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!

Green Bean City

Solved a minor green bean mystery the other day. One of the plants on a pole had snuck up and over the neighbor's fence. When I noticed it and pulled it back over, I found some monsters on it - obviously inedible, obviously been growing for some time. When I plucked them off and redirected the plant, I hoped/feared it would spur more growth and in fact that seems to be happening. I'm getting a large handful a day now. The cherry tomatoes are all continuing their party too. My basil sadly just can't hack our crazy weather (cold and chilly until 1 or 2, when it might reach 70). None of my lettuce seeds have come up! Cilantro coming along, at least.

Zealous Zinnia

I am not a flower gardener, but the kids always pester me to put in some seeds, and I must admit, my son's zinnia is doing its darnedest to brighten up his dark little corner of the garden. It makes him happy, and that makes me happy.

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!