Garden 2025 Update #7 - 2 Months of HEATWAVE Later

My garden updates are a fun little way for me to keep visual track of what's working for me (and what failed miserably! Because that's all a part of the gardening journey as well.) in the garden.  I share these publicly and just hope they bless you as much as they help me!

My last garden update was already 8 weeks ago in June, and 8 weeks into mid-summer things change rapidly!  Here are the way things are going for me after a really cold spring and cold early summer, then a crazy heat-wave that finally broke for a couple of days a month ago, and then sadly came raging right back!

 

Back in mid-June I built these window boxes on my garden cottage then planted English Daisies in them. I'm quite delighted with the way they turned out. 💖 

I think next year I'll plant some mint, or basil, or some other edible herb in them. 

Out watering the garden one day and heard a rather loud conversation across the fence.  I see my neighbors have some rather adorable pool party guests. 😁

Loads of garlic scapes right on time in late June just before the 4th of July garlic harvest date. 

These are all diced & dried and used in my pantry stock of dried garlic for a variety of seasoning blends. You can also freeze them, use them in soup, stew or even summer salads. 

My cucumbers struggled considerably this year. A colder than usual spring, and colder than usual early summer created a most unpleasant result. I spoke to several local growers and we were all having the same experience. I finally picked up some seedlings in mid June and they've taken off quite well for the last 8 weeks. So far I've processed 3 batches of garlic dill pickles and it looks like batch #4 is coming this week and then they might be done with.  What you're seeing here is pine shaving mulch (pet bedding) that helps to regulate water retention in the soil, as well as the soil temperature.  This is my first year trying this method on cucumber vines and I have to say after 8 weeks, it's worked quite incredibly well.  Weed suppression was nearly 100% and that allowed the plants to really thrive without any weed pressure at all. I will definitely give this another go next year and see if the results are the same. 👍 

(Sources I've researched do say to skim the shavings off the soil surface at the end of the season and dispose with any other composting methods you're using for green/brown compost layers.)

My tomatoes haven't done well the last few years so this year I tried a new variety for my slicing tomatoes. This year it was Bonnie Best. You can't tell from this very early image but recently I sliced a ripe one and put it on my hamburger.  I never do that, but wanted to see how it held up.  

It tasted as if I 100% added sweet ketchup to my burger.  

I was considerably impressed, to say the least! 

I'll be adding this variety to my preferred list for next spring. 

Speaking of tomatoes... this year's cherry tomato variety was Chocolate Cherry.  It's been a rapid producer and the fruit is nothing short of incredible. Everyone in my family that has tried them is really impressed at how delicious they are.  It truly does have notes of chocolate, cherry, and tomato in every sweet bite. These are a keeper for sure and I'll be growing these from now on 😋

The other cherry tomato variety I grew this year was Tiny Tim.  I've discovered I absolutely hate this plant,  😂 even though I love how well it produces.  The branches grow so close together it creates this really compact shrub that makes it nearly impossible to harvest fruit from. The fruit is sweet and lovely but you can get the same thing with a much less fussy plant.  I wont be growing this one again. 

I don't have an "official" drying/curing rack for my garlic or onions so, in this case, the metal cart is the go-to drying rack.  Once I layed all the garlic out I had to chuckle as it looked like something you might have seen on Gilligan's Island, in one of Mary Ann's huts. 😄

 This is just one of the many volunteer sunflowers came up in the garden this year.  

I staked them all up as needed, and the bees and butterflies loved them. 💖

Okay so... no, this isn't garden related. 

It's a beautiful sign my sister Lora sent me that **immediately** had to be hung in my foyer. 😂😂😂

  BEST. SIGN. EVER.

Same bed as the earlier shot with the pine shavings. My local nursery's seedlings were quite strong and did incredibly well here.

Sometimes you just sit on the lawn swing and take in the view, and thank the Lord for His incredible mercy and grace, that allows you to have this. 💖💖💖

My Chocolate Cherry tomatoes showing off with "you're not the boss of me!" stems falling off the side of the deck rail after a super windy day. Indeed I was not the boss of them, but I've let them be and have been harvesting off them for the last few weeks. 😀They are 100% the boss of me. 

It may not look like much, but this is my 2025 garlic harvest. 29 heads of garlic. Most will go into wee jars of raw honey infused garlic for cold and flu immune system aid & the rest will be dried and used for all sorts of homemade seasoning blends that include garlic powder. Since I started growing my own garlic in 2021 and learning how to dry it and process it , I haven't had to buy garlic powder from the store at all. It's he tiniest changes that make the biggest differences.  

All but one of the sunflowers in my garden this year, were 100% transplants.  The one that was intentionally planted was a winter sown plant as an experiment. 

It's now nearly 15 feet tall. (seen below).  

I will 100% attempt another round of winter sowing. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you're encouraged by what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Status Report: November 2024

Technically, this post will double as a short(er) version of my Social Media Comment Section that I haven't really bothered with since last summer. So, I'll just go ahead and add my disclaimer for that:

Because I've set a boundary for myself in my activity on social media to contribute nothing but encouragement (hopefully), I choose to not get involved in the comment sections there in what may be considered to be controversial issues. So this is my space for sharing some expounded thoughts on what I see there. 

Although to be honest, I have left a couple of comments here and there. In any event, on to the update:

Sitting: At my desk, with uncomfortably cold feet, giving side-eye to the dusting of snow I can see out my window. While I don't like to complain about the weather (God knows what He's doing with our seasonal changes) I also don't like the discomfort of cold related pain all winter. Some folks can't handle the heat, while other folks can't handle the cold. I'm the latter, and praise God for wool socks & heating pads. 😊

Been busy with: prepping & packing Christmas gift baskets going in the mail and going locally. Lots of goodies this year with freeze dried items, dehydrated & powdered items, and home canned items. Time got away from me this year and I didn't get the chance to experiment with homemade soaps, candles & lip balm as I had loosely planned for.  Those three DIY homemade projects will be on my list for learning & perfecting for next year's baskets - Lord willing. 

Re-evaluating: the entire layout of my walk-in pantry (also known as the back half of the laundry room).  I created it and built all the shelving during one of the many covid lockdowns, entirely with discarded lumber & shelving I had on hand.  It's never been pretty to look at, but it's been incredibly functional so I'm redesigning it with both elements in mind. I have a few sketches already done & a short list of materials made up and I'm hoping to get it started immediately after Christmas.  I'm planning on doing a before/during/after pictorial series on the project with simple tips & tricks on how to start one & keep one stocked for your family's needs. 

Feeling: Satisfied that I have finally been able to replace all seasonings, spices and spice blends from their plastic containers, into 36 wee glass 4 ounce Mason jars.  I loathe plastic, so I've been trying to get it out of my kitchen storage as much as possible.  All the left-over containers have been replaced with glass, and all of my bulk items such as flour & sugar have all been replaced as well.  All of my dried fruit snacks, dried veggies, honey blends, syrups, fruit & veggie powders, rice, herbs, nuts & seeds are in glass as well as the last of of the spices.  I'd be over the moon if I could replace all plastic with glass, but I'm happy with what I've been able to do so far. Funny thing is, it was Beth's post on twitter about how often you should replace your spices that reminded me that all my spice blends were next on the list to be replaced with glass jars. You just never know where your twitter posts will end up having an impact 😂

   

Thinking: Quite a lot about this quote I saw on social media recently:

"By God’s grace I have lived my whole life in community with other women who are jolly, and joyful, hardworking, kind, smart… and for the most part so busy with the things they love that they don’t care about the internet fussers." - Rachel Jankovic 

Several things stand out to me about this quote.  First, that there are women who have this testimony of being part of a faithful Christian community their entire lives.  I did not have that, and I love it so much that some women have had that. It's incredibly encouraging to me. In my own family, two of my grand daughters have been growing up in the same local church that both of their grandmothers are in. I can only hope and pray one day they both have a similar testimony as Rachel Jankovic.  

Secondly, the way she describes these women in her community: jolly, joyful, hardworking, kind & smart.  In our age of social interaction online being what it is, it's very very easy get drawn into this big deal or that big issue. But to be a woman described as jolly, joyful, hardworking, kind and smart, means these are the ladies who are directing their attention, energy & creativity to worthwhile things in their own homes or communities (both offline and online). If you'll notice, there are certain ladies on social media that you'll never see embroiled in any of this sort of thing. Never leaving unkind, catty, antagonistic comments. These are wise women.  This is an example I try very hard to pursue.  Which brings me to the third point she made in that quote that stands out to me, that also coincides with my next thought that falls into the category of the Social Media Comment Section. 

Wondering: If "internet fussers" is an accurate description of those who (while not exclusively, it's usually women leading the charge in this) also often tend to be involved in some type of internet "ministry" for lack of a better phrase, where the entire point of the ministry existing, is to point out all the things wrong with all the people they think are wrong, about, well, all the things. Or at the very least, supporting and promoting those ladies doing that.  If you've read this far, you probably just had someone come to mind. 

[Disclaimer: I'm partially qualified to write about this only because for a short time in 2005-06 I was part of a group of bloggers collating resources & articles of all the different leaders & churches that were part of the Emergent Church movement. Initially the goal was to educate on this new movement within Christian circles. After a short time, the goal shifted and I could no longer be a part of the group blog and it shut down shortly after. This was a few years before watchbloggers was even a thing, but our own blog was headed in that direction for sure.]

 

These folks usually have their "ministry" named after some variation of their own name like "The Carla Files" or named after the person or church they've targeted such as "Investigating Joe Heretic".  Back in the early days of blogging in the mid 2000's these folks were called "discernment bloggers" or "watchbloggers", a play on the phrase watch dog. Tim Challies wrote a really good article on this 10+ years ago: In The Crosshairs of the Discernment Bloggers that is still quite timely, as it describes the length some of these folks will go to even in 2024.  While blogging isn't the platform it used to be, this kind thing is definitely still around. They just use a different tool to get their messages out there: social media.  

When I read Rachel Jankovich's quote the part of about "internet fussers" really, stood out to me mostly because at one point, I would have been called one and it would have sadly been most accurate.  When I see a post from one of these folks now I always have to wonder... if they spent half the time in prayer asking God to reveal their own sinful opinions, attitudes and motives and helping them to overcome that and grow in grace, as they do pointing at other people, if they'd even have time left at the end of the day, to be an internet fusser?   

When the blog I was a part of began to shift from education to (graceless, uncharitable, antagonistic, argumentative, ugly, opinionated obnoxiousness) condemnation I had to ask myself the same (very uncomfortable) questions.  And because the answer was so painfully convicting, I knew I had no business being part of anything like that.  

I guess you can call this short thought-ramble "Confessions of a Former Internet Fusser". 😊 I sure don't have all the answers, but I know Who does, and humbling our hearts and seeking His guidance, wisdom and conviction is always the best way to begin finding those answers. 

And with that, this month's Status Update/Social Media Comment Section comes to a close. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed and fantastic day. 😊

If you have any thoughts or questions, please feel welcome to leave a comment. 

Status Report: August 2024

Sitting: Inside with all the windows open and the AC off.  While I'm ever thankful for the air conditioning on those sweltering hot summer days, it's sure nice to be able to turn it off and just enjoy the fresh breeze coming in the windows. 

Been busy with: the garden always keeps me busy but my current (ongoing) project is beautifying the cottage space. When I had it built a few years ago the intention was to have it be dual purpose. A garden cottage to store all my garden supplies as well as guest cottage bunkie.  We did have a surprise guest for a week long stay a couple of years ago and I quickly turned it into a bunkie with an inflatable bed, night table, privacy curtains, lamp, fan & charging station. After seeing how cute it looked with a very rushed "hurry, turn that into a bunkie!" job, I'm even more excited to see how it will look once it's all done. There is much work to do from insulation, sheetrock, better lighting, additional shelving, building a small storage loft & probably 10 other things I haven't thought of yet, but it's a project I'm very pleased to be working on. I'm enjoying watching the YT channel Made by Mick while he renovates a storage area off the side of his house, turning it into a small apartment for his daughter. Getting lots of ideas on how to translate some of his techniques to what I'm aiming for in the cottage.  

Re-evaluating: the garden for next year.  Every year I dial it in just a little more.  I've had a lot of fun growing experimental items and I do dedicate a small space every year for that but I've toned that down the last couple of years to spend more time growing what grows well here, and what grows well for me. Also re-evaluating raised bed areas for spots that currently don't have them. For my piece of land, raised beds tend to produce much better results than in-ground planting so I'm planning on adding at least 4 more for next growing season. 

Feeling: Kind of sad that the growing season is coming to an end in a few short weeks. Technically, my growing season is from mid May through mid October, so there's roughly 7 weeks left, before we're looking at the first frost of the year.  Although there really isn't much time to be sad, since fall zips by faster than it should, and between mulching all the falling leaves for free garden bed mulch, there are roughly 32 million things to take care of to put the garden to bed for the winter.  My carrots are doing amazingly well this year and I've decided they'll be the last to harvest, after the first hard frost.  An old time farmer told me they're ten times sweeter if you leave them in the ground until then, so I'm taking that advice as Farmer Gospel. 😊

Looking forward to: The next round of canning!  On the list to finish out the summer will be zucchini bread jam, Cowboy Candy, and my world famous homemade ketchup.  Okay maybe not world famous but my kids & grandkids, in-laws & outlaws all love it, so, that's good enough for me. 

Well, that just about does it for this month's Status Report. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking in! 😊 I hope you have an incredible day.