Len - My average last frost date is about 10/20. It surprises me that our dates are so similar. Those beans look so happy. I love the bean climbing up the sunflower. Maybe that's what I should do here for pole beans...Kansas is "the sunflower state", after all.

I need to inventory my canned tomato stuff. I have some tomatoes that need something done with them soon. It seems like I'm very well stocked up, but I hate to see tomatoes go to waste. I keep pushing them on to friends and family.

Another chore for this weekend is to stash some onions in my extra fridge before they start to go bad. And...I need to select my seed garlic from my harvest and then stash the rest in the fridge for longer keeping. Chores, chores, chores...

Margi - You would not believe the number of Wessel's tomatoes I've been picking lately. I only put in three plants this year. The ones on the left I picked today and the ones on the right were picked over the past several days. I just picked everything that was starting to blush because of the forecast. Not a great photo, sorry.

Len - Think that I am going to have to try those not tough half runner beans next year.

Nice tomato haul Cindy. I just ordered my Saffron Crocus bulbs from Mary’s Garden Patch. Do you have any recommendations for planting/growing the bulbs. Are yours in the ground or containers? How sensitive are they to the cold? I guess Oct/Nov is the normal time for planting them.

Those Wessel's look good Cindy. Happy canning! Or are you going to trade some for more crab and lobster?

I've been picking a ton of ripe peppers in the last week or so and trying to use them in cooking. So far we have had cheese steaks, fajitas, and grilled poblanos. I am going to make some Chili Relleno tomorrow I think.

We are going into a hot spell starting Monday with highs in the mid to upper 90s all week. I am so done with summer!

Thanks, Jack and Richard. I'm guessing that I will be making more Annie's Salsa because my freezer if already full of fruit from this summer. 90s for us next week, too Jack.

And I did trade a lot of the regular tomatoes for more lobster and scallops. That's dinner tonight. Think that my plants are now at their peak of production.

Richard - The saffron is pretty hardy for me and I have them planted right in the ground year round. They did not survive the cold for my sister in Michigan. I suspect that if you get another cold snap/ice storm like last year that they could be frozen but, hopefully, that was a once in a lifetime thing for you.

Cindy - We're having scallops and Ahi tuna for dinner tonight, but I had to buy it at Aldi. Steamed broccoli and rice pilaf for sides.

Jack, how do you cook that Ahi tuna? I bought some a few weeks back and cooked it in the oven and it came out pretty dry and bland. I read the best way to cook it was in a skillet and medium rare. I was too wimpy to try it like that-not big on raw fish, but any method of cooking it would have been better than what i did.

Richard - I marinade it and sear it in a a enameled cast iron pan using the below recipe. It really is best if it is still a little pink (not raw) in the middle. I never make extra for leftovers anymore because when you reheat it in the microwave it comes out dry and bland like you described.

Seared Ahi Tuna

Richard I 2nd Jack's method Aji tuna is Ok a little bit pink. I dug our potatoes today Chieftain red was the best producer and we like those the best anyway. We'll probably just get by with the Chieftains and various volunteers next year.

Third bin. There were also purple volunteers I dug a couple of weeks ago.

We typically grill our tuna steaks and I used to over cook them too. Then after I was introduced to my first sushi dinner I realized that grilling it with a slight pink interior isn't any problem, it tasted so much better and wasn't dry or tough. Heck if you can eat tuna raw then under cooking it a little bit is good too.

Thanks Jack, Len and Vgkg

I have never had ahi tuna. That recipe sounds good. I’ll have to look for some tuna so i can give it a try.

Nice looking potatoes, Len.

The garden inspection didn't take long this morning. Yesterday I pulled out the zucchini and Pattypan plants. Darned SVB! I did my best to stay ahead of the squash bugs and we’ve had plenty of squash this summer. I have seedling zucchini in my satellite garden. I don’t know that they’ll have enough growing season to produce or not. My pepper plants are loaded. I need to start looking for people to give them to. I havent picked a cantaloupe in a week. There’s one that is starting to turn golden, I think, so maybe tomorrow.

Drat, this is my fall veggie planting week schedule but it's gonna be way too hot, about 95F every day Tues-Sat at this point. Will need to keep my seedlings in the shade and plant the seeds with fingers crossed. I can hold off a bit longer on the collards and turnips but really need to get other things in the ground now before the daylite hours get too short.

Vgkg - I'll sometimes grill Ahi tuna as well if I am grilling other things too. I use the same marinade recipe for it when I do. It is a little more challenging for me to cook it to medium rare on a charcoal grill compared to searing it in the pan. It's harder to control the heat and it can get away from me quick.

Planting fall veggies in the heat of August is always a challenge here too. I use AG19 for shade cloth if needed. Not this year though because I am not planting any! Next thing on my planting list is the garlic in October.

Jack we use a gas grill here and I'll place it on low and close the top down to slightly grill and bake the tuna steaks with one flip until they are just ever so slightly pink inside. This way they avoid over cooking/charing on the surface.

Speaking of over cooking, it might as well be mid July here this week. I'll wait until late week to plant anything but will prep the rows for quick planting when the timing looks right, by Thursday? Too hot to much of anything out there today, and today is the cool day of the week at just 93F...ugh!

Well I planted a huge row of carrots seed today (4 types) and realized that I could cover the freshly planted and watered bed with the pine needles which were already laying between the rows. An 8" thick layer should keep the seed moist and cool enough this coming hot week and I'll remove the needles once they germinate. I'll do the same tomorrow with the beets.

Jack I think my wife gave me some old sheer curtains to store in the garage a long while back for possible garden use, I may use those to shade the broc and cabb transplants once I get the nerve to put them out in this heat. Usually I'll use long sheets of cardboard over a hoop/fence to shade the transplants.

We got a "very good" rain this afternoon which relieves me of the job of dragging hoses and watering the gardens. Those in the NE got too much rain from the storm. I saw 9,96" for Brooklyn.

Vgkg, it is 97 here now and will be close to 100 by 4 pm-it has been like that the whole month. I transplanted about 20 tomato plants and put them out in the sun-only one has shown signs of struggling with the heat-the squash on the other hand is struggling-close to half have died (I also planted them in old tomato dirt, so that probably didn’t help either).

Salsa! DW wanted to use up a whole tub of mostly chocolate cherry tomatoes so did a recipe she found on internet. It did not go well the first round, salsa tasted mostly like vinegar, so we did a rework and now it is very tasty. Half of it is pretty mild and the pints are heated up with some of my peppers. Made a brownish salsa but flavors are great.

Vgkg - Good plan with the pine needles on freshly planted seeds! I hope that works for you. It sure should.

Len - I'm glad you were able to fix up that recipe to your liking! Looks like that stash should hold you for awhile.

Speaking of hot peppers. To those of you who dry and crush hot peppers for later use, how do you do it? I need to do something like that for all the peppers that I have in my garden. Could use some tips. I usually dice up some jalapenos and freeze on cookie sheets and then vacuum seal. It's nice to have those available mid-winter when I want to make pico or chili or ....

Sounds like you got me beat by a few degrees RD. Hot Hot Hot no matter how we cut it, the humidity is of no help either, ugh. It'll be 90's here as far as the forecast can see, no rain either....

I decided to do a little exploratory digging on my sweet potatoes this morning and found a good load under just one hill. This is the 1st generation row of SPs, I buried it's running vines in a parallel row next to it for a later harvest before the first frost. The soil is good and moist, those pine needles really help hold it in. Sweating bullets out there, back inside for a while.

We had a quick shower last night just after 10pm. Didn't last long but was fairly steady.

This entire week will be in the 90s so I'm staying indoors as much as possible. Will just spend some time picking produce and that's about it.

We had some rain here a couple of days ago-.02-two one hundreds of an inch. Just enough to make mud spots on the car. At least this dry weather should hold off late blight on my tomatoes.

And, tomatoes! I picked about 9 lbs of the orange ones today, I will be making orange tomato sauce.

Vgkg, are the sweet potatoes just under the main stem/hill? Or do they make sweet potatoes wherever the vine roots along the way? Just for fun I planted one in a row (the Delicata over ran it) and one in a huge pot, but it's the first time I have grown them.

My basket of orange, with a few Speckled Roman

"Vgkg, are the sweet potatoes just under the main stem/hill?"

The bulk of the SPs are located under the main stem/plant but the spreading vines will re-root randomly to grow more SPs. I try to corral the vines into a parallel rows so I'll know where to dig them up, but it can be like herding cats. Today I'll attempt (in this stifling heat) to dig up more SPs under the mother plants by carefully cutting the vines away without disturbing the adjacent rows which will be dug up later in Oct.

Margi, I dehydrate my extra peppers and then grind them up in a coffee grinder until it turns into a fine powder. I then scoop it out and store it in old spice containers (mostly onion powder)-wear gloves unless you are dehydrating really mild peppers. I am just about out of the jalapeno powder I made last year and I didn’t have a good year for pepper production, so I will be switching to the Brazilian Starfish powder to add that extra kick to meals soon.

Thanks, Richard. I am having a bumper crop of hot peppers this year. I could easily send you some once I get them dehydrated. I don't have a timeline for doing this, so it could be quite awhile.

Just picked about 70 lbs of tomatoes!

Chef doesn't come until Saturday. Urg.

I fought off the heat to get the beet seed planted and covered the row with pine needles just like I did the carrot seed in the adjacent row. Hope this plan works and temps will be lower by the time they both germinate. The needles should be a good insulator without smothering the soil. They are also very easy to remove with one sweep with a stiff rake.

Now I just have to keep reminding myself that the pine needles are no longer on the walking path, not on the walking path, not on the walking path, not on the walking path...

Wow Cindy what a haul! We picked first batch of pole beans this morning. 3# of half runner and 1# of Mr Tung. Have a taste test coming up.

Weather is changing and we are supposed to finally get some rain on Friday.

Had a few t-storms last evening and ended up getting .6" of rain. The same could happen today. Low to mid 90s for the rest of the week.

However, the air quality is code yellow as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.

Doesn't key lime pie sound wonderful? Think I will have make one tomorrow. Yum.

No rain in sight here, just more Hot 90's. I was planning to mow some lawn this afternoon but it'll have to wait until after dinner when it's "cools" down into the 80's in the shadies. Did some watering earlier as things are getting thirsty out there. That developing hurricane in the Caribbean may hit the gulf coast by Monday and bring us some rain by Tues/Weds?

T-storms have been rolling through here for the past 2.5 hours or so. Rain gauge had 1.3" just now. Could rain more as there is still thunder out there.

And we have a flood warning until later this evening.

Send some of that rain down here Cindy. I still cannot plant the cabbage and broccoli transplants outside, too hot, it would set them back if not kill them fer sure. Maybe on Sunday, it's supposed to dip into the 80's by Tues? Way Too Hot to continue digging sweet potatoes, but will resume that chore before a major rain hits to avoid splits.

DW and I are making salsa today. 6 pints canned and 6 more in pot... trying to decide whether to kick it up a notch. We are using local version of Annie's salsa, less sugar, tomato sauce and paste. Our jalapeños are pretty mild though so thinking about chopping up some Serrano and fish or transylvanian chilis for this batch.

Oh boy. NO is going to get it again. So sorry for the people down there. We will probably be getting the remnants of Ida by Wednesday/Thursday.

Had quite a bit of thunder and lightening last night but no significant rain, which was good.

Storms were knocking on our door last nite around 11pm but they fizzled out just before hitting, no rain. I hope to finally plant the cabbage transplants today while it's cloudy with a high of just 90F. Yesterday I got the collard and turnip seed planted.

Yes NO and practically the lower 1/2 of the state is in harm's way for brutal wind, rain, and surge along the entire coastline. The levees and pumps will be tested to their max.

vgkg - Our temperature right now it 75 degrees with overcast skies. Amazing that you are so much warmer.

The company I work for has been scrambling the last couple days to get assets out of New Orleans and other gulf coast areas. It's almost up to Cat 5 with 150+ mph winds in the eye wall. Looks like Houma, LA is going to get a direct hit yet again.

Richard may get some rain from the outer bands later today.

We have a chance of rain later tonight but at this point it won't have much affect on my garden.

I'm making a huge pile of fajitas again tonight to use up a bunch of peppers. I'm including a few poblanos to kick it up a bit. Chicken, sirloin, and shrimp. They are so easy to have for leftovers.

Your fajitas sound great, Jack! My pepper plants are just now starting to produce. Late, as usual.

We're having paella tonight. Was supposed be last night but plans changed.

Cindy it's in the humid 70's here this morning, the 90F is the predicted high temp later today once the sun comes out. Got the cabbages in place, but the broccoli looks like a goner even though I pampered them in the semi-shade while waiting for cooler temps.

I also found the location of a yellow jacket nest in the front yard, or I should say that they found me, nyuk. Just one sting, but after dark tonite once they're all home I'll shut them down permanently.

We must be warmer than you Cindy. It's 82 here on the porch, but DW said she heard a report that it's 87 ??

My garden is a disaster this year. Not enough input and too much rain. We've had 3 days in the last 3 weeks without rain. Nothing has any taste, except the peaches and green beans. My green beans have brown spots, the older ones before picking and if you keep some overnight they also brown up. Tomatoes don't have much taste.

John, sorry that your garden is a disappointment this summer but your health is more important.

The high was only 83 yesterday and the few rain showers missed us, so that was good. Might not be so lucky later. Also not looking forward to the remnants of Ida late tomorrow and Wednesday.

Cindy - I appreciate the concern and I think I've been too negative this year. Sorry.

It looks like what's left of IDA is making a harder right turn so we'll just get brushed. But they're still predicting some major flooding mostly from the river levels caused by the rain before that gets here. But I'm worried that you'll get hit and vgkg will get more rain that he needs. Stay dry!

It never occurred to me that my tomatoes are amazingly crack free; I'm guessing because they're getting a consistent amount of moisture?

We got 1.2" of rain last night from heavy downpours but no violent winds and flooding which did hurt nearby areas. I did get most of the sweet potatoes dug up before it hit. Tomorrow the worst of Ida's leftovers will swing through and predictions of violent winds and storms isn't looking good. I had to re-buy new broccoli transplants which I'll plant after Ida passes by and cooler temps return. I'm ready to say goodbye to August!

No rain here last night which was good.

However, they are calling for two to six inches of rain for this area tomorrow from Ida. And flooding is a real concern. I'm actually more worried about losing power.

Yikes...Be safe all you Easterners!

We got a lot of rain this afternoon. It's all running off and the remnants of IDA aren't here yet. Streams are up out of their banks. They changed the track of the storm to run up through the mountains of PA and into NY. Clipping Pittsburgh and missing?? DC. They just moved the track to the northwest so I guess that means we'll get even more rain. All that rain in the mountains is gonna be bad; as it'll all run off into the valleys where a lot of roads run. OR used to run.

September!! https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6169691/veggie-tales-september-2021