The Weekly Digs #214
I know Fall is not far off, but with today’s above 100ºF temps, and the upcoming week of the same, I told Cam today when we were working in the garden that I felt like I was literally being cooked.
We both laughed at the truth of it, then came in to see my little temperature gauge saying 105ºF with a “feels like” 124ºF temperature. Whoa! We were definitely in the warming oven temperature range 🙂
Ever since having Riggs, I can’t seem to get myself up and ready early to beat the heat. So it’s partially my own fault we were cooking in the afternoon sun.
Aside from sweltering in the sun, I’ve felt pretty good this summer with how well we’ve been keeping up with gardening and preserving. My spirits have been positive and I haven’t had postpartum depression like after my other pregnancies, yay!
Then this week Cam went back to work and Cruz went back to school. With my two big helpers gone most of the day, I was doing ok on Monday, but by Thursday I was crying randomly all day and reality was really sinking in. Trying to keep up has been hard!
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In the Garden
This is by far the busiest we’ve been and we have several gardening and preserving projects colliding. We are harvesting big buckets of beans, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and basil.
In the midst of this, I’m also planting fall crops. I transplanted all my cabbages, which was awesome! Then came out a few days later to a major disappointment. A quarter of the cabbages got eaten by cutworms.
Luckily, I had some excess plants that I had already started and I replanted in a few spots, then I took plastic cups, cut out the bottoms, and slid them over the plants.
Everything was looking good until today, and my cabbages were wilting in 105ºF heat. I don’t really have enough shade cloth to go around so I’m making a mental note to have more next year during the transition to fall crops.
A Case for Silage Tarps
Another fall crop I got started on was I planted my carrots directly into the ground. Then instead of covering the carrot planting with burlap like I usually do, this year I decided to try silage tarp with the white side facing up.
My local farmer friend told me to try it a few years ago! He mentioned that is the way he plants them in the heat.
I hesitated to follow through on his recommendation for a long time because I was scared I’d mess it up and kill my carrots. But I got the guts to try it this year.
When I first got the silage tarps, Cam and I made a video about how we wished we had bought bigger ones. But over time, I found even my 24x100ft tarp to be heavy and I have cut mine into smaller pieces so I could move them myself.
And now that they are more easy to maneuver, I’m using them more and utilizing them better. At one point I thought I would eventually phase them out of my garden all together but they have been so useful, I am planning on buying 1 or 2 more.
I love all natural things, and I know the plastic in the tarp is not natural but I think because we use them on a temporary basis, there is very little negative impact. The benefits far outweigh any negatives! I bought my silage tarps HERE.
So back to the carrots, I planted the seeds and watered everything really well before covering with white side up tarp. I’m hopeful it will work, but this heat is insane. Time will tell if my carrots will germinate or not. I ordered another pack just in case, although it will be getting late in the year if I have to plant again.
Preserving
When it comes to preserving, I got a double batch of chicken enchilada soup done. 14 quarts and two late nights up till 1am canning each batch of 7. Recipe comes from THIS BOOK. It’s the same book I use for cajun black eyed peas and some sausage and bean soup I made earlier this year.
