August Lunch: The Farm Report 08-20-2025

 August Lunch
 The Farm Report 08-20-2025

I'm not a big fan of the month of August. And that would be saying it mildly. I do like having the fruit of the garden for my meals though. How can you beat fresh home grown tomatoes with a dollop of Mayo and some nice sliced ham for lunch?! A little fresh dill over the top is extra good, too.

The sad truth is you can't have superb tomatoes without summer's heat.

Here's the next installment of my 'Cattle Panel Tomato Growing project.' It is a fantastic trellising system, but - NEXT YEAR! Remind me NOT to put two rows of 'maters side by side. These rows have grown into an impenetrable double thick WALL of tomato vines. Even though there was a full 6 feet of distance between the two cattle panel fences, they have pretty much grown together. I'll have lots of tomatoes to use, but I think my mistake pretty much cut my crop in half; I can only pick tomatoes from each of the outside edges. The inside between the two is just dark and unexplored jungle! There may be dragons in there.

Next year: One and Only One row of tomatoes at a time.
 

So up in the greenhouse, we called it a season and took out all the strawberry plants. I have some celery plants going in the tubes, but nothing else. What to do?

I've decided to try beets in the hydroponic tubes for fall. Why not?

I'm planting both Cylindra and the good old Detroit Dark Reds. Cylindra is a great slicer for canning; Detroit Dark Red it the 'old reliable' beet my Mom always grew.

The red 'ns is the beets. I always pop a small handful of radish seeds in with my beets for early row marking. That's the yellow 'ns.

The red 'ns with the handles back there are my garden scissors. That's how I 'hoed' off the unwanted radishes.

For my hydroponic tube gardening, I've discovered that if I put a wick into the net pots it really helps get things going without a lot of fussing on my part. Virtually anything absorbent will  work. I think Walmart's soft cheap clothes line rope is great. I had these strips cut, so I used them. It ain't too hard.

Net pots filled with a 50/50 blend of Pro Mix potting soil and perlite ready to go into service in the tubes.

Ka Pow! I planted beet seeds directly in the net pots one afternoon. The next morning following (one full day later) I had sprouts. Fantastic.

I've also put some stray cabbage and broccoli into the self watering grow bags. Maybe we'll have a fresh Thanksgiving treat at the table this fall. There is a piece of polyester fleece (cheap Walmart throw blanket) inside the grow bag extending down through a hole in the bottom of the grow bag and on through a hole in the lid of the bucket. The bucket is full of water/fertilizer solution which gets wicked up as needed.

Velvet Leaf. Out in the garden, the weeds are in 'hog heaven.' I have a mechanical surprise ready for them the first cool day we have now. Beneath all that unwanted foliage lay my potatoes. I'm not altogether upset because these weeds do keep the ground cool. Spuds are tough and I think I'll still have a great crop to store for winter. I know - they're cheap at the store, but they're just not as good. Plus, I like to raise my own!

Oh - And included in the weeds is a free crop of poison Ivy. I'm super sensitive to it. I'm better now. (Be careful where you scratch! It will spread on your skin....)

This is a Giant Ragweed stalk. I think I should consider raising it for firewood in the future. It is HUGE!

Annie was critical of my stewardship. "Tim! You need to get off your lazy bum and take care of this." When I cut them, she will pull them out of the way for me. I didn't really train her to do this, it just came sorta naturally to her. She knows I don't want them, and she's Johnny on the Spot to help. So...I thought that if she wanted to help, then fine - help! We refined her technique a little through some fun training, and now she's on it like a pro. These dogs love to have a job and they love to help.

She will also pull orchard prunings out away from the tree for me! She knows when to stay away from the chain saw, and she is genuinely helpful when we do this together. Whoda thought a Texas Heeler would be a lumberjack dog?

My Big Red Horse tiller got new shoes! It is about the worst job I can think of to get those old tires off and the new ones on, but we did it. The new ones are 6 ply thick and stiff! The original ones were 27 years old and 2 ply flimsy. So, I guess it was time and I'm thrilled to have new reliable tires on the old girl.

We got a super deal on pineapple through a friend of our good neighbor Ron. These were Fyfe's Gold and they are super sweet. No added sugar, just pineapple juice and pineapple. Delicious! Annie Oakley helped, but she isn't too enthused about pineapple.

"Tim, I'm don't even like pineapple. Did you forget that part?" 

Well, no Annie, I didn't forget, but we all have to put up with some stuff we don't like. It's just part of life. Kinda like I have to put up with Iowa in August.... It will all get better soon.

Stay cool and be happy!

Cheers from me and Annie out here at Oakdale Farm.