MarthaJeanne's Garden 2022

deleted

deleted

Fun! I envy you your fenestration.

deleted

deleted

deleted

deleted

>3 2wonderY: I keep laughing at this as all I can think of are the Defenestrations of Prague. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague

>8 MarthaJeanne: oh, my. That was an interesting read. I'd not heard of defenestration before. I recall that tar and feathering was common in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War.

>9 fuzzi: Well, it was mostly Hapsburg people who were defenestrated. I have read a lot of Hapsburg history/historical fiction etc. in the past several decades.

deleted

deleted

This time of year I don't get to see my bird feeders much, as I leave the house around 6:00am when it's still fairly dark, and when I get home I have enough daylight to fill the feeders and clean up after the dog in the yard before I start making dinner.

Weekends are my feeder watching days.

deleted

I found out why the birds are so careful to go down to the feeders through several stops in the tree. Our neighbour across the street said if we see them using bright lights on their roof it's because of a falcon who likes to roost up there - and makes a lot of 'chalk'. They are trying to convince the falcon to prefer a perch in back where they can put down a board that can be cleaned now and again.

So 'my birdies' are not just endangered by the cats running around, but also by this falcon. Life is hard when you're a bird.

>14 MarthaJeanne: here's an article about ways to limit birds of prey hunting near your feeders: https://www.thespruce.com/protecting-birds-from-hawks-386576

Yes, most of that is the same as for keeping the birds safe from cats. The other suggestions don't fit my circumstances. I guess I'm selfish enough that if a falcon gets a bird in my yard a) I want to see it, and b) I'd rather the falcon got one of the pigeons than one of the smaller birds. The part about keeping the bird of prey from having a good perch overlooking the feeders is just what the neighbour is trying to accomplish. For other reasons, of course, and without sawing off the front of his roof.

deleted

deleted

We are having very warm weather for February. Apparently the same temperatures as my s-i-l in Montana, except that our 12-13° is Celsius, and hers in Fahrenheit. Jerry was out in the garden today checking out how the plants are dealing with the weather:

https://www.jerrybarton.eu/Miscellaneous/DailyPicks/i-2PHv8Ng

I actually saw a butterfly yesterday. It was probably a red admiral. It was on the concrete path in the sun with spread out wings until I came along. Maybe trying to soak up what warmth there is. I was sorry to disturb it, because it has been very windy, and flying can't be easy.

Very nice photos, as always. What is about to blossom? That luscious pink hint.

No idea. Something I stuck in a container last summer. Any label is long since gone. Quite honestly, I don't think it's supposed to be winter-hard.

BTW, it's a lot smaller than it looks in the picture.

At dinner we were talking about the fans we have collected for each other. He has to put pictures on his website, not just on Facebook so I can see them, and all of you as well.

Recently one of his Facebook friends posted a picture of her weaving - could easily have been mine, same colours I often choose - and he showed it to me, so I sent him the picture of my current project, and a description at his request. That photo now has lots of likes. Apparently people are impressed.

>20 2wonderY: I'm pretty sure this is Kalanchoe. They are selling it now in the diy stores snd supermarkets. It is not supposed to survive frost well, but I have a few that have not even lost their leaves. We have had some winter this year, but I don't think it can have stayed below freezing more than one or two days, if that.

BTW Jerry's Facebook friends have been asking, too.

We had a small task to do this afternoon. The toilet off the front hall sits closed all day, so we keep the window open a bit. Lately there has been a lot of wind, and the door has been making so much noise that we keep having to close the window. However, the result of that is that quite soon you can't breathe in there. Opening the door is not an option, as it interferes with the house door. It was time to replace the door seal. (Certainly a few decades old.)

So we headed for our preferred DIY store. Finally found what was probably the right place, but a bunch of boxes were dumped in front of the display. We grabbed something, but when we got home it was obvious that we had grabbed wrong. At this point Jerry cut a piece of the old seal off.

So try again. This time the closer store. Nobody around to ask, can't find it. Apparently half the staff are off with covid. We did find someone who knew something. "We're just a small store, we don't carry it. Try a bigger store."

OK. Luckily there are several chains around. We try the next one. We get directed to the other end of the store. When we get down there someone takes us to the right place, checks out two or three possibilities. "This isn't quite the same, but I think it will fit better than the others." It did. We won't know for sure until the wind comes up again, but I think it will be a lot better.

But the whole thing took a lot longer than it should have.

In case you were wondering, the door repair works fine, at least since we added double-sided tape to keep the seal in place.

As reported elsewhere, the hedgehog is eating the supplies I put out. At least I hope it is a hedgehog. Rather doubt that the feral cats are eating meal worms.

Daffodils are out, tulips coming. The wild garlic is up. Roses and fruit trees have green buds. The peach is about to blossom.

We really need rain. It's been weeks. Two days next week have a 35% chance before even that drops away. I suppose I should water the leek sets. I'm not really up to it.

I'm rather upset. I was putting out more hedgehog food when I heard a funny noise. turned out our neighbour decided that there were too many ants in the fence base between our garden and the road, so he was spraying them. He stopped when I said I didn't want poison in my garden, But why was he spraying there at all? That fence has nothing to do with him at all. Now I have to worry about all my herbs that border on his driveway.

>25 MarthaJeanne: people don't think/don't care.

It's sad.

Good news! Schönbrunn's summer flower sale is happening this year. They always produce more than they need, but they haven't had the sale the past two years. I really like the geraniums with patterned leaves, but they have lots of other things as well, and I always buy too much. The plants are really lovely, and so much cheaper than the commercial garden stores. Plus, of course, just the thought of having flowers from the Imperial Palace.

>27 MarthaJeanne: I love independent flower/plant sales. There's one coming up at the cooperative extension (government agency) that I plan to check out.

>27 MarthaJeanne: That's so cool!

I have missed these sales so much the past two years! And I had just told a restaurant owner about them after the last one. She asked about it each of the past two years, so I was really glad to be able to send her the details for this year.

We went to the garden centre this afternoon. Mostly because I wanted more earth before we buy a big bunch of plants for containers. A purply pink carnation and a dark red clematis somehow ended up in my cart.



Afterwards we went out for pizza.

They just jumped in. Word has gotten around where the good gardens are, eh?

Well... just look at the weeds I have to remove before I can plant this.

We just got back from Schönbrunn. I got a total of 56 plants for under €80.

18 Tagetes - orange marigolds
18 ? - mixed colours
8 mixed Geraniums
5 coleus. I really like coleus, carefully picking the specific plants I like
5 impatiens
2 ? I call these Schönbrunn flowers because Jerry has a lovely picture of them in the park there.

A lot of these are going in the driveway and terrace containers. I probably should have bought more marigolds. They had some white ones, which seems a bit weird to me.

Oh, That already looks so much better!

>32 2wonderY: haha! I was going to say the same thing about plants jumping into carts.

>31 MarthaJeanne: that is a GORGEOUS color!

>34 MarthaJeanne: white marigolds? How cool. When I was a youngster my mother would receive free "possible" white marigold seeds with every order of vegetable seeds. The companies were offering money if anyone got a real white marigold from the seeds. I planted them every year but never got the white one.

I didn't buy the white ones. I probably should have. Apparently someone has succeeded.

>38 MarthaJeanne: and not long after my mother received the seeds in the late 1960s:

"It took 21 years and thousands of dollars to develop a white marigold that made its debut in 1975."

I finally spent a short time outside planting and weeding. Short, but not short enough. I overdid it. Oh, well. The two terrace containers are planted. One will probably need another plant when the daffodils have died back. I also pulled the biggest weeds from the tomato bed. I was amused to see that a strawberry plant had jumped up. Weed! Given that I can't eat them, and Jerry can't be bothered harvesting them, I can pull it out without any guilt feelings.

I also fed the hedgehog. I'm not sure if it has trained me to give it the right amount every evening or if it has figured out that only by eating all the hedgehog food does it get a fresh meal the next night including meal worms. It has never left meal worms.

But it was too much bending and lifting. I hope I'll feel better tomorrow. I need to plant that clematis, and some of the marigolds. That means a lot of weeding.

Oh, and of course, it was supposed to rain this morning, dry in the afternoon. So it stayed dry all day until I decided to go out late afternoon. It wasn't enough to even get me damp, so it didn't matter, but still didn't make the work more pleasant.

We were back at the garden centre today, and I decided to get the white clematis I had looked at last time. It is a bigger plant, so maybe the added cost is justified.The two together are lovely.

They’ll put on a good show for you. Are they perennials where you are?

Yes, they both say Winterhart. However, drainage can be a problem for me. Still they are not down in the clay, so I may be alright.

I am reading a book of 111 garden ideas. I do not recommend it unless you have a lot more space than I do. You could read about building a wall out of old newspapers, or decorating an area with driftwood stumps...

But the latest suggestion has me mystified. You can make 'meadow viagra' from the seeds of nettles. You just need to make sure that you only collect the seeds from female plants.

>44 MarthaJeanne: I suspect it may be a placebo effect!

What gets me is the suggestion that there might be seeds on the male plants.

Well, if you use the old sense of the word as pertaining to animal reproduction, male plants do have seeds of a sort...

We went to Ochsenherz today, and I bought a bunch of vegetable plants. I've set the ones that are easy. Two lemon cucumbers behind the clematis. Two hokaido squash in the back of a veggie bed. Two togo eggplants in one of the containers. I know that at least one of my mint places is empty, so I bought a lemon mint. Also snack cukes, parsley. That might be all. There's another lemon cuke that I'm planning to give our neighbor. She is crazy about them. The less sensitive plants aren't ready to sell for another two weeks so I may get those at the garden centre.

We'll go down to Burgenland later this week for tomatoes and peppers. I usually get basil there, too.

I'm cooking chard tonight. It won't be good much longer, about ready to bolt, I think.

>48 MarthaJeanne: My chard has already started bolting. I was supposed to dig up the plants this weekend, but between Margaret's fall and an attack of IBS I haven't get as much done as I'd hoped to. At least I got the decorative bed weeded and cleared out the winter killed plants (the 2 pennisetum and the physalis along with some annuals), and did a run to the garden centres for compost etc.

I started clearing the veggie patch; the bean canes have been taken down and I've rough weeded. I need to finish the clearance, and dig out the rubble, and clear the ivy and ground elder at the back of the patch. Hopefully I'll be up to that during the week.

5/6 courgettes have germinated so far, nothing from the tomatoes (San Marzano) or the dwarf beans. The latter are outside whereas the courgettes were on the kitchen windowsill. The amaryllis seedlings that overwintered in the kitchen are doing OK; I transplanted them into peat pots the other weekend and they are now in the rack outside soaking up the rays.

>48 MarthaJeanne: And two sorrel plants.

Got several more plants set. Including putting a bunch of purply ones into the purple hanging basket. I even gave everything I've set a good watering this morning. I still have a few plants waiting for me to get my act together - mostly marigolds that will require me to weed the flower beds. Oh, horror! Most years I have at least done some of that by now, but between COVID and the horrible April weather, I haven't this year. The creeping ones are quite out of control.

The birds are very active at singing these days. I suspect that some are nesting, as the ball demand has gone up.

Oh, I seem to have bought two clary sage plants yesterday, too.

We went to Stekowitz today. I wasn't really up to it, but the alternative was listening to the building work next door all day. I bought 8 tomato plants, 3 zucchinis, and 4 chillies ( all 2 or less, we are wimps). Other than that, we looked around for birds without much luck. Silly birds want water, and not dried out salt flats. It's really heart-breaking. The lake is as shallow as it's ever been in the past 100 years. The smaller ponds around are mostly gone. We did see three birds of prey. They were fairly light coloured with dark wing tips, and seemed a bit smaller than the marsh harriers we know. After looking at the books, probably buzzards of some kind.

Our favourite restaurant out there has expanded to a second location offering 'regional specialties'. We went to the first location still selling Mediterranean specialties, and had a lovely meal.

It rained a bit on the way home, but not enough to matter.

Yesterday's plants have been mostly planted

Tomatoes:

Yellow Taxi - - - - Ochsenherz Österreich - - - - Oxheart
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Eddie Family Oxheart
Black Cherry - - - - Early Annie - - - - - - - - Buttermill Falls

Margret Curtain will go by the terrace
Nope. She replaced the Eddie Family Oxheart which didn't survive planting out.

Off topic.

Those of us who don't live in Kenya are spared scares like this one.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61335539

We took the top off the tent today. The plants are mostly still where they've been all winter, but they are no longer being heated by greenhouse effects. This week we're coming up to the traditional last frost dates. Back 30-40 years ago you could count on frost during the "Eisheiligen" - the ice saints (Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius und die kalte Sophie). This week we're expecting temps in the 30s - Celsius, and the weather presenters have been talking about "Heiß-heiligen" and "Schweiß-heiligen" - Hot saints or sweat saints. We came back from Geneva about twenty years ago. One year we had really bad hailstorms, but never frost. The people we buy our tomato plants from still say not to put them in the ground until these dates are safely past.

I've started pulling plants out of the dismantled greenhouse. The fake jasmine has a stake that is supposed to be holding it up. Instead the plant is pulling the stake over. Not sure what to do about it.

Two wasps were building a nest in one of my fence plant pouches. I took the nest and they flew off.

The tables need 'painting' before going back into service. I would buy the IKEA stuff, but they are out of stock, so I guess we go to the diy store tomorrow.

I also need to go to the garden centre for more earth, plants and fertilizer. I also need the other garden centre. Wonder how much chauffeuring Jerry is willing to do.

Oh, my zucchinis are gone. And one tomato plant is dead. Good, saves trying to figure out where to put the other one.

Replaced the dead one and killed two slugs. They are still very small, hard to see in the twilight, and hard to kill.

I bought a Calathea crocata for my big hanging pot. It is surrounded with various yellow-orange flowers. Pretty.

Hmmm. It doesn't like direct sun, so the apple tree location should suit it, but it may be too cool and windy for it at times. It's really better as a house plant. Well, we'll see how it does. It's 28° today, so no problem.

I have a picture of this once I can upload again.

I bought plants at two stores, and they are all planted. We also took enough of the tent down that Jerry can grill tonight. The 'paint' and fertilizer will be dealt with tomorrow.

I started painting. My hands are filthy, and it doesn't come off with soap and water like it's supposed to.

Still, the smaller piece has most of a first coat.

>59 MarthaJeanne: is it the one with purple leaves and orange flowers? Wow, striking!

Yes, that's the one. It is sometimes called Elernal Flame. Actually I like the look of the whole pot, but I suspect that my brain is seeing how it will look when the plants have grown a bit. The camera is just so literal.

We were at our normal garden centre today. Very busy. I managed to buy lots of plants, and many of them are in the ground. I goofed on the zucchinis, though. They had four varieties: green, green striped, light green and yellow. I chose three, but when I got home, two were green striped, and there was no yellow. Drat! Better luck next time.

Actually, a lot of the flowers are not 'in the ground' because they are in the third hanging basket or in the fence plant pockets. I still need lots more flowers for those plant pockets. I have them set up on both sides of the fence in four places. Each unit holds 6 plants, making a total of four dozen. It's easy enough to pop a plant in, but I have to bring that many home.

This was enough for today.

>60 MarthaJeanne: Later I finished the first coat on both pieces.

Today I did a second coat on just the top of the table. This was decided partly on how much paint was left, and partly on my not being willing to climb around under the whole thing. As I started clearing up, Jerry pointed out that the other outside table could use some TLC. So I thinned the paint a bit and did just the top. The paint is down to where the bristles of the brush don't really reach when the handle hits the top of the can. Thinning raised the level enough that I could actually paint. He was right. It needed it. Even a second coat wouldn't hurt, but I don't think it's going to get it. I did a better job of keeping my hands fairly clean this time. Good as they were getting back to normal from last time.

He bought spray paint for the bench I use with that table. But he will do it.

>48 MarthaJeanne: We went back today, and I seem to have found several more plants. Most were easy to set, and are in already.

Earlier today I pulled out some of the garden furniture. I also weeded one of the lavender containers. I found a baby szechuan pepper tree, and potted it, so if anyone wants to pick it up here, it's looking for a good home. I love my tree, but one is quite enough. It won't fruit for a few years. Plan on a few meters tall and lots of thorns.

I also started on weeding the flower bed. I have several small things that can go in there tomorrow.

We got the pavilion up this morning. Jerry sprayed the bench. According to the can, it should have several coats, but he used up that can. We'll see how it does with this much. I also got the other lavender container weeded and topped up. Amazing how much earth the plants 'eat'.

I was intending to go downtown, but my blood pressure dropped too far. It's better now, so maybe I can risk it.

BTW, the cloth of the pavilion is showing a fair amount of wear. We have come to the conclusion that we bought it two summers ago. (2020) It is certainly still good for this year, and probably the year after. After that it may need replacement or a lot of mending. It is certainly visible which corners have dealt with rose branches.

I just put slug poison out around the zucchinis. The new yellow one looks OK, but I think the other three are a lost cause.

I got a Black Beauty at the supermarket to replace one of the eaten zucchinis. I hope the pellets are working. The yellow one still looks good, and there are mucus trails among the pellets.

I also just planted out more parsley.This was a lot of seedlings crowded into the pot, so I tore them apart to plant small clumps. In the process I found 3 slugs in the pot.

I have moved most of our newly painted furniture into their summer positions, and the potted plants onto them. I need more pots, but the ones I've seen lately are boring. Next week we'll go to a garden show, and hopefully find both interesting plants and nice pots. It generally has a lot of weird stuff, but also plants, the sweet Italian lemons we like, and Tara. Tara is a problem because I love their clothes and quilts. Imported from India, cotton, hand blockprints... The problem is that I do NOT need any more summer tunics. I have at least half a dozen of theirs (and a blouse or two), as well as a few from other sources. Can I go by without stopping? Stop, but not buy anything? Yeah, right; tell me another one.

>69 MarthaJeanne: Okay, you must limit yourself to just one - and only if you absolutely LOVE it and can’t go on living without it. You know the drill.

I hadn’t gardened with pots until I moved here, except for huge anchor pots at the corners of beds. Now I have a huge deck and paved space and enough light inside for houseplants. I’ve been fortunate to find really pretty glazed pots cheap at Ollie’s and this year at the dollar store (actually costing $3, but hey.). Both daughters are loving glazed pots too. Older daughter finds them at her favorite shop - St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. I’ve already indicated that other daughter inherits my collection to even things out.

But last year they had two really nice pieces marked way down. I was just wearing one of them a day or two ago.

>71 MarthaJeanne: Two marked way down = 1.

I found some pretty plastic pots at Aldi's, nice quality.

The ceramic pots I've purchased have, for the most part, started falling apart after a year or so. Cheap, cheap, cheap.

Even the terracotta pots I've bought have not lasted more than a season or so. I'm not sure where they are being manufactured, they're obviously of inferior quality. My mother's pots lasted for years.

I'm staying away from the nurseries and Lowe's: too much temptation and not enough pots at home for my impulse buys.

We bought several plants at the Feigenhof, including the Hierochloe odorata mentioned in >18 MarthaJeanne:. I've planted the pineapple mint, but the others will need some real digging.

Later we ordered a rose arch at the garden centre. I really don't want to cut the long bunches of roses - they are really lovely, but they are in the way. It should be delivered in 4-5 work days, but Thursday is a holiday.

BTW Jerry has put up several new pictures at
https://www.jerrybarton.eu/Miscellaneous/DailyPicks/
I just complained that they don't include the roses, so they should soon be there. The poppies are there. Both the red and the white poppy are opening up more blossoms every day.

>74 MarthaJeanne: Jerry wins the medal again. Lovely!

Got the Mariengrass planted, and the common mallow. I read somewhere recently that the Marsh Mallow doesn't like its relatives, so they are planted apart. Also the Malabar spinach the guy talked me into at Ochsenherz. Reading up on it, I see that I need more of the 'obelisks' I use for tomatoes. One should work for the three plants.

My regular spinach is finally taller than the weeds - because it is going to seed. Didn't get much of that. The chard has also bolted. I bought some today, but I really prefer the white chard to the rainbow. Maybe I'll get lucky next week. I got two pots, each with two or three plants. They need to go in where the spinach is.

Oh, yes, the other thing we bought is woodruff. We had some once but it didn't take. We'll try again. I'm not sure either of us is into Maibowle at this stage, but it has sentimental value, even if we never harvest it.

Well, no sooner had we checked the website to find out when the arch would be delivered - probably Friday - than the doorbell rang. So much for their website.

Anyway, in less than an hour we had it together. Both of us were falling apart though. Caffeine and a rest inside had us ready for the next step. We needed anchors to hold it in place. The DIY store didn't really have what we wanted, but we found great big nails, thought they ought to work. Then the garden centre for the support for my malabar spinach. I also got another zucchini plant, and Jerry found their anchors, which are even longer than the nails.

We got a bit of rain last night, but this morning was sunny and humid. It got cloudier and more humid while we were out, finally starting to rain on our way home. Guess we will wait to move it into place.

The neighbour was cutting branches back over the driveway, and offered to take any big branches we had to the recycling centre with his load. We asked if he could take the box, BIG BOX, with him. He did, so there is also no big pile of wet cardboard in the garden!

It wasn't raining, so we did our best to move the archway where we want it and convince the roses to go over it. It's now raining again, and there are still lots of roses to move and tie in, but it will be just lovely, at least this time of year.

Question: What should I plant at the other side?
1) Easy to care for and winterhard.
2) Climbs fast.
3) Flowers later/longer in the year, not just May/June

BTW, The neighbour says his wife is asking why they don't have as lovely roses as we do. Hint: this is the best they have ever been and we planted the roses at least 10 years ago. This one was Jerry's choice. The one I chose is basically dead except for things growing from below the graft. Do I try to take it out, or enjoy the wild rose base? We had wild roses on the terrace in DW many years ago, and both we and the birds enjoyed them.

>78 MarthaJeanne: I'd enjoy the wild roses.

>69 MarthaJeanne: Well, that was a waste of time and effort.

It seemed that most of Vienna was trying to leave Vienna for the South for the 4 day weekend late morning. We finally got free of the congestion and arrived at the garden show. The parking lot looked really full, but someone in the first row left, just as we arrived, so we had a good spot. Tara did not have anything I was interested in. We walked around past lots of weird stuff, and a few plants, but nothing we can't get at the garden centres cheaper. Very few plant pots, and those either boring or very weird. Back around at the entrance we finally saw the sweet lemons. We bought 2 and a big jar of preserved artichokes.

We headed home again, but decided to stop for a late lunch at the restaurant we like in the Prater. Well, anyone who didn't leave for the South was trying to spend the day in Prater. As we entered the parking area there was a problem at the exit. We didn't find a place to park and got into the line to leave - not moving, and by now backed up through the whole parking lot. Someone sensibly decided to just open the exit gate, so things finally started to move and we could leave after standing around for close to half an hour, in spite of being way over the 15 minute grace period.

No plants, no pots, not even a new tunic that I don't need. At least we did get the lemons.

*Today (Ascension day), June 6 (Whit Monday) and June 16 (Corpus Christi) are all public holidays with many offices giving Fridays off after Thursday holidays, so there are lots of chances for holiday travel for fewer vacation days taken.

Among other errands we stopped at the other garden centre. I settled for a stack of cheap, green plastic pots. Two sizes, but they use the same saucers. One now has the lemon geranium in it that I bought at Ochsenherz. An other one has a new purple spiky, feathery thing. They look good either side of the lemon. That is going from buds to flowers right now, and the bees have noticed. The other citrus is not as far advanced.

Other than that, I picked up several pretty, cheap flowers. I even included a few begonias, as I am still working on filling up the fence pockets. Oh, and two short sunflowers, just because.

Usually I buy sets of various veggies, but if they had any this year, it was while I was out with COVID. It is rather late to seed carrots and beans, but it can only get later, so I bought the seeds.

The seeds are planted, but not watered yet. I also tried planting a few old sunflower seeds in a discarded pot.

I also bought more basil today, so that's planted, too, and the beet sets I had.

I also bought three nice flowers. The biggest is Lupinus polyphyllus in yellow and apricot. Then there is a yellow dahlia and an orange-red Canna indica. I looks like I can plant the lupin out. The canna is a candidate for the greenhouse tent if it makes it that far. The dahlia is going in next to the short sunflower.

The lupin was half price, and I love the colours, so if it actually grows on in the garden I've done a really good deal. Hm, I think I might put it in the pot behind the olive tree. It seems very hardy, so I don't need to worry about it. Last year we had tomatoes in there, but it was hard to harvest them.

Big thanks to nice neighbour. He noticed this morning that our compost bin wasn't out at the street, and took it out for us. As it was about 95% full, that was very helpful.

I am so pleased with that Lupin. It is beautiful. It fits in the great big plant pot that is too heavy to move. I can watch it from the table while I'm eating, and see the bees come in and land on it. This would have been a great purchase at full price.

The Franciscan whose biography I just read says we should start the day with thankfulness. As you see, that is easy today. (https://www.librarything.com/topic/340122#7850280)

Fresh cherries from a local orchard. Paradise.

I've planted the second sunflower and in the process weeded a section of the flower bed. The neighbour left me no excuses.

Ack! My butterfly garden looks its best this year but 2 rabbits are eating the brown-eyed Susans, the coneflowers and a couple of other plants. What can I do? I don't want to hurt the rabbits. I tried putting rabbit food in another area to distract them but it didn't work. Any suggestions? Fencing?

>86 June: That’s what I would do. I keep small rolls of 2ft wire fencing that I can unroll and surround whatever needs protected.

>83 MarthaJeanne: waking up is a blessing and we should be thankful for another day.

I have an Allium that is supposed to taste like garlic but not create smell problems. Well it does taste like garlic. I picked a leaf or two to go in tonight's salad. The smell on my fingers has survived several washings so far.

Ah, not actually an Allium. Tulbaghia violacea or Society garlic. It has very pretty flowers. They are said to blossom August-October, which is why mine is blooming now.

>84 MarthaJeanne: Even better: today they had sour cherries, too.

>90 MarthaJeanne: My sour cherry tree has a nice crop this month, but still very green. Problem has always been protecting them from the birds until ripe.

It's raining. Nice pitter patter on the roof.

My false jasmine is blossoming, and the smell is wonderful. It was blossoming when I bought it, and bees followed me all through the Schönbrunn back to my car. It is a vine, and the pole it has wound around is not sturdy. Don't really know how to fix it.

It looks like what I have is Trachelospermum Jasminoides, in which case is should actually be hardy here. Maybe I should take cuttings and grow it up the other side of the rose arch.

This is the fourth time in the past 5 days that we are having mostly sunny summer weather after nighttime rain. I'm beginning to think we have moved to Camelot. The first two were medium amounts of water 6-8 l/m2. A night with no water, one with 2, and last night over 40!. Also a lot of lightning lighting up the sky, but we didn't hear much thunder. This is a lot more than the garden needs at once, but should help the water levels of just about everything.

BTW, l/m2 is the same as mm of rain, so 40 is just over 1 1/2 inches.

We are not in Camelot. We were out shopping around noon, and when we got home Jerry decided that he'd better mow if he was going to. Sure enough, by the time he was done it was beginning to sprinkle. By now we have had nearly 15 l/m2. I have watered anything that doesn't get rain twice, with rain water.

And just now when I went to feed the hedgehog I also went slug hunting. I got a few dozen before I gave up. One dozen were on my poor sunflower plant. 12, count them, 12 on that poor flower. The other sunflower only had two or three little ones - not enough left to eat there. Now I need to keep working at getting the slug mucus off my hands. Vinegar helps, but so does time.

I just stopped and bought ammonia. I’ve got a spray bottle designated for slug destruction. No need to even touch the nasty things. And it’s nitrogen. The plants may feel some shock, but they ultimately like it.

I don't normally touch them - piercing them through with a sharp stick works quite well. But couldn't do that on the sunflower. I had to move them onto a firm place.

>97 MarthaJeanne: as a child I earned money picking bugs off the plants in my mother's gardens. My mother supplied a glass jar with a little turpentine in the bottom, which killed the insects quickly. Slugs were worth two pennies each!

Well, I hope the hedgehog likes recently killed slugs, as I found half a dozen on food I put out earlier. I stabbed them and left them where they were.

My total count tonight is 8 at 5:30 and 36 at 8:30.

The hedgehog was very good and ate up the dead slugs.

Our olive tree is starting to blossom. The tiny flowers are just beginning to open, but the bees etc. have already homed in.

Pure pleasure to go out in the garden this year. The flowers are blossoming, the olive tree and the star jasmine are humming. All my various squashes are growing to the point where I have to say, 'Not there! That patch of sun belongs to other plants!' Hokkaido, zucchini, cukes and lemon cukes all have so many baby fruits!

The peppers are beginning to have baby fruits, all three citrus 'trees', the eggplants are in blossom. Even the carrots have sprouted. It's not yet clear how many bean plants will have survived the slugs, but I planted a lot more than we need, so I'm not concerned. I think, though, that once they stop predicting rain, I'll put another batch of slug bait out in that bed. I conked last night and never did a slug hunt.

Tomorrow is biogarbage pick up, but I haven't been weeding or pruning. Jerry does not intend to mow. Maybe we'll put it out next week. Our yellow bag does need to go out. Plastic bottles, cans and similar recycling. That only gets picked up every six weeks, and we left it last time.

>100 MarthaJeanne: I have been leaving half-dead worms I pick off my tomato and collard plants on the edge of the bird bath, offerings to my feathered friends. The worms always disappear, so are probably appreciated.

4 dozen slugs tonight.

I also saw the hedgehog. I think it's dying. Not dead yet, but nearly unresponsive.

>103 MarthaJeanne: Do you think he found a poison somewhere in the neighborhood?

He's big and very light coloured. He might just be old. If he's still in the same place in the morning I'll call the Tierrettung. (Animal ambulance)

>104 2wonderY: We think that's what happened to our hedgehog over winter (we suspect the school behind us had rat bait out). However, I'd avoid putting slug bait out unless you're putting it where the hedgehog can't get it or any poisoned slugs. I've had success with beer traps in the past - I must dig them out - I've not needed them in this garden so far but with the raised beds I suspect the hedgehog can't get into them.

Hedgehog report:

The hedgehog is neither where it was last night, nor in the immediate area.

The mealworms I put in front of it are still there.

The food from the previous night which had not all been eaten is now gone.

There are still leaves in the entrance to the hedgehog house, so it is still not being used.

Anyway, I am relieved, as I expected to have to deal with a sick or dead hedgehog today.

I even watered the fence plants today. We had a power outage that lasted about an hour. The first half of that was spent out on the street checking with various neighbours on their power situation. One man insisted on checking his circuit breakers even after he knew that nobody else had power either.

Anyway, once that was established I needed something else to do, and the flowers are getting very droopy.

Hedgehog food was eaten last night.

60 slugs tonight.

This might belong here or in 'other'. We went to the shopping centre today, not as bad as it could have been because a lot of people left Wednesday evening for the long weekend. However, even before we got back to the car last time I realized that I should have bought the small table they had on sale, to make warping work better. Of course, in the meantime it was gone. We bought some groceries, I looked for more socks. Also not there.

"Home, or somewhere else?" I decided that there was nothing really delicate in the groceries, and suggested the garden centre. Jerry thought I wanted to check for a similar table. What I really wanted was bird balls. So we strolled through the plants. Aha! Leeks! Now I don't need to admit to the friend who gave me leek sets that I killed them all. They went into the ground just before I got covid, and we got no rain for several weeks. This does not do baby plants any good. They also had big sunflower plants. much bigger than the ones the slugs ate up. I would rather have the bigger one anyway. And we found a good table, just what I want. A bit more expensive, but still very affordable. They even had just the suet ball package I wanted.

All in all a much better trip than if we had come straight home. Now I just need to get those plants into the ground.

The plants are in the ground. My slug count is already up to 5 - they were enjoying the cool damp earth where I replaced the sunflower.

I didn't manage a proper slug hunt last night, but I'm up early, so I searched the ground around the new sunflower and found a dozen that hadn't made it back underground yet.

Just been sitting out in the garden in the cool air. At least 2 bats were swooping round, a frog jumped along the path, and the hedgehog came for it's breakfast of meal worms before going the other end of the lawn for a drink. And of course the blackbirds were complaining about suspicious shadows in the shrubbery...

>113 Maddz: nicely described!

I picked my first zucchini of the season today. I have also harvested a lemon cucumber with a second one waiting its turn.

I was setting up a warp this afternoon, and the sparrows on the suet balls kept up a commentary the whole time. Funny, sometimes they disappear just because we move in the house, other times they seem happy to share the garden with us.

I just checked my squashes. I got a lemon cuke, a 'snack' cuke, three zucchini (yellow, striped and green) and a hokaido squash. I just told Jerry yesterday, "We are not buying Cream of Pumpkin soup" which was the most attractive of the soups available. I'll probably make some tomorrow.

It seems like the squashes are in full production. I'm still hoping the tomatoes will start ripening soon. Lots of green ones, so I'm rather expecting a lot of ripe ones all at once. Chard and malabar spinach can be harvested at will now. Beans, peppers and eggplant all have a ways to go.

>116 MarthaJeanne: I've gotten a few small squashes, hoping the production will pick up.

One small cucumber and one small winter squash (butternut) are growing.

The melons are producing like gangbusters! I have about five each of watermelons and cantaloupes (musk melons) at least 4" in diameter.

And one Early Girl tomato plant has lots of ripening tomatoes, though the Roma fruits are still stubbornly green.

My slow cooker has the hokaido and half of the biggest zucch in it. There is also a big bunch of herbs tied up with thread, onion, bacon, wine and vegetable broth along with salt and pepper. Time to leave it alone for a while.

While out picking the herbs and trying to convince the cukes to grow where I want them, I found another cuke.

>117 fuzzi: Melons aren't my favourites, and they need too much space that I would rather give the squashes.

I said this was a good year in the garden. I planted a blackthorn (sloe) bush years ago, and never got more than one or two fruits. This year it is covered with growing fruits. This is not the wild variety, but a cultured one with larger fruits.

I was reading up on the care I should give my sloe bush. Apparently, if I want the maximum on fruit it should be pruned at least every three years, and thinned out. On the other hand for maximum habitat for birds, bees, small mammals, butterflies etc, it's better not to prune. So I can be lazy and feel virtuous at the same time. That feels like a win-win situation.

>120 MarthaJeanne: Made me laugh!

Jerry put lots of June pictures up, including many from the garden.

https://www.jerrybarton.eu/Miscellaneous/DailyPicks/

Lovely! Thanks for sharing again!

>120 MarthaJeanne: love that mindset.

"Why haven't you mowed your yard?"

"I'm creating a wildlife habitat!"

😁😁😁

>122 MarthaJeanne: I love the details!

The birds, or at least a few of them have finally figured out that I am offering meal worms, and thar the metal cartoon bird on that feeder is safe.

It is so nice to say, "Oh, I need some veggies for tonight's dinner." Then go out in the garden and pick a cucumber, a tomato, an eggplant and a zucchini.

I sent one zucchini to church with Jerry. Next Sunday it should be a bag of stuff.

>122 MarthaJeanne: And a few more.

I've been going through stacks of old recipes from magazines. Most of them are landing in the recycling, but Moroccan-style fish appealed. The ingredients include a red pepper and a can of tomatoes. Quick trip to the garden found a pepper in the process of turning red. That will do. And enough fresh tomatoes that the can does not need to be opened.

I also harvested a hokkaido squash that weighs over 1500 gm. That one can probably go to church on Sunday. I gave the vine a good talking to, and cut off one of the tendrils that wanted to climb the support for the Malabar spinach.

I bought new pots of parsley and basil. They are replacing the lettuce that gave up their ghosts, but that container hadn't been watered in a while so first I watered. Then I stirred the soil up to trowel depth, then watered again. I divided the plants up and set them, then put yet more water on, with the rose this time. We'll see how the soil feels tomorrow.

(>129 MarthaJeanne: What I didn't have was a can of chickpeas, so we had to go shopping.)

We just went out to see what veggies are available to grill tonight. We ended up with two eggplants and a zucchini.

And lots of tomatoes from 4 of the plants, including some really big ones.

For the first time in days, I braved the heat to see what there is to harvest. Tomatoes are rather discouraging, only 5, 4 from the same plant and fairly small. Zucchinis the opposite problem, 3 large ones, one of them very large. A few eggplants. And two hokkaido squashes, each over a kilo. What will I do with two 'pumpkins'? Also a couple of sweet peppers.

I gave more water to the vegetable containers, as they dry out very quickly in the heat. Also more water in the bird bath and hedgehog water bowl. That is proving deadly to the earwig population. I need something insects can crawl in and out of. The local bees and wasps use the bird bath.

OK, I gave one squash to the neighbours. I made oven ratatoi... with one zucchini, and most of the other veggies. Most of that is now in the freezer. Problem - there is another cube tray full of ??? in there. Will it be apparent what it is if I take the cubes out of their tray? I'm wondering if it might be squash soup. Maybe we should have whatever it is for supper tomorrow.

The birds have decided that it is too hot to fly about looking for caterpillars. They ate most of the available balls (since yesterday). I have refilled the feeders, but that took all my available balls. Even if I had any intention of going to the garden center in this heat (it's a series of greenhouses), Jerry has a conference all week, and is not available to drive me. If they finish these balls, they will be out of luck.

It's raining, really raining! It slowed down for a bit, so I used the water in my container to water the citrus and the containers in the rain shadow of the house. Now I'm hoping it will continue long enough to refill the supply. It's also just barely warmer outside than in, so the air conditioners have a chance to catch up before it gets hot again.

Yes, I’ve never felt more invested in the rain. Next year it shouldn’t matter as much, as my new plants will have established themselves a bit better. But I was watering all of the new beds every day for 6 weeks and still lost some specimens.

I wasn't feeling well last night, and forgot to feed the hedgehog. Tonight I found two things in its dish that I think might have come out of its backside. Was that supposed to be a message for me?

Message or not, that's almost certainly what it was.

>138 MarthaJeanne: we had a cat that did that once. In my household, animals live on the floor, not the furniture. I caught him sitting on the rocking chair and tipped him off. Next time I walked by, there was a dried up piece of poo, fished out of the litter box, sitting in the center of the chair cushion.

We haven't seen 'our' hedgehog in weeks. I suspect it's lurking in the school grounds somewhere - it may have got too big to squeeze under the fence. I really ought to get one of those hedgehog gates - or dig the gap out a bit.

I have only seen ours once this year, but the food disappears regularly. Somehow I doubt that the local cats are interested in hedgehog pellets and mealworms. The droppings today certainly match the online descriptions. I read that the heat is causing problems for British hedgehogs. The water I keep filled also gets used. Of course also by other critters. Three times now I have found drowned slugs in it! If it were anything but slugs, I would be upset.

The moles (I assume that’s what they are) in my yard had been inactive all year. I had even thought that maybe they had moved on. This past week, they’ve been digging and burrowing like crazy. They haven’t harmed any plants yet, so I’m just considering them as useful aerators. I scoop the piles of dirt into the old hollows.

It was perhaps the very dry clay soil that kept them from activity earlier in the season.

>142 2wonderY: my moles are busy too, probably encouraged by the recent rains.

>141 MarthaJeanne: The wood pigeons like to wash their feet in the water. Of course, when they fly off they tip the bowl over. Sigh...

Mind you, Paul was gloating at the pair on the lawn yesterday - 'We're going to eat curly kale and you're not!' (First harvest...Last year, the pigeons got more of the kale than we did - this year, I netted in the crop.)

I have the small water bowl for the hedgehog, which would be really hard to tip over. Then the big bird bath that is quite heavy, and also hard to tip over. This hasn't been an issue for us.

I went out to harvest, and found one tomato, and one green bean.

>140 Maddz: Paul got delayed getting to bed last night - someone wanted his (or her) breakfast. They must have been estivating in the hot weather. Now it's cooler, they're on the move again. I'd gone to bed by the point so I've only just heard.

It rained a good 30-40mm over about 36 hours. Just what the ground needed. Amazing how much greener the city looks today. No, the grass hasn't recovered yet, but everything looks a lot happier.

I just threw veggies in the oven. I fried up bacon and onions and mixed that with togo eggplants, black cherry tomatoes, pieces of a red pepper, along with bay leaves, oregano, salt and pepper and some olive oil. I'll add feta and maybe olives before it's done.

I harvested a large yellow courgette this morning. I'm about to split it in half and stuff it for supper tonight.

>147 Maddz:
>149 Maddz:
Look, this has nothing to do with 'MarthaJeanne's Garden'. If your messages aren't direct answers to my posts, please post them in a topic where they fit.

I'm afraid you will have to put up with the issue until the eye infection I've had since May clears up. I can barely see my keyboard, let alone the links, I was replying to your comment about the hedgehog and your comment about food from your garden - which sounds more productive that mine.

Ruth, if this is going to be 'Free for all', please change the topic title, and I'll move the messages I want to keep off LT, and delete the others.

ETA I've done some, more tomorrow.

>148 MarthaJeanne: I also refer to recently rained-on plants as looking happy. There's a perkiness that appears after a rainstorm.

Jerry is out mowing the lawn for the first time in months. Parts that are mostly grass are still brown, but the various weeds are green and growing. I went out first and raked up the windfall apples and peaches. I wish I had a support for the one peach branch which keeps getting lower and lower.

I also cut back the herbs growing over the side of their raised bed and their associated weeds, so he can get right up to the bed. But I'm going to let the cuttings go into the bin. Even if there is enough to do it, mulching at this point feels like flogging a dead horse. Besides, It takes more bending than I'm up for.

I'll feed the hedgehog when he's done.

I harvested a little chard yesterday. Enough for the two of us. That's all there is. I sent a zuccha that got away from me to church with Jerry on Sunday, to the great happiness of a Ghanaian woman. I'm glad not to feel I ought to be grating it into something. We are still getting a zucchini now and then, a few small tomatoes now and then, but not a lot. I should try and see if I can find a handful of beans. The few we've had have been delicious.

We got a short rain shower on Sunday evening, for another 2mm. All in about 10 minutes. Apparently parts of Vienna got good rain showers in the morning, but not here.

Last year Austria got about 96% of its power from renewable sources. This year the hydroelectric plants that are still running are producing a lot less. We'll be lucky to do better than 3/4 this year.

Well that was a good harvest. Several tomatoes, small, but still. Another Hokkaido squash. Difficult, as it had managed to grow into the link fencing. I had to pry it out. Then a good handful of green beans. I'm quite hopeful, as this time there are lots of tiny beans for next time. I intend making fish pie tonight, and they can go in.

One of the African women told Jerry today that she had gotten one of our pumpkins (Actually Hokkaido squash) and made a wonderful soup out of it. Nothing to go today, current harvests are meagre.

However I am using another of them today. Sort of https://www.goodfood.com.au/recipes/baked-gnocchi-with-pumpkin-pancetta-and-sage..., except left over noodles in stead of gnocchi, Mascarpone in stead of ricotta, ham in stead of pancetta... but the basic idea and the sage remain. Oh, yes, I also fried up onion and garlic with the ham.

There was a frog on our parched lawn. He was awfully still for a long time, but when I dribbled some water on him, he made a big jump up into the herb raised bed. I have put a plant saucer of water up there for him.
https://www.jerrybarton.eu/Miscellaneous/DailyPicks/i-hRwSV7g

I picked a pepper and a few tomatoes while I was out cutting back the dead parts of the squash and cucumber plants.

>157 MarthaJeanne: Oh he’s a pretty thing!

>157 MarthaJeanne: when I started taking photos of the frogs by my pond I noticed for the first time their gorgeous goldeny-sparkly irises.

Your frog looks a bit like my leopard frogs.

I also left a small amount of mealworms where the frog jumped to. Tonight the mealworms are gone and the water level is way down, so I replaced both.

Something continues to eat the mealworms I put out for the frog.

I was at the garden store hoping for some pansies. Nope. But got a few other fall flowers for the fence. They also had a really cute thing with polka dotted leaves and fairly nice white flowers. In May or June I would have bought it, but soon it would have to be a house plant, and I don't do house plants. At most ready blooming bulbs in the Spring.

Actually, I mostly wanted a new dish for the hedgehog. I left the old one on the compost bin, then forgot and threw a few weeds in. This did not do the ceramic dish any good.

>161 MarthaJeanne: I can finally do houseplants. My old house was too dark, and too crowded. And I’ve got a nice basement now where I can house the excess.

Went to the other garden centre. Instead of just 'bright lights' chard fron several different companies, they had three choices of white chard. I chose 'Jessica'. I also got Pak choi sets, lettuce sets, and more flowers for the fence. Still just pinks and purples.

Got everything into the ground, but will have to water again later. The veggies went in where there hadn't been anything, and the ground is very, very dry. It was supposed to rain last night, and maybe, but only 1 mm. That is rather useless.

>162 2wonderY: You still have to remember to water them now and again.

I'm reading a book on gardening on your balcony. It assumes a big balcony and at least as much area inside for keeping plants over the winter, starting plants ahead of time, ... Rather unrealistic. Anyway there is an interesting suggestion for growing tomatoes you might want to try next spring.

Take an empty hanging pot. cut a rather large circular hole in the bottom. Now take your small tomato plant and carefully take the leaves and stems through the hole, leaving the root end inside the pot. Fill it up with earth. Plant lettuce or something on top and hang it up. The tomatoes should grow under the pot.

Personal opinion is that this is going to need a lot of fertilizer, as there isn't really enough earth. It will also need regular watering - like at least twice a day for most of the summer.

But an interesting suggestion.

There are various garden jobs that we meant to do today. However, the little bit of sun alternated with rain and hail, and the thermometer barely made it into the teens. Guess I'm just a wimp.

Maybe not a total wimp. I just fed the birds and the hedgehog. Then I picked a pepper and enough green beans for supper.

It's cold out there.

Cold, but at least dry and sunny. We got some of the yard work done, including taking branches off the peach tree that were much too heavy when they had fruit on them. Amazing how different it looked with the peaches off, but I knew what needed to go.

The hose is put away for the winter. The windfall fruit mostly raked up, and there won't be much more. I also pulled a few dead stems from the beds as I passed.

Time to start pulling plants before the winter. I've done the zucchinis. Today I pulled the togo eggplants and trimmed some of the lavender.

I went to the garden centre again today. The last time I needed hedgehog food they only had small expensive packages. This time the pet store I found it at then didn't have it, but the garden centre did. All stocked up! I also bought a bag of hedgehog cookies. ???

Across the aisle was a display of allium bulbs. How did those get into my cart? I'll plant them tomorrow.

Last visit I had looked for pansies, without success. Today they were there. I ended up with 16. The flower bags are at least full on the driveway side now.

It's certainly time to have the greentent up. But that has been a challenge. We threw the old one away in the spring. But this fall, the two garden centres who carried it last year don't have it this year. I was not impressed with what they did have on offer.

So we ordered it from the company in Germany. The website said they would send it in two or three working days. The email confirming the order was from a different company, looks like a clear out company, and said 2-3 weeks. This week we finally got a delivery email - but the address was mangled. Corrected that, which delayed delivery by another day. OK it came, and the delivery guy, rather confused by the address correction, even put it where we wanted it for us. - two heavy boxes.

Today never got as warm as they predicted, but we decided to set it up anyway. At least we now know how it works. Except that I was unable to line up the holes to put one support together. No wonder. One of the pieces didn't have holes. So that support is not screwed together. But it's up.

I still have to do the electricity bit - heating, fan, driveway lights. Then we have to move the plants in. We shouldn't have frost for a few weeks yet, but I'm glad we started thinking about it early.

It's funny how 'right' it looks having it set up on the terrace.

Today is a Monday, and fairly decent weather, so I'm making filling the bio bin my priority. I raked some leaves, cut back a rose bush and a few twigs from the peach tree that were bothering me. I gave up on the tiny hokkaido, and ripped the vines out. Surprise! a nice orange squash the size of my fist came lose and fell between the fences. Our side is chain link, the other side is wood faced. I had to raise the squash up carefully through the chain link to get it out.

There is a fair amount that could still be done out there, including pulling up the tomato plants. I really ought to fill the bin as much as possible.

I did do some of the tomatoes yesterday.

Today Jerry got the electric cables down for me. They are heavy enough in themselves, and the hose was over them. With a little cooperation, we got the whole thing set. Last plants in. I'm not putting the star jasmine in this year. It will get some extra insulation around the pot, but it is supposed to be winterhard here, and it's support just doesn't, and it's really gotten too big for the space. All in all, I'd rather chance it. If it survives, it can have the second side of the rose arch next year.

The small citrus is in blossom, and several pollinators have followed it into the tent.

This is a very different issue from the 3 wasps I have found (and killed) in my bedroom recently.

Oh, and I also watered everything, having deliberately not done that for several days. (Plants weigh a lot more after watering.)

I raked leaves this afternoon in the fog. I also turned off the driveway lights to discourage 'visitors' tonight. I'll turn them back on tomorrow as they are cheery and welcoming on these dark afternoons. I really hate it when we go back to winter time. (As we did yesterday.)

Turning the outside lights off was not enough. Before the pandemic it had become clear that you only go to houses that are lit up and decorated, but that seems to have been forgotten.

I just harvested some Szechuan pepper. I really wanted a nice sunny day for that ... ... ... Well, the fog is fairly light today. I didn't harvest last year, so I do want a fresh batch. I also did some more raking. The bin isn't more than half full, but it can still go out tonight.

Driveway lights are plugged in again.

They are predicting 3° tonight. Guess it's time to close the zippers at night.

I just reopened the tent, as the sun has come out. I also watered things in there. It was raining and cold earlier.

I harvested all the peppers and binned the plants. I hope at least some of them will still ripen. but not much chance ot it outside.

Since it's Monday, we should rake in an hour or two. The apple tree has lost more fruit and leaves. The smell of rotting szechuan pepper leaves and fruits on the terrace when we walk over the is rather strong

Our temps are going down to freezing. The tent so far is staying 1.5 - 2 degrees above the outside temperatures. So far we're fine, and I don't want to waste energy, but it getting a bit chilly in there. Do I need to turn the heater up just a hint?

Given the amount of condensation on the inside that would have to freeze before it was really frosty for the plants, I think we're OK so far. Also, my citrus are all varieties that can take a light frost. I really looked at one of the weird ones one time, but decided that I could not guarantee to keep it above 5° all winter. Buddha's Hand apparently also wants more regular watering than I am really up for. But it has such neat fruits.

Monday again. I raked the few leaves, swept the terrace (szechuan pepper berries) and pulled up the last few tomato plants. Next week is the last regular pickup - after that it's every two weeks for the winter - so I do want to use what I can. It's less cold today than it's been, but I feel cold from being out there.

We decided not to take in the tarp of the pavilion this winter. It's not in good shape, and in places even mouldy. Those places are where it has developed pockets that catch water and dead leaves. I've just been out sewing the tarp down to the frame to try and unform the pockets. It should at least be better. But my fingers are cold.

I harvested a leek today, and used it instead of the green onions in https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cheese-oat-spring-onion-soda-bread. It was good. The leek worked well. I'm not going to grow leeks again, though unless I am really short of other things to grow.

Somebody painted some of the clouds blue this morning, so we raked the lawn again. That should do it; even the top of the apple tree is bare.

Jerry had bought some hot smoked salmon which we not eat last night. Honestly, we would not have used up all the fish he bought even when we had three teenage/20s boys around for New Year's Eve. I had a package of puff pastry in the refrigerator, so I harvested one of the Pak Choi. Not my favourite veggie, but there were sets available late summer. I sautéd the chopped Pak Choi with onion and garlic, and mixed in some horseradish cheese. I spread this on part of the puff pastry, and nested the salmon in and wrapped it up. I cut the rest into two pieces and made apple turnovers with cinnamon and dried cranberries. Good supper!