The Week in Review

The garden just keeps producing and so do the hens. Here's a recap of the week at the Garden Spot.

Mrs. Bok at The Bok Flock wrote about the smallest chicken eggs. I am not sure just where this little pullet egg would place, but it is our smallest egg so far. We average 6-8 eggs a day now from the 12 hens. One of the two brown leghorns must just be starting to lay. And the silly gals all use the same nesting box most of the time. They have six to choose from, but seem to prefer a warm nest, I guess.

The little white egg is pretty tiny next to the largest egg. Yes, it is green and will probably have a double yoke. The two Americanas lay the green eggs and were the first to start laying.

We dug our first potatoes the other night. How exciting-- our own potatoes. We only planted one row of yukon gold and red potatoes. They did okay. The soil wasn't amended, so next year we plan to plant two rows and study up on how to increase the production.

I fixed fried potatoes for supper. I was a bit disappointed in the yukon golds. They didn't seem to fry up crispy. Martha Stewart says they are best for mashed potatoes. 

Cucumbers coming out of our ears. Nice red cabbage, and baby new potatoes. 

Today I made bread and butter pickles. Here, they soak in the brine.

8 pints of pickles

The garden is still producing full force, so Sunday night I pick a basket full of goodies for faculty at work. They especially love the eggplant. I had to laugh the other day because some faculty are hoarding eggplant, hiding them their mailboxes in the faculty work room. 

As late as it is in the season, there is a new face in the garden: Heidi Biscuit, I call her. She is a very late bloomer. (I guess she prefers to sleep in) So late, in fact, that she doesn't even poke herself out of the soil until around the 4th of July. When I questioned the nurseyman in the spring complaining that the hibiscus hadn't come up yet, he laughed and said that it would emerge in July. I thought he was nuts. Guess not.

One of the summer' s last blooms, a pretty, dark pink cosmos

The Rudbeckia and blanket flowers have gone to seed quite early. I think they just gave up in the late summer heat. Even my chrysanthemums have already faded.

However, I have several volunteer rudbeckia that are growing strong; of course, they came up from seed much later than the others.

So that was the week that was here in the Garden Spot. Fall is just days away. Finally the temperatures have left the 90s that were just so hard on the garden and (and humans).  I've  ordered my spring bulbs, so we aren't done gardening yet. I already have a list of projects for next spring. 

Hope you all have a fantastic week.