Labor Day has come and gone, which means summer is over, right? It does mean my work hours are going up again, which means less time to do anything. Thankfully, this is coinciding with less garden chores as summer winds down. I have some other pest extermination experiments to do this week and I've got garlic and shallot planting on the calendar starting next weekend. After that though, what we've got is pretty much what we've got. And then it will start raining and I won't have to worry about watering the garden for like nine months.
Anyway, lingering end of summer projects around our house are....herb drying. I cut a bunch of thyme and oregano to store for the winter. We've got five little bushels hanging to dry. It makes nice decoration.
That's a big 'mater! We have eight tomato plants. About 90% of our tomatoes are coming from four of those plants. The other four are tiny, but cute, and are giving us about 3-4 tomatoes per plant. I haven't counted, but I think the big ones must have like a thousand tomatoes each, or something...
Mike made a jalapeno salsa and I made a Hatch green chile salsa. We're competing. I'm not sure who is winning though. They are both pretty good. I guess I should get more chips and "taste-test" a little more thoroughly.
My newest pet project is an avocado tree. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away I sprouted an avocado seed and grew a tree indoors. It made it to about a foot and a half high. My cat, (then kitten) Tim, chewed on it one night and killed it. I haven't had indoor plants since. When I cut open this avocado the other day the seed was already split and sprouted. I took it as a sign.
The Internet tells me to suspend the seed a quarter submerged in water. The root will start growing into the water and a tree will sprout out the top. Once it's a foot tall or so and has some good roots I can transplant it to dirt.
You can see the split where the roots will soon emerge.
Looking back, last year at this time we were hard at work on our patio. We finished it up (the stones at least) just after Labor Day 2010 and right before I started back to work. I can't believe I've been here a year already!
I really love our patio. It looks great and we have eaten outside almost every night this summer. We've got a few potted plants around and grapes starting at the foot of two of the beams. There are a couple large cedar stumps we saved from last year's firewood that now serve as extra seating for the picnic table too.
Anyway, lingering end of summer projects around our house are....herb drying. I cut a bunch of thyme and oregano to store for the winter. We've got five little bushels hanging to dry. It makes nice decoration.
That's a big 'mater! We have eight tomato plants. About 90% of our tomatoes are coming from four of those plants. The other four are tiny, but cute, and are giving us about 3-4 tomatoes per plant. I haven't counted, but I think the big ones must have like a thousand tomatoes each, or something...
Mike made a jalapeno salsa and I made a Hatch green chile salsa. We're competing. I'm not sure who is winning though. They are both pretty good. I guess I should get more chips and "taste-test" a little more thoroughly.
My newest pet project is an avocado tree. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away I sprouted an avocado seed and grew a tree indoors. It made it to about a foot and a half high. My cat, (then kitten) Tim, chewed on it one night and killed it. I haven't had indoor plants since. When I cut open this avocado the other day the seed was already split and sprouted. I took it as a sign.
The Internet tells me to suspend the seed a quarter submerged in water. The root will start growing into the water and a tree will sprout out the top. Once it's a foot tall or so and has some good roots I can transplant it to dirt.
You can see the split where the roots will soon emerge.
Looking back, last year at this time we were hard at work on our patio. We finished it up (the stones at least) just after Labor Day 2010 and right before I started back to work. I can't believe I've been here a year already!
I really love our patio. It looks great and we have eaten outside almost every night this summer. We've got a few potted plants around and grapes starting at the foot of two of the beams. There are a couple large cedar stumps we saved from last year's firewood that now serve as extra seating for the picnic table too.
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