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September 30, 2006
Purple Tiger
A bit faded, but still nice.
Posted by Bob at 09:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Busy
Sue and I have been really busy with other projects these past few weeks, plus it's been (big surprise) hot here. This coming week it's predicted to be in the high 70's, which will be a pleasant change indeed. The past couple of weeks have been in the 90's. We are SO ready for fall.
The peppers and tomatoes shrank back a bit during the recent heat, hopefully they will really start producing now. Better late than never!
Posted by Bob at 12:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2006
Chicago Peace
Posted by Bob at 10:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 24, 2006
Sun Sprite
Posted by Bob at 08:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 23, 2006
Serrano peppers
Posted by Bob at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 22, 2006
ON TRACK: 4 SEASONS O' MISERY
The Ash and Soot Season is upon us.
Helpful Garden Hint: Mix the ash that falls on the garden with water, make sulfuric acid.
Our own acid rain, except the only water falling on us is mixed with flame retardant and dropped from air tankers leased by the U.S. Forest Service.
Posted by Sue at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
THE UGLY EVIL OUT OF DOORS
Wild &Wicked: Parsnip's Cruel Cousin: Pastinaca sativa
"The truth is out there": To the beautiful but toxic LADYBUG we now add the Cruella Deville of the root world, WILD PARSNIP.
WHY do I go outside at all? Outdoors is what you walk to on your way to the jacuzzi, as somebody wise once said.
Posted by Sue at 11:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes
After our pre-frost harvest, we are inundated with tomatoes, and they are ripening faster than I can eat them. Plus, I'll be leaving town for three weeks, and Suellen doesn't like tomatoes. We also have an abundance of peppers and onions. So last night I got out the cookbooks and whipped up a batch of salsa (for the red ones) and green tomato chutney (for the green ones). I've still got enough tomatoes (mostly green) for one more batch of something. Any ideas?
Posted by DJSueellen at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday Afternoon - Utah Style
This has nothing whatever to do with gardening, but I thought you might find it amusing. Last Sunday, a group of us went to the shooting range. Here's a photo of my friend's fiancee trying an AK-47. As you can see by the group visible in the background, a trip to the range is a family event.
Posted by DJSueellen at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2006
Rainbow Sorbet
Posted by Bob at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 20, 2006
Fall planting
As the tomatoes and peppers continue to ripen late, we'll start fall planting soon. Root vegetables like " "Artichoke, asparagus, horseradish, onion, garlic, shallot" " do well here in the fall and winter.
There's an El Nino condition in the Pacific, so it's predicted to be a cold, rainy winter.
Rose photos coming, starting tomorrow!
Posted by Bob at 08:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2006
More heat, but not as much
The temperature is bouncing down. 100 down to 85 up to 95 down to 80, and so on. Today is about 95. But the days are shorter, so it cools off much faster than in does in July.
The tomatoes are peppers are ripening fast, and there's even a few strawberry flowers appearing. The plant life is coming back after being dormant during the heat waves.
Sue's been doing "roses on roller skates," transplanting and moving some, planting others that were potted. The back yard has lots of roses in full bloom now.
Posted by Bob at 01:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2006
Chicken Pic
By popular demand, here's a photo of one of the chicks at 3 1/2 weeks. They've more than doubled in size, and are more active (and noisy). All 26 appear to be healthy. We don't know yet how many will be hens.
Why is Suellen wearing one glove? It's not a Michael Jackson thing, it's about cleaning cages. It'll be nice when the chicks are big enough to go outside!
Posted by DJSueellen at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Weather or Not to Harvest
There may be frost tonight; the low in town is predicted to be 38, and we'll be a few degrees cooler. Tommorow night they're predicting 33 degrees, which means almost certain frost for us. Today's decision: to harvest, or not to harvest?
We decided to harvest all of the peppers. Cayenne, serrano, paprika, oh my! We'll leave the last of the summer squash another day and see if they gain anything in size. The tomatoes we'll leave. You can harvest tomatoes after the plants have been killed by frost. They'll ripen up fine. But you can't can with them (I don't know why, but that's what the recipes say). That's OK-- I have a bag of green tomatoes waiting to ripen that I plan to use for salsa!
Posted by DJSueellen at 10:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 14, 2006
Achoo! Allergic to cats, cockroaches ... but *ladybugs*?
Asian multicolored lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis.
This variably colored and spotted lady beetle is an effective, natural control for harmful plant pests such as aphids, scale and other soft-bodied arthropods. Still, its tendency to overwinter in homes and other buildings, sometimes in large numbers, may make them a nuisance to many persons.
If agitated or squashed, the beetles may exhibit a defensive reaction known as “reflex bleeding,” in which a yellow fluid with an unpleasant odor is released from leg joints. This reaction generally prevents predators, such a birds, from eating lady beetles. But in the home, the fluid may stain walls and fabrics.
Apparently, the same reaction causes allergies in humans:
A new study conducted by David W. Goetz, MD, of Exemplar Allergy and Asthma, Morgantown, WV, shows that Asian ladybug sensitization can be found in people of all ages and is comparable to cockroach sensitivity.
Goetz's study reviewed approximately 1,400 skin tests from 2001-2004. Skin-test sensitization for Asian ladybugs was 21%. In comparison, cat was 24%, cockroach 27% and dust mite 40%. When people had sensitization to just one allergen, 10% of the time it was for dust mite, 6% for cockroach or Asian ladybug, and 4% for cat.
Posted by Sue at 06:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Late bloomers
The major heat of the past few months fried mostly everything. Many plants and vegetables went dormant. Now the tomatoes and peppers are producing in large numbers. Hopefully there will be no further heat waves, but who knows?
We may still be getting tomatoes in October, peppers too!
Posted by Bob at 02:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
We're back
The server we were on burped, they move us to a new one, and we couldn't log in for a day or so. But it appears all is fixed now. We shall see.
It is has been overcast all day, the first such day in many months. Fall may actually be coming. However the end of Sept. and beginning of Oct. here in LA can always bring hot, dry Santa Ana winds from the deserts as well as more heat.
Posted by Bob at 02:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 11, 2006
A little panache (or two)
We also planted two 'panache' figs -- ornamental, to 16' x 10'
The fruit is reputed to taste "like the best cherry you've ever had" or "like great jam".
And it's another that can take the heat. Wonderful!
Posted by Sue at 08:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 10, 2006
Morning Cloud Chitalpa
x Chitalpa tashkentensis 'Morning Cloud' from Monrovia.com
Today we dug out the toasted flowering cherry tree and planted a chitalpa in its place.
Description: Small, multi-stemmed deciduous tree with ascending branches, becoming slightly cascading. Long, narrow, bright green leaves back large clusters of trumpet-shaped white flowers with purple throats. Full sun. Fast-growing to 25 to 30 feet high, equal width.
It takes heat and drought and gives shade without getting too big. Perfect.
Posted by Sue at 07:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 08, 2006
The heat is finally gone
We just had another long spell of heat over 100 degrees. Today was the first day in weeks that it was overcast in the morning. It can be completely cloudless for weeks on end here, a mixed blessing in deed when's it's hot.
However today will be about 85, a welcome change. The tomatoes have come back and are ripening quickly, ditto for the peppers.
Posted by Bob at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 05, 2006
Bad Pruning Job
Barred from the garden by scorching weather conditions, Bob practices pruning on Sue's toenails.
Barred forever from toenail clippers near Sue's feet: Bob.
Posted by Sue at 12:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 04, 2006
More Weather
Another storm moved through tonight. I snapped this photo just before sunset. It doesn't do justice to the beauty of the rainbow. (I always said I wanted to live in a place that had weather!)
Posted by DJSueellen at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 03, 2006
Hail, Hail Mother Nature
Daikon is supposed to be frost-hardy, but I don't think it's up to hail. Here are the same seedlings that looked so good yesterday, covered with hail by today's storm. They're pretty bruised. The peppers look like they came through OK, but I fear for my tomatoes... It'll be interesting to see what survives.
Posted by DJSueellen at 09:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Did Someone Order Water?
About an hour after my last post, we got hit by an amazing storm. In just over an hour, we got almost 2" of rain, plus hail, high winds, and lightning. Intermittent power outages. The photo shows a river that used to be our driveway. Our yard is now a swamp. Tonight I went out to bring cat food to Felonie and discovered that because of a leak in the barn roof, the ceiling came down in the workshop where she lives. It's a mess-- I guess we'll spend Labor Day laboring!
Posted by DJSueellen at 09:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Quest for an Outside Dog: Chapter 3
We've tried two outside dogs before in the quest to keep rabbits out of our yard. Heather had to go back to the pound because she wanted to be someone's lap dog. She got adopted two days later. Bernie had to go back because he beat up Sam (an inside dog) twice, badly, then started jumping the (five-foot) fence. He's a sweet dog (to people), and found a temporary spot at a no-kill rescue group that is trying to find him a good home.
Friday we brought home Pepper, a 3-year-old heeler mix, probably with either border collie or Australian shepherd. She is a sweetie-- very well-behaved, and loves to be with people. We're told she's always been an outside dog. But then, we're told she's never been abused, yet she cowers every time I reach out to her. She's fine with Suellen. She doesn't run away from me, and loves my attention, so I think she'll get past it eventually if we are patient with her.
She's met the two inside dogs and seems OK with them, though we've been told to quarantine her for a few days for health reasons before we let them all spend time together. We are truly hopeful that this time we've found the right dog.
Posted by DJSueellen at 01:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thinking of Autumn
With frost only a couple of weeks off, we've been exploring the possibilities of autumn crops. We settled on daikon-- Japanese radishes-- which make very nice pickles. We've also planted a few more onions. We could probably have planted more cabbage, but didn't get around to starting the seedlings in time.
The green mesh enclosing the daikon is coated harware cloth (left over from our chicken brooder boxes). All the seeds I planted under the mesh sprouted. All the seeds I planted outside the mesh didn't. I was so impressed with the results, I made a second mesh box to set over a second set of daikon seeds. One morning I came outside to find a small bird trapped inside the mesh. How he got there I don't know-- but as one of my friends observed, at least we know he was well fed!
Speaking of pickles, last week I went to the post office and there were bags and bags of cucumbers from someone's garden. (Bet that doesn't happen in the city!) I brought home a bag and made dill pickle spears. They taste great! My own cucumber plants got eaten by rodents this year, but now I'm all the more inspired to try cukes again next year.
Posted by DJSueellen at 01:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More Tomatoes
While our friends down in the flatlands complain of excessive heat, up here we begin to think of frost. It dipped into the low forties last night, but is warm again today.
Our tomatoes are just coming into maturity. We've been getting a couple of Early Girls each day for about a week now. The Romas (shown) are getting to be the right size and I hope to see them ripen shortly. And some of the others are beginning to turn red. If they all ripen, we'll have a couple of hundred tomatoes from our four plants. But some of the fruits are still pretty small, so if frost comes soon we may lose them.
Meanwhile, we sure are enjoying what we're getting!
Posted by DJSueellen at 01:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack