The Old Guy's Garden Record

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Thursday, October 8, 2026 - First Seed Catalog

Our copy of the 2027 Twilley Seed Company's seed catalog arrived in the mail on Monday. As it often is, Twilley's is the first seed catalog of the season to arrive. We've ordered a variety of flower and vegetable seed from them over the years and have been mostly satisfied with the seed quality. During my farming years in the 1980's, we exclusively used their sh² sweet corns for roadside sales before most seed houses offered them.

Butternut Squash

I picked/cut our first butternut squash on Monday. It was ripe, but rather small by our standards. I found three more immature squashes. The butternuts have been limited in growth by our dry weather. They also got a late start with seed germinating in a compost pile.

East Garden

We've probably lost use of the field next to us where we grew sweet corn, melons, squash and other space hogs. For about ten years we kept the field mowed in a loose agreement with the the farm renter.

The land owners have taken a new interest in the field and barn. They put some serious money into fixing up the barn. They also strongly suggested we no longer mow or use the field. And no, they expressed no appreciation of our care for the area. I'm wondering what their plans are for the field, barn, and pond.

Hummingbirds Gone

We've kept watch, but it appears that migrating hummingbirds that visit our feeders are gone. That's just a few days earlier than usual. I took down our last hummingbird feeder today and began the process of cleaning them for next season.

Dogs

Maggie May, our new hounddog puppy, has begun to fill out. Her ribs no longer show, and she's getting in trouble chewing things in the house. But she's only had one accident in the house, and she pretty much stays in the yard without a leash on.

She's also become big buddies with our older dog, Pepper. He just had a bunch of boils removed off his skin. The two dogs play inside and dig for moles when outdoors.

Songs Going Through My Head

It's funny what tunes pop into your head. I have no idea where the Chordettes Mr. Sandman and Lollipop came from. Those songs were popular before I was a teenager. I heard Whitesnake's Here I Go Again on the radio and it stuck in my head for a few days. And an article about Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's All Right stuck as well.

Health

For a garden site like Senior Gardening just to disappear without an explanation is a bit unfair to regular readers. So...

My age (78) began catching up with me last season. Lots of minor physical problems prevented serious work outside. This season I've been having potential skin cancers cut and lasered off my back and arms. Of 15-20 such minor events were half squamous cell cancers. I also have to apply an Efudex cream daily to prevent more cancers from getting going. One can't have any sun exposure when using the cream. And Efudex has a long list of side effects, many of which I'm experiencing.

I hope to work through all this stuff and be back gardening next spring.

FTC Required Disclosure Statement: Botanical Interests, High Mowing Organic Seeds, Park Seed, and True Leaf Market are some of our Senior Gardening affiliate advertisers. Clicking through one of our ads or text links and making a purchase will produce a small commission for us from the sale. We're also a consumer member of the Fedco Seeds Cooperative.

Contact Steve Wood, the at Senior Gardening