autumn garden

 September 27 and our unusually long hot summer has extended the growing cycle of the tomatoes substantially. The presence of the large ripening tomatoes is not as unusual as the new growth -- dozens of new buds and new tiny green tomatoes forming.

This part of Kentucky is normally frost free until between October 4 at the earliest and October 30 at the latest, but usually cooling temperatures have discouraged the formation of new growth and new buds long before now. The normal average low for the month of September around here is 53 degrees F and by this time of the month, the lows normally run in the mid-forties (fahrenheit), but this year, the average low in September so far is 58 degrees F, with only one day (back on September 1) where the low was below 50 degrees. 

The normal average high for September is 76 degrees F. This year, the average high temperature so far for September is 88 degrees -- 12 degrees above average. In fact there have only been three days all month that have fallen below the normal average of 76 degrees!

While it is pleasant to have new tomatoes growing on the vine in late September, this disruption of past patterns of plant growth cycles for this region, has the potential to throw off the life cycles of the many types of animals, from insect life and birds, to mammals, whose times for mating, raising young, migrating, and hibernating developed under a different climatic regime.

Photos "September tomatoes" by sgreerpitt, taken September 27, 2010.

my mother's beautiful roses

My mother has always grown spectacular roses. These days, the bushes she planted decades ago are maintained by a professional gardener who comes twice a month. But they still fill her yard with sumptuous color and heady fragrances.

starting a garden

Planted my tiny container garden this afternoon. So far, two tomato plants -- a heirloom gold and red tomato, and a smaller hybrid -- and six sweet yellow bell peppers. John helped me by digging down to the bottom of his compost heap for some nice gooey black compost to add to my potting soil.


We locate the containers just outside the fenced in part of the yard -- because Rosie dog likes to chew on the containers, and she will eat the tomatoes! I am re-purposing some non-recyclable kitty litter containers. (We usually buy recyclable containers, but had a few stacked in our junk room that we couldn't recycle). We punched some holes for drainage in the bottoms. I hope this experiment works.

summer bounty

I am at times astounded by the bounty of nature, especially in a place like this. I grew up in California where rain stopped entirely from the end of April until early October, the hillsides turned brown (some more poetic folks might have said "golden"), and the live oaks and manzanita became coated with grey dust by mid-summer. So I never cease to marvel at the prodigious amount of green growth produced by Kentucky's summer rains. Anything left unmown quickly turns into a jungle of blackberry, wild rose, any many forms of wild flowering "weed."

Several years ago, we had a slightly dry spring, and the maple trees released an unusually large number of their winged seeds. The lack of rain meant that we left the lawn unmown for a bit longer than usual in the spring, and thousands of the maple seeds took root all over the yard. By the time John got the mower cleaned up and ready to go, there were 6" maple seedlings densely packed through the whole yard.

Part of me wanted to let the entire yard go back to forest! We figured the neighbors might object. I talked John into leaving a two foot wide, 10 foot long area next to a walkway unmown. This strategically chosen plot would screen our bedroom window from the road, and provide late afternoon shade for the car.

I called it my experimental tree farm. I have tried, as much as possible to let nature take its course (I have pruned the branches on the side of the walk), and see which trees win out in the competition to survive. As you can see they are are growing quite handily. Those on the edges of the plot have a clear advantage. We now regret that we did not leave several other patches of trees to grow up, especially in our overly sunny backyard area.

On the same topic of things growing with little human input, I put in a few tomato plants this year, in tubs, and have done little about them, other than staking and tying them (a little late). We are now beginning to harvest some of those wonderful, sweet juice tomatoes. We won't get as much as I hoped, because the wet, frequently overcast summer contributed to some type of leave mold that is slowly killing the plants. My guess is before the plants completely die, I'll end up with about twenty tomatoes. Not bad for about 45 minutes worth of work.

the humbling nature of nature

It would appear that I jumped the gun on spring planting. Went out this morning to discover a hard frost on everything, including my new tomato plants. By afternoon, they were black withered lumps.

I should have checked the average last freeze date -- easy to find on-line now that I bother to look. It's between May 1 and May 15 in this area of Kentucky!!

So its back to nursery for more plants in a day or two. This time I think I'll patronize my favorite local greenhouse/fruit stand "The Golden Apple" which appear to have opened for the season this week.

are my thumbs green?

Having been liberated from the dreaded Virtual Learning Initiative, I am contemplating all types of projects. First on the list -- some gardening.

The quality of our soil (non-existent) and the condition of my joints (not so hot) rule out simply plowing the earth to create a garden. So I am opting for container gardening. I grew cherry tomatoes a couple of years ago in barrels and they did well. This year I'm going for a variety of larger types.

Got some nice barrels from Lowe's and some bags of garden soil. The containers have to be situated outside the fenced in part of the yard, otherwise Rosie the dog will eat them (tomatoes, plants, stakes, and the wooden barrels themselves!!). John supervised the placement to insure that he can run the mower around them.

We're having a day or two of cooler weather -- dogwood winter say the neighbors -- so transferring the tomato plants will wait for a day or two until its a little warmer. Then I'll get my hands dirty.