Hoop House Folly

OK, it is not a hoop house, it is more like a rectangle. I thought I was really smart, making this mostly out of  scrap PVC pipes. I covered it with Agribon fabric and put my starts in there. It was noticeably warmer inside immediately.

But then the rain and wind came and it all came crashing down.

 

I have switched back to a tented garden shelf for my tomatoes and eggplants. 

And inside, things are growing and staying warmer.

Here Are My Tomatoes

I think this is Pineapple, a Black Tomato and "fig" tomatoes. The fig tomatoes really don't taste like figs at all. Maybe I got them mixed up with some ordinary tomato. I haven't tried the others yet but will shortly . I don't quite see any avalanches of tomatoes coming, as they seem to be getting ripe only a few at a time.

The Japanese cucumbers are producing at a decent pace, also not enough for major surpluses, but enough to eat.

At the top of the photo are those muskmelons. Probably a few days away from ripe, but bugs were showing too much interest in them to leave them on the ground. Husk cherries at the bottom of the picture.

Where Are my Tomatoes?

I have so many green tomatoes. In this region, the weather is so inconsistent from year to year, you never know when tomatoes will ripen. We are also in a different microclimate from last year and got our plants in a bit late. I have asked around. Some neighbors have ripe tomatoes. The folks at the Bounty Farm on the other side of town have ripe tomatoes, so it is only a matter of time before we do.

I picked some cherry tomatoes this morning, which are almost there and sweet enough. I made the mistake the other day of trying to sample an almost ripe "fig" tomato. It did not taste like a fig, so now I am waiting for them to fully ripen. There are a few of these fig tomatoes just a few days away from ripe. Will they taste like a fig or a tomato? Or somehow like both?

I am also waiting on Italian paste tomatoes and something called a "pineapple" tomato (not sure if it is named for the color or the flavor), along with a few others. I guess it is only mid-August, so I should be happy with my cucumbers and beans. I just hope the tomatoes have the good sense to not all ripen at once.

Almost there...

Next:
Beans Beans!

More Trees

One of the first things we did outside when we got this place was to plant fruit trees, since they take so long to start bearing serious amounts of fruit. Along the north fence of the back yard, we planted an Emerald Plum, a Hachiya Persimmon, a Stella Cherry and a Fuyu Persimmon.

We got all of those trees bare root at Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery in Sebastopol. It must have been January or February and the clay soil was extra mucky as we dug it out to fill it with mulch and compost for the trees.

In addition to these trees we also have planted pomegranate, grapefruit, lemons, yuzu, mandarins, blueberries and kumquats which we have picked up from various other excellent nurseries in our area. A few of them are actually producing fruit!

This weekend we went to Harmony to get something else, because they had their fruit trees at 20% off. It turned out it was also "customer appreciation day" and we got free tacos, free "vegan" fertilizer and some seed packets. Our lucky day! We wound up picking an asian pear and a dwarf orange tree. We just need to figure out where to put them now.

We also found out that the best time to get a greater selection of the bare root (much better value) trees was the second week in January.

I can't wait til January. Oh wait, the tomatoes aren't even ripe yet!
Next: Where are my tomatoes!

A Scorcher

How hot was it? I don't think it was really 108 degrees, but that is what the car said when I got in it. It was sitting in the sun. I think it was more like 99 degrees. I am hoping this will push the tomatoes over the hump into ripe. And maybe some melons , too?

How hot was it? I bought a new seed starting tray and left the clear lid on with no dome in partial shade and it turned into a solar oven and melted the plastic.


And the chickens were hot.

But I was able to cook some potatoes in the old solar oven. I made it a couple of years ago and it gets over 200 degrees easily. Today it was around 250. I would like to build a better one. I know you can get over 350 in a well built solar oven.