Monday, September 30, 2019

Has been warm fall; now some cold nights, but no frost yet

September was really nice, warm and sunny.

Lately we've had some cooler nights, single digits.  And the forecast now is more seasonal, cooler.

No frost yet...

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Lots of ground cherries, making pies

Harvesting lots of ground cherries, yay.

Borers in a butternut and banana!!

Argh, a borer got into the top of one of the nice butternuts, right near the stem.  Removed him/her; provided I eat the squash soon I think it will be fine.

And, a borer got into the stem of one of the banana squash (the stem close to the fruit).  I think it was only one (removed).  Will have to eat this one too sooner than later.

All zucchini and almost all squash plants pulled

Pulled the two remaining zucchini because they were clearly not going to produce anything else.

Pulled the squash except for the vertical vine.  The vines were dead in a lot of spots, including the butternut, not sure if because of the cold, or borers, or something else.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Apples at CM

Peak time for apples at CM! 

Many varieties/trees had already fallen to the ground, but many others will still loaded up in the trees.  I took almost exclusively from the trees, rather than the ground.  A lot in really nice shape!

Brought home a big bag, for apple sauce.

Next year, try going a few weeks earlier than this, to try to catch the earlier ones that had already fallen to the ground today.

Praying mantis in backyard!!!

Jasper found a praying mantis in the backyard!!  He was standing on the back step looking into the window well.  So, curious, I looked to see what might have caught his attention.

It was a huge, brown praying mantis, stuck in a spider web!!

Used a stick to retrieve the mantis, placed him/her on the zinnias.  Took a bunch of photos.  Later I moved him/her in the north back bed, just east of the cucumber trellis where I don't harvest anything and there's probably a nice diversity of critters. 

I've only ever seen a praying mantis once before (while walking dogs in west greenbelt).   So neat!

Hopefully I won't accidentally kill the mantis while moving about in the yard, harvesting, and putting things away... 

Monday, September 16, 2019

Harvested a zucchini today -- and more on the way (slower growing now)

Like the title says.  Neat!

Weather has been really nice, warm sunny days.  Nights go down to ~5 to 10 degrees.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Green zucchini succombed to SVB -- harvested its last zucchini today

Amazing it lasted so long, given I never used any btk or did any intervention at all on this plant.  Harvested the last of its zucchinis today.  I wonder if the ridiculous amount of leaves helped protect it, by making it harder for the moths to land closer to the stem?  Who knows...

So, down to 2 zucchini plants now:  The yellow by the air conditioner (harvested one from this today as well), and the last yellow in the west bed (some small ones on the way, we'll see if they make it).

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Reference: Squash vine borer-resistant varities / links

Here are some varieties to try, which are supposed to be resistant to SVB:

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Harvested a zucchini on Sep 1st! From a plant that I've not intervened re: SVB!

Wow, my goal of harvesting a zucchini in September was achieved!

Ironically, it came from the green zucchini plant that I never intervened at all re: SVB (no btk etc).  The one by the kitchen door.

Two other zucchini plants are still around, have been harvesting recently although seem to be slowing down.

I've been very busy with work so haven't been monitoring closely anymore, so they might succumb soon.