First frost, first fire

Woke early to frost so a good day to make our first fire. The day turned warm, the sun a delight. And hey you Dawsonites -- no laughing! I know you have snow already.

click on photos to enlarge

Grapes: a mystery

I've had grapes every year for four years now and every year on the morning after the day I decide, tomorrow is picking day, I discover the grapes have all disappeared when I go out to pick them. ALL of them. I believe the crows and blue jays know when the grapes reach perfection and rise before I do, and then they quietly feast, the only time crows and more particularly noisy blue jays are quiet in the morning.

But that's not the end of the story. Once again our dog, Honey, has shown herself a talented forager. Peas off the vines in early summer, strawberries shared with crows and blue jays, raspberries (she had a huge allergic reaction to the thorns on the canes, eyes swollen shut, lips drooping), blueberries, blackberries, rose hips, wild apples. This week she ate all of my perfectly ripe, saved for this Friday night's clothing exchange party, yes ALL of my bright and bursting baby tomatoes. So I suspect she might have also had a hand in past grape disappearances, despite the fact that grapes are said to be lethal to dogs. Clearly not our dog. This year I'm keeping my eye on the grapes and I've been rising early to work so I hope to pick the grapes before the various thieves get them, but I'm not entirely confident. Today the grapes are still pretty hard, but I promise to report back on the day before picking day....

Hurricane Igor Sunset Surprise

Hurricane Igor passed by last night and to introduce itself to our shore it brought a beautiful sunset. These are exactly the kinds of photos I shouldn't post because they don't do justice to the reality, which was glorious in its own right, then included a rainbow that seemed to hold the blue sky at bay while gathering pinks under its umbrella and finally, just in case we thought it wasn't pretty enough, doubled itself on its southern edge.

Emily Howey: Sea Deep, an art blog

To view my artist niece, Emily Howey's blog, Sea Deep, click on the post header above, or the link below. Remember that you can click on her drawings to enlarge them.

www.emilyhowey.blogspot.com

Her art blog is also on the list of blogs I follow. (click on "view profile" to see blog list)

Emily is also an accomplished Toronto musician, so if you hear that she's playing in some cafe or bar, be sure to check her out. To listen to Emily on myspace, click on the link below:

http://www.myspace.com/emilymayhowey

Hurricane Earl: next day sunrise

We got off easy up on our hill in North Shore: power, phone, no wind or rain or wave damage. Some of our neighbours were not so lucky.

Next morning there was a most incredible sunrise, clear breathable air cooler but still warm, and fall colours, those lovely vivid low blues in the sky that make the greens below come alive.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Tomatoes on potato plants

This morning on my garden rounds -- on a VERY hot pre-Earl day -- I discovered that one of my less-developed potato plants had wee green tomatoes growing from it! Now most gardeners know that potatoes and tomatoes are related, both from the nightshade family, but the discovery was still unexpected. This is what I learned from my google search, and indeed as mentioned, the potato plant originated from Yukon Gold seed. The potatoes on this plant were quite small, where the plants around it had grown lovely medium-sized potatoes.

Richard Jauron, Department of Horticulture, says:

Occasionally gardeners are surprised to find small, round, green, tomato-like fruit on their potato plants. These fruit are not the result of cross-pollination with tomatoes. They are the true fruit of the potato plant. The edible tubers are actually enlarged, underground stems. Normally, most potato flowers dry up and fall off the plants without setting fruit. A few flowers do produce fruit. The variety 'Yukon Gold' produces fruit more heavily than most varieties.

The potato fruit are of no value to the gardener. Potato fruit, as well as the plant itself, contain relatively large amounts of solanine. Solanine is a poisonous alkaloid. The small fruit should not be eaten. Since potatoes don't come true from seed, no effort should be made to save the seed.