School's Out

Summertime and the living is easy. The new birds have been in the chicken tractor for several weeks now so I thought it safe to let them out to stretch their legs a bit so today was the day. They didn't venture very far from the safety of the tractor, but they did take a small taste of the relative freedom of the corn patch after having never known anything but the inside of the tractor and the brooder before that.

The corn patch is inside the garden fence so they can't go far, but forty by eighty is a lot more than eight by ten so I think it'll keep them occupied for a while.

The garden continues to do well though the first signs of powdery mildew in the squash is beginning to be seen. This weekend I'll start the milk sprays to see if I can slow it down. The Success variety of summer squash is supposed to be powdery mildew resistant, but I suspect that's resistant in the more northern states, not the high disease pressure we have here in Florida. Still, if it will slow it down a bit the milk sprays may be enough to keep us in squash for longer than we usually manage. No sign of pickleworms yet nor mosaic virus.

The first blossoms on the okra have been opening. Not a lot of height on the plants yet, but they're stocky and dark green with good leaves so the by now well composted chicken litter seems to have done them some good. The sweet potatoes are beginning to run nicely. Need to get some Epsoms salts to the peppers, they're acting a little sluggish, but we've had enough sweet peppers for our needs thus far.

As of last weekend I've now put up thirty four pints of yellow summer squash relish thanks to my not keeping the squash picked as often as I should so some of them got way big. The relish makes for a good way to use squash that are too big for normal cooking, but not so old that they've turned woody. There's nothing I like better on a hot dog or hamburger.

It appears that I'm going to have a nice fruit set on the muscadines, maybe even enough for some jelly in addition to fresh eating. Next year there'll be jelly for sure.

I've twice now read of folks successfully getting fruit from concord grapes here in Florida so I've about decided to give them a try myself. This far south they're not supposed to survive due to Pierce's Disease, but maybe things are changing?

We haven't gotten a lot of rain since Barry, but we haven't gotten a bit, just over a half-inch so we're not as water stressed as we were a month ago. I for sure have got to start mowing the grass now. This is about my least favorite outdoor chore, but we bought acreage so around and around I go.

.....Alan.