Forest updates

It is waay too hot to get anything done in the forest. I went there a couple of times, cut down some weed (bamboo), moved around a few logs and after just about 1 hour got very dizzy almost to the point of fainting, although I kept drinking, shaded myself and kept a slow and cool pace.
The shredder is still waiting for parts. After no answer from the maker for a month I sent a reminder asking what the heck is going on. Only then they answered that their supplier wants to know the dimensions of the pulley which they are supposed to send to me.
Idiots. I told them nicely that the maker surely should know the goddamn dimensions of the parts of a machine they make better than me, so please go answer your supplier by yourself. I cannot measure stuff for you.
They apologized and said they will let the supplier know. Also again they apologized for the delay and said it will take a little more time.
Retards.
I should have asked for my money back from the get go, instead of trying to get things to work by repairing...
Anyway, I am moving all the bamboo to one side of the plot now, so they can just lie there and rot while I can get access to the plot to dig and what not. Later when it gets colder I can burn them if they are taking too much space.

This is the north side. I will be cutting these down next.

The north side bamboo belong to my neighboring plot. He already said OK but I just have to get his approval once more to be sure, and then clean them out.

I can't have these fall down on my saplings

Whenever a wind blows I see how the bamboo on the north bend back and forth with it. They are strong and seldom fall, but when they do I have seen what mess they make and how they break everything under them.

new growth

On the plot floor, I haven't been cutting weed other than bamboo so a new layer of green has slowly covered a lot of it. It's nice to look at, but will eventually have to go too.
Here is the 2-3 meter path I have opened up so far by moving the logs into the north side.

Lots of sweat went into clearing that

Getting warm...

Suddenly all the rain stopped and now we are in hell mode. Scorching sun all day long and it is hot hot hot. At least the garden likes it.
We got big lilies opening here and there, so I am afraid to let Tora out cause he may lick or chew on them directly or indirectly.

Red one at the entrance

White ones behind the blueberries

The sudden appearance of the sun following the constant rain has made the watermelons spread all over. They have bloomed and now just sitting there and waiting to be pollinated.

Out of nowhere... at least the bugs cannot threaten them anymore

A similar explosion of blueberries is happening, and I am picking 1-2 kg ripe berries everyday. I have made a couple batches of jam, fed the chickens with them, given away lots to neighbors and also made 3 litres of juice/syrup. Still they keep coming.

They're right there, behind the tomatoes

Sunflowers, although still tiny, waited for just the right time to show themselves, with the sun.

Yep... they're tiny

Also the passion fruits keep popping up. Right now I can count 5. The first one is same size as before, pretty small. But number 2 and 3 are getting bigger and bigger every day.

I added one more step to the trellis, just to be prepared for further growth

Jammin'

Picked the year's first batch of blueberries, and they look great. I guess putting a bit of fertilizer and cutting the weed around them had some effect. Boiled it all together with a bit of radish syrup (instead of sugar) and voila! We got home made blueberry jam.

Extremely yummy!

The cloudy and rainy continues... as a result the zucchini just keep coming out tiny and start to rot quickly. The tomatoes have started to gradually turn to orange color, but it is very slow and with this pace it will probably take a couple more weeks till they are red. Already I have picked and thrown away 3 big tomatoes that started turning brown rather than red as they too start to rot. Damn this summer with all the rain and no sun. They said on the news that the same thing is happening to the farmers and their crops are much smaller and they have to sell them at a higher price this year.
Oh well... not much one can do against the forces of nature.
The passion fruit keeps climbing the trellis, with a bit of guidance, and there are already 3 fruits hanging there waiting to ... rot?

Come on sun, make these ripen rather than rotten

Promised myself to spend at least 1 day next weekend in the forest moving bamboo, that is if the weather permits it...

Mr. Potatohead

The rain doesn't stop... even those days that are not rainy there is this misty downfall that makes everything wet. I am still waiting for the shredder part to arrive, and thanks to the constant rain haven't been to the forest in like 2 weeks. So one of those non-rainy misty days I went over expecting the plot to be overgrown with bamboos...
It was overgrown but mostly with weeds. The bamboos seem to have taken a break in sending thick shoots up, and instead are sending thin baby shoots that spawn lots of leaves. Nevertheless, they all had to go so I spent some time cleaning them out. Also, realizing that all the bamboo that make up the "flooring" of the plot aren't going anywhere soon, I started to move them to the back of the plot, opening up the main area for doing other things like burning bamboos or felling trees or digging. Just moving all those thick bamboos is hard work too so I just managed to clear a 2 meter wide strip so far. When I was all spent, I thought I should go over to the field where I planted potatoes and melons and see if there is anything there. I haven't done anything at all to help them grow. Just put in the seeds and left them there... too busy to even check on them.
There were a few, maybe 5-6 melon plants that had just started blooming, which I guess will die with all this rain. And as for the potatoes, there was nothing, so I assumed they had already sprouted and grown and died, just like the ones in my backyard and the garden.
I picked a random spot and dug a few centimeters with my hands, and there were potatoes. Not huge ones but anyway. So although I was tired as fuck, I spent another hour digging out all the potatoes from the field.

The harvest

I think weight-wise at least I got more spuds that I put in. But I wouldn't call it a success exactly.

Let's clean those babies

Luckily there was a lot of tiny ones which I just love. I just fry them like they are and they taste great.

All washed and ready to store

I am keeping them in a cardboard box and shake it once or twice a day cause I heard they will develop skin that way. After a few days I can move them to the fridge. If any left, cause I we are already eating them every day.
In the garden, the passion fruit is blooming and making new fruits despite the rain. It is adjusting to the trellis just fine, and I hope come winter I will be able to just cover it with plastic to avoid frost.

Passion

Cloudy summer

Summer so far has been pretty rainy and grey. But still hot and humid so the vegetables are growing as expected. My expectations are pretty low though because the soil of my garden has been lawn for many many years and lacks quality. I hope it gets better year by year as I add mulch and manure and stuff to it.
Have not been to the forest in a couple of weeks as it has been raining a lot and I am waiting for chipper parts to arrive.
Oh, I forgot to mention, after the shredder machine company got my extremely polite mail complaining about the low quality of their chipper, they sent me not an apology but a list of parts that I would need to order and pay for to bring the machine back to working shape. Along with that they listed a lot of excuses that bamboo is hard and their machine can actually not handle it although they clearly mentioned it as chippable by their machine when they sold it. As summary they pointed out that the machine had broken down due to wrongful usage and hence reparation would be my responsibility. Thanks as always for your business, we wait for your order, they concluded.
That kinda brought my blood to boil and I thought to myself no more Mr. nice guy. I wrote a very polite answer in which I calmly and respectfully brought to their attention that they have in fact sold me a subpar product, used false advertising and that it had broken even though I followed the instructions. I wrote that I would be disappointed if their attitude was to blame their faults on customers, and that I was now starting to think about filing a complaint with the authorities and get all of my spent money back.
Quickly after that I got a small mail with a very short apology, saying that they understood the situation, and they would accept the burden of the parts needed to repair the machine. Please wait until we arrange and ship the parts to you. Thanks as always for your patronage, they said.
So I am waiting for those parts to arrive to fix the chipper and give it one more go...
Aaaanyway, this post is just to bring you up to date with what the garden looks like.
First off, a couple of examples of what I mean with low expectations on produce...

The cornless corn

The corn in the backyard are getting bigger taller and thicker everyday but I have still not seen a single cob on them... is it a timing problem?

Zucchini jungle

The zucchini are very good at producing lots of leafs and flowers but when it comes to actual zucchini, well they get up to about 10 cm and start rotting. I have so far only been able to harvest 2 tiny ones, maybe 20 cm.

More zucchini

In the middle of the zucchini, a few tomato seeds have survived from last year and grown to really slim plants with a couple of tiny tomatoes hanging from them. Still green as you can see in the picture...
The tomatoes I actually planted for this year are doing better.

growing tall and pride

I have been diligent in removing weeds around them and staking up their branches. Also kept bamboo chip mulch in good shape under them. So now I can see some nice size tomatoes coming out.

Please bugs don't eat these

The string beans at the garden entrance and also inside the garden have already started to produce yummy looking results.

string beans

And the chickens are loving all this green scenery just beyond their run. Inside the run they eat anything green in their sight so it looks like a desert.

chickens eating breakfast

The other morning I was removing weeds in the backyard when I noticed carrot leafs sticking out. I pulled it up and found this cute and sweet carrot.

Can't B more natural than this

For a while I thought the melons and watermelons are doomed but now it seems they have made a comeback.

watermelons

melons

And also the passion fruit is adapting to its trellis...

I guide it along the bars every now and then

I build the trellis as the plant grows

And finally, I think I planted too many saplings, and now it is getting pretty crowded. Especially the mulberry tree/bush is just spreading out and bullying the others. I will be pruning it a lot this winter to get it into shape. Now it just looks wild.
Also the walnut trees are starting to look like trees. They are now taller than me with real branches.

The trees..