8/17/22 Red leaf lettuce blooming, Tomatoes, beets, carrots, ground cherries, Too much Kale. Lots of cilantro seeds.

 Nice weather. 60s at night, high 70s during the day. Sunny and partly cloudy. Humidity in low 80s. About 14 hours of daylight this week.

Red leaf lettuce blooming. Not collecting the seeds. I just going to let it self seed.

Put up a frame for tomatoes in Kale garden. Thinned out Kale so orache, tomatoes, and other plants could get some sunlight.

Cherry and Roma tomatoes coming in slowly enough that don't have enough to process for storage. I am letting the tomatoes keep flowering so I can pull before first frost to hang plants in garage to allow green tomatoes to ripen.

 Way to much Kale. Next year maybe only let 6 plants live? Thinned out some broccoli and brussel sprout leaves. 

Wish we could have more ground cherries. They are easy to harvest. When they fall off they are ripe. Same with tomatillos. 

I have been pulling one carrot and one beet daily for salad. 

I am going to let the black nebula carrot go to seed because I do not see it for sale anywhere. 

A frost date is the average date of the last light freeze in spring or the first light freeze in fall.

The classification of freeze temperatures is based on their effect on plants:

• Light freeze: 29° to 32°F (-1.7° to 0°C)—tender plants are killed.
• Moderate freeze: 25° to 28°F (-3.9° to -2.2°C)—widely destructive to most vegetation.
• Severe freeze: 24°F (-4.4°C) and colder—heavy damage to most garden plants.

Note that frost dates are only an estimate based on historical climate data and are not set in stone. The probability of a frost occurring after the spring frost date or before the fall frost date is 30%, which means that there is still a chance of frost occurring before or after the given dates!

Frost is predicted when air temperatures reach 32°F (0°C), but because it is colder closer to the ground, a frost may occur even when air temperatures are just above freezing. Always keep an eye on your local weather forecast and plan to protect tender plants accordingly. Weather, topography, and microclimates may also cause considerable variations in the occurrence of frost in your garden. Learn how to protect plants from frost.

Frost dates are calculated based on data from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

ref: https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates/zipcode/53151

Boerner Botanical Gardens: May 9 - Oct 8, 151 growing days

ref: https://www.mygardenlife.com/frost-map

First Frost Date: 10/1-10/15

Last Frost Date: 5/1-5/15

ref: https://patch.com/wisconsin/newberlin/last-frost-date-when-it-time-plant-garden-new-berlin

3/17/22

4/30-10/11, 163 growing days

8/16/22 Cukes, tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherries, and pumpkins are slowly ripening

 Waiting impatiently for the cukes, tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherries, and pumpkins to ripen. Black nebula carrot seems to be growing pretty good in 5 gallon pail. I'm going to leave at least one to make seeds because they look pretty cool.

8/15/22 First cucumber this year! The bees really like the sunflowers. Collecting tomatillos when they fall off.

It's supposed to be a little warmer this week. High 50s at night and high 70s during the day. We are down to 14 hours of daylight. Still very humid but no rain so soil is dry. 

Coldframe garden and west garden. Sylvetta arugula is going to seed but its leaves are still tasty. Getting thai and ancient peppers.

Front circle garden. The bees really like the sunflowers. Nasturiums and tagetes marigold are doing well. I have been trimming lower leaves of sunflower so ground cherries get more light.

Planted seedlings along edge of patio.

Harvest. Tomatillos are sticky under the skin. Once I get enough I am going to roast them for 15minutes at 400F before making salsa. 

This looks like a good link for recipes. https://www.mexicanplease.com/can-make-tomatillos/ It says roasting tomatillos tames their tartness and makes them sweeter.

Here's 4 ways to make tomatillo salsa https://www.mexicanplease.com/4-different-ways-make-salsa/

8/14/22 Bees really like flowering oregano. Less chamomile flowers and beans. Some cherry tomatoes and ground cherries.

 Woodpecker on mullen and beautiful flowers on our walk. An overcast and misty day.

The bees really like the flowering oregano.

Harvest

8/11/22 Volunteer orache going to seed. Harvested some more dill seed.

Volunteer orache is going to seed. I really enjoy the antics of the little brown birds (LBBs) in the birdbath and patio pots. I change the water often so they don't get sick from drinking bad water. I wish I had a better camera in order to get better pictures of them. 

 

Today's harvest.

8/10/22 Sunflowers are flowering. Bean harvest is slowing down. Edible perennial books, low tech watering book

 Hardening off some more seedlings. Blackberry bush is growing well along with alyssum and new zealand spinach. Finished planting the hosta garden. Eventually they should spread out. Next year I may plant sunflower seedlings between them. I really like sunflowers. They're pretty easy to grow and their stalks make nice, light. poles.

Garden harvest today. I really like all the different colored carrots in the starburst blend.

Some interesting books. I like the low tech methods in the "gardening with less water" book.