Fall Garden Planting

I had a moment earlier this week when my heart just felt so broken because my efforts in the garden weren't producing what so many other people's gardens are.  I cried.  I asked Yah why.  I felt like pulling it all out and quitting for the year.  What did I have to show for it all?  A friend comforted me with words about how sometimes Yah tests us in such things to see what we will do.  Do I not believe He will feed me and care for my family?  I do.  So I will not fear.  I will not be dismayed.  

This morning, I got out and started cleaning up the garden a little so work could be done and more could be planted.  The weather appears to be cooling down just a tad and it doesn't look like there will be any days over 95 for a while.  

Caleb and I harvested the larger sunflowers so the seeds could be dried for chicken feed.  (It was nice to see the yellow finches eating the seeds from the smaller flowers while we were working in the garden.)  I need to get a string put up to hang them from in my milk room.  The last of the sweet potatoes were harvested and then I moved soil to the edge of a garden bed where I could plant into the soil. I pulled some weeds and grass, then put chicken fertilizer down to replenish the soil.  

Later in the morning, I went back out with my packets of seeds to see what I could do to get a fall garden in. 

This is the garden bed where some of the sunflowers were.  We only removed the larger flowers and those which didn't have seeds in them any longer.  To the left of those remaining sunflowers, I put down soil and fertilizer, then I put in some Kalibos (purple) cabbage.  To the right of the sunflowers, I planted half a row of Red Russian kale and half a row of Dinosaur Kale (Lacinto), just to the right of that is a row of Chinese cabbage. My pathetic peppers are in the next row.  Then the row of summer squash (lemon squash and white scallop) I planted about three weeks ago.  The chard is doing great (planted in the spring), and the final row is where I planted Golden Acre cabbage.

This bed was also home to some mammoth sunflowers prior to this morning.  Only one flower stands after the remaining were harvested.  These flowers didn't grow near as large as they should have, but I will blame the soil.  This bed also has my watermelon which isn't doing very well, but I will wait to see what happens. Finally, my absolutely pathetic tomato plants are still hanging on.  I hope that later they will do better with producing tomatoes, but I have not been able to harvest any tomatoes yet.  

The kids' garden still has a few cucumber vines that are producing a rather small amount of fruits.  The flowers are doing great and their tomato plants are also hanging in there.  Caleb has a small cantaloupe plant in the corner of his and Abby has some dill (in the foreground). I planted some turnips in Alexandra's section and some lettuces between Hannah and Caleb's sections.  

In this raised bed, I have some tomato plants and Thai basil.  I planted some more turnips in it since Alexandra said she likes pickled turnips.  I haven't had any tomatoes from these plants either. 

In another raised bed, not shown, I have six jalapeno plants, and I just planted radishes in the other half. 

The two pots in the foreground are those that were doing better a month ago.  They ran out of nutrients and therefore have started to yellow.  There is one large cantaloupe hanging from one of the pots.  The other cantaloupe are growing in the bed beyond and they are doing absolutely wonderfully!  It was so amazing to come home and see the transition the different vines made.  The bed to the right is the second planting of cucumbers.  These seem to be doing really well.  

Before leaving for Kentucky, I planted green beans in the area the potatoes were.  They seem do be doing pretty well, but I need to water them with some fish emulsion.  

Just down the hill in the same garden are the winter squash, spaghetti and delicata varieties.  These are the ones that survived the vine borers and the squash bugs.  They aren't near as vibrant as the squash in the next picture.  

Aside from some funky gourds I grew accidentally because I saved seed from a store bought squash, the remaining plants should be pure seed. I am not sure what some of them are, but I think - THINK - they are the Canada crookneck and the zucchini rampicante.  Yes, these plants do have squash bugs, but they are doing fabulous despite the pest pressure.  

Then, there is the front garden.  I have a very healthy grey zucchini plant that I was sure I killed when I transplanted it.  But...I guess it LOVES the goat manure it is in.  

The butternut squash that I am saving for seed is doing pretty well.  The leaves are bit wilted from the heat of the day, but there are a couple fruits on it as well as A LOT of squash bug eggs and bugs.  I will get to that soon enough, but butternut does do better with such pest pressure than some others. 

My mini-corn variety, Orchard Baby, is doing quite well.  It has reached it's full height and now the ears are forming.  I am hoping this crop will make it and provide us with some delicious ears of corn to eat for dinners.  I probably should protect the investment and spray them with BT to deter the caterpillars (if there are some).  The herbs (in pots) are doing well.  The bed that I planted carrots failed, so I will be planting something else in it instead.  

The purple pole beans, I believe Blauhilde, are doing well and working their way up the trellis.  The space under the trellis will be a good place for broccoli or cauliflower.  I haven't decided yet. 

And finally, our turkey hen has hatched out half of her eggs.  The other half are still in the nest and we will wait a few more days before we dispose of them.  Meanwhile, she has six adorable little turkey poults that the kids carefully pulled out of the main turkey pen and put into a cage for safety.  Yes, the little poults can escape, but they will likely stay close to momma.  

Our other turkeys have migrated to the same pen where our older turkeys are.  So total, we have about 14 turkeys in the main pen. (Yes, you do see two white chickens in the turkey pen. They flew over to the turkey side.  We will bring them to the chickens soon.)  Then of course we have the hen in the other pen with her brood. The large gray tom, Arnold, is our planned Thanksgiving meal.  We will choose a set of breeding birds for next year.  

As for other birds on the property:

• The quail are quickly outgrowing their brooder and will need to be moved to their proper cages once assembled.  I also need to process the seven males from the garden tractor. 
• The one male duck we have (White Peking) has decided he doesn't like our White Peking female duck. He runs her off all the time and she is always alone.  So we have plans to take her to a friend's pond to live with some other White Peking ducks...hopefully with better results.
• The pullets we bought from Tractor Supply back in May ended up having a rooster in the mix.  
• The hens and roosters are now free ranging throughout the day.  Yesterday was the first time and they all went back to the nest boxes to lay.  Granted, we have over forty hens and we only get about 2 dozen a day, but processing them would prove to be difficult since it is hard to tell which are the ones laying and which aren't.