Lettuce, Day 29: On the Rebound

Despite being nearly devoured by vermin, the lettuce has come roaring back. We just might get a salad out of these plants after all. We'll need to harvest the lettuce quickly because it will turn bitter in the heat.

Tomato Plant, Day 29

Warm weather and bright sunshine ushered in lots of new growth and even brought out a few flowers. As you'll see the plant grew quite a bit. So long as the temperatures remain below 90 during the day and below 70 at night, tomato plants will set fruit. Virginia's cooperative extension has a great page on tomato culture, which explains fruit set more. Apparently, optimal fruit set happens when nighttime temperatures are in the 60s.

Herbs, Day 1

Last year we focused on vegetables but, given the uncertain future of the grange, this year we're concentrating on smaller projects, like these herbs. Planted in this container are rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), oregano (Origanum vulgare?), and woolly thyme (Thymus psuedolanuginosus). This type of thyme isn't edible but should fill in (and hopefully not crowd out) between the other herbs. All of the herbs are perennial, so I just might be able to keep them going until next year if they overwinter indoors. Here's a good link to a herb page maintained by NC State.

Tomato Plant, Day 21

Record-setting rainfall, cold temperatures, and high winds have characterized the past three weeks on the grange. These aren't the conditions that get tomato plants growing. As a result, this plant has grown very slowly since being planted last month. After ten or eleven straight days of rain, it appeared that it would never come back.
So much for getting a jump on the season.

Conditions are to set improve later this week with temperatures forecast to hit 80F over the weekend. That should really help this guy along.

Animals Maraud Grange; Granger Ponders Retaliatory Scorced Earth Policy

While I don't think I've actually seen a yeti, though I may have on the red line somewhere between Park Street and Charles, I still like to believe it exists. Similarly, while I've never seen a rabbit or analagous mammal in my slice of the urban jungle, I pretend that they have a lair somewhere, perhaps deep in the sewer.

They do exist and I have proof. They must or else my neighbors have lost all maner of decorum. On Friday night something ravaged my lettuce, felling it in its prime. The damage: one plant completely uprooted, two plants mauled. Bunch of animals in this neighborhood.

Water, Water, Everywhere

Many days of rain on the grange will be followed by more even more rain and perhaps a touch of small-stream flooding for excitement. Despite the rainy weather, the lettuce is doing well, but the tomato plant has more or less stopped growing. Tomatoes apparently require warm weather. So much for my plan to get a jump on the season. With several inches of rain predicted for the weekend, the tomtato has been moved under the see-through acrylic patio table. That'll learn it.