Dawn down

I was away in Philadelphia this weekend, so when I finally returned home last night--after running through four--four!--cancelled flights--there was little time to do much in the way of preparations for Hurricane Sandy.  My husband cleaned leaves out of the gutters, I brought in some potted plants, and we sheared back the "New Dawn" climbing rose so its trellis would catch less wind. Turns out that in the case of that last task, we were no match for Mother Nature: about a half hour into the storm, the trellis pulled free from the side of the house and smashed to pieces.

After the winds calm, the rains cease, and the canes are untangled from the lattice work, I'll be trying out a new technique for over-wintering this rose.  Maybe something with stakes and burlap?  Or a conical hoop and sheet foam?  Researching the options was a good way to pass time this afternoon--and to take my mind off the weeping beech branch poking through the attic roof.  Yes, we're pretty battered here.

Harvesting surprises

This year, I limited my edible garden to a big container of Sungold tomatoes. Three plants yielded a couple of handfuls of little yellow tomatoes each week.  There were just enough to graze through when working in the garden, but not enough to pick for cooking.



 

 

But you'll notice that in addition to the yellow Sungolds in the photograph above, there are some bursting at the seams red grape tomatoes.  Oh, those bad boys! These muscley guys sprung from a rogue plant that either self-sowed from last year's tomato crop or sprouted from a topdressing of spring compost.

 

 

 

Either way, this rambunctious tomato plant is busy growing up and over a nearby peony. I don't think that this is what is intended by the current fashion of interplanting flowers and vegetables but, hey, until the first frost clips the harvest, this unruly jumble of vegatation and little fruiting flowers is good by me.

 

 

And also good by me are these ripening ornamental peppers, a bonus from a more decorative container. Don't think that I'll be grabbing a bunch for casual snacking any time soon--hopefully, they're hot enough to add a spicy kick to whatever's cooking!