August Landscaping

We took advantage of some end-of-the-season specials and picked up a Japanese maple and a nice hydrangea bush.

The maple replaces the one I accidentally killed last year. It has a natural bend to it, so I planted it near the upper pond with the intent of it eventually overhanging the water and forming a visual frame for the pond.

We placed the hydrangea down in the yard next to one of the stone walls to fill that area in.

Balloon Flower Back from Last Year

Happy to report that our balloon flower has returned for another year of beautiful blooms. This is at least the third or maybe even fourth year for this guy, and it's been transplanted a couple times as well (see Previous).

Good Harvest for July 4th

We actually started pulling a few tomatoes off over a week ago, with our Chocolate Cherry variety beating all others to the punch. However, this holiday weekend things really started to roll. We collected a nice batch of Super Suncherries and Chocolate Cherries on July 4th and 5th. There's plenty more of those in the queue, and a few other varieties that seem almost ready to start turning. Overall, though, the crop looks a little light this year, and the plants are a little on the sickly side (too wet, I think).

Mid-Spring Update

Early June and all is pretty well in the yard. We've got 11 tomato plants this year on the top deck. All are heirloom grape and cherry style. We've got several alpine strawberry plants that are averaging about one berry a week...not much to cheer about so far, but maybe it will get better. We planted five pencil hollies along the fence. We bought the plants on sale at Miller's Nursery in the Laurel Highlands. They look a little rough and scraggly right now, but hopefully they will shape up as they grow. They're supposed to get up to 10 feet high and 3 feet in diameter. Our wild roses in the lower yard are starting to bloom nicely, but there is an impending battle down there between them and the encroaching Morning Glories. We have quite a few ferns that made it back from last year, as well as some nice flowering groundcover around the pond, some really pretty water irises in the bog garden, and some nice annuals that Jen planted in the iron planters above the pond.

First Water Iris Blooms

One of our water iris plants that we planted in the bog garden last year bloomed today. And, there's lots of buds that shouldn't be far behind. I was a little surprised that the plants weathered the winter, much less be full of blooms. Nice.

Pond Officially Opened Today

Although I started running the pump over a month ago, I was just recirculating the water into a bucket of lava rock and therefore only operating the lower pond. Well, after a week of sun and warm weather, the algae has taken over, so I decided today to pump the water up the hill to the bog garden and upper pond.

My plan later this summer is to enlarge the lower pond and re-route the cascades into a second lower bog garden before spilling into the lower pond. For now, though, I'm happy just to hear the existing cascades once again.

Spring Eases In

Easter Sunday 09 in Pittsburgh was bright and sunny but still a little on the cold side. The daffodils we planted last year, and in years' previous, are loving it, though.

Done

We bit the bullet this weekend and said goodby to the tomatoes. Despite the fact that we still literally had 100s left on the vine, their sweetness had passed and we had a nice warm day to clean them up before winter descended upon us. We chopped all of the vines, lowered the buckets to the ground, took the lattice work down and called it a season.

Bulb Planting Time

Jen planted 80 Daffodil bulbs and about 90 Grape Hyacinth (Muscari) in the backyard this afternoon. We still about 30 more Hyacinth to put in. Hopefully, the raccoons will leave them alone - last time we planted bulbs the raccoons thought they were their dinner instead.

Sadly, about time to call it a wrap

Well, they're calling for frost tonight, and the inevitability of cold weather is in the air. Our tomatoes vines have all but dried up. Amazingly, though, we have more ripe tomatoes now than ever. The Peace Vine, Resientraub, Yellow and Red Pears and Isis Candy varieties are literally polluting the ground right now with ripe fruit. Unfortunately, none of them tast very good right now - I think the sugar content in them has suffered because of the shorter days. They look great, but their taste has a little bit of funk to it (dirty laundry anyone?), and the texture is generally a little on the mealy side.

So, we bid goodby to our fresh, sweet juicy tomatoes, and farewell to the sun and warmth that brought them to us day after day this summer and fall. We've learned a lot from them this year, and can't wait to use our experience next spring raising a new crop.

Fall Weather Doesn't Stop Production

It's early October and we're well into Autumn, and we are still getting huge amounts of tomatoes off the vines. The plants themselves are looking very old and tired, with lots of dead or yellowing leaves. However, the quantity and quality of the fruit are still very healthy. Although I had written the Sungolds and Snow Globes off for done earlier, they have rebounded with more fruit than ever. Other good producers right now are the Black Cherries, Peace Vines and the Green Grapes. Each of these is producing more than we can eat, and the ground below is starting to get littered with over-ripened tomatoes.

Summer days are flying fast...

As summer starts to show its age, our tomato plants are still producing at a good pace. Although several of the vines themselves are starting to die off on the lower leaf sets, we're still getting lots of fruit from just about every variety. However, the snow globes and peace vines varieties seem to be about done. On the other hand, the red and yellow pear vines are literally polluted with fruit. The black cherry and Reisentraubs are also churning out plenty of fruit still. Sadly, the sun golds appear to be tapering off, though they're still producing. With the onset of cooler nights eminent, I'm guessing most of the green fruit presently on the vines may stay that way.

Good Year for Flower Boxes

All of Jen's flower boxes have done very well this year. The boxes on the front of the house have been quite satisfying, and are looking really good despite the dry weather recently. This is especially nice since the last two years saw everything dry up and go to seed by this time. Compliments to Jen for a good job staying on top of the watering this year. See more pics of all of the boxes at Flickr.

Dog Day Update

We're past the middle of August now, and the tomato plants are still producing very well, but a noticeable slowing of the ripening process is now evident. The big producers right now are the Black Cherry, Snow White and Reisentraub varieties. We're still getting some Sungolds and Peacevines, but they are well past peak production (a week ago we were covered in both of these).

The Yellow Pears are complete duds, with no good fruit coming off of that plant. The Red Pears are marginally more productive (but not any better in taste - bleh). Both of the pear vines have tons of unripe fruit, but nearly all of those look like they are going to succumb to blossom end rot...these are the only two plants showing that problem.

The Green Grapes appear to be finished. They really only produced a couple of big clusters, but what they lacked in quantity they made up in size. Also finished are the Isis Candies...not much from them at all.

We are still battling white flies and aphids (sprayed soap solution again yesterday), and splitting & withering a little bit on the Black Cherries and what's left of the Sungolds.

First Annual Tomato Tasting

Jen and I had a tasting of all nine varieties of tomatoes this evening. The tomatoes in the picture are, from left to right: Snow White, Green Grape, Yellow Pear, Red Pear, Sun Gold, Reisentraub, Isis Candy, Peace Vine and Black Cherry. Our top five - 1) Sun Golds, 2) Green Grapes, 3) Black Cherries, 4) Peace Vines and 5) Snow Whites, though not necessarily in that order. Our least favorite are the Yellow Pears...they really don't taste like anything. For more information, see the video of the entire earth-shaking event.