Green Thumb Sunday: Farming is a Tough Business Edition

Green Thumb Sunday: Farming is a Tough Business Edition

As you regular readers of the blog know well by now, Farming involves a regular helping of Tough Decisions. Specifically, Tough Decisions that have to be made with few concrete facts on which to base them, which, in the grand scheme of things, is probably why they're called tough decisions in the first place. In any event, today this farmer had to be The Decider about a number of things, which are illustrated here since it is, after all, a Green Thumb Sunday.

1.) The tomatoes.
As you may have noticed by the tree leaves starting to turn, fall is rapidly approaching. Unfortunately, many of the tomatoes are green green green, thanks especially to cool nights that have slowed the ripening process to a crawl. The days have been hot lately, which is what made this decision so tough, but an honest, unemotional look at the calendar (late September already?!), made this decision the easiest one to make. All of the new flowers and branches about to grow new flowers (that I could find in that jumble of tomato plants) had to be unceremoniously chopped off so that the plants' resources could be directed to ripening all those green tomatoes. Behold what would have been enough cherry tomatoes to last H for a whole summer, if only they would have had time to ripen:


2.) The watermelons.
Those miniMelons have been a Trial since the beginning, and just the other day, the birds started pecking them to death. I covered them with plastic pots, which for the record looked ridiculous, and they've been growing like that for a while. But today, I gave them a thump, which to my best guess seemed to sound hollow-ish, so I picked them. I have no idea if they're ripe or not, but I'm sure H & N will report on the quality. Here they are with some of the tomatoes that managed to get ripe.

So with the zucchini plant completely succumbing to the squash vine borers (with 4 miniZucchini growing on it still!), and now the watermelon plants gone, the only thing left on the Farm are the tomato plants. I think that means MiniChuck's Eye View will be going on hiatus until the next time I have a Farm...

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 77F
Yesterday's low: 55F
Warnings: Farmer on the Farm with Pruning Shears Alert
Mood of the farm: Fearful of pruning shears
Reason to consider a new career: I probably had more distress about that tomato pruning than any real Farmer should...

It's a Baby Watermelon!

Folks, growing watermelons has given this Farmer more than one grey hair. First, there was the time when Maisy practically killed all the plants while defending her farm, then there was the time I stepped on a little growing watermelon and crushed it, then there was the time I spent almost an hour on hold with Linder's trying to find out just what kind of watermelons I was growing (to no avail), and then there was the time that I asked Archie his opinion and he looked momentarily stumped. But once again, my bff Archie was right! After thinking for a minute, he guessed I was probably just growing little mini watermelons. Today, I thought maybe one of those miniMelons was getting close to ready, so I called on N, who has a legendary ability to thump watermelons and know if they're ripe or not, to check into the situation. She hopped into the farm, gave the watermelon a thump, and professed it ready for eating.

I was so overcome with excitement that I forgot to take a picture of it before we cut into it, but you can see it in the picture below, bottom left. Luckily, I got my wits back about me once N made the first cut, which was quite eventful. It kind of exploded open after she barely touched it with the knife.

Here's what it looked like, perfectly ripe as N divined:

And I can tell you it tasted delicious!


Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 71F
Yesterday's low: 47F
Warnings: Cold and crappy weather tomorrow.
Mood of the farm: Getting lonely as one by one the bounty gets removed.
Reason to consider a new career: If only I could farm in the summer and research in the winter...

Green Thumb Sunday: Bees, and Tomatoes, and Watermelons Oh My! Edition

Green Thumb Sunday: Bees, and Tomatoes, and Watermelons Oh My! Edition

On first glance, this looks like a jumble of watermelon and tomato plant leaves,

But upon closer inspection, I found this bee in the process of pollinating the watermelon flower that was growing up the tomato plant and its cage.

And also this watermelon, about tennis ball size, right at the base of the tomato plant.

Here are the other two watermelons that are growing, in case lack of information about watermelon growth has been keeping you up nights...

The big one I've blogged about before:
The new miniMelon on the scene:

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 86F
Yesterday's low: 61F
Warnings: The last gasp of summer is on its way. Prepare for a week-ish long heatwave.
Mood of the farm: Surprisingly prosocial. This might be a bit of a hitch for Darwin's whole survival of the fittest thing...
Reason to consider a new career: None. However, I am working on my list of things I'm looking forward to (excited is too strong of a word--farmers are stoic people) at the Great Minnesota Get Together. I am planning two trips, and you know they will be copiously photographed.

Aftermath on the Farm

Well, here's some of the wreckage from Wednesday's antics. I know the zucchini looks giant, but before antics, it didn't really rest on the ground like that.

A closeup of the damage. But also, luckily, of lots of new flowers and leaves ready to go.

The watermelon, too, seems to have suffered a few torn leaves, but all in all, survived just fine.

In some good news, here are the Lemon Boys. The first picture is from the plant with the smaller tomatoes--the second picture has the big ones. Is it just me, or if you squint your eyes just right can you see the slightest hint of yellow in that second picture......

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 85F
Yesterday's low: 64F
Warnings: Dog owner can't keep her dog on a leash
Mood of the farm: Healing
Reason to consider a new career: I'm thinking I should be focusing my energy on dog management...

Green Thumb Sunday: I Can't Believe I'm Growing All These Veggies Edition

Green Thumb Sunday: I Can't Believe I'm Growing All These Veggies Edition

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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 60F
Warnings: The tomatoes are going to run out of summer if they're not careful...
Mood of the farm: Playing a trick on the Farmer by growing so many cukes a person could not possibly keep up
Reason to consider a new career: Today I wondered if there was such a thing as too much bounty...

Who Needs Modesty?

And now, because everyone likes to brag occasionally, I'm bringing you the Top 5 Victories of the Farmer. Don't worry, it's still me--tomorrow I will bring you the Top 5 Failures of the Farmer. :) Bragging and I are not the best of friends.

1.) The carrots are somewhat spaced and actually growing!

2.) The Lemon Boy tomatoes are growing like champs, and they have the heirloom irregularities in shape that I love.

3.) This is a watermelon. No really. And there are four more just like it growing in the watermelon's expansive area. Not the expansive area I carved out for it mind you, because spacing is totally overrated. But the watermelon plants sure are thriving on all the bare earth they can find.

4.) The Romaine is growing! In July! In heads! Without bolting! After I almost pulled it in late June!

5.) This one is more a victory of the cucumber plants than of the farmer. But still. With the giant infestation of yellow striped cucumber beetles, who especially like to eat the flowers off before they're pollinated, this is a victory on all counts (and look at all the promising baby cukes around this bigger one).

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 80F
Yesterday's low: 62F
Warnings: The nights sure seem to be getting colder already...
Mood of the farm: Growing as fast as possible in an effort to impress Anonymous K on her final visit to the farm
Reason to consider a new career: Farmer's secret has been found out. She waters the cukes with vinegar and dill instead of actual water to grow dill pickles instead of boring old cukes. But now that H made that secret public, what's left??

The Farm Is Huge, People.

It's official. The Farm has reached giant-size, and it's only the middle of July. In addition, I managed to crowd the thing all up like the novice farmer that I am, and so not only is it huge, but it's hard to walk around without stepping on any of the many tendrils trying to attach themselves to anything nearby.

Here's the whole crazy mess, including the tomatoes as tall as my Belief in Boston:






































I did several hours of weeding on Wednesday, but there's still a lot more to do...

The lettuce is still going strong, thanks to the cayenne pepper. Whether the pepper keeps the rabbits away or it makes thieves think there's something wrong with the lettuce, I have no idea. But whatever it is, it seems to be working, because this is what the lettuce looked like after I harvested a massive amount for H's taco salad-stravaganza.














And now your latest installment of MiniVeggies.
MiniCuke:















MiniWatermelon:















MiniTomatoes (which are less Mini than when I left!):






























Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 69F
Warnings: Break from Humidity Alert
Mood of the farm: Fearing actions of the Farmer
Reason to consider a new career: With the most crowded Farm of all time, I am considering "Fall Plantings." No really.

My How You've Bolted

The spinach is officially done for the season. There's nothing t o be ashamed of--everyone's spinach bolts eventually. And the super-late frosts we had this year meant that there was only a short season of the cool weather growing season spinach needs. Here's what it looks like once it bolts to the sky:




















I pulled all of it except one lone spinach plant that hasn't bolted yet, and even though it's supposed to be bitter, I'm going to eat it anyway. I think it's a little bit like a parent who loves her kid even when the kid has the stomach flu. I'm in this farming gig for the long haul, so there are some Trials that I'll need to experience along the way. I'm thinking a good amount of lemon, garlic, and olive oil ought to make these trials easier to swallow.















In other news, I'm sure glad the farm is growing like crazy, but it's looking a bit crowded, no? Luckily, there's enough room for flowers on the watermelon and cucumbers!



























Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 64F
Warnings: Crowding alert
Mood of the farm: full of anti-garage thoughts and Feelings
Reason to consider a new career: oh the crowding!

Who's Got Feelings?

Today on the Farm, the cucumbers and watermelon plants were really showing off all their fancy feelers (in farmer-speak, these would be called tendrils, btw). Think their Feelings are nearly as fancy?





Oh yeah, and the Wando Peas are finally budding. What was taking so long, I do not know... Actually what might have been taking so long is all the energy they put into growing their billion tendrils. Talk about Feelings! The peas totally beat the pants off the cukes and watermelon in the Feelings Department.


Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 91F
Yesterday's low: 70F
Warnings: Thunder and lightning, very very frightening
Mood of the farm: Bursting with Feelings. And MiniVeggies (almost a dozen green beans now!)
Reason to consider a new career can be summed up in one word: anthropomorphizing

My How You've Grown

Friends, Farmers, Pioneers, and Countrymen!

I returned to the farm last night after a six day hiatus, and I cannot even begin to describe the changes. If I'm not careful, I'm afraid this post could stretch on for days and days. So to get everyone up to speed, I thought a newspaper headline approach might be best...

Farmer Gower's Tomatoes Demonstrate Resilience in Non-Human Species
(page A-1, above the fold)
Just a week ago, these were the cold, stunted tomato plants I almost pulled out. Now they're out of hibernation and growing with gusto. As much as it pains me to say it because she does not need one additional ounce of encouragement, Suburban Farmer was *cough*right*cough*. Farming takes patience, and this farmer needs to find some stat.

Intensive Cultivation Method Proves Once Again Farmer Has a Lot to Learn
(page A-1, below the fold)

Folks, I've already admitted my less-than-accurate impression of the probability of planted seeds growing. I get it. They grow. All of them. But now I am left with this mess, which I really have no idea how to thin. I'm going to give it a shot this weekend, and will of course keep you posted. The good news, I guess, is that the carrots have now sprouted too along with the spinach.

Beans and Peas as High as a MiniChuck's Eye, and It Looks Like They're Climbing Clear Up to the Sky
(page A-2)


Rabbits Weep at Edge of Fence Keeping Them From Lettuce Bounty
(page A-4)
I think the first salad leaves will be ready to pick in a week or two. At least the chilly spring weather was good for one crop. The Romaine will take a little longer, but not much.

Strawberries, Watermelon, Zucchini, and Onions Keep on Keepin' On
(page A-10)

Weeds Threaten to Overtake Farm, Require Immediate Attention
(page B-1, above the fold, city section)
For instance, have a look around this bunch of carrot seedlings. I know what I'll be doing this weekend.


Neighbors Report Disturbance at 419; Farmer Found Shouting, Dancing a Jig in Joy, Surveying Her Bounty
(page C-18, Police Blotter)
The farm in the first rays of morning sun, after reuniting with its Farmer and a good soak from the hose (side note: Farmer can't believe there are places where you still have to water after her excursion to the rest of the midwest). Cages placed on tomatoes that are staying for the whole summer. Tomatoes without cages better shape up or risk replacement, though the jury is still out. Herb Report and Volunteer Update later this week.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 78F
Yesterday's low: 53F
Warnings: none
Mood of the farm: joyful at the return of the farmer (if I may be so modest)
Reason to consider a new career: the spinach and carrot fiasco is a little humbling...