Monday, August 31, 2009

Tomato Update 8/30 - Close to the End

At the end of the growing season, I have finally started harvesting tomatoes. It's been getting cold, so I've been picking them as they get their red blush all over, and put them in paper bags. It seems to go quicker, and I'm impatient for tomatoes.




I don't think I'll have enough for sauce and salad, unless the tomato plants hold out a little longer, but whatever, I learned a lot, and I know how to not eff up so much next year. Maybe next year I'll have a backyard, and I can't post about planting in the ground and the completely different learning experience that'll be. Won't that be fun?


A quick photo showing my tomato compared to the store tomato. Theirs is bigger, but fuck if mine doesn't taste a crapload better.

Friday, August 07, 2009

Catnip gets Attacked


I have most of my potted plants on a small table in front of my kitchen window. It was starting to get crowded so I moved a few plants around. And took a pot of catnip outside to sit on my porch. In retrospect, I probably should have remembered about the stray cats that wander around this neighborhood, either way, my catnip had been getting more and more beaten up for a few days, and I wasn't sure why or how.
That is, until Richard and I got home late one night and saw a shadow run across the porch and jump down off the porch. At first I thought it was a raccoon, then Richard and I saw the outline of a cat, and in whatever light the moon was giving, we could both tell it was a grey cat.
Since then I've seen the cat once again, hanging out in the daytime near our fence. I'm not sure how I should feel about this cat. If it is a stray, and is tame, I would like to catch it and take it to the vet, to get fixed and whatnot, but I don't want to take a chance that this cat belongs to someone.

At the very least, the scent of a cat on my porch has been keep small woodland creatures away. Fuck you, squirrels, there's a cat here now hahaha!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Tomato Update 8/05




The tomatoes are still coming along, no signs of redness yet. I fertilized today, and checked all the fruit for disease, and so far, nothing.

However, I have been noticing that the lower leaves on the oldest plant are starting to die a bit. I'll keep an eye on this, but so far, I think my plants are ok.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Michele enjoys a lull


The above photo is actually two months old, and since then the gerbil setup hasn't changed that much. The four of them are still split into three cages, but instead of being on a dresser in the dining room, they're now on a plain black desk. We bought new chewy wood houses for them, and at this point the houses are about 50% gone. (Remind me to buy more apple twigs, brain.)

Cookie the cat left with my neighbors at the end of May, and I miss her terribly. The squirrels continue to irritate me, and there's an upcoming post on a new intruder to the porch area: a grey stray cat.

I got a new job (actually two) that I'm starting on Thursday~ yay ~so that means.... nothing actually. The tomatoes are still coming along, and I plan to take some new photos tomorrow. Still green, but they're in the stage where they're becoming shiny rather than matte and fuzzy.