Fall Cleaning- and New Arrivals

Since we've harvested the last of the summer squash, Ed asked Josh to help him pull out the dead plants. The boys were also there to lend a hand.

We found some basil growing where the squash was. We had grown basil in this area a year ago, but when the rainy season started, the plant was lost among the weeds and died. Three basil bushes are growing very well, so I'll leave them there and contine to water them. We also found some tomatillos also growing where the zucs were. We had also planted some in a close by location last year.

My bear didn't do well with the heat so I'm not sure if I should continue watering it or plant something else or cover him with succulents... The grape vine growing just behind the bear, grew quite well, but didn't give any grapes this year, which is shame, because the were really sweat last year. I planted another grape vine that and been near a shaded fence and it too took well to it's new location. To the right of the grape vines are my raspberry/blackberry/ back raspberry bushes need a better support system, so I need to tend to that this week.

Our passion fruit got a second wind and is producing more flowers and I see lots of fruit already growing. I found another wooden fence piece near the garage and dragged it half way to the passion fruit. I plan to set up a similar trellis like the one used for the grape vine.

Our bird house gourds and mini pumpkins did well. So well in fact that Panfilo to Pony ate most of the ones on his side of the fence!

The dragon fruit plant that I purchased earlier this summer is already flowering! I'm very excited to see what color the inside fruit will be since they range from white to pink!

We just realized we are growing 2 different types of pomegrants! We've had the traditional red tart one for 2-3 years, but the light pinkish one we purchased early this summer. While the color appears light and the seed look bigger, it's actually quite sweat! You can clearly see which one Eli prefers.

Got Guavas? you bet!!! The tree we purchased and the ones my grandma gave us from her garden- which I should take pics of because everything is in pots and grows in abundance! Here are to guava trees from my yard, the ones on the left look real round... the ones on the right look almost pear shaped. I guess we'll have to wait and see what each one tastes like. The one on the left has had a few harvested from my little helpers and by the look on thier faces, I know thoses are good eats!

Our giant pumpkin patch is now a air port for a private plane and helicopter! Which is fine by be, I'm not planning on planing anything in that area for a while. That black doughnut shape between the fence and the plane is where I had plantd horseradish, but the only thing growing out of it seems to be weeds, so it'll be coming out soon and maybe plant a blue berry there... we'll wait and see!

New Fruits growing!

We have several guava plants that have a ton of fruit on them.

Our corn has died!!! at least the neighbors horses will eat it and our pony.

finally finished my bear, he's sniffing the blueberry bush.

This week: 9-7-09

My green bean covered area never happened so now i'm using it to store my tools and clean up the giant pumpkin site next to it so the kids can play there.

My topperari is almost complete... it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but I'm almost done. he'll be connected near the blueberry bush since he's my little blue bear-y

Max helped me harvest a lot of pumpkins and zucs!!! He got tired of riding his bike and also thru it on the wagon! He's so cute, he's pointing at his favorite pumpkin.

i thought I was crazy about bees...

Getting ready for 2nd Crop Season!

While we are up to our ears in squash, we are thinking of what to plant in its place (maybe peas, edamames, beans). and Speaking of ears, we have starting harvesting our heirloom corn!

While removing old poting soil from a pot to decorate for fall, Melisa and I discovered that the potatoe plant indeed give potatoes. We found these growing with the roots even though I had yanked out the dried plant a few weeks ago. In it's place, I transplanted a corn plant and we sprinkled in some "egg" gourds and baby pumpkins. After three days, most seeds have the first pair of leaves!

Ed had bought an upside down tomatoe pot early during summer, I used the "soil" it came with to start another worm bin. So when he came across this topsy turvey pot, he decided to give it a try again. Feeling bad for using his soil and losing the pot, I decided to surprise him when he came home. The boys and I set out to Blue Hill and found his fave habanero plant. The boys and Melisa helped me fill it while i holded the pot up. We hung it in front of our home in the porch where it gets plenty of morning sun.

New Arrivals!!!

Still picking squash and it's back down to normal size.

"We" have pomagrants now... I'll leave it at that...

We picked passion fruits today!!! We aren't sure when

As Big as it Gets!

We left town for about 3 weeks. My cousins were in charge of watering and harvesting the vegies... we return to super sized giant eight balls and summer squash the size of frisbees! We picked so much squash the day after we return Melisa and Josh both carried it in a large laundry basket into the kitchen. It took over a dozen fully stuffed grocery bags to distribute all the zucinis, eight balls and summer squash... As of today, we are harvesting 2 bags a day... thank goodness my mom's coworkers are asking for more.

Speaking of big, we have a hen that every few days lays an egg with a double yolk. We have no idea which hen is doing this amazing thing, but we love cracking the egg... I guess i'm not the only one with bragging rights to having twins. How can we tell it's a double yolk egg even before cracking it, well just look at it's size! (answer: back row, 2nd from the left).

My prize winning pumpkin got as big as it's going to get. After the bee sting incident, I'm staying out of the patch untill all leaves have wilted away. Both pumpkins are turning orange, so i'm not sure if i should continue watering or not, I'll ask the Pumpkin Guru on that. Apparently a few days after we left, a white powder formed on the leaves and started causing the plant to wilt. I was told, the weather was extremely hot and Ed's uncle place a tarp a few feet above the entire vine to help give it shade. Ironicly, the only part of the vine that was wilting was the one not shaded. I'm very happy with the growth of my pumpkins and plan to show them off for all of fall!

Out with the old (my giant pumpkin), in with the new (bird house goards and watermelon)! I planted some bird house gourds along the fence near the pony and my neighbors, in the middle part, Ed sowed watermelon seeds and the are growing! In this same spot a year ago, I sowed sunflowers, however none ever sprouted until now. Between all the vines is a five foot tall sunflower with it head just barely raising to bloom.

Our heirloom corn is growing tall and forming well. In some space, the corn didn't grow, so Ed will be filling it in with edamame (soy) beans and peas. The corn will make natural bean/pea poles.