Radishrain

Here's a volunteer hollyhock from a few days ago or so. It's nice and green, this year.

I knew I was light-sensitive, but I didn't realize I had a problem with UV (ultraviolet light) particularly until I started using an Echo Show and asking what the UV index was before going outside. Anyway, I was getting eye pain and headaches (starting through my eyes), which made me feel sick and extra light sensitive (for over a day), every once in a while, especially when the weather changed from hot to cold to hot to cold (it's been fluctuating a lot). It didn't take much exposure to do it, either.

Anyway, I've discovered that if I avoid going outside when the UV is high, I don't get those headaches, nor the eye pain, nor the sickness. I had been going out during the worst time of day, before, too (early to mid afternoon).

I figured maybe it was heat exhaustion, or dehydration, but it doesn't have to do with the heat or my hydration (it can be hot with low UV when I haven't had much water and not bother me; high UV does seem to increase my need for water, though). I guess the UV must be higher when the temperature fluctuates here in the spring, or something.

Anyway, the UV index has been up to about 10 for the last few days, at least.

What got me thinking about UV was I noticed a higher amount of freckles on my arms than normal, and my skin looked wrinklier (it doesn't still look wrinklier).

I like to wait until the UV index is about 3 before I go out now.

Here are our grape vines, this year. There isn't much variegated grape leafhopper damage. There were lots of leafhoppers, but they disappeared, and came back, and I think they might be gone again.

Here's a grape cutting that survived and apparently rooted! We've had some cool and wet weather that probably helped it out.

I was eating some burritos, today (baked frozen chimichangas), and decided to wrap the last one in some chilacayote leaves from the garden, as I had done first recently. I first put a stack of leaves in the toaster oven on bake for a few minutes (to make them softer). Then I wrapped the burrito in the leaves, and ate. It was pretty good.

Here are some pictures I took of it partially eaten:




Yes, my chilacayote is getting fairly large leaves already! Yes, the large leaves are edible, just as the smaller ones, although the veins are a little chewier.

I harvested some bunching onion seeds, today, likely Crimson Forest. I took a brown paper bag, put the heads inside, and shook them to get the loose seeds to fall into the bag. When I finally looked in the bag, it had lots of earwigs in it! I hadn't seen any in the flowers, but I guess they hide in them!

The pictures here with the flower heads are before I shook the seeds (and earwigs) in the bag. So, you can see how nicely the earwigs are hiding. The huge leaves are from horseradish plants.







To remove all the earwigs, I had to dump the seeds (and some of the earwigs) out on a plate, let the earwigs crawl away, shake the remaining earwigs out of the bag, and pour the seeds back into the bag.

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Animal communities:
• Keeping a Family Cow

Sun Sugar F1 tomato

Offsite articles:
• Bonnie Plants
• Dave's Garden
• Tatiana's TOMATObase
• Wikipedia

Offsite forum search results:
• Google: Dave's Garden
• Google: freeforums.net
• Google: Gardenweb
• Google: proboards.com
• Google: Tomatoville

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f1_hybrid_tomato

SunGold F1 tomato

These super popular 1", 1–2oz, cherry tomatoes are supposed to be quite sweet, tart, prolific, and even early. Some say it splits easily. Note that SunOrange F1 is supposed to be similar, except with larger fruit, less prone to splitting. SunGold F1 is often compared with Sun Sugar F1.

Offsite articles:
• Burpee (burpeehomegardens.com)
• Dave's Garden
• The News&Observer—Homegrown: Sun Gold tomatoes make a savory sauce
• Tatiana's TOMATObase
• Tomato Dirt
• UC Master Gardeners of Monterey Bay
• Wikipedia (disambiguation page)

Offsite forum search results:
• Google: boards.net
• Google: Dave's Garden
• Google: freeforums.net
• Google: Gardenweb
• Google: proboards.com
• Google: Tomatoville

Recipes:
• Bucatini With Sungold Tomato Sauce
• Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes (bonappetit.com)
• Pasta with Sun Gold Tomatoes (epicurious.com)
• Saffron Chili Sun Gold Tomato Pasta
• Sungold Tomato Campanelle
• Sungold Tomato Jam

Blog articles:
• https://laidbackgardener.blog/tag/sun-gold-tomato/
• http://www.leereich.com/2011/09/as-curtain-slowly-closes-on-summer.html
• https://www.pumpkinbeth.com/plants/tomato-sungold/

Vendors:
• Botanical Interests
• Burpee
• Fedco Seeds
• Gardens Alive!
• Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.
• John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds
• Johnny's Selected Seeds
• Jungseed
• Pinetree Garden Seeds
• Reimer Seeds
• Renee's Garden
• Territorial Seed Company
• Tomato Growers Supply Company
• Totally Tomatoes
• Trade Winds Fruit
• True Leaf Market
• Urban Farmer (ufseeds.com)
• West Coast Seeds
• White Flower Farm

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f1_hybrid_tomato

I'm trying to figure out what species of grass this is. This is an unusually succulent-looking specimen. It's one of our predominant weeds. It clumps and grows maybe 2.5 feet tall.



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