Greenhouse after freeze

Amazingly enough, though growth in the greenhouse has slowed, by keeping it dry, things do continue to grow.  The flavors are weak, but better than some products offered for sale elsewhere.  Have a row on cantaloupes there in the middle that may or may not finish up.  We ate one, a combo of almost sweet melon and crunchy cucumber, juicey and interesting.  Zinnias are still glorious. Off in the distance there is the last of the Supertasty tomatoes ripening.  Carrots, beetes, parsnips, and spinach for over winter use. (Give or take a varmint.)

La Nina vs. El Nino

The Climate Prediction Center has posted an advisory for the return of La Nina.  Until the summer, we were under the influence of an El Nino effect.  These natural occurring cycles stem from ocean temperatures in the Nino 3.4 region of the equatorial Pacific from 165West to 120West.  When the waters in that area rise to .5C above the historical average, an El Nino pattern sets up.  If .5C below, La Nina. For the last month or so, the temps have cooled and thus the advisory. The dominant storm track will be from the North to Northwest and pick up some of the Polar Jet stream to make for wetter and cooler months ahead. The more the temperature in the ocean changes, the longer the effect.  NOAA will let us know as the pattern persists and the temperatures remain below average in the waters at the equator what will be in store for the Pacific Northwest area.

Fall Webworm

The first time I noticed any amount of Fall Webworms was last year. This year, every madrone tree has at least one group of these on it. The Fall Webworm might be called a tent caterpillar, but it is truly Malacosoma disstria. The difference is that the webworm forms its nests at the tips of branches whereas the tent worm forms them in the crotches. They can be controlled by pruning or spraying the pathogen BT. How you are supposed to spray the tip of a branch 40 feet up is still open for discussion. There is a parasitic moth and fly that can do some damge, so I will hope my little ecosystem is produceing what it take. Although the caterpillars defoliate where they live, they seldom kill the tree. What if there were enough of them? Baltimore Orioles are hard on them, so I suppose the rest of that insect family would be. I have noticed an influx of Flickers lately...

Blotanical

Did you know by clicking on the green rectangle to the right you can visit garden blogs all over the world? Maybe it isn't your thing, but if you want an armchair adventure, take a look. You can visit gardens such as Garden Adventures, a guy in Florida with orchids hanging from his trees, to My Small Garden, a woman in Malaysia who has to whack out tapioca plants like I have to blackberry vines. I am proud to say I have periodically been on the "popular blogs" list and currently I am number 111, which with all those blogs is pretty impressive. Are you impressed? No worries, it is a good cheap hobby for me to provide info with this format.

Weed of the Month:Pigweed

Amaranth, or Pigweed as it is more commonly referred to, has many attributes I am aware of, but seldom take advantage of. It is a good indicator that your soil is well nourished and most of its parts can be eaten. When young, the leaves are a good substitute for spinach and have all the same vitamins and minerals. As it develops its seed head, the shiny black seeds can be shaken out and ground into a meal from which a flatbread or cracker can be made which native American populations were aware of. In Africa, there are much larger varieties grown for just this purpose. For me, it is a weed that comes up where I don't really want it. Its seed heads hold the propect of millions of new weeds for next year. It is easy to spot and remove, but I know it is there if I ever need it.

Storing Potatoes

Potatoes are not as fussy as some things about their storage needs. Cool, dark, and mostly dry are the main ingredients of happy storage, but a little moisture in the air doesn't seem to bother them. The temperature as long as it isn't hot or freezing seems to be OK, but between 50 and 60 would be ideal. The darkness is probably the most important as they will not know they are no longer buried as long as they don't see any light. In light, they will turn green which indicates they have a naturally occurring toxin, solanine, building up in them. This is the same with sprouting which will also happen in the presence of light. I try not to pile them up too deep in boxes, but have them in only a couple layers, easy to take a look at and remove any questionable ones that might affect the rest of the group. Most of them will keep through the winter until spring approaches and they know something else should be going on. Save the ones that are the size of small hen's eggs to replant. If you live in a temperate zone that isn't extremely wet, you can leave your potatoes in the ground under mulch and dig as needed. You only have to worry about bugs and gophers finding them.