On 7/18/2017 8:01 PM, George Shirley wrote:
On 7/18/2017 7:46 PM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 7/18/2017 7:16 PM, George Shirley wrote:
Okra is coming to maturity so fast we can hardly keep up with it.
Looks like we will run out of space in both freezers rapidly. Wash
it, cut off the bottom, slice into rounds, put on cookie sheets,
freeze for an hour at 0 degrees. Take it out, put it in vacuum bags,
seal, put a date on it, back in the freezer. Looks like a lot of
deep fried okra and/or gumbo.

Tomatoes are about played out due to the heat, the little marble
toms are okay as they're big bushes are shading the fruit. The plum
and other tomatoes aren't that lucky.

We're hitting 90+ degrees daily now. Weather folk are saying we have
really good chances for rain for the next ten days but we can only
hope.

Nothing else going on garden wise but we can hope for a decent
winter garden some day not to far away. No figs, one pear, maybe get
some kumquat come fall. Got to pull up the Old Maids flowers from
around the pear tree. Finally got through to dear wife that pretty
flowers growing around my fruit trees means no goodies to grow the
fruit coming up from the roots.

Local free newspaper throws one for each house on our area but no
one picks them up. We starting picking them all up and then run them
through the paper shredder and then into the composter. At least
they aren't a eyesore anymore and the shredding helps them ferment
and turn into decent compost when all the kitchen stuff goes in and
the dead plants in the garden.

Hoping this fall that we will be able to take all the homemade
"dirt" in the raised beds and mix in a lot more composted cow manure
plus all the stuff from the composter. I intend to rent a small
cement mixer and use that to mix up all the goodies and then back
into the beds. Beats trying to rock a tarp back and forth with our
old arms and shoulders to get a good mix. Need to add another bale
of peat moss too.

George

Cement mixer ! Geez , I've been wearing myself out turning that
compost pile with a shovel . I bought a HF mixer to mix concrete for
the cellar slab and mortar for the block walls , now it just sits
awaiting the next masonry-type project . Not any more !

--

Snag

If you weren't so far away Snag I would try to borrow it. I've
actually found one on line that someone wants to sell cheap. Guy says
the electric plug is blown but I can fix that easily. Going over to
look at it tomorrow at mid-day. If the guy is smart he washed it out
after every use, if he isn't he might as well throw it in the dump.
You ever try to beat the cement out of one of those things with a hammer?

No , I rinsed mine out after using it . There is a thin skim of
mortar/concrete around the lip . but not enough to have to beat it out .
If you were near I'd be happy to lend it .

--

Snag