I still am not back on my desktop with the photo software so no photos unfortunately.
The rats are back and onto the tomatoes like never before. In one hour 6 of my largest Cherokee Purple were ruined as well as countless sauceys. I finally took the netting off the eggplants, picked the last 2 eggplants and covered the Cherokee Purple. Hopefully it will slow them down a little even though I know they could dig under if they were really determined. Blasted rats.
This weekend I’ll take out the last of the tomato plants and make ketsup & barbecue sauce to can. I’ll also take out the last watermelon vine which still has a new melon quickly ripening on it. There is still one last butternut squash ripening and the zucchini vines have came back from powdery mildew and are producing once more. I trimmed them back hard and sprayed them with sulphur and now we have a whole new round.
I’ve been waiting to plant my rutabagas and turnips in that spot to help break up the clay a little more for next summer but the zucchini aren’t quite through yet. This succession of seasonal plantings is one huge dance with a small urban yard. There is clearly no way I can rotate all my crops for 3 years if I plant year round. I’ve already resigned myself to buying tomatoes next summer because of the blight. That also means potatoes can’t go anywhere the tomatoes were and that will make it hard because I want to do lots more potatoes next year.
I’ve been busy this week making applesauce with the last of the boxes of apples I bought. I decided the Akane are my favorite saucing apple. They are crisp and sweet-tart with a pink skin that turns the applesauce pink. The sauce stayed that bright pink open in the fridge all week and they have the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity that I didn’t feel the need to add any extra sugar. Next year I will buy Akane exclusively and I plan to take out one of my current apple trees and one or both plum trees to put in a pear and another apple.
Apples are easy to can, make great pectin to use for other jams, and can be juiced or sauced as well as stored into winter. That makes them the #1 tight space fruit crop in my book. I need to research Akane a little bit more to be sure they are disease resistant and do well in the city but if that turns up ok I will be getting one or two of that variety. My new favorite apple!
I’m currently making plum jam from fruit off the neighbor’s tree. I had no idea so many Seattle-ites had plum trees. Many of them sadly just leave the fruit to rot. I plan on doing my part next year in preventing that!
I also have a fridge drawer full of Asian pears from the neighbor. I’ve never had those before and have fallen in love with them. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll make a pear tartin and can the extras. We’ll see because tomorrow afternoon I pick up 25 pounds of romas from Eastern Washington to start my ketsup & barbecue sauce weekend…
I’ll put up a final tally of harvest preserved but for now I’ve posted a new page just below the banner showing the food I have a vague memory of planting, growing, eating or otherwise buying from farmers and preparing this year. It’s pretty amazing to me that this much food can come from a small amount of space formerly lawn that was never even used. We’re using it now!
In fact, when I started this journey my fear was that the blog would read like the last pages of Shackleton’s diary…ate the last potato chip and staring at the kids…no food growing yet…kids looking tasty…My yard and my efforts have surpassed my expectations. Take a quick look at the harvest tally and you’ll see what I mean. It’s quite staggering. Hopefully the girls will start laying soon and next year we can add honey bees, meat chickens and rabbits to the list. Did you know you can have a goat in the city? I’m still working on my husband there, he hasn’t quite embraced the chickens yet but he’s making great strides.
How about you? Do you still have unused lawn? Hopefully this will convince you to start dreaming this winter just how much you can sow come spring.
4 responses so far ↓
1 kitsapFG // Sep 25, 2009 at 9:03 am
I do have unused lawn but it is in deep shade and hardly grows grass – let along food producing items. My husband has declared that I am not to touch it as he loves his green park out front. To keep the peace, I took over the back yard in it’s entirety and left him the front (with minor encroachments of blueberries and cranberries planted in some of the “flower” beds!
You have done really well with your personal challenge this year. You should be proud. I think as a society we far underutilize the land resources we have at our disposal because we have been brain washed to believe that only large scale factory farming produces enough for subsistence. I say hogwash! John Jeavon’s and many others have shown the way to biointensive planting that produces huge yeilds from relatively small plot sizes using organic techniques and practices. It’s all good.
2 Gabriella // Sep 25, 2009 at 10:50 am
Hi Annette,
I am really sorry to hear about those rats… rats!!! I had a terrible raccoon problem in my yard as soon as put in my seedlings and seed they would come and dig it all up, even breaking my irrigation system. I used this product (you might already know about it) and have never had a problem again; its been about 6 months now. Also, the neighborhood cats visit everyday to do their business, IN MY VEGETABLE BEDS!!! I was ready to go buy a shotgun!! I ordered their cat product too, and so far it’s been 4 days and have not cleaned one poop. The company also has a product for rats… worth a try. http://www.critter-repellent.com/rat/getting-rid-of-rats.php
I love your blog. Keep up the good work. You really inspire me to do more.
3 admin // Sep 28, 2009 at 1:48 am
Kitsap FG, maybe he won’t notice if you add a few more blueberries each year..
Gabrielle, Let me know how the repellent works. Maybe I’ll add it to our sandbox! And try the rat version because they are alive and well. The tomatoes are almost done so maybe they’ll head on over to the ketsup laced poison soon…
4 sally anne sadler // Sep 28, 2009 at 2:23 pm
hey
I grew Akane at our house on Ashworth. Hated leaving that tree…. Anyway, I loved them. I reccommend them to my clients as well. they are, in my experience a biannual producer, like many Italian Prunes (this year being an ON year!)
SA
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