I'm getting pretty attached to the idea of growing my son his very own private pumpkin patch. Considering my past problems with squash, I'm probably setting myself up for some heartbreak. But, I am hopeful. I have one pumpkin growing so far, and a few more female flowers spread across my five vines. This pumpkin patch thing could happen... maybe.

I am nervous. My baby pumpkin already has a slightly discolored yellow area on one side. In addition, several female flowers have started to grow and then turned yellow and died before blooming. So, I'm soliciting any and all pumpkin-growing advice you all can give me. I'm especially interested in those of you who have successfully grown pumpkins, or other winter squash, in Southern California.

Here's what I'm doing in an attempt to give my pumpkin patch the best possible chance:

• Watering deeply every 2-3 days. It's very dry and hot here this time of year, so things tend to get dried out and scorched very quickly.
• Side-dressing with compost and organic fertilizer high in both nitrogen and phosphorous.
• Hand pollinating any female flowers that bloom.
• Obsessively looking for female flowers on every vine and then carefully tracking their progress.

Okay, so that last one probably isn't actually helping.

I have read on gardening message boards that trimming off some of the male flowers before they bloom can help promote female flower production. Have any of you found that to be true? Any other tips for tricking my vines into making more female blossoms?

Also, for you Southern California gardeners, am I just being impatient? It seems possible that my vines won't really start fruiting until mid-September. The one pumpkin I do have is growing fairly quickly, and I think it might mature in 3 or 4 weeks. So, could it actually be a good thing if my pumpkins don't start growing until late September? (The variety I'm growing is a Sugar Pie Pumpkin, which is on the small side, 6 to 7 inches in diameter.)

Help me, gardening friends. Many adorable baby-in-pumpkin-patch photo opportunities are at stake!

We're getting to the part of the summer when some lucky gardeners find themselves overloaded with homegrown squash, tomatoes and beans. An excessive zucchini crop such a classic late-summer problem that jokes about leaving a basket of squash on a neighbor's doorstep in the middle of the night are common. Well, one of the loyal readers of this blog (my dad) recently alerted me to an organization that can solve your squash problem while helping out those who need it most.

Ample Harvest is a website that connects backyard and community gardeners with local food pantries that would love to take extra homegrown fruit and vegetables off their hands. All you have to do is go to the site and type in your zip code, and a list of food pantries that accept garden donations pops right up.

I love this kind of organization. The founder of Ample Harvest noticed a problem--homegrown vegetables going to waste--and took direct action to solve it. On the website, he points out that it's often difficult to find a nearby food pantry in a phone book or with a Google search. By creating this site, which allows interested pantries to register, he removed the barrier between those who want to donate food and the people who need it. Simple, direct, awesome.

Having worked sorting food at various places around Los Angeles, I know that most of the donated food comes in cans or boxes. Fresh fruit and vegetables are a rare treat. I can imagine that the donation of just-picked, delicious homegrown vegetables must be a wonderful gift for food pantries and their clients.

So, if you find yourself with a bumper crop this year, check out AmpleHarvest.org. Hopefully once my fruit trees mature I'll have a chance to donate some peaches, oranges or apples to one of the many food pantries in my area that have registered with the site.

Finally! One of the new chickens started laying yesterday. I've been hoping for an egg from at least one of them for several weeks, because my chicken friend Noah's hens, who are the same age, have been laying for almost a month. My girls are maturing somewhat slowly, perhaps because I never gave them grower feed--just plain poultry mash. But they get lots of fruit and veggie treats, and time to free range for grass and bugs, so I'd say it's about time they grew up and started laying me some tasty eggs.

I believe this egg came from Rita, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. It's light brown and on the smallish side. Janice will probably lay large, dark brown eggs and Betty should lay blue or green eggs. Hopefully now that Rita is laying, the other two younger chickens will step up their game. As soon as they do, we should have plenty of fresh eggs for eating and sharing.

UPDATE: I eventually decided these eggs were from Janice, the Cuckoo Marans.

Check out this lovely apple. I picked it last weekend from the Anna Apple tree I received from a Tree People fruit tree giveaway and planted last winter. Dakota and I shared it, and it was pretty tasty. I think I left it one the tree a bit too long, though, because it wasn't as crisp as I hoped it would be. Still, this is my first homegrown apple.

I guess the Anna Apple was a great choice for my yard. At the fruit tree giveaway last winter, I specifically asked for a variety with a low number of chill hours. Chill hours are the number of hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit that a tree must experience in order to bear fruit. The Anna has a low chill hour requirement and is supposed to be very well suited for the dry Southern California climate. That proved to be true, since it bore fruit the very first year. Next year, I think there's a good chance we'll get several apples, not just one.

I also have a Pink Lady Apple, which hasn't been at all successful. It's been in the yard for a couple of years and never even made a baby apple. I have no idea why. I water it frequently, fertilize occasionally and try to keep it nicely pruned. The area where it's planted will now get a lot more sun, though, because we recently got new neighbors and they trimmed the jungle of a backyard next door. I'm hoping the extra sunshine will help the Pink Lady produce fruit next year.

Although there's a fair amount of debate about whether cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposable, I didn't really spend much time worrying over what to use with my son. In my (admittedly brief) search, I was unable to find a clear, definitive study about which method is really "greener." Most arguments seemed to be tinged with a fair amount of bias toward one type, and many against cloth had a lot to do with how the diapers were being cleaned. (More on that later.)

In truth, part of my decision to cloth diaper my son was emotional. I just couldn't stomach the idea of throwing away bags and bags worth of plastic diapers every week for years. Imagining all those diapers piling up in a landfill made me uncomfortable. So, I sought out a smart, inexpensive and user-friendly cloth diapering alternative. Happily, I think I found one.

After looking into cloth with disposable inserts, all in ones, and pocket diapers, I decided to keep it simple and go with cloth prefolds. Cloth prefolds are basically just rectangles of cotton (or other absorbent fibers) divided into thirds with seams. The middle third is thicker than the two on the sides, and thus more absorbent.

You can use prefold diapers several ways, but I am keeping it simple by folding them into thirds and then fanning out the back and wrapping the "wings" around my baby. The whole thing is fastened in the front using a Snappi. If you use prefolds, I highly recommend that you get a few Snappis. My mom, who cloth diapered me when I was a baby in the late 70s, thought they were a massive improvement over the diaper pins she had to use.



After the diaper is on, I cover the whole thing with a waterproof cover to keep my son's clothes from getting wet when the diaper does. I'm primarily using Thirsties diaper covers. The one pictured below is called a Thirsties Duo Wrap. The snaps on the front make it adjustable so that you can use it on your newborn and then undo the snaps when he gets bigger. So far, the covers have successfully kept the wetness (and poop) on the inside, and they are easy to use and wash.



Speaking of washing... Most arguments against cloth mention the large amount of water and electricity required to clean diapers, but I think I'm doing pretty well on that front. We have a front-loading, energy and water-efficient washer, and I recently got an awesome umbrella-style clothesline. So, in my case, I think cloth diapers will actually end up being better for the environment--and cheaper--than even unbleached disposables.





That's pretty much the basics of my cloth diapering experience so far. I haven't found the process to be particularly time-consuming or difficult (another argument often used against cloth), and my son seems quite happy in his prefolds. In fact, he's yet to get diaper rash, which seems like a good sign.

I have much more to say about cloth diapering. Like most things involving babies, there are many accessories you can buy and even more opinions about how to use, wash and clean cloth diapers. I'll post more about those topics soon.