Tom Thumb Peas
The near freezing weather has ended pretty much everything in the veggie garden but these Tom Thumb peas. The plants are tiny, but they kick out a whole lot of peas.
Video: A Fallen Agave
The first real rains of the season blew down this 20 foot tall agave flower the woodpeckers had stuffed with acorns.
Out with the Old
The Halloween decorations from the front yard sitting around on the bench waiting to go back into storage. I wonder what they're talking about.
Video: Hot Sauce Progress – Entry 6
It's been a little more than six weeks since we began the fermentation on Batch 20 of my hot sauce. Today I'm popping open the fermenter to see how it's going and give the peppers a stir to keep thing moving.
Lemongrass Then and Now
From the "If you water it, it will grow" file comes this lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) rescued from the dry herb garden. In March I planted a small, mostly dead clump. In June it began to show life. By October it ruled its section of the tropical garden
Keyhole Garden – October 28, 2020
Gardener’s Log : Keyhole Garden day 585. Well, if you want to hammer a keyhole garden into submission, making it rain followed by high winds and near 80° heat, followed by overnight lows that dip into the 30s, followed by more near 80° temperatures again, is certainly one way of doing it. 40 degree plus temperature swing in 24 hours The poor pumpkin, which was thriving a couple weeks ago, is done in, as is most of the basil and the remaining sweet pepper and tomato. The only things that seemed to come through unscathed are the Tom [keep reading...]
A Fungus Among Us
This odd looking thing popped up out of some leaf litter yesterday. It's slightly squishy like a mushroom, but it doesn't look like any one I've ever seen before. Anyone have an idea what it might be?
Gasteria Ellaphiae
Gasteria Ellaphiae is an interesting succulent that does quite well in light-to-medium shade as long as the soil is kept warm and dry. This plant was a thumb-sized pair of leaves and no roots last spring, but, as you can see from the photo, it now has half a dozen new leaf clusters that can be separated into new plants.
Towering Tithonia
Tithonia diversifolia in autumn The Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) grew 20 feet tall over the summer, but now that autumn is here, all but the uppermost leaves have died back. Standing below, the effect is kind of Dr Seussian, a forest of towering sticks with a few green feathers sticking out the top.
October Tomatoes
The summer veggie garden is now down to the hot peppers, a few bell peppers, and a bunch of raggedy, but hanging in there, tomato plants. Chief among them is the Costolutos, which took a hard hit about a month ago but rebounded to flower and fruit for a third round in this growing year. A great tomato by any measure, it's interesting that the first bunch back in June were really deeply lobed, but they've gotten progressively smoother since. It's now mid-October and the ones currently ripening only hint at lobes with some coloring. Otherwise, they're nearly as smooth [keep reading...]
Tom Thumb Peas
The near freezing weather has ended pretty much everything in the veggie garden but these Tom Thumb peas. The plants are tiny, but they kick out a whole lot of peas.
Video: A Fallen Agave
The first real rains of the season blew down this 20 foot tall agave flower the woodpeckers had stuffed with acorns.
Out with the Old
The Halloween decorations from the front yard sitting around on the bench waiting to go back into storage. I wonder what they're talking about.
Video: Hot Sauce Progress – Entry 6
It's been a little more than six weeks since we began the fermentation on Batch 20 of my hot sauce. Today I'm popping open the fermenter to see how it's going and give the peppers a stir to keep thing moving.
Lemongrass Then and Now
From the "If you water it, it will grow" file comes this lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) rescued from the dry herb garden. In March I planted a small, mostly dead clump. In June it began to show life. By October it ruled its section of the tropical garden
Keyhole Garden – October 28, 2020
Gardener’s Log : Keyhole Garden day 585. Well, if you want to hammer a keyhole garden into submission, making it rain followed by high winds and near 80° heat, followed by overnight lows that dip into the 30s, followed by more near 80° temperatures again, is certainly one way of doing it. 40 degree plus temperature swing in 24 hours The poor pumpkin, which was thriving a couple weeks ago, is done in, as is most of the basil and the remaining sweet pepper and tomato. The only things that seemed to come through unscathed are the Tom [keep reading...]
A Fungus Among Us
This odd looking thing popped up out of some leaf litter yesterday. It's slightly squishy like a mushroom, but it doesn't look like any one I've ever seen before. Anyone have an idea what it might be?
Gasteria Ellaphiae
Gasteria Ellaphiae is an interesting succulent that does quite well in light-to-medium shade as long as the soil is kept warm and dry. This plant was a thumb-sized pair of leaves and no roots last spring, but, as you can see from the photo, it now has half a dozen new leaf clusters that can be separated into new plants.
Towering Tithonia
Tithonia diversifolia in autumn The Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) grew 20 feet tall over the summer, but now that autumn is here, all but the uppermost leaves have died back. Standing below, the effect is kind of Dr Seussian, a forest of towering sticks with a few green feathers sticking out the top.
October Tomatoes
The summer veggie garden is now down to the hot peppers, a few bell peppers, and a bunch of raggedy, but hanging in there, tomato plants. Chief among them is the Costolutos, which took a hard hit about a month ago but rebounded to flower and fruit for a third round in this growing year. A great tomato by any measure, it's interesting that the first bunch back in June were really deeply lobed, but they've gotten progressively smoother since. It's now mid-October and the ones currently ripening only hint at lobes with some coloring. Otherwise, they're nearly as smooth [keep reading...]