Oh where, oh where has he gone???

Work has very little time for blogging, or indeed gardening, these days. We're in the middle of planning season and it's all just been pretty manic. I left for London last weekend and was there all week, got back yesterday and will miss yet another weekend upstate for the wedding of Jim's brother today. September is going to a rough month for me and my country pursuits.

That said, I have been managing to squeeze in a day or two upstate over the past few weeks. The pumpkins are coming in at the rate of one or two a week. The tomatoes are finally ripening. The zukes have done their thing and it's time for them to come out, same for the cukes. It's nearly time to get the garden shut down for the winter.

Start of October I will throw some bulbs in which I have not done before. Apparently the actual planting process is easy...keeping the deer and rodents away, not so much.

Be patient friends, I will write when I can.

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!

I think they're doing something wrong...

Have a look at this. If their compost smells like sulfur, something definitely is not right with it. Or the odor could be coming from someplace that had nothing to do with the compost.

Week 16: 29 July -- Squash Attack

And by squash attack, I mean all types. The zukes, pumpkins and yellow squash are steadily marching forward and taking over everything in their path. The pumpkins are especially Napoleonic. I even saw my first baby pumpkin this weekend.

No pictures for you but I can tell you that this weekend I pulled out:

• 6 Giant Zucchinis...I must get better at catching them when they are younger, they get a bit mushy with age
• A dozen yellow squash
• 8 Cucumbers (message to self, use gloves next time)
  
• 3 Cherry tomatoes...what's up with that
• A few good handfuls of delicious string beans, even some yellow ones
• The tomatoes are rapidly ripening, any week now I should be inundated
  

But really not a whole lot to do; weeding and harvesting are the main chores these days.

But what's up with my artichokes, I'm not seeing any choke stems coming out of them yet. I hope they're not pulling some "first season, no choke" BS with me.

Keeping guard

No doggies allowed in the garden. This is Bogey and what he wants more than anything is to be in there with me. Actually, what he wants more than anything is cheese, but failing that, he wants to be in there with me.

He'll have to settle for standing guard while I'm working. He gets paid in string beans.

Away again...and does anyone know what's eating my tomatoes?

I'm off on a business trip all week and won't be blogging (unless I can grab a free minute in the evening).

While I'm gone, can anyone figure out who's ravishing my 'maters?

Week 15: 22 July -- The first harvest

So I've learned that I can never, ever go away for a week in the middle of the summer again. The lads in the garden got quite unruly while I was away.

But first, let's talk about what I pulled out this week. My first zucchinis, some squash, some string beans and a cucumber. Here's a picture of the collection.

Now if you're thinking that I have a rather big zucchini there, you're right. Here it is on it's own with a 20-dollar bill for perspective. It's kind of ridiculous and well past it's prime for eating. My mom did take it and swore she'd make zucchini bread with it. I'm looking forward to that.

Back in the garden, things had gone haywire. What was left of the lettuces had bolted so I hoed both plots over and left the remainder to rot back into the soil. The peas had come and gone without too much to show for it so I tore those out as well. I'll throw some lettuce in the pea plot in a few weeks when things start to cool down.

But it's the tomatoes that required the most work. All of my heirlooms had flourished to the point that they knocked over the bamboo stakes I had tied them to and were growing along the ground (as Stephen predicted). Not good for the ripening tomatoes. I spent hours untangling them and getting them firmly attached to more substantial six-foot stakes. I'm not sure how well they will do at this point but I should get some yield from them. The other plot of tomatoes were safely ripening in their cages and much happier for it. Cages all the way in '07!

And the pumpkins are continuing their conquest of the garden. They have managed to make their way through two adjacent plots and seem to be heading toward the house. Here they are devouring my sunflowers!

Not quite an update...

So I was with my family in Puerto Rico for a few days which was a welcome break. The weather was accommodating and we all won in the casino. I was hoping to make it upstate on Monday to check on things but didn't manage to do so...

Which means that tomorrow will be my first day up in two weeks. Who knows what will be doing? Will my new irrigation system have failed? Will I have ripe veggies rotting on the vine? Will the heatwave have wiped everything out? How will Clark escape from the Phantom Zone?

Stay tuned patient readers, a full update and photos when I get back next week.

Hols

I'll be away for a few days so no blogging until next Tuesday. Should have some good stuff for you by then. Stay tuned!

Two impressive performers

Now, it's a bit early to get excited about yields or anything like that but I wanted to call out two crops which have really astounded me with the speed in which they have flourished.

The first is no surprise and one I've been marveling at for a few weeks now: pumpkins. Have a look at these shots from 11 June, exactly a month ago, and this past weekend. It really is incredible how quickly they can go from seed to this. They have really taken over a huge section of the garden (they have 60 square feet to themselves) and would grow beyond if I let them. I'm hoping that they continue to do well and, more importantly, that I have room to support all of the pumpkins that they will produce. Next year I'm going to have to make a vining structure for them to climb.

Almost as impressive are my pole beans. These are your standard stringbeans -- well, not quite standard, I planted three different colors: green, white and purple. Once again, here is a before shot from 11 June and an updated photo from this past weekend. These guys have really taken to their environment and have managed to climb well beyond the top of their teepee. There's another 3 feet of vine at least draped off of the top of the tower, I bet they would climb another four feet if I had a structure tall enough. They have now flowered and I'm hoping to see some beans unfurling on them soon.

So I may have jinxed myself with all of this crowing, but it's been so amazing to see these huge and vibrant plants emerge from tiny seeds.

Week 13: 8 July -- Water, water everywhere

This weekend my friend Sheldon and I installed a drip irrigation system across the entire garden. I'd ordered one from Dripworks and we managed to get the entire system set up in a few (long) hours. Fortunately Sheldon had actually done this a few times before so things went a lot quicker than they would have otherwise. I'm pretty darn pleased with how it all went (and very indebted to Sheldon for his expertise and labor).


And have a look at my first tomatoes. These will be a yellow cherry tomato so they should be ready in just a week or two (max). We've also got zukes and squash growing, flowers blooming and the start of a pumpkin (assuming this female blossom blooms and manages to get fertilized).