Garden

We have a row of small citrus trees lining one side of the driveway. The other day, it was calm and warm and sunny and I couldn’t help but notice the tangerines. The golden orange of the fruit contrasted wonderfully against the glossy green foliage of the tree. I didn’t think to get a photo of that until after I had a full basket harvested and in the kitchen. I left a few on the tree for snacks while outside working in the garden. These were juiced and will be an alternative to OJ for the next few weeks. Perhaps by then some of the oranges will be ready to pick.

September and October typically have some of the nicest weather here along the California Central Coast and also typically have a few especially hot days. This year there seem to be more of the later including some record breaking temperatures. We have a home weather station set up out in the garden and 112 degrees was recorded one day — something seriously unusual. There is a strong marine influence here since we are only a few miles from the Pacific ocean and our home, like most in this area, was not built with air conditioning. To make matters worse, some of our heat spells coincided with smoke from the wildfires, so opening the windows even when it cooled off was not a great idea.

So, probably because of the extra heat, the apples were ready before I expected them and the pumpkin vines were more dead than alive. I ended up with a double crop of pie pumpkins as about the time the first batch were ripe, the vines produced another crop. When I took down my pumpkins (yes, I had them growing up rather than out), I left them on the steps hoping they would stay nice and be available as holiday decorations. By the end of last week, it was clear that they were not going to last. So this past weekend it was time to process most of them for the freezer an make one pumpkin pie for us now.

The previous weekend it was the apples as they had filled up a shelf in the fridge. Our trees are only a few years only and still small, but several of them are extremely good producers. Because we don’t get the cold required for many varieties of apples, I am pleased that we have found quite a few which are doing well although sometimes the seem confused about the season. I ended up with seven pies. One for the oven and the rest triple wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the freezer.   A local farm stand has wonderful homemade pies as one of their special features. In addition, they also, make extras that are frozen for take and bake. After seeing that, I did a bit of a google search and now do my own version. They are not as pretty — but doesn’t that add to the home made appeal?

So finally I am having a good year for the tomatoes and it is time to start canning jars of sauce and crushed tomatoes for the coming year.  I had only a box and a half of lids left from last year, so I went out early yesterday morning to get additional lids.  I found empty shelf space where they should have been at several stores.  Reluctantly, back at home I looked for an online source and did not have much better luck.  Oh, there are a few sources which claim to have the lids but they appear to be price gouging unless their lids are actual gold rather than gold colored metal.  Apparently a shortage of canning lids is yet another result of the COVID pandemic in the US. 

The pear trees have been generous.

There was a assortment of acorn squash varieties.

And the pumpkins started a second batch.

We don’t have corn from the garden for the 4th of July, but it is getting close with silks showing well now.

Likewise, the tomatoes are starting to change colors, but it is going to be a while longer before they are ripe.

Pumpkins are coloring up well.