Poor Planning

Next year, I must be smarter with my August. We are away for three weekends this month which has made it nigh impossible to enjoy the fruits of my labors. We have a bachelor party this coming weekend so I took Monday off to tend to things, including my lawn which will require a machete soon.

Last of the 2006 Projects

After the granite, I swore I was done with projects for 2006. But I spoke to my friend Raeph last weekend and decided that we could fit in two minor things before the winter:

1) New external doors at the main entrances (which should improve energy retention this winter)

2) A ceiling fan and light in the porch so we can start to use that room more

Homework is never done.

Little Nibbles

I will get you photographic evidence next week but we noticed some nibbles out of some of the low hanging tomatoes this weekend. A rodent of some kind, not rabbit, something smaller (chipmunk maybe).

But lemme ask you, why must my little friend take two bites out of seven tomatoes when he'd get the same amount of fruit from just eating the one and leaving the other six for me!?

Restaurant Report: BLT Fish Shack

In an effort to cover topics outside of the garden I'll share with you a recent experience at a New York resto. Last Thursday night I had dinner at BLT Fish with my friend Ben. We had an 8:30 reservation and showed up at 8:30. So far so good.

The table wasn't ready but we were assured they were paying now so shouldn't be long. No sweat, we'll have a glass of wine at the bar (an unmemorable Riesling). 15 minutes later, still no table but a polite reminder to the maitre, with the response of "just a few more minutes please." 30 minutes later, still at the bar.

That was when the hostess came by and we said "we've been here for 30 minutes watching plenty of people get seated, at the very least you can offer to buy us a drink." Her response: she laughed. She really did, like I made a joke. Very irritating. We eventually got seated (I know, I know we should have walked out then) and had a fine, but by no means transcendent, meal. The iceberg wedge was really excellent, the garlic bread that comes with the table was pretty superb as well. The lobster roll was good but not $24 good and the fries that came with it were pretty soggy and disappointing.

Fortunately Ben is good company and we had a great time together. I can't say I'll rush back to BLT Fish. It's been well reviewed and we probably caught them on an off evening, but the pool is too deep in NY to reward an average experience.

Sitting on the fence

Can someone tell me why my pumpkin vines insist upon growing along my fence. It's not an aesthetic issue but I am concerned that as the fruits get heavier, my fence will groan under the weight. Next year I need to come up with a trellising concept for the pumpkins.

Any thoughts?

Weeks 18 and 19: 12 and 19 August -- No frickin' tomatoes

Can you believe it? How ridiculous that they won't ripen. So strange...or maybe not. It's my first year, maybe this is typical.

So I've been a delinquent blogger over the past two weeks. I owe you guys some major updates, right? Here's the dirt:

• The beans are still coming in nicely, a good pound or so each week. They are yummy. Interestingly the bush beans have been more consistent than the poles.
• Zukes are still coming out huge. I'm not sure what to keep doing with them. This weekend we battered and fried them, that seemed to go well.
• Squash and cukes still doing their thing too
• There will be no artichokes this year. I've lost two of the six plants and the rest aren't looking so hot. I will try to cover and mulch them well over the winter but I'm not confident that they will cooperate.
• And yes, the pumpkins are continuing their conquest. We have at least four growing specimens that we will look forward to.

So life in the garden continues apace. Lots of lessons for next year which I will bounce off you in the coming days.

Week 17: 5 August -- Stubborn Tomatoes

So now they are just laughing at me. These guys are sitting there just refusing to ripen. And I know exactly what's going to happen...one week I'm going to have 25 pounds of tomatoes ripen at once.

The plums I have a plan for...sauce that I will freeze. But what about the rest. I guess it'll be BLTs and tricolores for a week straight. Actually I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Vulture and Deer

Bee Balm

This is called Bee Balm, although I didn't know that until Jim's sister pointed it out this past weekend. I have quite a few of them around. They seem to take very well to our microclimate upstate and the flowers last for ages.

Apparently the leaves are edible and can be used in place of mint in some recipes. Must try that some time.

How about a Pimm's my dear?

I found THE best use for cucumbers from the garden. On my way back from London last time I picked up a bottle of Pimm's at Heathrow. Pimm's (or a Pimm's Cup more precisely) is the quintessential British summer drink.

The recipe is simple: 1 part Pimm's, 2 parts Sprite (the British say lemonade, but they mean Sprite or 7UP), a cucumber spear in each glass, and whatever fruit you have on hand (we used strawberries, and some lemon and lime slices). We forgot to add mint leaves but you can if you want it even more refreshing.

I can't tell you what's in Pimm's, it's a closely guarded secret. Here's more info if you can't get enough. We just about finished the bottle this weekend. Good thing I'm back in London in September!