Lilly and the Girls

September Tomatoes!

I’ve been whining all summer about how the lack of sunshine and temperatures that rarely exceeded 65 degrees were preventing my tomatoes from ripening.   But every year,  after the typically cold and foggy Seaside/ Monterey summer comes warm and sunny September,  just like it always does.  All the tomatoes that hung sorrowfully on their vines,  shivering in the gloom,  have all begun to ripen,  each and every one of them.   I grew these tomato vines on the patio,  using those Topsy-Turvy hanging baskets.   I see these things hanging off porches all over town, all of them with dead plants.  I think to make them work you need to do the following things:

1. Hang your planters in a sunny,  NON-WINDY location.
2. Use good potting soil.  The roots will eventually fill the entire container and you need good dirt if you want good tomatoes.
3. Water them everyday.   Every month or so,  add some organic fertilizer.

They are starting to grow some green feathers!

Meanwhile,  the chickens have been staying outside overnight for about a week now.

This little guy hatched August 24. He's one of three.

The girls in their new pen, with the Farm Dog standing guard

The chicks are now well past the cute stage and are starting to look like hens except for Rhonda who is starting to look like a rooster.

We’ve moved them out of the bedroom and into the garage,  where they are spending their nights under the heat lamp.  During the day,  when it warms up some,  they are out in their pen,  chasing bugs and enjoying dust baths.

I really am afraid Rhonda is a rooster.

Feverfew

What summer?  It barely got above 60 degrees all season but September is coming and we usually have warm weather in September.  Too late for the tomatoes, though. (Edit: No! Not too late at all, it turned out!)  Here’s how things went out in the garden this year:

The Three Sisters Garden:  This was wildly successful,  but I don’t think I’ll plant one next year because it took up too much space.  The pumpkin vines have covered 75% of the the garden patch already and they’re still growing.  While I think there will be at least ten large pumpkins,  I would rather use the space for other vegetables.

The green beans (Kentucky Wonders)  are producing well but because of the profusion of pumpkin vines the beans are difficult to harvest.   What’s more,  the bean vines have completely encircled the corn stalks making it impossible to pick the ears of corn without killing the bean vine.   I am going to have to let the corn dry out on the stalk and give it to the chickens,  I guess.  (“Give it to the chickens” has a nice sound to it. )

The second, smaller Three Sisters plot suffered a sneak underground attack from a gopher and some of the plants were killed.  This patch has zucchini instead of pumpkin and I’m getting some nice squash but not too many beans yet.  Same problem with the corn here, too.

Tomatoes:  This year I planted all my tomatoes in those green hanging contraptions that has the tomato plants growing upside down.  The plants grew big and lush with lots of green tomatoes but since we’ve had very little sunshine this summer the tomatoes aren’t ripening very well.    I’ve gotten a few so far for salads.  Better luck next year, I hope!

Cucumbers:  I planted the cucumbers (from seed) in hanging planters and they have done surprisingly well.     The small Persian cukes have produced 2 or 3 a week and the Armenian cukes are starting to get big enough to eat.

Apricots:  This was not a good year for our apricot tree.  It produced lots of green fruit that rotted before it could ripen,  thanks to the dreary summer weather.  The ones that did ripen were delish!

Herbs:  Lots of good herbs this year,  especially mint.   There’s feverfew growing everywhere,  all from those original plants I grew from seed.  I’m think I’m going to have feverfew growing like a weed around here forever!  

Right now there’s a patch of  young iceburg lettuce that’s looking really good.  I’ve also got the usual chard, kale, carrots,  and radish.   These are all doing well, as they thrive in fog.   When the pumpkins are done I plan to replant the whole area with beets, kale and chard.

Despite the cold, clammy weather this was one of my better gardens,  probably because of the compost and the rabbit poop.

Mrs. Rabbit busy manufacturing garden fertilizer

Lilly the Farm Dog

A tiny farm dog for a tiny farm.  She is very good at rounding up the rabbit and herding her back into her pen at night.  The secret to interspecies amity is to have all the herbivores and carnivores be about the same size.

Rhonda, Flo, Ruby and Rita!

These chicks are three days old.  We’ve got 2 Ameraucanas,   a reddish  hybrid of some kind and a Rhode Island Red.  I can’t believe how much they eat!  They are scratching around like regular hens.

Greens for breakfast!