but I did it anyway. In a few months (when I think it will be the right time of the year to take cuttings) I will take more cuttings. Hopefully a few of these will survive, because I would love to have a fig tree or two in my yard.
Update 10-11-21: We have roots!
This is only one of the three cuttings I took a month ago. Hopefully the other two look just as good. Now I have to put them in bigger and better pots and figure out how to overwinter them. I’m thinking a protected area outside augmented by plastic, burlap and mulch should do the trick. I’m also going to take a few more cuttings, just in case.
Zucchetta
This plant is amazing. As of September 30, I’ve harvested 48.36 pounds this year – from two plants that only take up two square feet of garden space.
As you can see from the photos below, there’s a lot more squash in my future.
It may not be suitable for all gardens, but if you have a fence for it to run on, it’s definitely worth the space. Last year I stopped picking them sometime in September so the fruits that were on the vine could ripen into winter squash. I didn’t think the winter version was as good as a butternut squash, so I’m not doing that this year. This year I’m going to keep picking as long as they’re producing.
I might, however, need more seeds. The ones I have are at least two years old. It might be prudent to let one fruit ripen enough to produce viable seeds so I know I’m set for next year.