Hurricanes and sunflowers and airplanes

It is finally the weekend again, and here I am, waiting for my mom to arrive from Buffalo and waiting for Annika to wake up from her nap.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know that Hurricane Earl is heading to New England for a Labor Day weekend visit. Notwithstanding the requisite doomsday predictions, it looks like the Cape and islands are going to get a Category 1 hurricane (the Cape is about 50 miles from our house), and we are going to have a tropical storm up here,  and it'll probably all be gone by Saturday morning. My only concern about our house and yard is that my sunflowers are going to blow down. I have a variety of sunflowers, some of which were volunteers from last year and have been blooming since July.  But I'm growing a new variety called "Honey Bear" that has taken a long time to open. One has opened and the rest are almost in bloom. They are cheerful and cute and unusual and I love them. I hope they survive the storm.

Here's a photo of them so far.

...and, OK, here are some photos of the other ones. I love my sunflowers.

Anyway, my mom was supposed to fly in tonight, at 8pm. Which, of course, is when the hurricane was predicted to arrive.  Last night, I went on the U.S. Airways website and learned that because there was now a weather advisory, Mom could change her plane ticket with no penalty. So she moved up her flight to this morning and should be arriving soon. I was pretty sure all week that she wasn't going to make it in, but she really is going to get here. It's cool. She'll be here til Monday.

Why am I writing this blog instead of driving to the airport? Because Annika woke up with a stomach bug this morning. She is down for a nap right now and I don't want to disturb her. She's been pretty listless this morning. Jim is going to pick up my mom from the airport.  One of my favorite things to do is meeting people at the airport, but at this point, Annika needs to rest. Hopefully she'll feel a lot better after her nap and she'll enjoy seeing Grandma! :)

The Harvest

All harvested this morning (before the storm):

(Cantaloupe, kousa zucchini, cucumbers, and several varieties of tomatoes). The cantaloupe actually harvested itself - it was lying in the grass this morning when I woke up. I'm assuming that means it's ready?

Scenes from the week

Blowing bubbles with Daddy:

A sudden interest in our chair/step stool:

(And I remember Annie's Aunt Laurie sitting in this exact same stool in the exact same way, 30 years ago).

My gorgeous garden:

From left to right, you're seeing tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe (climbing up a makeshift trellis), beets (mostly hidden), and zucchini/cousa.  

And even a baby cantaloupe:

The weather is amazing today, and after Annie wakes up from her nap, I think we're going to go into Boston for a picnic. I love summer!

Random stuff

1) Annika transitioned into the "toddlers" room at day care this week. And the director of the day care was able to get her to wear the flip flops I got her last month. So I guess she's just picky about who puts strange shoes on her feet!

2) While we were out playing with the neighbors yesterday evening, Annika gave one of the neighbor kids a big kiss on the mouth. This is the little boy from across the street who is the same age as her. I guess we start them early here in Quincy. Of course, she also kissed the dinosaur toy in the waiting room at the doctor's office this morning, and she especially likes kissing her stuffed animals.

3) Annika got 2 more shots this morning, but it was much less troubling to her than our trip to the shoe store last weekend. She's getting to be a big girl! 31 inches tall (a growth of 2 inches in 3 months!) and she weighs 23 pounds, 13 ounces. Of course that was after a big pre-doctor breakfast at the Early American in which Annika couldn't get enough of Daddy's corned beef hash. But still. She is now down for a big nap. Doctor's visits will do that to you.

4) Solomon smells like a skunk, again. It's not nearly as strong as the last time he got sprayed. I'm debating if he needs to be sprayed with the bleach/baking soda solution. Last time, it bleached his fur in splotches, and the splotches only just recently grew out. Then again, he took a nap with Zeus this morning and now she sort of smells like a skunk too. So I don't know. He has taken to spending every night outside, which I don't like at all but can't convince him to come inside before we go to bed.

5) I've started to harvest my zucchinis, cucumbers, and 1 pepper. I think the pepper plants are getting eaten by that stupid caterpillar again. It looks like I'm going to have tomatoes soon too - I noticed at least one that is starting to ripen. I also harvested my garlic this week - two of them had new, baby garlic cloves about half-way up their stalks! Pretty cool. I'm going to try to make pesto this weekend with my newly - harvested garlic and the basil I have growing. I've heard you can freeze pesto too. I might try that. How cool would it be to eat pesto in December from my garden? I've also made my first batch of zucchini bread.

6) The turnip pickles I made a few weeks ago came out pretty good. They don't taste much like the ones you get at Byblos, but they're quite tasty, and are definitely that same deep red as the ones at Byblos. Jim won't touch them, but that just means more for me! :)

No green thumbs this year

So far, gardening has been a mixed bag this year.  I planted everything relatively late for me. While I could have put my cold-weather vegetables in at the end of March, I didn't actually get them in until early April. Similarly, I probably could have put the tomatoes and peppers and seeds in earlier than I did. Part of this was difficulties finding the time to do it. Part of this was the knowledge that planting things too early does not necessarily mean that you'll get to harvest early. A lot of times the plants get stunted if the soil is too cold or you get cold weather after planting. In past years, I've just been so eager to get out there and garden that I planted things very early. Although I was happy to get outside, the eagerness to start the garden just wasn't there, at least until I really started working the soil and getting things ready.

Cucumbers, which I've always had an easy time growing, have not been cooperating. Although I planted 12 seeds, only 2 germinated. When I went to put in a second planting, I noticed that many of the seeds did germinate, but the tops of the plants had been eaten. I don't know by whom. Two years ago, I engaged in a losing war with cucumber beetles, but I thought they attacked later, once the plants were more established. I suppose it could be an animal, except Solomon and the other cats on the street chase those animals within an inch of their life. Plus, the leaves are so small that I don't think most animals would be bothered with them. So I doubt it's an animal. The second planting went in about a week ago, and I think I spotted two plantlets, just breaking out above the surface. So we'll see how they do.

The zucchinis have not had stunning growth either, although they all have finally germinated. Zucchinis usually grow like crazy for me. I wonder how it'll be this year.

I'm trying cantaloupe again this year, although this time I bought plantlets instead of trying it from seed. They are still alive but don't seem to be getting any bigger. I've heard they have a long growing season so I hope they start growing! I don't think I've ever had fresh-picked cantaloupe.

Most of my lettuce failed to germinate, aside from some arugula, which has been delicious but has now completely gone to seed, with these pretty white flowers. I'm still waiting for the beets and carrots to come up. I seem to think they take a while to germinate.

The tomatoes and peppers seem to be well-established. There are even some flowers on the pepper plants. The parsley plant is not doing great and the basil seems a little shocked by its new surroundings. I think they'll do better once we get more warm weather.

I just started harvesting peas today. I really should have staked them or trained them on something. They are just all over the place, and it's hard to find the peas when you have to wade through all the stems. I opened up one of my tomato cages and put it next to the peas, so hopefully they'll start growing up that.

I haven't had to water nearly at all. I probably should have watered the lettuce more - I have a feeling that this is why it never came up. But I've been pretty good about watering since I put the rest of the garden in. It's just that I really haven't had to do much since it has rained a lot.

In flower land, all my sunflowers have germinated - I planted four varieties this year, all along the drive way.  One of the varieties, Mammoth, supposedly reaches 12 feet in height. I don't know if I believe that, but wouldn't that be cool? I planted a bed of pansies around the new hydrangea that we planted for Annika. They're doing quite well, as is the tiny hydrangea, which is blooming in purple this year. In between the pansies, I planted more sunflowers (the mammoth variety). I also re-potted my Chinese elm bonsai tree and it is looking much healthier. My lemon tree has a few flowers on it and lots of new growth. It's amazing how well it does once it's outside. It lost a big branch this winter, probably due to spider mites. But it's definitely making a come-back now.

I think it'll be an interesting gardening year, with hopefully some nice surprises and no cucumber beetles!

Sunny Friday

What a day. Wow. The weather was sunny, moderately warm (low 80's), and the sky was clear and blue. Annie and I started the day by going for a walk at Wollaston Beach, which is about a mile or mile and a half from our house. At one point, we stopped so she could get out of her stroller and practice pulling up a bit. Here you can see not only little Annie, but also the Boston Harbor and skyline.

On our way back from our walk, I stopped at the garden store and picked up my veggie plants! It's finally time to plant.  We got back, and after Annie definitively showed me that she would not nap by standing up in her crib and calling out to me, we went outside and I planted some of the plants, as well as some of seeds.

After lunch, Annie finally did go down for her nap. Here she is, fighting her nap by kicking her legs around and smiling, with her ever-present pink blanket ("snuggy"), of course.

 

She did finally fall asleep. Just one nap today, but it was nearly 3 hours long. That gave me a chance to put in the rest of the garden, water, and even weed a little. Here's what I'm growing this year: tomatoes, peppers, parsley, basil, peas, garlic, cucumbers, cantelope, arugula, beets, carrots, and Lebanese-variety zucchini. I've already harvested my radishes - including one that was as long as a carrot! My other lettuces didn't germinate. I don't know why. I have had bad luck with cantelope, so I'm hoping it'll work out this year. I haven't grown beets or carrots in quite a few years. I've been really getting into beet salad, particularly mixed with some goat cheese and arugula, so hopefully the beets will come out OK.

After Annie woke up, I rushed over to the bank because I needed to get into our safe deposit box and the bank closes at 4. Of course, when I went into the safe with the bank teller, I realized that my driver's license was missing. Like, I was completely caught surprised by the fact that it wasn't in my wallet where it always is. So I did not get into the box.  On the way home, I went over my life for the last months to try to figure out where the hell I would've put my license. I really did not want to have to go to the RMV on one of my days off with Annika in tow. Seriously, doesn't that sound like some form of purgatory? I finally figured out that the last time I took my license out of my wallet was when I went to the Bristol County jail to do a "know your rights" presentation with some other lawyers. This was probably 6 weeks ago or so. Anyway, long story short, I went through all my pockets at home and it was in my raincoat pocket, which I had last worn on my trip to Bristol. So there you go. I'd been going about town and taking trips without any identification on me at all. For 6 weeks. Fantastic.

For dinner, we had shells with spaghetti sauce. Fabulous Annika loved it:

And now I'm relaxing a little before our trip up to Vermont tomorrow. Aside from the license episode, it was really a fantastic day, and a great start to the weekend.

Clematis

Some of our clematis vines are in bloom. They are incredible. My favorite is the one that, from a distance, it looks like snow.

And then there's this clematis, which never bloomed in the spring and we didn't know why. It seems that it is also a fall-blooming variety:

It's another clear, beautiful day today. I wish I felt as bright and sunny as the weather.

More critters

I forgot to mention in last night's blog post that we met one of our neighbors yesterday, Mr. O. Possum:

Yeah, kind of freaky, right? Jim was taking out the garbage, dropped the bag in the can, and realized that an opossum was taking a nap in the can. There wasn't any food in the can, just an empty bag of charcoal from our BBQ on Saturday. We have no idea how he got in there - the can was upright and is about 3-4 feet tall. The animal played dead, and Jim pulled out the garbage bag and turned the can on its side. The opossum took off and went home - into the neighbors' garage. This is the same garage where we thought a skunk was living. The garage has had a large hole on one side for several years, and Mr. O. Possum is the latest inhabitant, I guess. Apparently the garage door doesn't open on this garage anymore, which means that the neighbors haven't gone in there in a long time. This works just fine for the residents of the garage, who have their own entryway to their home.

For my mother's benefit: yes, the cats are up to date on their rabies shots.

If you get beyond the fact that he's a rodent, he's actually sort of cute. He's about the size of a small cat, with spiky fur, a long, skinny tail, and a long snout.

Sunflowers are for the birds

We have a pair of yellow finches living nearby who have been feasting on my sunflowers:

Aren't they beautiful? They look like parakeets!

...but, on a more positive note...

On the good side, I have some nice flowers this year. I have beautiful sunflowers that all grew up from the seeds of last year's sunflowers:

And my lace-cap hydrangea has been spectacular:

So this year hasn't been a total wash.

Attack of the tomato horn worm and other horrors

Over the last week or so, I've noticed that some of my pepper plants have lost all their leaves. A couple of the plants have peppers on them, but no leaves. It is very odd. Here's a photo of what they look like (ignore all the weeds that have sprung up around them!):
Today I was outside inspecting my garden, and I noticed what at first looked like a leaf on the pepper plant. Then I realized that it was moving. It was a caterpillar, and it's clear that he was the one eating up all the leaves. (You can see him here; he's the pale-green thing on the main stem of the plant):
He has also munched on the peppers on these plants, and there are big holes in them. YUCK!! I guess those are going out in the yard waste too.

Oddly, he hasn't attacked all of my pepper plants. It looks like he's only feasting on a particular variety of pepper - the California Wonder variety. My Cubanelle pepper has not been attacked so far.

I read on the Internet that this is a "tomato horn worm," which makes me worry about my tomatoes. Up until now, they've been totally fine. Apparently these caterpillars attack peppers, tomatoes and eggplant, which makes sense because I think they're all in the same family of plants. Later, they become moth-like creatures that lay more eggs.

In other news, I made pesto yesterday from the basil in my garden. As I was making it, I remembered that I grew garlic in my garden this year ... except that it's no longer anywhere to be seen in my garden. I really don't know what happened to it. Last week, I pulled out the lettuce that I had planted next to it, but I didn't pull out any garlic. It's just completely gone. I don't know if I just didn't notice when the stalks dried up, and it's still buried in my garden, or if the animals dug it up and had a garlic feast.

Really, it's been a crappy gardening year. Too much rain. Then my cucumbers and zucchinis didn't come up (which has never happened to me before). Then the stupid caterpillars ate my peppers, just when I was getting psyched that the pepper plants had lots of flowers. And then the case of the missing garlic. Really, if my tomatoes weren't doing well, I think I would just turn over the whole garden and plant buckwheat for the rest of the year. Better luck next year.

It's gardening time!

Finally! It is time to start gardening. I love it. The magnolia trees are starting to open up, the forsythia is in bloom, and my crocuses are well past peak. My daffodils will be open in a week probably.

Jim worked manure/compost into the garden last weekend, so it was time for me to plant my cold weather veggies. Normally I would do it on the weekend, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow and be cold on Sunday. And thanks to daylight savings, it was still light when I got home from work (in fact, it still is now too). And it was 63 degrees. Time to do a little gardening before dinner. So I planted my radishes, snowpeas, garlic, and Asian spicy greens (fancy lettuce). Jim stayed late at work tonight to play poker with some of his co-workers.

You might ask how my back is doing. The answer is that it felt pretty crappy right afterward, but it's pretty much OK now. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought to put the seeds in the ground, and it felt really nice to actually be outside.

While I was out there, I met the new neighbors that moved into the red house behind our house last fall. (This is the house with the door that goes to nowhere, if you remember. They actually got rid of the door and put up siding where it was. This happened in the fall, I think). I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember their names. But they were very friendly. I think they're Irish. They were carrying a small black and white cat, who they said didn't go outside normally.

It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so it was a good opportunity to plant the seeds. Our hoses aren't hooked up yet so I didn't water the seeds tonight. I figure they'll get enough water soon.

Gardening Journal

As everyone reading this blog knows, I really like to garden and have had a vegetable garden every year since we bought our house (8 years). Each year, it gets a little better. The first couple of years were really, really bad! Mostly because everything got overrun with weeds.

This year, I've decided to start keep a journal of the year's garden so I will have a record of things I tried, things that worked, things that didn't, etc. Hopefully I'll be disciplined enough to write every year! :)

So, dear readers, I give you my garden journal 2008.

Early Spring plantings:

Radish: "French Breakfast" variety. Had a real problem with slugs this year. Also, was on vacation when they were ready to pull, and they ended up too tough by the time I pulled them. Should've been more diligent about thinning out the seedlings.

Greens: "Asian Vegetable." These were spicy greens and they were really delicious and made for interesting salads. A lot of mustard greens and Chinese cabbage. Germinated slowly, and went to seed quickly. OK to still eat when they go to seed; they just get spicier! Might work better if planted along with a regular lettuce for mixing.

Parsley: This had over-wintered from 2007. Got enough for 2 full recipes of tabohleh before it went to seed in early July.

Summer Plantings:

Cucumber: "Sugar Crunch." Started from seed. Got only about 6 cucumbers from 6 plants because the cucumber beetle killed all the plants in July. Everyone in the neighborhood had the same problem.

Herbs: (Lemon basil, lime basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley). All did well. Cut basil back drastically on a routine basis. Did not kill plant; in fact, it made it stronger. It would be a good idea to plant a regular basis with the citrus basils to avoid pesto that is to acidic. Also, need to plant more than one parsley plant, because not enough for tabohleh until the fall.

Zucchini: "Sweet Gourmet Hybrid." A Lebanese variety, which we call "Coussa." I have planted the same kind three years in a row, and it is always a reliable producer. I am still getting much zucchini and there are still flowers on the plants. Excellent for stuffing and for zucchini bread.

Peppers: 1 sweet banana variety ("Bounty Hybrid") and one bell pepper variety (don't remember the name). I have never had any luck with peppers, but this year, both varieties have been fabulous. This may be attributed to the fact that we have gotten a lot of rain this year, the fact that I fertilized a little more than last year, or the fact that I've somewhat maintained control of the weeds this year. I think the key to happy pepper gardening is to plant a minimum of 6-8 plants. This gives you enough peppers for a good salad every night.

Tomatoes. In keeping with my interest in trying a lot of odd heirloom-variety tomatoes in the interest of getting tomatoes that you would never find in the stores, my mom and I started 5 varieties from seed.
Sprite: A slightly elongated cherry variety. Very prolific, very tasty. Were the first to ripen of all the tomatoes.
Mule driver: Medium-sized, red tomato. Bland taste. First non-cherry tomato to ripen.
Dwarf: A brandywine-type tomato (pinkish color, large size). Plants are very compact and manageable.
Black Krim: A mahogany or "black" tomato. Not as tasty as past years, and the plants were very weak.
Aunt Ruby's German Green: Not nearly as hardy or as nice as "Green Zebra," the kind I tried last year. Plants died midway through the summer; hard to tell when the fruit was ripe.

Late-Summer/Fall Plantings:

Broccoli: "Flash Hybrid." I'm not sure I'd say that these plants germinated in a "flash" or produced in a "flash," but I planted in July and am starting to get broccoli heads now. More later on taste, etc.

Radish: "French Breakfast." Much better crop this fall than in the spring. Quick germination and growth; no problem with slugs.

Lettuce: "Looseleaf Blend." Typical "mesclun" lettuce mix, with some Black-Seeded Simpson, oak leaf, red lettuce, etc. Very nice, but a little boring after the spicy Asian greens of the spring. Would be nice to mix these with the spicy greens. And 2 rows have not been enough to cover my salad cravings. :)