Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

A week ago we had the opportunity to pick blueberries at Farnham Farms in Sandy Creek NY. We stumbled on the place by accident while picking up gift boxes for our wedding favors. We went on a weekday evening and there was a steady stream of customers picking. Wire baskets are provided for pricking and each basket holds about 9 or 10 pounds of berries.

2 types of blueberries were offered. A smaller sweeter and a large berry with a big blueberry flavor. The small bushes were brimming with ripe berries, so many that they could be picked with both hands. The larger berries were less plentiful but by no means skimpy. It was easy to pick a basked full from just a few bushes.

We transferred the berries to peck sized splint baskets to take home. The baskets were so full that we broke them into 2 baskets so the berries would not crush under their own weight.

We brought the berries home and sorted out all the bad berries, stems, insects and other debris and froze them on cookie sheets covered with waxed paper. When they are frozen solid we put them in plastic bags for future use.

They can be thawed for pies, jam, fruit salads and muffins.
Now we have a stock of blueberries and strawberries to use until they come into season next year.

The annual plants are done and we have just a few perennials left. We have had little time to work on garden projects between life happening and other exciting events.

Tonight we are putting up pickles, both bread and butter and dill. We grow 2 types of cukes for out pickles. Eureka for the bread and butter and regal for the dills. The eureka get fat and meaty for perfect bread and butter pickles while the regal stay smaller and tight for dills. It’s a bit of work but worth it for great pickles. By the looks of the vines we will probably do 2 or maybe even 3 more batches this season.

The summer squash is coming in great and the peppers are doing well also. We got the tomatoes in late but they are starting with some really nice sun sugar cherry tomatoes. In all we grew 7 types of cherry tomatoes including red, yellow, orange, white, black and others. The brandywine tomatoes are big but still green.

The peppers are getting big but the walls are still a bit thin. We fried some but for good eating they need to have thicker walls. Hopefully they will beef up in the next week or so.

It’s been a busy week, with the garden and other work around the house and yard.

We have picked lots of cukes for pickles. We grow eureka for bread and butter pickles and regal for the dills. They get washed and stored in the frig until we have enough to run a batch.

Finding the dill was a bit of a challenge.

Trying to call the grocery stores is an exercise in futility. After numerous hang ups, and goof ups, no we are not looking for dill pickles, we abandoned that approach.

We should have grown it but for some reason it was overlooked. It was a hectic spring with numerous emergancies and life happens but we will not forget next year!

We finally found some dill on Wesley Island at Cross Island Farms.
Dani, one of the owners, gave us a tour of the farm and a great deal on the dill. They sell organic vegetables, eggs, and more.
It looks like we will have enough for this batch but we will have to find some more.

The tomatoes were reaching a point where they needed some support. Many of our tomatoes like the super sweet 100s are indeterminate and tend to grow very tall. As a matter of fact a neighbor had one that was around 7 feet tall. These plants yield a lot of cherry tomatoes and especially if they are kept off the ground. In our case, where we plant 3 foot rows separated by a 3 foot grass access row, it is important to keep the plants where they are suppose to be so that we can mow between the rows. This way we can easily pick from both sides.

This means staking them with bamboo, a job I never looked forward to because the bamboo is about 1/2 inches wide and the hammer head is around an inch. Striking a solid blow every time is very difficult and the hammer head often glances off making it slow work at best and ending up with bruised hands at the worst. I thought there must be a better way.

While looking through a garden catalog I saw a post driver that is made from a length of steel pipe with one end sealed and handles on the sides. The idea is to slide the driver over the post and use the weight to drive the post. If driving a bamboo stake seems dangerous think about swinging a sledge hammer trying to hit a post. I have done it and it is not as easy as it looks.

Why not make a smaller version or the post driver for garden stakes? No reason why not so that’s what I did.

A one and a half inch piece of pipe would be wide enough so I checked with the metal supply and they had a piece that was about 2 feed long. The weight was good, not too heavy to use but enough oomph to drive the stakes. The metal supply company spun some threads on one end and I think they charged me something like $12.00 for the whole thing.

I bought a one and a half inch pipe cap for around 2 dollars from the plumbing section of a hardware store.

The cap gets threaded on the pipe. Hand tight is good enough.

The pipe is slid over the end of the stake. It’s nice to have someone handing the stakes because this method works fast.
Having a helper means there is no bending or stooping to pick up supplies.

Slide the pipe up and down to drive the stake, using the weight of the pipe to do the work.
If a stake should split the splinters are held safely inside the pipe.

The job went quick and easy compared to driving with a hammer. Now all the tomatoes are tied up with pieces of old t-shirts, just tight enough to hold them up and out of the way of the lawnmower.

Other than that we have just been busy trying to get things in order to move the “storage” greenhouse to the back of the property. That meant moving one of the boats up and putting it undercover for restoration. As a matter of fact we started a blog to document the progress. It is Collecting Fire Wood.
When fiberglass boats became popular the dealers would burn the wooden boats taken in trade thinking there was no value in these old relics. They would strip the hardware and power then burn them in a pile.

The weather had turned more seasonal with 70′s and low 80′s and that makes working outside easier, and more fun.

While reading about basil in “The Healing Herbs” we were amused to find that to the ancient Greeks and Romans, basil was the symbol of hostility and insanity. And to grow truly fragrant basil one had to shout and swear angrily while sowing the seeds. If nothing else it might serve to blow off steam.

The tomatoes plants are growing fast in this warm weather. Last week was very hot and dry and it was looking like we would need to water the plants but a good soaking rain, about 2″, came and solved that problem.
Now the problem is to get them staked. We use 4′ bamboo poles and strips of T-shirt material. The knobs on the bamboo keep the knots from slipping down the pole.

As a matter of fact our dug well has water to the top. We must remember to get some mosquito cakes to keep the larva from developing. There are plans in the works for a screen to keep the mosquitoes out but it is pretty far down on the priority list.

If the weather turns damp we may be in for a dose of the “blight” that we saw last year. The early blight was brought in from store bought plants and is carried on the wind. Even our northern grown plants were subject to damage. We talked to out greenhouse inspector this weekend and he said at this point the blight is not in our area but it might do well to spray some copper based fungicide. There are copper based products that are considered organic. We have some other organic products we will be using as well.

The squash and cukes seem fine and there are small 3″ fruit on the yellow squash vines. In a few days we should have some nice little squash.

The peppers love the hot weather and are gowning nicely with small fruit started as well.

Lastly tonight is the second farmers market held at the Cooperative Extension in Watertown. We went last week and a group of brave gardeners braved the heat to offer greens, tomatoes, cheese, bread and other local products. This market does not allow crafts or rummage or imported vegetables when there are vendors with stock.

So better get down and tie the tomatoes up off the ground.