Starting the Big Garden - September 5, 2026 @goldenoakfarm
Published on HivePostify by @goldenoakfarm · Sun Sep 06 2026
On Saturday morning I was up at 4:45AM and got my post up. Then I got the kitchen cleaned up and sat down for 15 minutes. I had started the sprinkler when I got up and I had a couple chores to do. I finally got out to the big garden around 7:30AM.
The first thing I had to do was clean up all the dropped leaves from the MacIntosh apple tree. Fedco says it helps to reduce the leaf drop if you keep them cleaned up so I do the best I can in that area.
Once those were cleaned up in the southwest corner I started working my way east along the south fence. I cleaned out the flowerbed and then started on the mesclun. It was a lot worse than I thought and I ended up hauling out 6 big sled loads from this 1st 10’ section, and I didn’t even do all of it because of the Howden pumpkin. It’s taken over ¾ of the south end of the garden and run up about 15’ on the east side.
I got the bad leaves off the cabbage and then started on the kale, as far as I could reach it. Two of the cabbages had rotted at the top of the stem, so they came out. The other 4 look fine. The Howden had covered the end of that row.
I knew I had one decent sized melon but was pleased to find a second. These were planted very late and weren’t in very good shape so I’m pleasantly surprised to see fruit.
The Sparky marigold I grow because it’s supposed to be 8” high. It never is, usually well over 2’. If I grew the tall ones, they’d top 5’ I bet!
I’d been checking the peas expecting to find tiny pods, but I found large pods in 2 places. We will soon have enough peas to harvest as they are covered in flowers.
I’d found a beet in the mesclun and a few apples that weren’t chewed up so I looked under the tree and got all these. They will go to the root cellar until I can do the cider pressing.
I finally finished that 1st section around 10AM and got my photos and notes and cleaned up.
In the Small garden the main basil plants hadn’t really recovered from their haircut a while back, so I harvested from the front row. I only had the smallest big bowl to fill and only used half of the plants to fill it.
Once I’d finished harvesting, I went in and got a shower and rested awhile. Then I got some lunch and around noon I started loading the dehydrator. I’ve never made basil salt before so it will be an experiment.
The Anne raspberry had finally started producing and is making more than the chipmunks can eat. I had a couple handfuls for breakfast.
Good news is that the truck went to my #1 intern’s boyfriend’s for repair Friday night and he says it’s not as bad as it looked. But if what he’s done doesn’t stop the stink in the cab, there’s a sort of expensive part I’ll need to buy. The truck hasn’t come back yet, maybe tomorrow morning.
I spent the afternoon watching a movie and then sat down and got my post for Sunday written.
A young man who installed the heat pumps in the attic had said he’d help me with weedwacking and fence repair on the back 40. But I haven’t been able to connect with him to see if he really is coming out on Sunday morning and when.
Tom has said he will be here to do the foliar and my #1 intern plans to build the frame to see if we can move the freezers from one end of the cellar to another.
I plan to get another section done in the Big garden if that young man never shows. It’s to be a beautiful day just like Saturday.
Tags: #homestead#summer#life#foodpreservation#harvest#gardens#flowers#weeding#herbs#fruit