![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/summer-kale-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/everblooming-strawberry-150x150.jpg\")
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/eggplant-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tMelons and okra were both particularly slow getting started across East Texas. \u00a0Everyone was a little disappointed not to find their favorite summer treats ready for the 4th of July picnics, but I have to say you are missing a treat if you don’t take advantage of these fall bonanzas! \u00a0 Get yourself down to the Farmer’s Market and find some on Saturday!<\/p>\n
I pickle some of the okra (the littlest ones) and dry others for chips.<\/p>\n
What’s that? \u00a0You haven’t tried okra chips, you say? \u00a0Maybe we will bring some for sharing to the Fall Festival at Athens Organic. \u00a0That’s October 24, so you might want to pencil that in to your calendar. \u00a0<hint> <hint>.<\/p>\n
Herbs, of course, love summer!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Hidden among the weeds\u00a0are some\u00a0nice stands just perfect for harvest; basil, mints, sage, oregano, lemon grass, ginger, and lemon balm, \u00a0 Not to mention some of the natives like blackberry (root) and Sassafras leaves (gumbo file). \u00a0 We’ll make some of the basil and mint into pesto. \u00a0Whatever\u00a0survives fresh eating\u00a0will be frozen in ice-cube trays to use later. \u00a0Other herbs will be dried to use as spices and teas.<\/p>\n Ginger is one of the best to keep around. \u00a0It’s one of the healthiest herbs out there! \u00a0\u00a0 We add fresh ginger juice to a hot lemonade\/raw honey\/ginger tea\u00a0to soothe (or prevent) colds and flu. (Disclaimer: \u00a0I’m a gardener, not a doc. \u00a0Just sayin’.)<\/p>\n Of course, since we work hard at finding and developing heirloom varieties that grow well in our sandy East Texas soil, we also save a lot of seed for next year’s garden. It assures us of a good source of seed and contributes to preserving this genetic resource for the future.<\/p>\n Seed saving isn’t the most picturesque of our chores. \u00a0Plants gone to seed blend in well with the weeds that got away from us somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n How to resolve this? \u00a0 Most of the area (except for the smaller winter garden area) will be mowed, tilled and planted in a winter cover crop of elbon rye (prevents erosion, helps control root-knot nematodes and provides\u00a0for lots of nice organic nitrogen in the spring.)<\/p>\n Then we’ll get busy on our winter projects. \u00a0A new composting area, planting of fruit and pecan trees, removal of invasive trees, fencing…. \u00a0 \u00a0I’ll keep you up to date on those as they come about.<\/p>\n In the meantime, would you like to have coffee and talk garden? \u00a0 I’ll be at the Athens Organic coffee shop (Hwy 31 E of Athens) about 9:00 AM for the next few Tuesday mornings. \u00a0 We could plan winter gardens or seed-starting schedules for spring. \u00a0You bring your seed catalogs and I’ll bring mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We’ve had a great summer break here on the knoll (that’s a ‘hill’ to most Texans). \u00a0 Now. just as the weather begins to cool a bit, it’s time to get back out to the…Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-random","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/spearmint-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/lemon-grass-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/gopherknoll.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/hibiscus-leaves-150x150.jpg\")
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<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"summer](\"http:\/\/gopherknoll.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/summer-weeds.jpg?w=660\")
<\/a><\/p>\n