Too Hot

Ridiculous heat wave in the EC this week, but I took the 3 year old outside early (like 8 AM early!) to do some harvesting and garden maintenance. This is four varieties of tomato - finally a couple green zebras deigned to ripen. Woo hoo; I'm over them. All the cherries' production are much decreased. Our carrot greens are looking leafy and pretty; it will be guesswork as to when's the right time to pick. I trimmed my dry as a bone mint back, along with not one but two pots of dead-or-dying basil; I'm okay if they decide to continue their slow march to the grave regardless.

I also stopped by the city to take advantage of Free Compost Week, but unfortunately didn't make it there until 11 AM so I boiled to death while shoveling up my allotment. Then it stunk up the car on the way home, with my poor daughter clutching her pink sparkly t-shirt over her mouth, through her car seat buckles, to breath through.

Too Many Tomatoes??

Daily harvest

Yes, that day has come, when I am finally tired of cherry tomatoes. We'll see if they last through November like they did last year. Still pending: a great deal of boring garden maintenance that goes along with the change in seasons. I hope to make it to the local compost giveaway this week - er, that is, I will be sending my husband, so I hope *he* makes it.

As the Harvest Turns

Harvest season is wrapping up with a whimper in my garden. The green beans - all 8 individual plants - have succumbed to a form of powdery mildew. (My husband suggested wearing a hazmat suit when I pull them out. I am picturing it like the scene in ET when they remove him...) The cherry tomatoes are dwindling. Our pumpkins never did get big, but they are bright orange, so we'll pick those this week. I have a few cilantro guys and some tiny feathery carrot greens coming up, and that's about it; I need to get out there and sow another round of those seeds. Our weather has alternated with hot (75F) days and a couple rainstorms over the last week - it's been more muggy than foggy this Indian Summer. (Daughter: Why is it called that? Because the Indians like summer the most?)

Weekend Away; Or, When Cherry Tomatoes Run Amuck

The garden has been quietly consistent for the past few weeks; everything that's been producing has kept producing, and nothing that hasn't been producing has surprised me. We went away for the weekend. I picked cherry tomatoes on Friday morning; I picked more upon our return on Sunday evening. Then I went out today and gave them a thorough harvest. This is about two pounds. My best hope for getting rid of them is to position the tub near the edge of the kitchen counter and then sternly forbid the kids to go near it. They adore "sneaking" treats. Hahahaha... I am the sneakiest.

I'm getting something that looks a lot like powdery mildew on some of my green beans, but not all, which would almost be a relief at this point. No relief for me!

Tomatoramarama

We are still going strong with four varieties of tomatoes (insert bad word here vis a vis Green Zebra). Kids won't eat the Indigo Blueberries, and unfortunately it does look funny mixed in other dishes, like my homemade salsa, so it's one for the grownups to gobble out of hand. I sent one kid to school today with a tub of cherry tomatoes as a side dish for lunch - wonder if the other kids will make fun of him!  The other kid will only eat cherry tomatoes outside, straight off the plant.

Sadly, I'm seeing only minimal shoots from my two discrete sowings of lettuce, cilantro, and carrots over the past few weeks. I'll have to sow again this week. I need my cilantro!

Wordless Wednesday: Tomatoes

Indigo Blueberry Cherry Tomato - Short Version: Don't Do It!

I've yanked out onions and sugar snap peas in the last week, and need to do the same with two out of my three pots of basil. ("Mommy, why do we have three basil plants?" "Bad planning, honey.") I have to wait a bit for the tomatoes to wrap up before taking them out, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be a long wait. Last year I was harvesting until November; this year, thanks to the nonperformance of the Green Zebra - exactly ONE fruit to date - and the lackluster performance of the Indigo Blueberry, we are under-tomato'ed.

The Indigo Blueberry grew to a respectable height quickly after it was in the ground, then spent wasted lots of time spreading and blossoming. Now, not only is it taking up too much space outside its cage (crowding is a possible factor in the Zebra's problems) it's very hard to tell if it's ripe. The fruits have to be pink ON THE BOTTOM. Hence, you have to CROUCH DOWN and squint UNDERNEATH at each individual fruit. Just because one of any given cluster is pink doesn't mean they all are. You have to look at them ALL. What a pain. You can see how many fruits there are on the bush... Who has the time for this kind of minute examination? Nothing special about the flavor, either. I am mad at myself for succumbing to the lure of the well-named tomato.

Bah.

More is More

... unless it's less, which is how many of these cherry tomatoes actually make it inside to be prepared in a meal. I sauteed a slew of green beans last night; yum.

Mid-August Menace

Wall of sound - no, berries.

Here's the scary berries, and the rest of the August growth. I got a shock yesterday when I noticed the indigo "blueberry" tomato plant had a couple with pink underbellies - first sign of that color on them all summer. I tried one. EDIBLE. First edible fruit off that plant! There's about a million more coming. I cannot believe how long it took. Stupid innovative tomato.

I took out the alliums of mystery, and (right after taking this photo) the sugar snap peas. I *think* green beans may be wrapping up, but that could just be wishful thinking. HOW MANY THAI CURRIES CAN ONE FAMILY EAT.

Everything else. Just looks like a lot of work at this point!

My son's zinna is really brightening up the joint, even through the Fog-ust.

More of Everything

That's the thing about harvest, at least when you're not too adept at timing crops. IT JUST KEEPS COMING. More of everything today, including nectarines, tomatoes, green beans, lemon cucumbers ... I don't even turn my head to look at the berries when I go outside this week; it's too scary. I am being MENACED by ripe blackberries. We don't have time every day to do a fruit stand, but we certainly have the produce for it.

Mid-July Miscellany

It's mid-July, and while I've got a continuous harvest going, I do feel like it's not as much of everything as this time last year. (Except berries, which continue to deluge the household.)

The tomatoes, it must be confessed, are not producing anywhere like they should. See the Green Zebra at left - nada. What a waste of time, water, and dirt. My son's Sun Gold has one or two a day. My other cherry has one or two every couple days, and the Indigo remains disgusting - just tastes unripe, no matter how big it gets. Let's blame the drought, or possibly Flora Grubb Gardens for selling it to me.

I am getting - literally - a handful of green beans and sugar snap peas daily. That, at least, is perfect. Can't stop congratulating myself for not overplanting!

Between the two pumpkin plants that came up (out of I can't even tell you how many seeds), we've got two well-established baby pumpkins, with a couple more tiny possibilities. At least all my potted herbs are doing great, for once.

Finally!

We're finally getting some tomatoes! My 5 year old is SUPER proud that his Sungold plant is the first to produce, but he is almost as excited to give me a daily report on how my plants are coming along. His is producing a couple a day; mine are almost ready.

In my first flush of enthusiasm and ignorance, I popped a purple cherry into my mouth before it was anywhere near ripe - YUCK - but I had to quickly mask it so the kids wouldn't get turned off them. O the sacrifices parents make. I'll be giving those guys a wide berth now. They can stay on the plant until they provide me with a written notice of readiness.

Our wacky weather has been cool and foggy in the mornings and late afternoons/evenings, but fairly warm and sunny midday. The zucchini is happy as a clam and producing well. I even have a lemon cuke almost ready to pick, and we're getting a right-sized handful of sugar snap peas and green beans daily. The blackberries continue to flourish. We picked about 10 cups worth in the past few days because my husband was seized with a desire to make jam. Using a newly acquired vintage food mill my aunt gave us, he was able to de-seed them nicely, and we tried the jam this morning. It was excellent. I love helping the kids make that mental connection between taking care of our plants and eating what they produce. Viva los berries!

Heating Up

We got back from a five-day vacation (Legoland's strawberries are doing much better than mine - maybe the slugs are made of Legos), and it was the cutest thing to watch the kids rush through the house to get to the backyard upon our return. "Mommy! Come here! Your tomatoes are growing! The zucchini is big! There are LOTS of peas!" Homecoming was pretty sweet.

And in fact, things are looking great. My new pot of lettuce is sprouting merrily, my new little pot of cilantro is ready for harvesting (mental note: time to sow again), and 4 out of our 5 tomato plants have the teeniest little green fruits on them. All the green beans I sowed are coming up - wow, are we going to have a lot of green beans for the crop swap - and even my pathetic little yellow squash finally has a blossom on it. I love June in the garden! Hope is still alive, blackberries are ripe for the plucking, and all is well.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

The kindergartener just rushed in to tell me, "There's some baby tomatoes on my plant! Do you want to come see?" OF COURSE I DO!

Weather Worries

Happy squash blossom

Weather issues here in our foggy microclimate - this morning it was wintry, foggy, and blustery. By 11:30 that had cleared away, and we have full sun with a light breeze.  I am worried about our tomatoes, although right now they all look fine, and the yellow squash is not a happy camper.

I got sidewalk chalk out for the kids to keep them busy while I weeded and now I will be cleaning chalk off every surface inside and outside the house until I die.

In Which I Earn a Day of Rest

Small child attempting to defend his lettuce against slugs.

Wow! My five-year-old is excited and so am I - "his" tomato has noticeably grown after only 7 days in the ground. This is what it's all about! Over the weekend I bought my final tomato plants at Westbrae Nursery. I like Westbrae a lot - it is not fancy like my other local nursery, and it has a wide selection. It also has a bathroom - anytime you're out and about with a small child, this is important information to have at your fingertips. It is also soon to have a beer garden so, yay.

Whatever.

Huffing and puffing, I got every last little loose end in the ground, except for green beans due to space considerations. I'm giving my sugar snap peas a week to impress me, then they've got to make room for beans. With one out of the five of my tomatoes, I did the whole black plastic thing - this time around, it was due to time pressure. Last year, I did all my intentional tomatoes with it and my volunteer was the most productive. Ergo, I wasn't too set on it this year.

It's a really pleasant sense of accomplishment to have almost everything in, in a timely manner and with the kids participating in their modest way!

Frosty Christmas

We are hopefully nearing the end of a cold snap that's been raging for more than a week. I am trying to avoid looking out back at my poor garden. Needless to say, as the mere undergardener, I did not think of protecting my crops until I walked the kids to school on the first morning after the first frost, and saw many houses with improvised frost covers in their gardens.  "Oops," read my thought bubble. I later went out and picked a couple of the ripe golden cherries just to check. WOW - I have never eaten such a nasty, bitter tomato before. Now I know and will do better next year! As soon as it warms up a little, I'll get out there and pull the tomatoes, peas, and whatever other sorry specimens are still in the ground.

Meanwhile, there's plenty to occupy us with Christmas preparations. My kindergartener is singlehandedly designing ornaments out of construction paper, felt, and sparkly pipe cleaners. My toddler is busy coloring with markers and leaving their caps off. We've got stuff to do, people! See you in January!

Winter Ahoy

Finally, some rain predicted for today! A bit fell this morning, just at the wrong time to get me all excited about rainboots and rainjackets for the walk to school, by which time it had stopped. We had to pause midway so my son could switch his boots for his shoes (in his backpack). More is in the forecast, which is awesome because as usual I am sick of watering. However, the tomatoes still have not gotten the memo that winter is almost here - my bush Roma, in particular, rocks on, albeit more slowly than in its prime. The cilantro is also looking good still - got to plan a meal around that! I see a few green tantalizers where we planted a variety of seeds a couple weeks ago so they will love the rain too.

Slim Pickings

The kids and I picked about 10 golden cherry tomatoes, some mint and cilantro (for my spring roll toppers - kids won't eat either), and some unauthorized lettuce. "Unauthorized" because I would have said it was too small to pick, but the 2 y.o. has a "better to ask forgiveness than permission" policy. Those golden cherries just keep on giving, and we keep taking. I watered my new seed area (lettuce, carrots, etc.) and kept my fingers crossed. We'll be out of town for the long weekend so I hope the watering will last them until Tuesday. I also gave my mint its periodic cutting-back; it always seems to love it and come back stronger.

Full Speed to Halloween

My homegrown Cinderella's Coach is the belle of the ball.

Second biggest holiday of the year for kids! I did not fully appreciate that until this year. My family
and I are loving the crisp morning walks to school, spotting and admiring many spooky decorations around the neighborhood, and endless chatter about costumes. (Maybe that last one is enjoyed more by the kids than by me.) Only two more days! It's so exciting to be a kid this time of year - magic around every corner.

In the garden - oh, right, the garden! - I brought myself to pull my green beans. Boy, was it time. The cilantro is doing great, the lettuce I planted at the same time - not so much. I just can't seem to get the hang of lettuce's timing. I want to plant more peas and new carrots this week, and - hope springing eternal - lettuce. We're still getting a few golden cherry tomatoes. "We" meaning my little locusts, who swarm the bush and promptly eat the fruits before anyone else can get to it. I may need to pull the tomatoes for room.

Locusts at work.