We've never paired a cat (well, Kip is about a year old) with a Kitten (Sam is just a few months old). It is amazing how much fun they have and how much potential chaos they create. They are zooming all over house, tackling, rolling, knocking stuff about (good thing we aren't inclined to be neat freaks!). Out of bounds is when Sam uses one of our house plants as camouflage by climbing into it! Mocha and Buddy, our chocolate labs, observe with concern in their faces.....
So, the fall/winter garden is now planted. The back row of the garden is a long row of lettuce intermingled with arugula. Both went in as transplants, so it actually looks like things are growing (though the heat of yesterday/today/tomorrow means regular watering as the seedlings adjust).
In front of that row, the direct seeded chard, beets and spinach finally started showing signs of life. What amazes me is the vigor of the weeds - I am cultivating the rows weekly, and in between, different sorts of weeds appear seemingly overnight. Some thinning will also be needed eventually.....
Yesterday I said goodbye to all of the Dwarf tomatoes and many of the indeterminate varieties. It is not an enjoyable task - cutting off the top growth (which can be rampant), lugging the vines into the woods, then dumping the heavy pots of dirt into the cart and dumping that into a mulching pile. It is remarkable how the eggplant, sweet and hot peppers continue to thrive, however. Today I will probably cut down another dozen or so indeterminate tomatoes - only the largest potted ones remain, and I can dump only so many of them per day before my lower back informs me to stop!
So the gardening activities will soon move indoors - finishing and submitting my book proposal, planning next year's seedling sales, garden and Dwarf project assignments, refining my seed collection. I am actually looking forward to it - and will be good and ready to start the process of planting seeds not too far into the new year!
So, the fall/winter garden is now planted. The back row of the garden is a long row of lettuce intermingled with arugula. Both went in as transplants, so it actually looks like things are growing (though the heat of yesterday/today/tomorrow means regular watering as the seedlings adjust).
In front of that row, the direct seeded chard, beets and spinach finally started showing signs of life. What amazes me is the vigor of the weeds - I am cultivating the rows weekly, and in between, different sorts of weeds appear seemingly overnight. Some thinning will also be needed eventually.....
Yesterday I said goodbye to all of the Dwarf tomatoes and many of the indeterminate varieties. It is not an enjoyable task - cutting off the top growth (which can be rampant), lugging the vines into the woods, then dumping the heavy pots of dirt into the cart and dumping that into a mulching pile. It is remarkable how the eggplant, sweet and hot peppers continue to thrive, however. Today I will probably cut down another dozen or so indeterminate tomatoes - only the largest potted ones remain, and I can dump only so many of them per day before my lower back informs me to stop!
So the gardening activities will soon move indoors - finishing and submitting my book proposal, planning next year's seedling sales, garden and Dwarf project assignments, refining my seed collection. I am actually looking forward to it - and will be good and ready to start the process of planting seeds not too far into the new year!
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