Mumday photo parade

xoxobb

again, an abandoned crop perseveres...

 

Varied hues are (if I remember correctly) due to a packet of mixed carrot types. Great for short-attention-span, color-greedy gardeners, in particular. =) Whomever that might include... these were tucked deep inside a corn forest.

Note how, despite the strong, clear lighting,
it takes a while to see the cat.

Genius cryptic design...

xobb

pre-Mono wind mums: pollinator, schmollinator...

 
Having read the forecast re: crazy winds, I went to the garden one late afternoon for a last chance photo session. I assumed the winds would strip our precious flowers of their dazzling petals.

Who knew chrysanthemums were so stunning in the fall when all else is drab, drab, drab? I, clearly, did not. Consider me re-educated.

By the way, I am (was??) not a big flower person.
I love them, but feel that growing food is a higher priority
and possibly a better bang for my carbon buck.

However, I am a color pig.

AND, the pollinators LOVE all these flowers,
whether it's spring, summer, or fall,
and that draws them to my garden,
wherein pollination of squash, etc., occurs.

So... I think I'm changing.

I believe in FLOWER POWER!

xobb

thriving on neglect...

 

bb's garden, be it ever so freaky...

tired cherry toms and vibrant chrysanthemums

all the chrysanthemums (4) I bought for $1 each 2 years ago on sale,
end of season scraggly, skinny, tall things, planted them,
they took root, survived the winter, and got BIG.

broccoli & chrysanthemum friends

broccoleaf

carrots living in a corn forest

stringed beans

tiny, adorable volunteer melon

empty tomatillo husks

the overview: not pretty

But, it all depends upon where you look.

Hunker down among the mums, and it's gorgeous.

=)

gardening block overcome, rewards subsequently reaped

 

Everyone, including beans I'm stripping
to get bean plant to resume production.

Mostly cherry toms + 2 ancho peppers.

Tomatillos 'n' little peppers (some sweet, some hot).

A few of the tomatillos are as big as regular tomatoes.
Apparently these pups thrive on neglect.
That and an accidentally deep planting bed,
probably 'cause it catches & keeps more water.

Some of the tomatillos w/husks look like
little green jack o' lanterns to me, so it's kinda seasonally apt.

Anyhow, I'm loving all this color.

Happy Halloween, everyone! =)

xoxobb

isn't a broccoli plant supposed to make broccoli?

 

This lovely plant has not made any broccoli looking thing EVER.

I planted it way too late last fall, it was TINY all winter long (say, 3 inches??), then in spring, I'd almost forgotten about it, and it GREW, saying, in effect, "We are here! We are here!"

Okay, then.

Watered, fertilized a bit, the usual. Grew like mad.

But, no broccoli. No little sprouts anywhere.

Gorgeous blue silver leaves, yes, so aesthetically,

it's already pulling its weight.

However, shouldn't FOOD arrive at some point?

And it's now October... it's almost a year old.

This happen to anyone else, out there?

Scratching Head,

biobabbler

corn porn

 

Yeah, baby!

=)

bb

Super colorful mystery resident of sunflower face

 

Here s/he is...

Close up

Per Sue, this is a red-shouldered stink bug, presumably Thyanta pallidovirens. Wow, Sue's quick, fired out that answer within minutes of posting.

LOVE my smarty blog readers!! =)

Sun comets, streaking through space.

There's such motion and fire in their form.

Heaven.

Today, planning to yank "failure to thrive" tomato plants
and plant peas and broccoli.
I hate pulling live plants,
not even sure if I've done it yet,
but frankly,
they've looked so poorly all summer,
it'll be a relief.

And then, brand fresh baby plants! =)

I do love a good cotyledon...

xobb

furry study buddy (warning to arachniphobes...) & garden alert

 

Study buddy

This was on the window screen yesterday, nearest where I sit and edit.

Nice pedipalps, baby! Kinda furry, eh?

Nice to have company while I'm working.
And an excuse to get off my fanny and grab the camera.
I'll try to figure out who she is when I have more time,
ooh, and then I can add (presumed) her to my species pages...


Garden alert for No. Hemisphere folks

Dood, it's the last day of August!

I've not even BEGUN my August plantings. (eep!)
You know, peas, lettuce, and whatever else
grows happily when it's cool vs. 100 dF.

What do you typically plant in late summer, early fall?

And when are you expecting/planning the harvest?
Fall, winter, spring... ?

I'm still learning, so am interested to hear what you do.

Typically, I'm so hip-deep in the high tide of August harvesting,
I can't even think about planting. However, this year
I am determined to get more year-round from our dirt.

Gotta get to it!

=)

xobb

Monday's harvest

 

Guess how many pounds that is....

biobabbler

eek! 9.2 lbs of tomatoes? On November 4th?

 
Decided that since I am a) totally sore everywhere and b) hoping to stem a produce panic (no pun intended) and c) SO not at my word count for the day, I will NOT go to the gym today (after 3 days in a row).

Laundry, dishes, maybe some pasta sauce, but def. lots of WRITING!!

Anyhow, harvested these pups today:

Aren't they adorable?

And weighed them. On the people scale, as it maxed out the cooking scale. 9.2 lbs.

And that's not counting the dozen on our counter, the dozens MORE in the garden, the 4 pumpkins I bought, and the 7 winter squash we grew.

Take a long, slow, deep breath...

... and there's the dried blue corn I have to figure out how to mill...

=) Everyone should have this problem. Too much fresh food.

So, here's a shot from the outside of the garden looking in.

You can see a) tomatoes looking like prisoners in a line up, and b) some of the tomato plants still green and happy, c) my chrysanthemums blooming (the purple and pink 'neath the middle of the railing).

The flowers tipped over 'cause I got them, the straggly creatures, at the $1 sale at the nursery. And I probably SHOULD cut the flowers and bring them inside, but the bees are so happy they're there, and the cats would probably just eat them, so they just lay out there, looking beautiful and forlorn.

So: the tomato sauce recipe in Joy of Cooking calls for 2.5 lbs of tomatoes. Guess I'm trippling that puppy. AFTER I figure out how in the world I'll fit everything into the already stuffed fridge.

Maybe tomorrow is tomato sauce day. I'm tired just thinking about it.

And I've still got to get the words out.

Happily, today I thought of something that will be a fun device. I think someone in the story will be a blogger. Then I can have blog posts within the book! OMG, HOW FUN!

Anyhow.

=) yes, bowl of cereal, brush teeth, then back at the keyboard.

xobb

today's harvest: blinded by buttercup

 
Another unusual harvest day. Or, maybe it's just a fall thing. Cut pretty much all of the winter squash I could readily see. At least until I couldn't see.

buttercup squash, tomatoes, and corn

Once again, gardening around 10:30 a.m., when apparently my blood sugar has crashed (thought I felt fine...), so blinking, grabbing for old corn and squash I said out loud: "Why can't I see?" I'd blink again and my vision re: what I was staring directly at would return, but then it'd happen again. yikes.

So steered myself and the umpteen squashes swaddled in my sweatshirt back to the house for a meal. For me, not the squashes.

Woke up later, and the stems had been oozing clear liquid that the ants liked onto the floor. Picked myself up from my brunch-induced coma and cleaned up the mess, unceremoniously swiping ants.

Take Home Lesson
Freshly picked winter squash initial storage position? Stem-side up, if you don't want cute little sugary pools. =)

Learning all the time with this gardening thing.

Picture is from here, Wikipedia.

Thinkin' that's partly why Thomas Jefferson (brainiac) and George Washington (brainiac who had his own still!) were so into it.

You can seriously geek out; and it's never the same. Ever.

And it's fun.

And yummy.

And pretty.

And the ants love it!

xobiobabbler

weird harvest day... and sexy chocolate shot

 

Finally harvested the watermelons--the vines were all dead, so figured it's time. Yanked out the vines.

fling!

Watermelon for the season: Done.

 The last of the summer squash.

Growth rates super slow, and I want the plots for something else, so out they came, and into the chicken runs.

fling!

Squash for the season: Done.

More nightshades! Lotsa jalapenos.

Had to take a shot of the weigh in of our largest tomato this year

Large is not a priority for me re: tomatoes.

Taste and vigor are.

Nevertheless, I have been beguiled by this plump cutie.

Harvested corn, yesterday, until sunset.

Not flinging the stalks, yet, as they are still supporting winter squash.

Vast majority of the corn for the season: Done.  

Can you see why a color freak like me would grow this corn? YUM!

Not sure how to dry it, but hoping some day it'll be blue corn flower.

Then blue cornbread, maybe? COOL!

Cosmos seeds (and petals). Collected these, then...

fling!

Cosmos for the season: Done.

Feeling kind of ruthless in the garden, of late;
when in doubt, yank it out. =)

fling!

So, while in garden yesterday, after 1.5 hrs, covered in dirt, sweat, and a mixture of live and dead aphids (corn = aphidy), the orange sun sinking below the horizon, I remember: I'm supposed to make something today for Bear's potluck.

Hm.

My default if I space on said task is brownies. Easy, popular, smell good, and I usually have the ingredients.

And that's where this came from:

I love how glassy and smooth this chocolate looks in the pale blue bowl.

Chocolate is so beautiful.

sigh

And last, but not least, these folks stopped by to say Hi to y'all...

Cuties. Looks like a double date.

Looks like I'm not the only one running around this fall, preparing for winter. =)

biobabbler