Henbogle

I’m so glad we had our maple tree repaired, as the forecast has worsened.  Yuck!  I hope I can get the garlic and shallots planted and mulched today.

Winter Storm Warning

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME
524 AM EDT SAT OCT 29 2011

...POTENTIALLY DAMAGING AND HISTORIC OCTOBER SNOWSTORM LIKELY FOR
TONIGHT INTO SUNDAY...

.LOW PRESSURE WILL RAPIDLY INTENSIFY AS IT MOVES UP THE MID
ATLANTIC COAST TODAY. THE LOW WILL PASS BY CAPE COD TONIGHT WHILE
STRENGTHENING RAPIDLY AND MOVING NORTHEAST.

PRECIPITATION SHOULD QUICKLY OVERSPREAD THE REGION FROM SOUTH TO
NORTH STARTING IN THE AFTERNOON HOURS ACROSS SOUTHERN NH AND
SOUTHERNMOST MAINE. THE LEADING EDGE OF THE SNOW SHIELD WILL
QUICKLY ADVANCE NORTHWARD DURING THE EVENING HOURS. TEMPERATURES
NEAR THE GROUND ON THE COASTAL PLAIN WILL PROBABLY BE WARM ENOUGH
FOR THE PRECIPITATION TO START AS RAIN OR A RAIN SNOW MIX...BUT
ONCE HEAVIER PRECIPITATION STARTS FALLING...ANY RAIN SHOULD FLIP
OVER TO HEAVY WET SNOW. THE CHANGE TO SNOW WILL PROBABLY BE
DELAYED A BIT LONGER ALONG THE IMMEDIATE COAST GIVEN THE
RELATIVELY WARM WATER TEMPERATURES THIS TIME OF YEAR.

THE EXPECTED HEAVY AND WET NATURE OF THE SNOW WILL STICK TO TREES
AND LIKELY CAUSE BRANCHES TO BREAK...ESPECIALLY ON TREES THAT
STILL HAVE LEAVES. EVEN JUST A FEW INCHES OF WET SNOW CAN CAUSE
SMALLER BRANCHES TO START BREAKING. EVENTUALLY...WITH ENOUGH SNOW
AND SOME WIND...ENTIRE TREES COULD SNAP. THIS WILL CREATE A
SITUATION WHERE THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR WIDESPREAD POWER
OUTAGES. RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE THEMSELVES FOR THE POSSIBILITY
OF EXTENDED POWER OUTAGES. ROADS WILL ALSO BECOME SNOW COVERED
AND TREACHEROUS.

THE STORM WILL MOVE OUT SUNDAY MORNING...BUT IT WILL REMAIN COLD
AND WINDY IN THE WAKE OF THE SYSTEM.

Friday was surprisingly nice.  The forecast had originally called for overcast skies, but instead, the sun was peeking through by mid-day.  I’ve been struggling with some low back pain, ugh, but late in the day I ventured into the garden and found a few more treasures.  A lone snail-scarred but still edible cucumber, a lovely red bull’s horn type pepper, and several gorgeous Pineapple tomatoes from the last living tomato plant.  There are a few more green tomatoes on the plant, but as they haven’t begin to color up yet I’m thinking these will be it for the year.  Ah well.

The sun disappeared by evening however, and we had a couple of thundershowers overnight and awoke Saturday to the beginning of a soaking wet weekend.  So much for digging potatoes.  I’m hoping the potatoes didn’t get the blight as the tops had died back before the tomatoes were hit, but as I haven’t had a chance to dig them yet I just don’t know what to expect.

Instead of gardening, I made another pie, this time a peach blueberry pie using peaches and blueberries I froze this summer.  We were lucky enough to be invited to friends’ for dinner so I offered to bring dessert.  We had a lovely time enjoying a nice curry and some cards.

The garden is a mess, but there’s still some good eating to be had, with kale awaiting the frost, some more broccoli heading up, peppers ripening in the hoophouse and acorn squash to harvest.  I hope we get some dry weather so I can spend a day starting fall clean up soon.  Instead today will be a good day to read my my new book from Henry Homeyer, noodle around the interwebs, and organize and pack away the camping gear for the season.  Fall is here whether I’m ready or not.

This big basket of veggies awaited us upon our return from a camping trip this weekend.  The basket looks more like August than mid-September.

We returned home to find we escaped the frost, but the blight is upon us.  Many of the tomatoes crashed and burned, hardest hit were the incredibly prolific Juliet tomatoes, but the Cherokee Purple, Yellow Currant and Moskvitch are also approaching dead.  Still hanging in are the Striped Roman, Amish Paste, and Sungold Cherry.  The delicious Pineapple tomato plant, slightly sequestered in the hoophouse, thus far appears to have escaped, but with rain and cool temps today, I’m sure the clock is ticking. Ah, well, at least the squash are still producing like mad.  Zucchini, anyone?

Maine gardeners beware, there is a frost advisory tonight for southern and central Maine, and a freeze warning for more Northern parts of the state.  Take cover!

Dan and I spent most of Saturday preparing for Hurricane Irene.  Although Saturday’s forecasts indicated she was weakening, gusts of 55 mph were being predicted, and up to 7 inches of rain.

Fearing the worst for the garden, Dan and I scoured the garden for whatever was ready, or close enough to pick.  We found lots of tomatoes, a third picking of our bush beans, squash, and more tomatoes, which are finally beginning the flood.

I picked up loose objects and stored them, and pondered the wall of tomatoes and the hoophouse.  I finally realized that there wasn’t much I could do for either the tomatoes, as they are in the cages, intertwined thoroughly, and against the fence, or the hoophouse.  Thus far they both appear to be ok.  I’m sure being tucked in amidst the neighbors’ trees helps reduce the impact of the wind.

In between garden duty, we also took down the shade sails and moved small planters and lightweight objects into the barn.  In the midst of all that, I observed the toad versus snake drama.

We decided that the girls would be secured in Henbogle coop for the day today, so we freshened up the bedding, made sure they had a full container of fresh water, and gave them plenty of food.  Early this morning I could hear them demanding their freedom, but while I’m sure they are unhappy inside, they would no doubt be wet, miserable and possibly inadvertently airborne had we let them outside.

Today Irene has arrived with rain and wind.  As of 10 am we’d had a bit over an inch, by now it will be more I’m sure as we’ve had more periods of heavy rain.  So far the electricity has remained on, making it easy for me to turn some of those tomatoes into roasted tomato sauce.

Forecasts now call for gusts of 30+ mph and 3-5 inches of rain.  I’m hoping we top out at 3, but it is too early to say.  I hope gardeners south of me fared as well as I have thus far.

It had been really dry here, so Monday we dragged out the sprinkler and began watering.  We emptied the one rain barrel we had set up, and continued watering from the tap.  Sure enough, that brought the rain!

We got a bit over 3/4 of an inch of rain between Monday night and this morning.  Overnight the lawn greened up and grew (dang) and the flower beds all look perkier.  Our rain barrels (we set up another one) are now full to the brim again.

I’ll still need to water some the of the crops under IRT plastic mulch, but I am so happy to have rain.  Now if we could have an 1/2 inch or so more in the next couple of days….