Nice, the volunteer in among the zinnias in the SE central bed is producing a nice surprise harvest after I had to tear out all the other plants because they were feeding the rat(s). No rodents have found this ground cherry plant yet, as evidenced by the undisturbed fruit on the ground. Yay!
Also I haven't seen any rats in several weeks now. I think removing their food source (the row of ground cherry plants, plus adding a seed-catcher tray to the birdfeeder), removing their compost bin hideout, plus clearing out junk around the kitchen step did the trick.
Weird... Thought maybe it was related to the cooler weather, but the buckwheat in the north bed looks fine...
First there were the issues with something nibbling down the leaves. So then I covered it in row cover and that seems to fix that issue. But now, the plants are growing all stunted and deformed, very similar to how the earlier plants succumbed to some kind of rot a month or two ago, though in their case they were very mature and provided great harvest.
There's still the more recent kale seeds I started in a pot, and the lettuce seeds also in two pots -- so far those are looking good but they're still very small, just getting in their first/second leaves.
Yeah, definitely grow it for the soil enhancer, but my seed collection attempt didn't quite work out. First, I had only 30% germination rate for the final batch of 10 seeds I had collected. Second, during stormy weather many seeds fell off the plant and were eaten (the eater opens the seeds for the insides) so there were a bunch of seeds I never got to harvest. Third, the plants go all spindly and lose a lot of biomass during the seed stage, so less soil enhancer given there was no extremely minimal seed collection.
Was worth a try, though!
Just plucked out of the pots, root balls and all, and laid on the surface. Not chopped or dug in or anything.
Another to come in a day or two; and a hopeful flowered this morning.
Very exciting -- the millet that had been sitting in the tray feeder completely untouched for several weeks finally all disappeared today! (short of a few pieces) I was working all day so didn't see who ate it. But I've been hearing bird songs more the last few days and one I thought sounded like a song sparrow... So hopefully I'll see the glutton(s) soon! (put a bunch more millet into the feeder today to replace it)
Just plucked it (out of two of the former potato pots) and layed it down. Didn't cut it at all or scratch it in etc.
It's a good amount of biomass for this one little zone, which is part of where next year I plan to grow broccoli followed by later season zucchini.
Whoa, heard a ruckus in the skies of the neighbourhood (seen/heard from my yard); saw one large bird chasing another large bird; grabbed the phone, Merlin identified a Pileated Woodpecker, which I then confirmed visually. The other bird I'm sure was a hawk, saw the white/tan patterning on wings or tail or something, but no idea what kind, nor what the outcome of this was.
Bold yellow belly but definitely was not one of the goldfinches!
My bet is on a migrator!
Other than the yellow belly, the upper side and head were sort of an olive/tan. Flitted around the primrose plant while eating.
From looking through the Audubon app's suggestions for yellow birds in Ontario in September, maybe one of these... --> UPDATE: Aha! This evening I saw what was definitely a male common yellow throat in the yard! (see other post) And I see from Google that the bird I saw on the primrose was I am quite sure the female! I hadn't put this on the list below because the bird had no mask!
- Nashville Warbler?
- Philadelphia Vireo?
- Orange-crowned Warbler?
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher?
- Mourning Warbler?
- Connecticut Warbler?
- Western Kingbird?
- Yellow-breasted Chat?
- None of the above? I have no idea! But a fun sighting while stuck at home with my broken-leg dog for two months.
Noticed two such seeds today, in two separate pods. Planted them, and a couple of other broccoli seeds from dried pods, in the cucumber area, just for fun.
Planted them in front of the former cucumber place.
(Have discarded the two earlier batches of collected seeds, because they did nothing even after 4-5 days.)
Started a bunch more today in PT.
Pure green, from a yellow zucchini plant. These late-season gems do their own thing!
Looking quite promising for a few more yet, especially with mostly warm weather ongoing so far and into next week.
Cool! The wild evening primrose that sprung up this year outside the fence is now going to seed, and several times today I saw a goldfinch eating the seeds! Google confirms this is very much to be expected. Kept some seeds today and wow, sooooo many seeds from just one pod.
I was going to chop it down, until seeing the goldfinch. So, it will stay!
I'm doubtful that the seeds are viable at this stage, but the branch broke off so I figured I'd take the seeds and see what happens.
So, those two beds (north and south of the a/c) are done for biomass. This comes from one of the pots, which I harvested today, chopped up with scissors, and scratched in to these beds.
I have no idea if this is enough to make a difference, or two much, or whatnot, but it is what it is!
The 3 buckwheat seeds collected and started in PTs on Sep 6th didn't germinate, so I tossed them.
Plucked 3 more today and put them into PTs.
That first pot of buckwheat is looking really tired -- leaves/stems turned/turning orange, like autumn.
The sorrel is losing its long-time home in the NE corner, as that area will be turned back into patio stones this fall due to the window well flooding issue.
So, today I dug it all up. I was amazed at how easily it dug up, and at how easily it divided -- the leaves were growing in clearly distinct clumps that were easy to tear apart.
The new home is still along that north wall, but now west of the patio stone section. Divided it into four clumps there, with two bigger clumps on the ends and two smaller ones in the middle.
The web says sorrel is supposed to be divided in spring or early summer, so, time will tell whether it will survive this move.
How can it be that all these many years of having renegade lemon balm (mostly in the NE corner), I never even once tried to make something with it? (It wasn't even a tag on the blog until today!)
Until today!
Today I sniffed a leaf, thinking I'd be repelled as I thought I used to be, and wow I really liked it. So, googled recipes, and made these:
- Lemon Balm Pesto: Actually pretty good! Same type of basil pesto recipe, but all lemon balm instead of basil.
- Lemon Balm Tea / Iced Tea: Verrrry nice! (The iced tea is TBD -- it's currently in the fridge.) Boiled 1 cup of water on the stove; once boiled, added in 1 Tbsp finely chopped leaves; steeped for 10 minutes; strained leaves; stirred in 2 tsps sugar.
- Lemon Balm Cookies: Hmm, the dough was delicious, but once they were baked they lost the magic.
- Candied Lemon Balm Leaves: Well I don't have corn syrup, so I couldn't try this one yet, but I want to soon!
Argh, all but one of the lettuces sowed recently was nibbled away and is gone. And the 7 or 8 remaining kales also look nibbled (these I placed floating row cover over today so try to protect them).
So, sowed more lettuce (from this year's collected seed, direct from plant to pot) and kale, all in pots thickly sowed for max harvest, and under floating row cover.
Here's hoping for some delicious falafel salads this fall!
From the one remaining first-batch in the central bed. Looks like it has another that I think also took.
Only ~8 of the kales from the first round started August 26th are still around, and hardly any of the lettuce -- something has definitely been eating the very young seeds.
So, why not start more kale in PT today.
Eating from the mixed seed that I had put out the other day. However, I've now replaced it back with the millet tray since the mixed seed feeder results in lots of spillage.
Figured I'd do this test to see if the seeds at this stage are viable. I had to pry the seeds off. I imagine when viable the seeds would fall right off. So, we'll see!
They both flowered (and I hand-pollinated) within the last two days. I'm hopeful for the zucchini as that plant looks decent still (despite nearly hollow stem from suspected SVB damage), but the ronde plant looks quite sad, full of powdery mildew so I'll be surprised if the ronde grows.
Wow! Susan Mulvihill's tip definitely works. Simply wrap the cucumber in a dry kitchen towel (I used these) or dry paper towels, place in a plastic bag (I didn't seal the bag), and place in the fridge. The cucumbers harvested August 15th are looking as good as they day they were picked -- that's 3 weeks ago!
