Autumn is here?

Another month or more has lapsed since I last posted anything. I have been busy. I have taken a bunch of pictures of garden activities, though and will quickly update the progress here. After a very cold summer, it got very warm a couple of weeks ago. All of the tomatoes (early or not) ripened at the same time. They were covered with Agribon, as was the okra and kiwano melon. We also got eggplant, peppers, corn, strawberries, summer squash and winter squash. This picture shows just a small portion of our harvest.

I removed a lot of the tomato plants last week to make room for more garden boxes and now I am kicking myself because the temperature is in the 90s again and will be for most of the week. I still have some other tomatoes in the ground so they can take advantage of the heat. And the okra and kiwano melon are still growing under Agribon. I harvested some okra and it was really good, but did not get very much. The kiwano made a couple of fruits and I couldn't resist picking one before it was ripe, so the flavor was disappointing. I am hoping  the heat will turn some fruits the proper orange color soon.

Here is an okra flower. The okra is related to hibiscus.

Here is the harvest. Okra, kiwano and asian pear.

Rocktober

Goodbye summer crops.  Tomatoes are still hanging on, but the weather just changed and the days are short. The chickens go to bed at 6:40 pm. Most of the winter squash is done (would have had more if the chickens hadn't gotten out so many times). I pulled out some zucchini and all of the melons.

The corn is over and I have been pulling out the stalks.  Not as much corn per plant as I had hoped for, but maybe better luck next time. Some of the fall winter things I planted are almost ready like fennel, beets and potatoes.  I have been replacing summer crops with broccoli, romanesco broccoli, brussels sprouts, green onions, lettuce, chard, kale.  I need to clear some more space for the starts I already have and for the peas, carrots, spinach and fava beans I intend to plant.

I am going to harvest the remaining peppers and tomatillos this week.  The lady at the seed store told me that tomatillos freeze well.  I hope so.  I dried a bunch of tomatoes in an electric food dehydrator and now we have three big jars full.  I keep meaning to build a solar chimney dehydrator or something like that but I keep having other things to do like painting the outside of the house (which also kept me from updating this blog).

Mid Summer

It has been a while since I have posted.

Since I don't think anyone is reading, I don't feel so bad, but I promise to be more regular.

Summer came for a while and the garden really grew. We have been getting a good crop of Filet beans, which are like a string bean with no string. We have them in yellow and green. We have been picking every day, giving to neighbors, cooking and pickling them.

Also on the menu now are Shishito peppers. If you live in part of the San Francisco Bay Area where you cannot fully ripen bell peppers, these will make you feel good. They are compact and very prolific. You pick the peppers a few inches long, put some olive oil and salt on them and pop them in the toaster oven. Eat them, seeds and all, with beer in some other snack scenario. They are not hot, despite some seed catalog descriptions.


Our musk melons plants are making melons. I saved these seeds from melons I bought from Crescent Moon Farm at the Cotati Farmers Market a couple of years ago. I wish I could remember the names. I just labeled them Musk Melon 1, 2 and 3. Crescent Moon Farm always has really interesting vegetables like okra and unusual peppers. I remember one of the melons was a perfume melon with a strong fragrance but a mild flavor. It was meant to be carried in one's pocket I was told.

Another unusual thing I am growing a husk cherry. This variety is called Aunt Molly's Husk Cherry and I picked it up at a plan sale at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center this spring, along with a bunch of tomato plants. The husk cherry is related to
a tomatillo but the fruit is much smaller and
much sweeter. You could have it for dessert or in your salad. I am still not totally convinced that I really like them, but they are different and they are ripe now, unlike the tomatillos or tomatoes. We did get our first cherry tomatoes the other day, though, and they were great.

Other food ripening now includes zucchini, eggplant and japanese cucumbers. I am pretty surprised that the whole garden is doing so well since we didn't really get the soil ready until May.

Coming soon...
The garden in the back yard!
The water bill!
The sewer bill!
The plans for rainwater catchment!
The compost and compost tea!
And much much more...