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I'm having mixed success this year. Harvested some sweet peppers already, and my various cherry tomato plants are producing in abundance. My other tomatoes are a bit slow, and my heirlooms look like they're not going to give me much, if anything at all. May be a bit early for them.
My miniature cucumbers are quite happy, too. I should be making my first batch of dill pickles later this week.
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According to all I can find the CA weasel is strictly a carnivore. So our leaf and tomato thieves are probably the mocking birds. We did observe them eating the leaves off the snow peas last Winter. I am thinking the Weasels are here because of the very large quail population we have created. By killing off the quail egg stealing squirrels we have provided a good food source for the weasels. The information says they will attack animals up to rabbit size. We have plenty of rabbits for them to eat. Kind of cute critters.
Unless you're a rabbit!
Are those California weasels a protected species?
As for the possums and getting rid of them, it is possible to poison them. They like fat and meat IIRC. I had read up on how to attract them to traps when we had a neighborhood possum use the area under our ground level wooden deck as a maternity ward.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I am eating lots of Tomatoes and peaches now, mmmmmm
Here compared to a hybrid sungold. Which have been producing continually since April.
Lunch time
Only fruit are citrus. Lots of flowers starting very early. we have Freesia, Iris and alstumeria in abundance all around the house. The Pride of Madera are in full bloom attracting thousands of bees. We were blessed with a flock of Cedar Wax Wings, and only the second year we have had robins.
We have been eating tomatoes at least twice a day for over a month now. And the vines are still filled. Thought I better post two of the prettiest heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen. They are from seeds we harvested last year. Called Maiden's Gold. Make a beautiful salad.
This may be our best tomatoe year yet. We have 27 plants with 20 varieties of heirlooms. Our figs are doing well this year. I planted the trees 7 years ago when we moved here. Love fig jam.
PS
We give the excess to our family and neighbors. The hassles to sell at the local farmers market are not worth the $$effort.
We have 18 tomato plants this year, and can't eat 'em fast enough. We've been giving them away as well.
A very good year for everything we've planted, except for the artichokes. We had a VERY cold freeze last December which really set things back a bit, including the wild blackberries around here.
Interesting. Our artichokes have not produced a THING this year. The plants are huge, but no 'chokes, and I grew them from brand new seeds. I thought I'd developed a brown thumb.
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Yeah, out of 5 plants, we got 2 artichokes...actually, more like 1.5. They were very small, and tough as leather.
@slorenzen, fig jam? Is that different from fig preserves or just a regional name thing?
My grandmother made fig preserves and every once in a while I get a huge hankering for some, but I rarely will finish a jar once I get some.
It is about the same thing. Jam the fruit is more puried and preserves leave larger chunks of fruit. Compared to Jelly which has all the seeds and pulp strained out. I like them all.
This has been the worst summer for our fruit trees. Only a few cherries that the birds got. One plum off two trees. 3 apricots off a new tree I planted. The apricot tree that was here when we came has never produced fruit. Time to pull it out. Our two peach trees never set on any blossoms this year. We have a few puny apples and pears. Overall a total waste of our precious water. Our navel oranges were good for several months and we always have lemons. We have really poor decomposed granite soil here. Probably a waste of time trying to grow stuff in the ground. All our veggies are in soil hauled in or bagged potting soil.
Thanks, I bet I'd like the jam better.
We had zero pears this year at our old house in the UP (feels good saying that. ).
The prolific apple tree was just starting to get going when we left. It could be a heavier year for it, but I still bet the new owner gets to pick up (or look at) 40 five gallon buckets of fallen apples the next few weeks. We let him some zukes, crooked neck squash and the two potato plants that made it (out of ten - the ground is probably ruined from all those rotting apples, lol).
Got enough bees to pollinate things?
I have a pear tree that gave us 1 pear this year. Normally, we get a couple hundred.
We had a low rain year, but NOTHING like what California has suffered over the last 2 years.
My garden is mostly in raised beds with soil I bought at a local place. Really good soil, but $40 per yard. The natural soil here is clay, and requires a lot of work to make it productive.
On another note, is your son finding this area to his liking? It's been pretty hot this summer(28 days of 90+ since 1-July), but lower humidity than Indiana, I'm sure.
We have lots of bees around us. Our peach trees never bloomed at all. Same with our big plum tree. We had the strangest winter. Very cool days and
warm nights. Not a single frost this last winter. Just much colder than normal days. Climate change for sure, Not warmer though. We have had a lot of 90s this July and August. Never hit 100 yet. The tomatoes like it and our plumerias have never been this prolific with flowers. Also healthier leaves. I think the humdity is higher as well. Could explain a lot of things.
Just talked to my Daughter in Law. They are loving Cottage Grove. My son went right to work early Monday morning at Buster's Cafe. Not sure how good it is. The prices seem a bit high to me.
http://www.bustersmainstreetcafe.com/
Also an abundance of Cedar wax wings and robins this winter.
My wife made me get rid of all but this pencil bush when we moved in. They were less than a foot tall and sold well on Craigslist. So over the last 8 years this pencil bush went from being less than a foot tall to over 10 feet tall. I think it is really cool in the morning sun. If you break off a piece the milky substance is highly toxic.
We have Amaryllis in pots all around the place. First year the snails did not wipe the blossoms out.
The pencil brush pic reminds me that I need to look up mountain bluebird houses - our Taos friends are coming down again and they have a half dozen boxes so they should be able to clue us in. Can't say that I've seen any here though. The redpolls are nesting on top of the shades on the west side of the patio; must be their second fledging since they've been there for two months now.
We did the mill&feed routine in Boise but haven't found "the" feed store here yet. All these years and I thought that millet was the junk filler stuff. The quail do seem to like the blocks - it's probably the molasses or whatever they put in it for the binder.
We're housesitting two cats for several months so between them and the outside "pets", our "seed" bill has exploded. There is a wild bird store here but I'm afraid to go in there.
Bird feeding is out for now. Despite the suggestions from state in very early spring I left feeders out. Easter Sunday I had just gotten up and put coffee on and happened to look out living room window. Out of the very bottom corner I saw some movement, looked out the window right next to it (two windows together) and there was a Black bear walking across the front step ( quite an early morning surprise to say the least). The critter had taken down bird feeder I had on hanger attached to house, must have seen my mug when I went into room and gotten scared and decide to move on.
About once a year a get a hankering for fig preserves (my paternal grandmother made them). After a few days I switch back to my usual berry jams, and I wind up throwing the jar of fig preserves away.
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I said - ketchup?
Hey, it's tomatoes and sugar (well, high fructose corn syrup).
Can anyone ID this flower. Someone gave me some bulbs. He had no idea what they were.
behind the walls for safekeeping until they claim her).
My wife thinks that the plant in your other pic could be a trumpet vine.
Seems like we have stuff blooming around town all year long. Been a nice surprise.
The lemon will overwinter inside; the pomegranate bush should survive outside okay.