October 31, 2013 by Born To Organize

The Weeping Pumpkin Mystery

Trying to stem the tide…or tie the stem

My pumpkin is weeping. It’s been weeping for a week.

What appears to be a ‘crown pumpkin’ self-seeded in the small strip of lawn between the curb and the curb garden. The vine traveled the length of the box, flowered, and eventually produced a small, green pumpkin. Generally speaking, pumpkins start out as small, shiny-green fruits. As they grow the fruit turns a duller green, than yellow and finally orange.

This one remained green. I chalked it up to its late-season arrival and assumed it would remain green ever after. Unceremoniously, I snapped it from the vine, dug out the remaining plant, and added it to the compost pile.

Then the strangest thing happened. Clear fluid dribbled out of the top of the stem. I assumed it would stop in an hour or so, but by the next day the pumpkin sat in a puddle of slime. I turned the pumpkin upside down over a bowl and left it. The next time I checked, the bowl was full!

The pumpkin remains firm and healthy, but the stem continues to weep. I found a strand of raffia and tied it around the peduncle. Still it weeps.

It’s a mystery. Any guesses?

The Weeping Pumpkin Mystery

Happy Halloween!

January 27, 2013 by Born To Organize

Pruning the Fruit Tree: Living to Tell the Tale

Four-in-one fruit cocktail tree

My fruit tree ‘cheat sheet’ told me to get out there and prune by the end of January. The four-in-one fruit cocktail tree is still relatively young, so good pruning is key to the tree’s long-term success. This time last year my son was adamant that I not prune the tree, worried that I would kill it. I read him a long article, published by one of the universities, on the importance of pruning in the first five years of the tree’s life. He would have none of it. Finally he relented, as long as I pruned the tree when he wasn’t looking.

What a difference a year makes. Playing Minecraft with a good friend today took precedence over anything I was doing. I quickly pruned the tree while my husband kept a hand on the ladder. Today was dry and clear, but cold. I wanted to get the job done and he wanted to get back indoors.

Last spring, I tried to put a net over the tree to protect the fruit from marauding squirrels. I managed to partially cover the tree, but then one of the legs of the ladder sunk into the soft soil, sending me backward into the shrubs. I skinned my chin, bruised my back side, broke the ladder and damaged my ego. It’s called learning the hard way.

Fresh cuts, new buds

Generally speaking, I enjoy pruning, but not when I’m ten feet off the ground. I’m glad the job is done for another year. I started the weekend with a bump on the head after ‘gracefully’ tripping over a warped mat in the garage. No sense adding injury to injury.

Did you do any big chores this weekend?

Good things to come

Lumber for the fairy garden fence

December 14, 2012 by Born To Organize

An Apple a Day, Plus a Candle You Say?

Candle Cutter in Process

It’s fun decorating with consumables. Creating centerpieces from seasonal fruit, ensures a uniquely fresh and original setting at your holiday table. I was delighted to learn how to make a Clementine Candle yesterday. It was easy to do and smelled…well…good enough to eat. Pictures and a DIY video can be found here.

Making candles from fruit reminded me of my clever Candle Carver™. It’s a gadget that carves the perfect, tea-light sized opening in the top of an apple. Since you only remove the top portion, you can eat the rest of the apple centerpiece when you’re done.

I think Granny Smith would be proud.

Here’s what you do:

Select three to five apples with flat, level bottoms. They’ll need to stand firm, so nothing tipsy or top heavy.
Insert the candle carver at the top (or bottom) of the apple, and twist till the base sits level with the opening.
Remove and compost apple top.
Insert tea lights into each apple, light and enjoy

Candle Cutter

Carved opening, sized for a tea light

I used three apples stem side up and two, stem-side down for variety

Apple Candles (or genetically modified Pimiento Olives?)

This also works with pears, oranges, or any other fruit with a firm, supportive center.

Resources:

Tea Lights (Party Lite® Candles burn slowly and cleanly)
Soy Candles
Candle Carver™
Clementine Candles

December 13, 2012 by Born To Organize

Sweet Clementine…Candles

Today’s weekly email from Pinterest suggested “Pins You’ll Love.” Boy do they have my number. One of the pins was a do-it-yourself candle project from Apartment Therapy. The title: How to Make a Clementine Candle. I watched the instructional video and headed straight for the kitchen. I had a basket full of Clementines just waiting for something fun.

My first attempt was a bust, as you can see below, but the second one turned out okay. What a fun project.

You simply cut around the middle of the Clementine with a small knife, careful not to cut into the fruit. Then gently remove the fruit from both sides, leaving the internal stem intact. The stem acts as a wick for your candle.

Clementines

The instructions say to cut an opening in the top half using a knife. I’m not the best carver, so I improvised instead, using a small, sharp, cookie cutter shaped like a snowman.

Snowman Cookie Cutter creates a vent in the top of the “candle”

You fill the bottom half with olive oil. I pushed the stem into the oil for a few minutes to make sure it wicked properly.

Clementine and Olive Oil

Clementine Candle

I’m ready to host a dinner party, just so I can line the table with these fruity delights.

Snowman “Chimney”

Let me know if you give this a try!

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my Granny Smith apple in action.

From Apartment Therapy:

What is a Clementine?
California Cuties®: I buy them by the bag full.

November 28, 2012 by Born To Organize

Vegetable Box Quandry

My vegetable boxes resemble “before and after” pictures, but not on purpose. Once the pumpkins were out, I cleaned the box to the right of the garden, and planted winter vegetables. The box to the left, however, was chugging along with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and a bird house gourd so I let it be.

Vegetable Box, Stage Right: Neat and tidy winter veg

Vegetable Box, Stage Left: chaotic jumble

The top-tier of the left box has eroded nearly a foot. On the plus side, the erosion created a nice spot for one of the gourds to rest. That said, I’m not sure how to save the existing plants while topping off the box with more soil.

Birdhouse Gourd

We live on a tiny lot, so sunny space is at a premium. I try to maximize what I’ve got but was realizing today that I need to rethink the boxes.

This is year three for the “blueberries,” but they still aren’t producing. The plant remains small, though healthy but at this rate I may as well call it a shrub. We haven’t seen a single berry since we planted it.

Blueberry Shrub

Raspberry Vine

The raspberries, on the other hand, took off this past summer and produced sweet and delicious berries for several weeks. We enjoyed standing in the garden and eating them right off the vine. Is there anything sweeter than a sun-warmed berry?

I’ve considered transplanting the canes along the back fence, but I’m afraid I’ll set them back two years. It’s also a bit crowded there so they may not get adequate sun. I think the blueberry needs more room or more sun, maybe both.

My indecision (and the colder weather) leaves me in a quandary. Should I leave well enough alone and wait till next spring to decide, or should I move the blueberry plant and raspberry canes now while they’re at rest?

Recommendations welcome.

August 25, 2012 by Born To Organize

Gifts from the Garden: Late Season Surprises

I love receiving gifts from the garden, little treasures and discoveries I didn’t expect. Here is what she offered up this week.

Turning Orange After All

This acorn-shaped pumpkin was doing well, when a scar on the skin opened into a small wound. With the fruit exposed to air, I assumed that was the end of it. How disappointing.

To my delight, it continued to turn orange.You can see right through to the inside of the pumpkin, so I’m surprised at this development. It’s a gift!

Raspberry Redux

We devoured raspberries for several weeks this summer, eating them straight off the vine. Eventually they stopped blooming and I cut back the vine. This week, they are at it again. Fresh berries in August. Yum, yum, yum. Thank you berry vine for your generous gift. How sweet of you!

It’s a Whopper!

One of our pumpkin vines produced three large gourds in late July. They’ve put on weight daily, though the pumpkins to follow mostly shriveled and died on the vine. In what seemed like an overnight sensation, we now have a fourth still-yellow but equally large pumpkin on the vine. I hope it stays warm enough for the fruit to turn orange. Occasionally the size of the gift is important.

Unexpected Sunflower

I planted Evening Sun and Mammoth Russian Botanical Interests® sunflowers, so imagine my surprise when a third variety appeared this week. I love the shiny yellow flowers and their perfect little centers. Who doesn’t love a gift out of the blue?

What’s up in your garden this week?

August 5, 2012 by Born To Organize

Pumpkin Mishaps, Emotional Gardening

A watched pot never boils.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

A watched pumpkin slowly produces fruit, but while your busy hatching plans for Jack o’ lanterns, nature intervenes.

What started as a scar is now a split in the side of this pumpkin. Oh well.

Clichés and tortured prose aside, when things go wrong my disappointment is palpable. Pumpkin vines grow from seed to fruit in just 90 days. If I could cast the seeds over my shoulder and forget about them till harvest, would it temper my sense of loss when things don’t work out? Perhaps.

I’m not that kind of gardener.

When I lay seeds on the warm earth, I tuck them in with soil and hope. Emerging seedlings make my heart pump a little faster. Flowers and fruit arrive on the scene and I can’t wait to drag family and friends into the garden to see the latest earthy surprise.

Talking about tomato yields with fellow bloggers gives me a wonderful sense of community. Glancing up from the kitchen sink to see a neighbor slow down to admire the sunflowers makes me smile.

Sharing my disappointments, however, makes me sad. I learn from my garden failures and continue to plant every year, but still it’s such a let down. If only I would take things a less personally.

Emotional gardener or gardening sap? I’ll leave that to my readers to decide.

The weight of the pumpkin snapped the vine from the trellis and sent it tumbling to the ground. It’s such a beautiful shape, but since it broke away prematurely, it won’t develop a hard, protective shell.

Pumpkin Vine Sprawl (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
‘Big Max’ Pumpkin Vine: Busy Bees, Budding Fruit (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)
The Joyful Gardener Turns 12 (gardeningnirvana.wordpress.com)

June 26, 2012 by Born To Organize

Pumpkin Vine Sprawl

Well will you look at that?! Our granddaddy of all pumpkin vines has meandered across the planting box, over the trellis, through the tomato cage and around the berries. Yesterday Big Max grew at least a foot!

I have two smaller vines growing as well, transplants from indoors. One of them set fruit last week, but they can’t keep up with the big guy. We’ve counted at least a dozen pumpkins so far, currently a pale yellow. Two of them are the size of basketballs and so far unharmed. The rats, squirrels and other mysterious visitors are helping themselves to the smaller fruit, but fortunately we have enough to go around. Fingers crossed.

A few of the fruits have rotted on the vine but the plant itself looks okay. I hope this is just part of the natural selection process and that the others continue to grow. I wish you could all stop by for an in-person tour. I guess photos will have to do.