Last year's butternut was fine when cooked today

Still have two of last year's butternuts left, which is double what this year's entire harvest will likely be!!  Cooked one of them today, roasted, to help Scooter's digestion.

Amazing to think it's been sitting on a table for an entire year, and is perfectly fine to eat!

Ronde de nice continue to produce -- severe signs of SVB, wonder how long they'll keep going

Getting ~1-2 rondes per week the past few weeks, whereas I haven't seen a mature zucchini in quite a while. At least one or two of the ronde plants has major signs of SVB, with the vine hugely split open. So, I imagine their end is near, but given I haven't done any SVB control other than a little bit of egg monitoring last month (haven't done any BTK or other stem interference), I guess I'm somewhat impressed so far. Maybe they do have some little bit of SVB resistance, even if not fully SVB-proof. Will be interesting to grow them again next year to see if this repeats.

Where are the zinnia butterflies? None so far this year

In past years there were tons of butterflies (monarch-y-ish but with brown centre) constantly visiting the zinnias. When I would come and go from the house, they would flutter all up and around. This year, none at all. I wonder why.

Hummingbird!!!! Feeding from zinnias!

OMG OMG OMG!  I can probably count the number of times I've seen a hummingbird on one finger (and that was in the Greenbelt).  Well, make that two fingers as of today!  I heard a bird chirping in the yard, that was the woodpecker eating a sunflower.  But then -- I saw the hummingbird!  Emerald green, though not especially showy.  Eating from the backyard zinnias!  So neat.  Showed some interest in the sunflower too, especially when the woodpecker was chirping, but then went back to the zinnias.

Reference: Wild apples

https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/10/how-to-use-wild-apples.html https://confessionsofanover-workedmom.com/baking-with-wild-apples/

Asparagus aphids still here, ecosystem with lady bugs and house flies

Wow that asparagus patch by the patio door is sooooooo completely infested with aphids.  Wonder what the long term damage will be.  There have been a few more generations of lady bugs, including some adult beetles who I witnessed today emerge spotless from their... whatever their previous form is called.  There are also a lot of house flies who hang around the asparagus constantly.  Can't figure out if they're eating the aphids or not.

The asparagus by the compost bin also has some starting :-(

Not doing anything about it this year, other than eventually removing the ferns later this fall.

Sunflower seeds harvested

Harvested the seeds from the two big heads on the north edge of the central bed.  The flower petals were totally dry/crispy.  The back of the heads were yellowish.  (definitely not brown, but not green either)  They were somewhat hard to remove from the head, required some force to do so.   Results:  I feel like it might have been a little early, maybe resulting in the seeds being a bit small (but still edible).

Roasted with the quick method and the longer method and found the result the same in both cases.  Would have liked them to be saltier.

Looks like no more sunflower harvest after this, as the ones outside the yard will need to be cut soon for aesthetic reasons, and the two still in the yard snapped their stem so unlikely to mature.

Trimmed tomato plants down to base

Trimmed most of the tomato plants down to a base keeping only the parts with green tomatoes. Plants really mostly dead, wonder if they'll regrow.

Bean harvest (dried)

Small harvest this year due to whatever killed off the plants early. I won't use these as seeds, only for cooking.

Potato harvest: Cherry Red; started new potatoes in their place

Today's Cherry Red potato harvest had slightly more than the other potato harvests this year: 1 lb 6 oz, or slightly more than 1 1/4 lbs. They're nice looking, nice sized red potatoes.

Planted store-bought fridge sprouted potatoes, close to the top of the pot rather than lower down.

Potato harvest: Ruby Gold; started new potatoes in their place

Same harvest as the other two potato harvests earlier this year: 1.25 pounds.

Planted store-bought fridge sprouted potatoes, close to the top of the pot rather than lower down.

 

Butternuts flowered today or yesterday

Some butternuts flowered today or yesterday. Wonder if they'll take. (Still only the one squash that's taken so far)

Ground cherries producing very well

^^^

Wild blackberries and thimbleberries at berry alley

Lots of ripe blackberries at berry alley. Lots more on the way too. Some thimbleberries, not a huge amount.

Wild apple harvest at CM

(Date was approx. August 17th, maybe a few days earlier than that). Most apples had fallen to the ground. Weird, because last year when I went on Sep 21st there were still a lot in the trees. Tons of apples on the ground, though most quite small or quite un-ideal. Brought home a grocery-bag full.

Basil is nearly dead (likely due to cold nights)

Basil is looking awful, nearly dead (brown). Pretty sure it's because of the cool nights we've had occasionally over the past few weeks. (Has gone down to ~12) Oh well, I have hardly any zucchinis to make the pasta sauce!

Harvested a ronde

Harvested a ronde. There's one more ronde that took, will be ready in a day or two. After that, no rondes/zucchinis on the horizon... Oh and a week or two ago I stopped doing any checking for SVB so likely they'll conk out fully soon anyway. Quite a change over last year, when I wrote a post on August 16th that I had 8 zucchinis in the fridge and that they were doing great.

WOW! Dig-and-drop composting works SUPER FAST!!!

OMG!  I dug up several of my dig-and-drop composting holes today, curious to see what they look like.  There is essentially no sign of the original material in holes that were dug as recently as July 25th, i.e. 3 weeks ago!!!!  Also the older holes that I checked, July 5th and July 11th, no sign at all.  They all held a full fridge-bin worth of scraps.

The most recent one, from August 8th, is definitely still there, still ample recognizable chunks.

But the others!  I would have sworn I wasn't digging in the right spot, if it weren't for the large rocks and ziplock bags with dates that I placed over the holes.

Oddly, the soil in the holes looks dry and boring, not the rich gorgeous stuff that comes out of the compost bin.

Lacewing emerged today!!

The lacewing larvae I brought inside a week or so ago cocooned within a couple of days, and emerged last night! Beautiful green lacewing. Released.

Pulled southmost zucchini which was killed by SVB

^^^