Why do leaves change color?

I have been thinking about this question a lot in the last few weeks. Some say it's the days getting shorter (less light) and others say it's fall temperatures dropping. The answer is that it's a combination.

This is in Provo Canyon last year. The colors were fiery and vibrant. This year (on our recent trip to Park City) I was a little disappointed that show was not so showy. This website infers that it's the lack of cooler temperatures this fall (since it has been almost 90 until yesterday!) that have caused the colors to be less intense.

So now you know.

Garden Update

I haven't chronicled my gardening progress in awhile. Here's how it's looking:

The zucchini is going strong. It's almost blocked the sliding door to the house. I keep finding lurkers that got big when I wasn't looking.

My Big Boy tomato plant is the most healthy and vigorous of the bunch. It has taken over the top of two neighboring tomato cages. It is full of green tomatoes. I heard that if you want them to ripen quickly you should stop watering them. I checked into it and learned that you should water them until 2 weeks before the first frost for best results. Since this "fall" is turning into an extended summer with near 90 degree days, I figure I'll wait a few weeks. I found a state website that said the earliest freeze date in my area is Sept. 28, the average Oct. 8, and the latest Oct. 28th.

My cherry and grape tomatoes are big scary monsters.

We have 8 pumpkins now and 2 are about ready for the front doorstep!

I love the pumpkin vines and tendrils. They make me think of Cinderella for some reason.

My cucumber has really hung on for dear life. I thought it was done for at least three times, and yet it keeps coming back and producing two or three cucs at a time.

You can see my rows were vastly too close together. I still have tons of carrots and beets to harvest.

I have loved having fresh herbs out my back door. The basil and oregano make it into dinner almost every night. I will miss them!

The End.

In My Kitchen

My neighbor just brought me a ton of peaches! They are from her grandpa's tree and she is tired of them. I'm excited to make pies and cobblers, eat them over the sink, and freeze the rest.

Another neighbor (sweet Doris) brought me one of her prize peace roses yesterday. She didn't think she had time to enjoy it because she is so busy weeding.

I tell you, this 86 year old lady has more energy than most people I know. She has the most beautiful back yard and spends every day working in it. We go over a few times a week to ooh and aah over the changes. She pulled up all her gravel walkways and laid weed barrier under them and then re-graveled with just her hands and a shovel! She recently planted about 50 iris bulbs, ordered a hundred daffodil bulbs, trained her honeysuckle vines up the fence, and bought 20 huge bags of mulch on clearance for next spring. She makes me look like a gardening weanie. :) But I love learning from her.

Lastly, I just found this hiding in my garden. Time to shred some more for the freezer!

Composting

All summer I have been collecting my kitchen scraps in a bucket on my back patio. My goal is to make a compost pile someday... when I have some open soil to build on! Everything is overtaken with green things at the moment. (I wouldn't mind tilling up some grass, but I don't think my landlord would appreciate that.)

I've never built a compost pile of my own, but I've learned a lot about it in classes and books. Here's some helpful quotes for beginners from my Sunset Western Garden book:

"Composting is a natural process that converts raw organic materials into a valuable soil conditioner you can use to improve a soil's texture, boost it's nutrient content, and make it more water retentive.

You'll need approximately equal amounts by volume of brown matter and green matter. Brown matter is high in carbon and includes dry leaves, hay, sawdust, straw, wood chips, and woody prunings. (Lauren's note: I have also heard of people using shredded paper or newspaper for this.) Green matter is high in nitrogen; it includes grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, crushed eggshells, and manure. The compost will heat up faster if you collect all the ingredients in advance and assemble the pile all at once."

Basic steps:

1. Chop materials - ideally no larger than 2"

2. Build the pile - Spread a 4-8 inch layer of brown material in an area at least 3 feet square. Add a layer of green material 2-8 inches deep. Add another layer of brown and sprinkle with water. Keep adding layers until is reaches a height of 3 feet.

3. Turn the pile - Add oxygen to the pile by turning weekly to speed the decomposition process. If it is dried out, add water. If it is rotten smelling, add more dry brown material and turn.

4. Keep at it until the pile is dark and crumbly compost. Mix it into your planting beds for the next growing season!

So my goal is to clear out some space in the next month or so and start adding dry leaves (my tree is already dropping!) to the kitchen scraps. I don't know if I'll have enough for the cubic yard they suggest above (3 ft. by 3 ft.) but I'll give it a whirl!

Berry Pickin'

It's berry season! We continued a tradition we started last fall to find a u-pick farm and gather us some berries. We have tried two different ones in West Mountain (south of Utah Lake) and had good luck with both. The owner told us this year is a bad berry year so she asks people to call ahead and make an appointment so she can space them out. We have noticed it's best to go early in the weekend.

It's so fun to get the kids involved too. They were really helpful...

Except that most of what they picked went in their mouths!

Mike was supposedly in charge of the kids so I could get enough berries picked before dusk. They played hide-and-seek and ran around a lot, but of course Mike couldn't resist a competition and still managed to out-pick me!

I read about this great idea to cut the top off a milk jug and hook the handle on your belt so you could use both hands. I guess it was a little white trash but it worked like a charm.


We picked till it got dark on the west side of the valley. The view was breathtaking.

I think we figured we got about 4 pounds of raspberries and 5 pounds of blackberries. They were a major bargain at about $2/pound.

We had a fun weekend using them creatively. They made yummy (though tart) smoothies...

12 tupperwares of berry freezer jam... (if you haven't tried Sure Jell you're missing out! Just follow the directions in the package.)

And delectable cheesecake! We even froze some blackberries for later. I highly recommend this tradition to anyone... such a fun family activity and a fabulous use of twenty bucks!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is undeniably in the air! It's getting me excited for my pumpkins to mature! Check out them vines... I took this picture last week and it's already grown a ton since then.

So far we only have three viable ones... kinda wimpy when you consider how big the plant is. We had a few more but yucky slugs got the best of them. It is still flowering like crazy so maybe we'll get some more little ones to decorate with!

How about a bonus recipe? I got this from watching my mother-in-law. Cut up zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, bell peppers, and onion (I was out!) into match sticks. Saute on medium heat in olive oil until tender. Mince some fresh basil (dried works too) and add some garlic salt, and you've got a delicious side! I though the colors were beautiful together and felt great satisfaction that every ingredient was from my garden!

'Tis the Season

For canning, that is! My tomato plants are producing faster than I can use them, so I started saving ripe ones in the fridge until I had enough for a batch of stewed tomatoes. (After a week I had a grocery sack exploding, which was more than enough for 7 pint jars.)

I love my Ball canning book. As you can see the instructions are clear and easy, and even illustrated! I like to can tomatoes in their own juice, so the only things you have to add are a little lemon juice and a little salt.

Canning can be overwhelming, but my mom taught me that it's all about the prep work. Once you have your jars clean and heating, your lids on simmer, your water bath hot, and all your supplies out, the rest is easy. This first step is blanching the skins--you soak them in boiling water for one minute, then transfer them to cold water and the skins slip right off.

Next you chop them to the desired size and fill your jars. Add the other ingredients, put the lids on, and you are ready for processing.

I loved using these last winter in soups, stews, spaghetti, and especially in my favorite chili recipe. Looking forward to it!