Ouch, my cabbage!

Well, the leaves are almost all off the tree now.  The last couple of storms have brought down most of them.  And the apocalyptic rain they are calling for tomorrow should take care of the rest.  In between waves, we have to rescue the cabbage and greens from the onslaught.

On the upside, the lack of leaves on the tree should let more sun in to help the plants now that it is colder. 

Birds chatting away

This is audio from the backyard. The little finches and junkos talk a lot before bed in the evening.

Fall Evenings in the Backyard

In the Fall, we love to have a fire in the backyard fire pit.  Seems like we always have some leftover firewood from summer camping and the crisp evening air makes for a nice way to spend family time.  



Tip for camping enthusiasts, if you have the room, get your oak firewood in the valley before heading out into the Sierra or to the coast for camping.  It's WAY cheaper.  Example...last time we camped at Ice House, the small oak bundles of firewood at the store nearby were $15.  You can fill your trunk for $40 at a firewood place in the Valley.  And for cooking over an open fire, you simply cannot use pine, which is the cheap firewood at the campground.  You knew that, right?  Oak for cooking!  Or mesquite...or hickory...or...well, no pine!

Here they come.

I'll be doing a lot of raking next week. Luckily I got a leaf sucker-mulcher-blower for fathers day last year.

Introducing "Red" and family

Red on his favorite branch

Red is our senior resident hummingbird.  We think he was the son of one of the first hummingbirds we noticed with regularity.  He has been coming back to our yard every year for at least 4.  This past winter, I don't think he left at all.  


He loves to sit in his tree and oversee the other birds that frequent the yard.  There is also "Butch" who we think is Red's son, "Dove," one of the small brown females.  "Ruby," who may or may not be Butch's mom.  And perhaps another newcomer we're calling "Big Bird" for now.

The females especially seem to love the salvia flowers.  That is what is in the back row.  There are 4 varieties and they like the lavender flowers too.




In the morning and evening during the hot summer months, the females take turns hitting the feeder and the plants.  Red seems intent on running them off the food, so they have to tag team to eat.  I think he wants them on the nest taking care of business.  And you can see why. 

We looked up and found this nest a few years ago.
This video is from June 2010.  I got a step ladder and my

Flip cam to get this shot.  Not extremely high quality.   


There's no way to know for sure, but I think Butch and Dove are the two in the nest.  It's either Dove or Ruby...anyway.  This is from 2009...this female I believe is the mother on the nest above.

Red and Butch sometimes chase each other around and play hovering games. They own this yard and don't want us to forget it.

 

 

So, the hummingbird drama goes on.  Red is getting older.  I don't know if he's teaching Butch the ropes or not but they sure have fun out there.  We'll enjoy them as long as we can.  It's getting cold here at night.

November red

Even as the leaves on the baby oak are red and brown, this early girl I planted back in March is still making red tomatoes. Julie said she wanted fried green tomatoes. There are a few of those as well.

Winter Garden planting time in Sacramento

Last month was the zone 9 planting month for winter greens. I planted Russian red kale, mustard greens, sorrel, salad greens, cabbage and carrots. I could have also put in broccoli, cauliflower, and others, but I only had so much room.

It was also time to trim out the older herbs. One of my rosemary bushes was very "sticky" and had internal dead parts. We think it was infested with spider mites and had to be removed. It's companion is still there and very much happier. Plus we planted some new herbs like German thyme, dill and parsley.

Here's what it looks like with the Fall leaves beginning to populate the spaces in between: