Dwarf Tomato Crop. 8.27.22

 Here are the dwarf tomato raised beds.  Unfortunately I picked tomatoes before taking the photo.

I couldn't be happier with how they came out.    High raised bed, dwarf varieties, drip irrigation, cardboard mulch.  Working very nicely.

Oh Dear. Oh Deer. 8.22.22

 

I'mostly learned to coexist with them.  Every tree's lowest branches are at about 5 or 6 feet now, because Bambi ate all of the lower leaves and branches.

Flowers. 8.20.22

 Here are some of the flowers.  The zinnias haven't had as much of a chance this year but are still a favorite.

Reblooms on Alstroemerias

More Rudbeckia and Echinacea flowers.

Figs, figs, figs. 8.20.22

 Two fig trees are producing like crazy, Desert King and Lattarula.  Sicilian white is producing smaller figs, but not bad and is a younger tree, shaded by a larger Linden tree.

Desert King.

I didn't photograph the Sicilian figs.  There were also two ripe figs on the Brunswick fig tree.  Photo below, the largest, brown-ish is Brunswick.  Desert King is the largest green, Lattarula is the smaller green.  

The small colander is Sicilian White but mostly Lattarula.  The large colander is Desert King.

I made a batch of fig jam.

I froze puree for five batches of fig bars, yummy!

Tomato Harvest. 8.18.22

 Some nice tomatoes now.  These are Extreme Bush  (the smaller ones) Earlie Girl Bush (a bit bigger), and Dwarf Golden Champion (the yellow).  The Dwarf Golden Champion is similr to Lemon Boy flavor but a bit smaller fruit.  Very good.

As for the plants, these are Exreme Bush.  Only about 20" tall.

Dwarf Golden Champion.  It's roughly 30" tall.

Potato Harvest. Kennebeck and Soraya. 8.18.22

 Today I dug up more Kennebeck potatoes.  These are good tasting, nice size.  I also dug up Soraya, which I think is OK but not as good as Kennebeck.

The bowl on the left is from three potato plants, grown in the ground. mOn the right, three plants grown in a growing bag.

I forgot to photograph Soraya.  They were much smaller and fewer per planr, so far.

Lattarula Figs, First Picking. 8.12.22

 Here are the first figs of the summer crop.   So sweet and juicy!  Also a couple of Petite Aubique.

Thunbergia. 8.12.22

 Well, now we know.  Thunbergia grows nicely in the summer climate here.  These were a seed mix of different colors.  Unofficially, "Black Eyed Susan Vine".  I'm told that in Holland these are called "Suzanne with the lovely eyes".

d 

Star Quilt Progress. 9.9.22

 I finished the star quilt top side.  It still needs a border and backing, then to be sandwiched with cotton batting and quilted.

The stars look a lot nicer up close.  The big picture obscures so much detail.

Now I'm working on the backing.  I think most quilters use a plain fabric or even a bedsheet for the backing.  I don't want to buy more fabric.  Plus, there was a lot in my fabric stash, and I want to clean out the majority of that stash.  So, I'm making a simple patchwork backing using mostly the same fabrics and some others I had squirreled away.

Technically, this will make the quilt reversible.  However, the backing is much simpler and will go much faster compared to the front.

Lots of Flowers. 9.9.22

 I went around the yard looking at some of the flowers.

Harvest! 8.9.22

 Here is the tomato, zucchini, summer squash, fig, cucumber and pepper harvest today.  Plus some tiny "Orchard Baby" sweetcorn.  

Puttering. Heat. Bean Care. Drip Irrigation. 7.31.22

It's above 100F now.  I didn't feel like going outside to check the thermometer when it rose above 90F.

I installed drip emitters for the last row of bush beans, and placed cardboard mulch next to the row.  I also installed drip emitters for the four o'clocks.  They were looking droopy in the heat. mI was hauling ten buckets of water each day.  These emitters have a stated 1/2 gallon per hour rate, six inches apart.

The other bush beans looked so dry.

So I cut cardboard strips to cover between the rows.  There wasn't enough, so I also cut kraft paper.  Spring was too wet for kraft paper - it rotted.  I think summer will plenty dry enough for it to last as long as needed.

I thinned the beans in the container planter, taking out about half of the plants.

Coreopsis is blooming now.  First year from seeds.

I Made A Willow Tripod For Thunbergera. 7.31.22

 Thunbergera was one of my bucket list plants this year.   They are finally taking off and growing vines.  They must love this heat.

I made a tripod using willow sticks.  It's about three feet tall.  I bet they will climb it in a month.

The plants have lots of buds.  The first flower opened yesterday.  

Echinacea With Visitors. 7.31.22

This echinacea continues making more flowers.  It's really a remarkable flower.

There are four other echinacea plants, that I started from seeds. I don't think they will bloom this year.  They are building up to bloom next year.