Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Weekend Update for 2007-09-22
Skipped a week, as we're dealing with an ailing dog, an impending
root-canal, and oh, did I mention my sciatica? ;) Anyway, as the harvest
season is drawing down, and the changes aren't that drastic, except that
I've found a few more "nosy tomatoes".
The pumpkins and the
watermelon are ready to harvest as well. The watermelons are the size of
- hmmm... cannon balls? Twice the size of a softball but not quite as
big as a soccer ball. As it was warm on Sunday, the one I cut into was a
welcome treat.
The tomato bounty continues, as does the squash,
though as mentioned a lot slower here in Zone 5.
Date: 22-Sep
Δ
19" JTR = 1.03, 13.29 lbs total
Δ 29" JTR = 11.70, 29.00 lbs
total
Δ Grdn = 2.64, 14.26 lbs total
Δ Cont. = 0.97, 4.38 lbs
total
Total to date: 61.24 lbs
Hydroponics are starting to seem attractive again, and a couple of links are piqueing (peeking? Peking?) my curiosity. The famed Square Foot Gardening author has taken an interest in them too: link Also in Ithica, where the snow comes in hard and heavy, fresh salads aren't always coming in from Fresno: link - plus a related link: FingerLakesFresh
Time to go, more next week or when I can take a lunch break!
Edited on: Monday, September 24, 2007 2:51 PM
Categories: Dirty Hacks, Light Hacks, Meddling Hacks, Money Hacks, Space Hacks, Wet Hacks
Sunday, September 09, 2007
2007-09-08 Weekend Update
A little better picture of the tomato with the proboscis There's another
one that's ripening with a slightly different profile that will be
making it's appearance in a couple of weeks if all goes well, and it
doesn't get eaten before the photo shoot.
The "Black Prince" have started ripening a beautiful copper color, some
with green shoulders, some without. From what I've been reading, they
don't have any shelf life, going "from ripe to tripe" in a matter of a
few days. Hoping to taste them on their better days.
The Bag-o-Potatoes have made a comeback after the bugs had their way
with them, will be interesting to see if they produce potatoes. Two of
the bags had tomatoes starting to grow in them, which I've moved to
different pots for an extended season (I hope), just don't know what
tomatoes they'll be.
|
My daughters have been having fun with this plant, whatever it is.
they have snapdragon-like orange flowers, and produce pods like
the one you see sticking out to the right. If prodded, touched or
sometimes even looked at funny, they burst open with a spring
loaded bit inside, shooting their seeds quite far. The payload's
usually 2-3 seeds, since the spring takes up a bit of room. They
work well, though - since anywhere I've not mowed is covered with
them. |
Edited on: Sunday, September 09, 2007 11:34 AM
Categories: Dirty Hacks, Light Hacks, Meddling Hacks, Money Hacks, Space Hacks, Wet Hacks
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Weekend Update for 2007-09-02
Just a nice picture of some of the tomatoes we've harvested so far. The
rest have been either eaten or frozen for making sauce this winter,
thanks to a great time/moneysaving recipe from Mother Earth News. The
recipe is, basically: wash core the tomatoes you're going to make into
a sauce, toss them in the freezer and forget about them 'til the winter,
when you'd like to have something to make to warm the kitchen. At that
point you drop the frozen tomatoes into some boiling water for a couple
of minutes, peel the skin off, put the peeled tomatoes into a pan and
heat to boiling. Strain in a collander to remove the pulp from the
juice, freeze again or continue to make a sauce. Another recipe in
Mother from Dec/Jan 2007 gives a nice recipe for a
garden marinara sauce.
So far they're all delicious, though the beefsteak from the garden seemed somewhat bland by comparison. Could have been a fluke.
One of the Black Prince tomatoes, I think - which has a pointy nose. There
are a couple of these that have shown up. They keep getting bigger, but
no change in color yet. I should start seeing the beefsteak ripening
soon on the Japanese Tomato Rings, then these won't be far behind.
Hoping they ripen before the frost!
My girls next to the 19" Japanese Tomato Ring. The "rogue" squash
continue to produce, and the tomatoes continue to ripen, so all will
remain for now. The girls enjoy picking the tomatoes, but they tend to
leave the squash alone, since there are little "prickers" on them.
Sensitive hands at this age.
Left: Around my fenced in garden, I have very long and flexible grass growing
- possibly fescue, but I don't know. As I'm not one who is too
particular about edging, this grass gets long enough to use as tomato
ties. They go into the compost when the season's done, and when it's
time to tie again, the grass is usually long enough. This is a
convenient hack that's worked for me for several years. Right: The 29"
JTR is thick with tomatoes - so much so that I can't see the "muffins"
unless I'm looking down inside to water it.
Left: The Upside Down Tomato planter continues to bear and ripen little
fruits. I'm looking into hanging basket alternatives that would do the
same thing and have a water resevoir, too. Right: a better example of
how Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato plants will grow to their root size.
Tally as of Sept. 2, 2007:
19" JTR: 8.56lbs, Δ 1.81
29"
JTR:6.91lbs, Δ 2.35
Garden: 4.28lbs, Δ 2.44
Container:1.62, Δ 0.34*
*Last calculation was skewed by an EBKOC (Error Before Keyboard Of Computer) - hadn't divided the total ounces by 16 for the calculation of the containers. DOH!
Edited on: Sunday, September 02, 2007 4:55 PM
Categories: Dirty Hacks, Light Hacks, Meddling Hacks, Money Hacks, Space Hacks, Wet Hacks