end of summer

It's the end of summer and I'm taking stock of the garden and planning fall projects. This year I have really enjoyed growing new things, like banana peppers, and trying new things, like making pickles. Between what I've grown, generous friends, and my CSA, I know I'm eating healthier and more sustainably than ever before.

I'm about to throw the towel in on my tomatoes and get that space ready for a winter veggie garden. My peppers, especially the jalapenos are still producing, which will make a nice addition to this weekend's chili. In the upper south, right now is a great time to aerate and over-seed your lawn too. And while most irrigating can be cut back this time of year, newly-seeded lawns should be sprinkled twice daily (e.g., 4am and 4pm).

Today I collected almost 50 Chinkapin Oak acorns in a matter of minutes. Potential fall projects I have in mind are: germinate the acorns and make baby oak trees, become an urban forager and prepare them for consumption, or most likely some combination of the two. I will undoubtedly report successes/ failures here.

Until then, happy foraging/gardening!

hot as hell with a side of drought

Black-Eyed Susan

Nashville saw its hottest day ever June 29, at 109 degrees. Throughout this summer we have shattered existing high temperature records and last week we had multiple 104-degree days. Not only was June one of the hottest months on record, it was also one of the driest and we are in the midst of a full-on drought.

Pretty much any plant not being watered regularly is a plant that is struggling. We will lose many trees this summer due to the high heat and drought conditions. Species that appear to be struggling the most include Sycamore (Platanus), Tulip Poplar (Liriodenron), and Redbud (Cercis).

These ArborRain watering bags will help newly planted trees and shrubs. The peppers and herbs are doing great. Of my tomatoes, only the Super Sweet 100, Yellow Pear, and Romas are performing well. A native Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) is pictured above, and is the only thing alive in that scorched field.

green peppers

tomatoes

With all of the blackberries I harvested from the backyard, I made a blackberry-peach cobbler that wasn't too shabby. This is the tried and true easy-peasy fruit cobbler recipe I used; simply switch out the fruit for whatever is in season or (in the freezer) at the time.