Another weekend that wasn't

[altivo]

Gardening again. But now all the fall crops are in, so it will just be a matter of mulch and weed, harvesting when things are ready. Tied up the tomatoes to the trellises, as they are starting to set fruit. Squashes have flowers starting. Beets and lettuce in need of thinning, but I didn't do that today because the ones that get pulled out can go into salad if we are making it right away. The first pole beans I planted have reached the top of the six foot trellis. It's amazing how fast they grow once they get started. Easy to see where the legend of Jack and the Beanstalk came from.

There were some old cucumber seeds from several years ago, and since I had extra trellis space I planted them. Much to my surprise, I have four healthy cucumber vines now. Maybe we'll even get some cukes before the frost arrives.

This year's disappointment is the kohlrabi. We really like them, but the seed catalog people substituted a different variety, "Hybrid Pheres," for the one I usually order, "Grand Duke." Normally kohlrabi are easy to grow. We used to grow them in the flower beds when we lived in the city, in fact. The substituted variety just didn't germinate well. There are perhaps four plants in the patch where I expected to get sixteen. I planted some Purple Vienna today just in case the frost holds off until October. If it does, those will still mature.

Picked nearly two pounds of blueberries again. In spite of the dearth of honeybees, something pollinated them well. We haven't had a crop like this since we had beehives right by the bush. I figure at retail prices we've picked about $30 worth of berries from that single bush this year. There are still a few coming along, but I think this (the third) is the last big picking we'll get. Blackberries are ripe too, but I was too tired of swatting mosquitoes after getting the blueberries. Maybe tomorrow.

Speaking of which, why is it that mosquitoes seem to hang out near berry bushes just waiting for someone to come along wanting to pick the berries?

Comments

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Seems simple, really. Berries = food. Food = animals eating. Animals eating = things to draw blood from = baby skeeters! Evolution might suggest that mosquitoes that hovered near sugary fruit would make more babies.

Which I'm sure is all quite obvious to you but sounded fun to elucidate :P

And heck yes for pole beans - they're fun to watch grow!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I suppose you might be right about the mosquitoes. Sometimes I have trouble believing that the randomness of evolution can produce anything quite so specific, but of course it does. The complexity of other parasitic life cycles can be mind-boggling.

It's also like the thing with the Japanese beetles that I posted about last week. That trap is still sucking them in with just the tiniest hint that there might be a beetle orgy going on. Mosquitoes are similarly drawn to the byproducts of mammalian respiration. So if we could stop breathing, they'd have trouble finding us...

Not only are pole beans fun to grow, they're tasty and prolific. And you don't have to bend over to pick them. I have three varieties planted. Kentucky Wonder is the one that grows so fast (and has huge pods.) Scarlet Runner has pretty flowers. Romano has broad, Italian style pods.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Heh... it's nice not to have to bend to pick beans, and we have an added reason for that when we grow them: our big dog, Max, tends to clean out every bean below about 3 feet :) Fortunately he has a good hound's mouth and never damages the plants; he just eats the beans off the vine once they're ripe.

Even funnier is when he's running around the yard playing catch with himself... with a fallen peach that gradually disappears as he takes the occasional nibble.

He's a funny ol' critter!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Peaches are definitely not a good idea even for big dogs. They can easily be obstructed after swallowing the pit. Apparently the texture of it encourages their intestine to constrict on the pit and block it up.

My sheepdog used to steal the tomatoes from the vines. Then he learned to be a "tomato vampire" and suck the insides out without picking them, leaving only the collapsed outside of the tomato hanging there.

[songcoyote.livejournal.com]

Heh... tomato vampire!

Max is weirdly canny about food; so far as I know he has never eaten a peach pit. He just nibbles around the outside. I think his sensitive mouth doesn't like the roughness in the middle :) He does stuff like that for other foods, too - except for cheese, which he adores but which turn him in to a frighteningly exlosive gas monster that can clear a room in 3.2 seconds.

Other than that he's the sweetest dog I've ever had in my life. He's a love loaf, and we conjecture he's a Buddhist monk or something similar who upon the death of his or her previous incarnation thought, "Hey, I think I'll be a dog next life. That will be really nice."

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*watches the cucumber vines with interest* Then pads over waits by the blackberries till a pie materialises.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You'll have to pick the blackberries if you want pie. I got enough mosquito bites yesterday, thanks. ;p

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

I think the mosquitoes are more about the shade. I've been happily picking berries by the beach for a couple days. Mind you, the OTHER days were disgustingly horrible, but then the mosquitoes were everywhere, and not just around the berries.

My raspberry patch in our yard is in the shade, so it's always covered in mosquitoes.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

There may be more than one species of mosquito involved here. The blueberries are in full sunlight during the daytime hours.

I often notice in the daytime that mosquito activity is worst in the sun. Tess notices too. When they start to really bug her in the pasture, she moves to the shade of a large maple tree and stays there.

We also have mosquitoes that come out at dusk and attack in the dark. These seem to be larger and have the nastier bite, and presumably aren't the same as the little whining nuisances that hang around the berry bushes in the daytime.

Four years ago we had a drought summer. That year and the following year were blessedly free of mosquitoes, but now they are back in full force.