Pumpkins, gourds, other interesting finds

I've had absolutely no time in the garden, so tonight when I came home from a day in San Francisco with Adam, the first thing I did was go harvest the pumpkins and gourds before sunset. Our haul is meager. The terrible powdery mildew problem really put a cramp on the pumpkin beds. The large pumpkins didn't fruit at all, and I harvested only one medium-sized pumpkin. However I have about 12 mini pumpkins and four gourds. Enough to decorate the house with. Not nearly enough to use for carving or pie. Bummer.

I guess I should be grateful to have any at all!

Regardless of the fast pace of my days, the dog still has to be walked, and I suppose that's another thing to be grateful for, because I get to slow down enough at those moments to look around me and absorb what's happening in nature. This week I collected some Osage oranges from our nearest open space.

Osage orange trees are in the Mulberry Family, and can be invasive in areas which were over-grazed or in abandoned agricultural areas (this particular open space used to be cattle pasture, plus it's an old walnut orchard). The fruit is not edible and it has a strange scent. An old wives tale is that you can use the fruit as an insect repellent, but as far as I can tell from my research, that's probably not true. Insects and birds don't seem to eat them, and there seems to be no apparent use for these strange balls. However, I think they look very autumnal and a bit 'brain-y' and are perfect for Halloween decorating.

On another walk in a local open space, I noticed the oak trees festooned with mistletoe.

Mistletoe is invasive and can kill the tree, albeit very slowly. Our old Cub Scout troop used to go collect it out of the trees and then sell it at Christmastime. Most of the mistletoe I see is far too high to obtain, or I would try to get a little some of it myself. I'll keep looking for a lower infestation, as we get closer to the holidays.

On yet another walk I came across this:

Alas, I did not have time to relax in this hammock. Also, I was just a tiny bit skeeved out. Maybe I'm not as adventurous as I thought I was.

But, I don't have to go as far as the open space to find treasure. Some of it is right here in our yard. Such as this orb weaver web in our pepper tree, at sunset.

I'm gone again for most of the day tomorrow, but I'm hoping to have time to rip out the pumpkin vines and add a buckwheat cover crop, as well as harvest all the butternut and delicata squash and rip those vines out as well. I would like to remove our paste tomato vines as they are looking really horrible now (though they still have some fruit on them) and possibly try to dig up a section of the sweet potato vines and see what's happening under there. I also need to harvest the last of the cantaloupe and rip out those vines as well.

We also need to check on the honeybees and see how they are faring with the varroa and wax moths.

We've scrapped the enormous chicken tractor and are thinking about a sleeker design. More to come. We need to get that grass ripped up (eaten, scratched up, dug in by chickens) before the rains come, or it'll just pop right back up again. And I have big plans for that area. I'm reading a great book called "Eating on the Wild Side" by Jo Robinson and she gives great ideas for extra-nutritious plants to grow. Blood oranges, anyone?

Hard Decision regarding the Hive

Our honeybee hive is as strong as we've ever seen it. In a severe drought year, with all the beekeepers we know having to feed their bees, ours are bringing in nectar and pollen daily. Our forethought and planning with the pollinator gardens have really paid off in a big way. Looking through the hive today, we noticed many bars completely full of capped honey, with more bars full of ripening nectar. There's not much brood, which is expected this time of year, but the hive seems well-set for the winter months.

All this was very pleasing, and we would have been entirely happy with our inspection, had we not noticed this.

It's hard to see, but the arrow is pointing to a varroa mite on the back of this bee. It's a red shiny dot. My hive tool is pointing to it from the other side.

We noticed 3-4 mites on as many bees - they're not overrun, by any means, but will be soon if left untreated.

And in a not-unexpected twist, we noticed four wax moth larvae crawling on the floor of the hive. I promptly severed them in two with my trusty hive tool, but I left the hive inspection feeling very depressed and unsettled.

We lost our hive last year to varroa - it was in late November and we didn't notice until the entire hive was dead.

We've never had wax moths before, we only noticed them for the first time about a month ago, but the really special thing about them is that they destroy the honey and the wax, so even if our hive dies from varroa, if the moth larvae get to it before we do, we won't even be able to harvest the ample honey crop.

I called my beekeeping mentor immediately (that's my dad :) ) and we talked about the fact that he had just bought some formic acid strips from the beekeeping store for just this purpose. He invited me over to look in his hives and see if I saw mites there.

So I did. But first I researched formic acid. As you know, I've been struggling with the question of whether or not to chemically treat my bees. Most beekeepers do, regularly. I feel strongly that the bees (not just my bees, but bees in general) need to evolve past this, and in order to do that, we just need to leave them alone. And until I saw mites on my bees today, I was sure that I would never treat  them.

Then I thought about the fact that my bees did not come from a wild swarm, but from a breeder, who definitely treats his bees. My queen has been treated before. She grew up being treated and having that help. Her genetic line is used to being treated. She has never developed the ability to resist mites. She isn't likely going to start now. My bees will die, if left untreated.

This pisses me off, because having to get a new colony is not only heartbreaking, it's a pain. It's expensive, and they always come in mid-April when the first nectar flow is already finished here in Northern California - they miss the native wildflower bloom. And then I have to feed them for weeks while they build their comb (since I have a top bar hive, they build their entire comb). And just when they get to a strong and healthy place, varroa descends. And it will descend every year, this is just a fact of life now.

Then I thought about the wax moths. Formic acid has been shown to kill wax moth eggs and larvae as well as varroa mites. My mind started to change.

So when I inspected Dad's hives with him, and we found varroa in one of them, and he didn't hesitate to put a strip of formic acid on top of the bars of his hive, I found myself taking the other strip home. And then I opened up my hive and placed it inside.

It doesn't smell great. I'm sure the bees won't like it. Some will probably die. The queen might even die. But if I don't do this, the colony will surely die. So I'm going with the better odds.

I'll keep you updated, friends. Formic acid is considered an 'organic' treatment, but it's certainly not the kind of organic I'm used to here at Poppy Corners. I'm not entirely happy, but I feel confident that I'm giving my bees a shot at survival.

October in the Garden

Things have been a little busy here at Poppy Corners, and not in the garden way, which is unfortunate because, as all you gardeners know, fall is an important time in the vegetable beds! Both Tom and I have been working more, the kids have a ton of activities, and we spent last weekend at Camp Okizu, celebrating, as we do annually, Adam's recovery from cancer. So not much has gotten done in the yard. But that's life, you know? Part of being an urban gardener or farmer or do-it-yourselfer is that regular life just happens. So we plug on, making lists during the week (sometimes lists that bleed in to other lists) and getting done what we can get done in the extra time we find.

What that means in practical terms is that big projects, like the chicken tractor, are stalled halfway through construction.

this thing takes up half the patio

We hope to finish this soon so that we can put the chickens to work ripping out the bit of (dead) lawn we have left.

Small projects can get done whenever we have an entire weekend day, or even a weekday afternoon, free. Today, our first free weekend day in quite a while, a LOT is getting done. As I write, Tom is taking the hot peppers he harvested this morning and creating hot sauce and pickled peppers. I've harvested tomatoes, sweet peppers, the last of the green beans, cantaloupe, and a lone fig, with plans for making canned crushed tomatoes, roasted peppers for the freezer, and canned dilly beans later this afternoon or tomorrow. I've frozen a dozen eggs for the winter, removed the green bean crop from it's bed, and deadheaded the pollinator gardens. Later today or tomorrow I need to hoe the beds that are clear and add a cover crop of buckwheat, plus cut down flowering buckwheat in another part of the garden and add soiled chicken straw to those beds. We've fences to mend, weeds to pull, the bee hive to open and check (varroa season is upon us, though my bees look happy enough in the garden at the moment), paths to sweep, compost to turn and dig out... you get the picture.

The garden just keeps pumping out produce, even though much is going awry. Everything looks incredibly dry and dusty in the sunny areas, and in the shady areas we have a doozy of a case of powdery mildew. Chalk it up to wacky weather and a lack of regular temperatures or water. All I can say is, I'm tired of hot weather, and I'm ready for a real autumn. I know it's coming, because nighttime temperatures are low and the mornings are cool. That's heaven. Soon we can plant winter crops.

powdery mildew in the pumpkin patch...

... but pumpkins keep on growing...

... and gourds, too.

Butternut squashes are incredibly prolific....

... and we're still getting plenty of delicata squash as well.

We're still getting the stray cantaloupe if I can get to them before the squirrels do. (that's buckwheat growing behind, where the watermelons used to be.)

I harvested the last of the beans and took the vines out and to the compost bin.

The sweet potato vines are loving the heat. No flowers yet. I'm wondering if they'll get a chance to flower and set fruit before frost. Hope so.

basil has been one of my most successful crops this year. I've made enough freezer pesto to last us the whole year. Neighbors come harvest basil whenever they want to, and we use it freely in recipes and in the chicken coop as bedding.

Hot peppers just keep on coming...

... as do the sweet peppers...

... and we're still getting plenty of tomatoes, of all kinds.

The north pollinator garden keeps producing flowers, mostly tithonia and cosmos...

... and so does the south pollinator garden, with a variety of California fuchsias, sages, and daisies along with sunflowers and tithonia

Here in zone 9, and in our city of Walnut Creek, our first average frost date is December 15. October is usually a pretty warm (even hot) month, so I can wait until the beginning of November to plant winter crops. I've got seeds and tubers and cloves lined up, and supplies for more floating row cover tunnels, so we're all ready to go. If October changes course and things get cooler more quickly than usual, I'll get the crops in sooner. Meanwhile I figure I'll let the tomatoes, peppers, squashes, and melons continue to produce until then.

So, back in to the garden, and back to chores. Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday with lots of outside time, too!

Signs of Fall

It's hard to tell that it's Fall in Northern California, as it's been between 90-105 every day the last few weeks, but if you look closely, there are signs that the seasons have begun to change.

Leaves covering the trail

Acorns forming and falling by the bucketful

Seedpods forming on the bare limbs of Buckeye trees

We're tired of hot weather. We're tired of dry conditions and huge conflagrations burning down acres and acres of land, and houses. We desperately need cool weather and rain. Everything looks wilted and dirty and dangerously dry.

The garden is changing, too - still harvesting tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, pumpkins, butternut and delicata squash, green beans. Sweet potatoes are coming soon. But it all looks a bit played out. I'll post pictures this weekend sometime.

Meanwhile, we have another month of hot weather ahead of us, and often October is our hottest month of the year. You'll forgive me for feeling a bit defeated.

Butterfly mix-up

I guess it's not a big deal in the scheme of things, but you know how much I like to identify what I'm seeing in the garden. And my good friend Barbara pointed out that I might be seeing Gulf Fritillary butterflies rather than Monarchs on my Tithonia. On further reflection and research, I think I've seen both - but many of the pictures I've put up are mislabeled. You can see why I was confused:

Gulf Fritillary

Monarch

"What kind of butterfly is that?"
"Oh, an orange one."

Anyway, please forgive me, and I'll go back and change up my old posts. Meanwhile I found this cool  blog post about butterflies on Tithonia at the UC Master Gardeners website. I'm not the only one noticing lots of activity (rightly-or-wrongly-named) in these flowers. Put these on your to-buy list for next summer!

We've had some cooler weather and yesterday we even had a light mist - unheard of in September! - and we saw this, which I took as a sign that El Nino is on its way here. We'll see if that's true.