tomato stitches, you know you're a hick when, and harvest shots

  
1. Here are pictures of one of the self-suturing tomatoes. Still amazes me. And, btw, how RED is that? =)

Perfect, tiny stitches. Honestly, biology NEVER ceases to amaze me.

2. You know you're a hayseed when...

... you are cleaning out the chicken coop, and to prop the door open, you use a corn cob.

All I need now is to knock out a front tooth to complete the picture. =)

3. Outdoor-oven-baked veggies

It will be well over 100 degrees today. Happy fall (-down-dead-from-the-heat)! Chicken pool day, for sure.

Poor garden is getting cooked:

3 days ago I DEEP watered it and yesterday dying leaves appeared on the tomato plants.

Yay.

Watered again yesterday (some) and will water again today (the rest and maybe start again). 100 dF yesterday plus single digit humidity = water magically disappears.

Here's the 3 sisters plot (corn, squash, beans) this a.m. with (sun-beaten) tomatoes in the foreground:

Clearly the squash is making a break for it, crawling up the fence. Once it gets out of the fence, though, thirsty deer snarf it right up, so it's never gonna happen.

SOME day the corn will be ready... the (few) beans are already drying.

Here's the watermelons with my (not so) dainty sneaker for scale.

Still not ready (tap tap tap go my toes), but a good number of the little guys. And they're so cute!

4. Aphidphreakout

Yesterday I had a kind of uncool moment in the corn plot.

I saw an ear that had all this black on it, so looked closer, expecting a pigment or soot issue, and it was aphids. LOTS of black aphids. EEK! Gross.

Well, see, there WAS a ladybug there, so I should have just left and let him/her stuff his/her face, but was sufficiently freaked that I grabbed the ear, the ladybug flew away, and I hosed it down to get them all off NOW.

Should have waited. oop.

5. Today's harvest:

my favorite shot

mmm... leaves....(snarf, snarf)

I also could have harvested a bunch of jalapeno peppers and some basil, but don't know what to do with them, yet (including the pile of peppers in the fridge), so I'll wait.

6. Fall/winter garden happenings


So far have only planted broccoli--tiny cotyledons have poked their heads up, lately being brutally beaten by the crazy hot sun. Poor things.

I just hope they survive today (the hottest predicted day) and make it through to this weekend, when it should be less oven-like.

I really need to Today I pledge to go through my seeds and select 1-3 things to plant in the very near future. I have one very small plot prepped and ready to go, and I may yank a few squash soon to stuff that plot with root-plants.

The rotation order I follow is PLMR. P is potatoes (which I don't grow, but also is for tomatoes, peppers, any nightshades), L is legumes/brassica, M is miscellaneous (which includes squash and melons), and R is roots.


In the mean time, I just want to keep my chickens and plants alive through this last BLAST of summer.

How's your summer/fall transition going?

=) xobiobabbler

You'll NEVER believe this...

I certainly didn't.

Tuesday I plant "three sisters": squash, beans, corn in one plot (well, 60% of one plot). Seem to recall average germination is in the ball park of 9 days (off top of my head) so figure I'll be watering dirt for some time.

This morning (Sunday) I see about 3 things coming up, that look like this:

What?!? I KNOW that is not squash and I know that is not bean and I know it is not our ordinary weeds. I think:    The CORN SPROUTED in 5 DAYS?!?

Woah. That is IN-sane.

I had NO idea it could be that quick.

So I note that, freak out, water things, and then take off for a hike.

Spend the next 8 hours away, driving to, then taking a great hike in, Yosemite NP (and I'll be posting lots of pictures from that soon).

I return, let chickens into their yards and freshen up the water in their "pools" ('cause it's so freakin' hot) and go water the garden.

THIS is what I see in the 3 sisters plot:

baby squash!!

that's more corn sprouting, partially hidden by dead grass (I'm so clever...)

more squash and corn

Color me shocked!

AND, I think the sunflower seeds have also sprouted, and I planted them WEDNESDAY!!

Check it out:

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Please lemmeno if you have.

I know it's been hot, but really...

wow.

Stunned and Amazed by Nature, as ever,

biobabbler


P.S. So, next day I'm not exhausted from the hike: Burgess Buttercup Squash "Days to germ" = 5-10 (so that's on target, but the EARLIEST possible time); Good Mother Stallard Pole Bean Dtg = 8-16, which makes sense as I've not seen it yet; and last but not least, Hopi Blue Corn Dtg = 7-10. So, the corn is officially ahead of schedule and the squash is not, but WAY on the earliest possible day. Beans: still thinking happy thoughts, hoping they'll a) arrive, b) not get eaten by everyone as tiny sprouts.
PPS I was wrong on the sunflowers. This morning (Monday) I now see them up, and they look a little yellow, not great, so we'll see if it lasts. Gave them a good soaking, so maybe that'll help?

Seriously, it is TIME.

I have a chicken situation that's stalling my garden-start.

I've got to address this.

I spent over $40 on seeds, for heaven's sake. They've been sitting on my bureau for weeks.

bumblebee on sunflower in Utah

And I JUST signed up for the Great Sunflower Project. Tough to be a citizen scientist monitoring bees visiting my Lemon sunflowers if I DON'T PLANT THEM.

honey bee on one of my sunflowers 2 summers ago

(pardon biobabbler banner on bee bum)

AND, I specifically bought the "three sisters" to share that experience/experiment with you. Always wanted to try it, and this blog was just the kick in the pants I needed to actually take the 1st step.


I have a big deadline in a few days, so can't address this until the day after, but I am posting this now to tell you I am committing to GETTING THIS DONE so the gardening adventure can begin.

I will keep you posted. =)

biobabbler