Cute Cukes Destined To Be Eaten

Cucumber seeds were directly planted on 27 May. I saw the first baby cuke starting on 11 July. At my age, if my math skills are any good at all, it has taken 35 days from seed to cute little cuke. 

I may sound a little like Kronos, but I can't wait to eat my babies.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Waited Nine Months for Homegrown Tomato

The first two full size tomatoes ripened 6 July. Both were the Mortgage Lifter variety. Transplanted commercially started plants on April 20, the earliest I have ever placed tomatoes outdoors.

Not quite a handful, this tomato weighed in at 209g/.46lb. 

The shoulders still had a touch of green in them. It was firm. Could have used a bit more ripening. I was impatient. No surprise there.

Sliced they appear dense with very few seeds. There won't be much dribbling down the chin with this tomato on top of a sandwich or burger.

I have waited almost 9 months for any kind of home grown tomato. I really appreciate them. Those pale or tasteless store bought cannot compare to any homegrown tomatoes. I will miss them when they are gone. The time to savor them is now.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Tomato Plant Mistakes Made 2013

20 April 2013 I put four commercially started tomato plants into the new raised bed #2. Boy, they looked good and I took credit.

The bed has 16-1' x 1' squares in a 4' x 4' frame. I numbered the 1' square starting with #1 in the lower left and continued numbering them moving to the right through #4. Numbers 5 through 8 in the second row, so on and so forth until the last square in the top right corner is numbered 16.

Planted in position #9 was a Beefsteak, which I purchased at my wife's request. In position #10 was Mr. Stripey, whose taste is rather buttery. In position #11 a Mortgage Lifter, a prolific producer.  A Tami G grape tomato finished out the third row at position #12, a variety I had never heard of until this year. 

At that time there were no supports in place. No trellises, cages or even stakes. Over the next month the plants gained in size. Without stakes or support the tomato plants bent over from their own weight and were touching the ground. 

By the time the new trellises were made and installed along with the trellises made last year, the stems of the tomato plants were rigid. Rigid and bent. I was worried the stems might break if I tried to straighten them and tie them to the trellis. Starting down low, I tied the stems loosely. Hoping I would be able to change the shape of the stems slowly, over the course of days if not weeks. That I would be able to get the tomatoes upright, off the ground and tied vertically to the trellises.

Unfortunately, I was impatient that day. I lacked finesse. I pushed the stem of the Beefsteak tomato too far. The stem broke. Not completely severed. Just cracked, half way through. At the time I thought, "You dumb #*∞§!"

My mind went into first aid mode. I triaged the situation. I looked at the materials and tools at hand. I was going to save this beefsteak or else.

What did I have on hand? I had 1"-2"/25mm-50mm wide strips of knitted bed sheet rolled into a ball, like a knitter rolls yarn. I expected to use the strips to tie the vines to the trellises as they grew during growing season. These bed sheet strips resembled bandages. You know, the kind women boiled and rolled back in the old days. Seemed perfectly clear what to do.

Cut my wrists.

No! I wasn't going to take the easy way out.

I fashioned a face mask out of my red bandana and prepared to begin the operation. I wrapped the damaged stem with a long strip of bed sheet. I figured that would pull the stem together to keep out insects but allow some flexibility in the stem. With the stem closed, I hoped it would somehow heal itself, the sap would continue to flow and keep the plant alive. I wound the bandage snuggly around the stem. Then I tied it to the trellis.

I removed my face mask and stepped back to evaluate the situation. The wound was closed and the vine was off the ground. Only time would tell if the operation was a success.

With my face mask down around my neck I continued to survey the remaining tomato plants. That is when I saw the Beefsteak wasn't the only tomato damage I inflicted.

Trying to keep the plants healthy and as productive as possible, soon after transplanting I began pinching suckers from the tomato plants. Suckers are branches that grow from the crotch where a side branch connects to the leader stem. Many people believe the suckers take energy from the main portion of the plant and are not necessary. It seems I was a bit too aggressive pinching the suckers from Mr. Stripey. It wasn't the sucker I pinched off at all. I mistakenly pinched off the leader stem. Once that was done the plant stopped growing, all together. It looked really sad. All the leaves were curled and discolored. A sad looking plant.

There were some flowers below the point where the leader was pinched. Those flowers went on to set fruit. Those tomatoes continued to grow in size. I had no idea where they got the energy to grow with the leaves in such bad shape. I hoped some new growth would emerge below that pinch site. New growth that would take over for that missing leader stem.

Of the four tomato plants transplanted on 20 April, 2013 neither Beefsteak nor Mr. Stripey look good. I take full responsibility. It is all my fault. You dumb #*∞§!

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Hummingbird Attracted by Honeysuckle

I have seen hummingbirds in my garden over the last three years.  The first year I caught site of one in late August.  One is the most I have ever seen at one time.  Last year I saw one earlier than late August and this year I saw a hummingbird in early June.  Every time, except once, the hummingbird was at the honeysuckle vine.  Early this week, I saw a hummingbird at my yellow butterfly bush.  I was wondering if the dry conditions, caused by lack of rain in the last month, had anything to do with that situation.

Today I saw a hummingbird on the side of the house near the honeysuckle trained on a trellis that hides my chimney.  It was darting about as hummingbirds usually do, then perched on the vine for a little while.  I didn't have my camera with me at the time.  The sky was densely overcast and it had been raining heavily for hours.  The sun was also nearing the end of its ride through the heavens and the light level was low for quality photography.  The hummingbird buzzed around a little, perched a little, repeating that activity a few times.  During one of those cycles it flew close to me, seemingly without seeing me.  It did finally notice me when I moved and flew over my neighbors roof around to the west of my backyard and into one of the several Silver Maples there.

I was in and out of the house while grilling some hamburgers for dinner and I checked twice to see if the hummingbird had returned to the honeysuckle.  I caught it out of the corner of my eye the first time I looked.  The second time I checked, it darted away and I didn't see it again for the evening.

photograph from  < http://museevirtuel.ca/Exhibitions/Colibri/En/Hummingbird/The-Life-Of-The-Hummingbird/reproduction.html >

I am beginning to wonder if there is a hummingbird nest in the honeysuckle vine that I can't readily see.  This year when I pruned back the vine on the trellis, I found a robin nest that was built last year that I didn't realize was there.  Could there be a hummingbird nest in the vine.  Their nests are small and I may be looking at it and not recognize it.  I may not find out until I prune again.  

Stock Photography

For years, I have been thinking of producing stock photography.  I looked into an agency when they still took transparencies.  All of the agencies wanted at least 1,000 images.  I never thought I could get that many images together.  I never did get into stock.

I always thought I would have a photography studio with portraits, weddings(not so much), model portfolios, architectural with some travel photojournalism thrown in.  I figured I would set one day per month aside to photograph people for stock.  None of the above has come to pass.  I photographed some of all of that, but not full time professionally.

Currently, I am following a stock photographer's blog.  It has opened my eyes to the reality of stock.  Tom Grill has been teaching fellow photographers how to create marketable stock photographs.  I recommend following Tom Grill here The Daily Stock Shot Project.


You may need to add some equipment to get down to serious work but it will be educational and possibly rewarding.

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