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Summing up March, Harvest Monday 4-1-13

Posted on April 2, 2013 | 8 Comments

I have been down for the count with a cold. That, and shopping for a vacation cabin in Big Bear, have consumed my time. I found a little 3-bedroom house that I loved, with a nice meadow view, but we got outbid. I am kicking myself for not going the extra $2,000 to get it, but who knows where the bidding would have ended. I was at my max, so had to quit.

 

Prices are rising so quickly up there that I have probably been priced out of the market all together. There is only one left in my price range, but I don’t love it. At least not from what I have seen in photos. However, there is a lot that they aren’t showing in the photos, so it might be even worse than I imagine. I plan to go see it  later today.

Pink jasmine perfumes our patio with a heady scent.

Pink jasmine perfumes our patio with a heady scent.

Meanwhile, spring has sprung off its sprocket here in southern California. My yard is awash in blossoms of all kinds.

Freesias add their sweet aroma to the air.

Freesias add their sweet aroma to the air.

 

The Panamint nectarine and Katy apricot are loaded with blossoms this year. Surely we will be able to salvage some of the fruit from the possums, raccoons, and other raiders of night.

The Panamint nectarine and Katy apricot are loaded with blossoms this year. Surely we will be able to salvage some of the fruit from the possums, raccoons, and other raiders of night.

 

The avocado is loaded with blossoms too. Fruit set is never as impressive as the blossoms would suggest though.

The avocado is loaded with blossoms too. Fruit set is never as impressive as the blossoms would suggest though.

 

Even the Santa Rosa plum is putting on a show this year. We normally get NO plums. The critters always beat me to the 2-3 that set fruit. I am more hopeful this year.

Even the Santa Rosa plum is putting on a show this year. We normally get NO plums. The critters always beat me to the 2-3 that set fruit. I am more hopeful this year.

 

I planted some perennial flowers along the front walkway.

I planted some perennial flowers along the front walkway.

 

The Garden of Infinite Neglect is in full bloom with a freesia border. The veggie garden itself is, well, neglected.

The Garden of Infinite Neglect is in full bloom with a freesia border. The veggie garden itself is, well, neglected.

 

We have had orchids in bloom on the back deck and patio since January. The second batch of blooms is just now opening up.

We have had orchids in bloom on the back deck and patio since January. The second batch of blooms is just now opening up.

 

It is such a joy to have such beautiful flowers.

It is such a joy to have such beautiful flowers.

 

We are being inundated with bok choy. I planted a six-pack of Joi Choi and it is rewarding us with bountiful greens.

We are being inundated with bok choy. I planted a six-pack of Joi Choi and it is rewarding us with bountiful greens.

 

I am down to the last few avocados. Incredibly enough, we are still harvesting a bell pepper or two as well. And the hens are inundating us with eggs, up to 28 a week!

I am down to the last few avocados. Incredibly enough, we are still harvesting a bell pepper or two as well. And the hens are inundating us with eggs, up to 28 a week!

This is Henrietta, our sweet Black Australorp. She is our oldest hen, and is still laying.

This is Henrietta, our sweet Black Australorp. She is our oldest hen, and is still laying.

 

Scrambled eggs with avocado and black beans on a whole wheat flour and corn tortilla. Yum!

Scrambled eggs with avocado and black beans on a whole wheat flour and corn tortilla. Yum!

Or, how about fried cornmeal mush with maple syrup, fried eggs, and oranges right off our tree?

Or, how about fried cornmeal mush with maple syrup, fried eggs, and oranges right off our tree?

Did someone say ORANGES? This is what was left AFTER we took a bag down to our son Scott for Easter.

Did someone say ORANGES? This is what was left AFTER we took a bag down to our son Scott for Easter.

And these are the limes that we have left AFTER taking some down to Scott and family. Time to squeeze and freeze.

And these are the limes that we have left AFTER taking some down to Scott and family. Time to squeeze and freeze.

I am so far behind on blogging. I had hoped to catch up on my harvest tally today, but I am running out of time. I think I will just sum up this week’s harvest.

Harvest for week ending March 31, 2013

FRUIT

13 oz Lemon, Meyer

6 lbs 4 oz Limes

7 lbs 5 oz Oranges, Navel

Subtotal 14 lbs 6 oz

VEGGIES

1 lb 9 oz Bok Choy

1 oz Ginger

Subtotal 1 lb 10 oz

TOTAL PRODUCE 16 lbs plus 27 EGGS

If you had a harvest, or to see what others are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions. As for me, I’m off to Big Bear, CA for the day!

 

 

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Harvest Monday May 21, 2012 and a peek at future harvests

Posted on May 22, 2012 | 12 Comments

I enjoy photographing things when they are still growing more than harvested produce, so as usual my photos are heavy on plants in the ground vs harvested ones in the trug. But I’ll lead off with some harvest shots.

My last red cabbage split, but it tasted wonderful fried up with an onion and some German sausages. Seems that the artichokes all got ripe at once, but they tasted great cut fresh from the plant and plopped into boiling water. Dipped the leaves and heart into lemon butter. Oh, my. Heavenly.

This is what a perfectly ripe avocado should look like. I like to squeeze lemon juice into the avocado, sprinkle on some sea salt, and eat it with a spoon. I’m down to the last 9 avocados on the tree, with only one new fruit set that I can find. It looks like I won’t have the wonderful abundance of avocados next year that I’ve enjoyed this year.

Our avocado has finished blooming. This tiny avocado is the only one that I can find. It won’t be ready to harvest until next January. I’m hoping that there are more avocados hidden among the leaves.

Oops, I nearly forgot to photograph my first harvest of bok choy from my new raised bed. I pull the outer leaves rather than the entire plant so that I can extend the harvest from my six plants.

I see that I neglected to photograph the peach harvest. I got over four pounds, but they are small, so nearly half of that is pit and skin. I spent a long time preparing the fruit for a peach dumpling recipe from a Smoky Mountain cookbook. Sadly, the recipe turned out awful!

There was obviously a mistake in the cookbook because it said the dough would be stiff. But it made a runny batter, not a thick dough. I added more flour, but the dumplings cooked up like paste. Or maybe glue. The fruit sauce was tasty, but I ended up feeding the dumplings to the hens. They loved them. What do they know?

Our Santa Rosa plums are nearing harvest size. They will turn deep purple before they’re ready to pick. We have a large tree, but only four plums on it.

Our Katy apricots are also nearing harvest. We have four of them. Not a great year for either plums or apricots in our yard.

Our very small August Pride peach tree set only three peaches this year, but it looks like they will be large ones. I didn’t photograph the Babcock Improved peaches, but that tree set quite a few peaches. They will be the last ones to be harvested.

The Snow Queen nectarine is still blooming, but so far about a dozen nectarines have set. The Panamint nectarines are nearing harvest, maybe 30 of them.

The fruit set on our Granny Smith dwarf apple has been pathetic so far. There are still a few more blooms, so maybe we’ll get more. The honey bees have been noticeably absent from our yard this spring. I was happy to see several of them today, so there is still time to get some apples fertilized.

The Granny Smith apple tree is almost done blooming, but the Gala and Fuji trees are just beginning. It was a warm winter here, so there may not have been enough hours of chill for the Gala to set fruit. It requires a few more hours chilling than the Fuji or Granny Smith. Sadly, neither of my Asian pear trees got enough chilling to set fruit this year. Darn global warming.

The Fuyu persimmon tree appears to have set four fruit. The brown part is the dried petals of the inconspicuous flower. The swollen green part under it is the ovary, soon to become a persimmon I hope. The green “petals” behind the tiny fruit are actually the sepals. Last year I had one fruit, and it fell off at about this stage, so I’m not counting on a harvest quite yet.

I just finished planting two self-watering planters with Sequoia strawberries. They are June-bearing rather than ever-bearing. I may have planted them too late to get much of a harvest this year. We’ll see. I’m out of space in the yard, so this is one more thing that I’m growing in my driveway.

The first tendrils on my Cherokee Trail of Tears beans have reached the netting and are starting to curl up the string. Once they do that, the vines really take off and grow. This is another of my space-saving techniques, using this useless little strip of dirt by the gas meter to grow crops.

The raised beds in back look like a jungle, not that I’m complaining. It’s mostly tomatoes and peppers, with some kale, leeks, Brussels sprouts that aren’t making any sprouts, etc.

My tomatoes are beginning to set fruit. This is a Mortgage Lifter.

This is a new variety for me, Box Car Willie, named after a country singer of the 1930s. Such a cool name. I hope they taste good. The only other tomato to set fruit so far is a Black Plum, another new variety for me.

My second crop of Mammoth Snow Peas for the year has begun to flower. My Super Sugar Snaps aren’t far enough along yet to flower.

It is going to be touch and go if I get any Grandpa Admire lettuce. Out of 23 sprouts, this is the only one to survive. Either insects or drought got all but three. Then a neighborhood cat used my raised bed as a litter box and killed the other two. Such is gardening.

This misshapen, misbegotten thing is supposed to be a Golden Bell pepper. It has a long way to go before it is ready to harvest.

This is one of the mystery pumpkins or winter squash that sprouted from my compost pile. I transplanted it and will let it grow for a while. I should at least get some squash blossoms from it. To save space, I like to let my winter squash climb up a tomato cage. Works for butternut squash. Probably won’t work for a heavier pumpkin.

Our semi-dwarf navel orange tree has set fruit. It looks like we’ll have a good crop next winter. I still have a few more oranges left to harvest from this year’s crop, but they’re about gone.

This appears to be full bloom for grapes. Not very impressive. But I’m excited to be growing my first grapes. It took the vines 3-4 years to get large enough to bloom, and this will be my first crop.

These green bunching onions have just sprouted. If you look closely, you can still see the black seed covers. I grow green onions in pots due to lack of yard space.

Our last three artichokes. We had them for dinner tonight.

I planted a fourth fabric container of yams yesterday, plus two containers of Japanese eggplant. The potatoes in the fourth container back from the front are nearing harvest. They’re either blue or German butterball.

New raised bed in front.

Redhead radish

Kyoto red carrots

Cucumbers, either Tendergreen Burpless or Straight Eight. I can hardly wait for cucumber soup.

I’m working now on the bare area to the back right of my new raised bed. I plan to put in some tomatoes and pole beans there, with pumpkins on a small lower terrace out of sight in this picture.

A pretty pink rose.

This is the first year that this variety of iris has bloomed for me. It has been a really good year for irises in my yard.

That completes the photo tour of my garden. On to this week’s harvest.

FRUIT

1 lb Avocados

10 oz Lemon, Eureka

4 lbs 8 oz Peaches, Florida Prince

Subtotal fruit 6 lbs 2 oz

VEGETABLES

2 lbs 10 oz Artichokes

7 oz Bok Choy

1 lb 4 oz Cabbage, Red

1 oz Onion, Green

Subtotal Vegetables 4 lbs 6 oz

TOTAL PRODUCE 10 lbs 8 oz plus 11 eggs

If you had a harvest, or to see what others are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Spring flowers and summing up the harvest so far this year

Posted on April 10, 2012 | 18 Comments

Spring has sprung with a vengeance in our yard. Flowers are popping out everywhere it seems. I’m going to show you some of my pretty flowers before getting to the food harvest.

Ida Red is a new color of bearded iris, the reddest of the irises. I got this one from http://www.greenwoodgarden.com. I just love it. When it's ready to divide in the fall, I plan to interplant it with some nice white irises.

Dutch iris are non-native, but this Douglas Iris is native to California. I just love these. I'm thinking that I should get some more to plant around the pond.

This is the purple Pacific or Douglas iris. I also have a white one, but it isn't in bloom at the moment. They are good plants for riparian habitats, areas that are watered to get 32 inches of rain a year. I cluster my riparian plants to conserve water.

My paperwhites stopped blooming long ago. The Tahiti Narcissus just finished. Now it's the turn of these lovelies.

Another view. The first photo showed these narcissus a bit more yellow than they really are.

The whole back yard that isn't in raised beds is covered in nasturtiums. I feed the leaves to the chickens. They don't seem to care much for the flowers. I tried making nasturtium vinegar one year by soaking the flowers in white vinegar for several days, but I didn't really care much for the flavor. Tasted like nasturtiums!

The first rose of summer is about to open. Summer? It's APRIL!

I bought two new cymbidium orchids, the yellow and the rust-colored ones, to add to my existing white and pink one. They look nice in a set of three.

Pink cobbity daisies in the front yard. I want more, but haven't found them at the nursery when I've looked.

My two early season camellias have finished blooming. Now it is the turn of this late season one.

This is the largest bud on my orchid cactus. When they open, they're spectacular, as large as my fully opened and wide-stretched hand. I have two color varieties, a pinky peach and a salmon.

OK, none of those were edible, except for the nasturtiums. I put them in for beauty alone. Here are some flowers which promise fruit in the future.

My Granny Smith dwarf apple tree is in full bloom. It normally sets about 30 full-size apples. The Gala and Fuji apples are still dormant, as are my two Asian pear trees. However, we had a warm winter, and they might not have received enough chilling to set fruit. Darn global warming!

Our Santa Rosa plum is blooming poorly, as usual. We'll be lucky to get a dozen plums. However, that is more than we usually get since the night critters usually get all the fruit. This year I'm live-trapping them relentlessly. We've relocated seven possums already this year.

These are lime blossoms from my Bearrs lime tree. Note the tiny limes on the right. That's what they look like after the petals fall off. Most of the flowers don't result in fruit, but we get plenty of limes from the tree anyway. The navel orange and Meyer lemon trees are also in exuberant bloom.

These itsy, bitsy little green flower buds are the ones that are exciting me the most. They are the first ever flowers on my Red Flame Seedless grape vines. I planted the vines four years ago (or was it three, can't remember) and they are now showing signs of producing fruit. We have eight clusters of flowers so far, and more may open as the grape vines are just now getting going for the summer. I hope we get actual grapes but a lot of things can happen between now and harvest. Mold, mites, birds, night critters, etc. I have my fingers crossed.

My Mammoth snow peas are up. They sure aren't mammoth at this stage. This is the second planting of 2012.

My red cabbages are coming along. In general, my cole crops did poorly this winter. I think it was too warm for them. But I have three remaining red cabbages and all have made heads. They're too small to harvest yet though. I hope they make it to harvest time.

We've harvested and eaten three artichokes so far, with more coming along. I had four artichoke plants that came back from the roots this year. They are a short-lived perennial. I may have to replant this fall. Or maybe I'll get another year out of the existing plants. Time will tell.

Our Florida Prince Peach tree is loaded with fruit, about 250 peaches. Last year, they were very small peaches. I hope that they're bigger this year and worth canning. I thinned out the peaches a bit, hoping that the remaining ones would get large, but I probably didn't thin enough. I just can't bear to pick them off as tiny babies. I want them ALL to grow big.

This is another view of the Florida Prince Peach. The Babcock Improved Peach is nearly finished blooming, and it looks like it might set 100 fruit this year. The August Pride Peach, which is probably a mis-labeled May Pride, has only three peaches on it. Our Panamint nectarine has set about 30-40 nectarines. The Snow Queen nectarine is just now blooming, but fruit set isn't likely to exceed a dozen. Our poor little Katy Apricot set only three apricots this year. The critters usually get all of the apricots anyway. I keep hoping to get some for myself.

It isn't a plant, but I wanted to show you that I'm still using my new solar oven. I've baked 6 loaves of bread in it so far, plus lamb and lentil curry, beef stew, pot roast, chicken, etc. Amazing thing, it cooks with just the heat of the sun. I'm fighting global warming every way I can.

I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping up with the Excel spreadsheet of my harvests this year, if not getting around to blogging as often as I’d like.

Here is a summary of what my garden has produced so far this year. Note that this is the production for my first quarter, not for the week.  The harvest for this week was 1 oz green onions, 12 oz artichokes, and 8.5 oz of yams.

EGGS, 144 (Yeah, hens! Way to go.)

FRUIT, 43 lbs

Avocados, 111 ounces

Lemons, 110 ounces

Limes, 10.5 ounces

Oranges, 453 ounces

VEGETABLES, 33 lbs

Artichokes, 22 oz

Beets, 160 oz = 10 lbs

Broccoli, 46 oz

Cabbage, 85 oz

Carrots, 50 oz

Cauliflower, 15 oz

Chard, 28 oz

Eggplant, 2.5 oz

Herbs, 2.5 oz

Kale, 4.5 oz

Komatsuna, 6 oz

Lettuce, 4 oz

Mizuna, 5 oz

Onions, green, 2.5 oz

Peas, Snow, 72 oz

Spinach, 1 oz

Tomatoes, 8 oz

Yams, 8.5 oz

TOTAL PRODUCE, 76 lbs

To see what others are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Beautiful spring day in the garden

Posted on May 11, 2011 | 6 Comments

It was so pretty outside today that I documented my home garden, mainly “The Farm” in back. Here are some pics of what’s in bloom today plus things that I’ll be harvesting in the future if the critters don’t get them first.

I love it when the orchid cactus are in bloom. This salmon one is larger than my palm.

The red orchid cactus are beautiful too.

This "Thornbird" bearded iris is the second of my new iris to bloom. The colors are a bit muddy, but I like the tan and lavender. This one is a more prolific bloomer than "Clarence", which was a real beauty.

My dwarf Fuji apple tree has more blossoms on it than in the past three years, so I'm hoping for my first real crop of Fuji apples.

My venerable dwarf Granny Smith apple tree has more blooms than it has ever had before, so I'm hoping for a good crop of apples this year. I may even get my first Gala apple since it is blooming too.

I'm racing the birds and night critters to get the Florida Prince peaches before they do. I have lots of peaches but they're really small this year. I should have thinned them I guess.

By the back path behind the house I have my Fuji, Gala, and Granny Smith apple trees, plus a Santa Rosa plum, Florida Prince peach, and Red Flame grapes (which haven't made any grapes yet). This is also where I have my irises and roses, plus a Cleveland Sage (California native for the humminbirds).

The chicken coop is under the plum tree. The hens are enjoying some chard stalks that went to seed. They get a LOT of greens.

My little water garden in back is all filled in with plants. The irises are in bloom now. Maybe the water hyacinths will bloom later.

I don't know the name of the irises that grow in my water garden. They look like Japanese irises, but maybe they're called something else.

My three raised beds of vegetables have an herb garden in the foreground, and are surrounded by nasturtiums and fruit trees.

The red cabbage seems to be heading up nicely. I am hoping for a cabbage harvest in a few weeks.

The blueberries are nearing ripeness. We have orioles in the neighborhood, so it will be a race to see who gets to the berries first.

Construction of the new block wall on the north has given my lime tree more sunlight. The old wooden fence was falling over onto the lime tree and the poor thing has never given me any limes. This year will be different.

This is just one of the little limes that have set fruit and the tree is still blooming.

I bought two nice bean towers from Gardener's Supply Company. Blue Lake pole beans (seen here) are growing up one and Kentucky Blue pole beans (a new variety for me) are growing up the other. I like these space-saving towers so much that I may get another.

This is the season for teeny tiny avocados, most of which usually fall off the tree. Every year I say that I'm going to cut down that worthless avocado and every year I don't because I hope that it will set some fruit. Maybe the new block wall will result in it getting more sunshine and setting more fruit. I keep hoping.

The Katy apricot tree has set more fruit than usual, which makes up for the peach, nectarine and plum trees, which are pretty bare this year.

I don't think I have even six plums on the Santa Rosa plum tree, but they're getting to be good size.

I have only two Snow Queen nectarines (one shown here), and maybe a half dozen Panamint nectarines.

The August Pride peach tree has only a couple of peaches on it and a few more on the Babcock Improved peach. Not a good year for the late peaches.

One of the advantages of an all organic yard is that it's safe for birds, bees and butterflies. I was surprised to find this swallowtail butterfly that had just emerged from its cocoon (or chrysalis?) in the plum tree today.

This Sweet 100 cherry tomato is producing ripe tomatoes already. And boy are they sweet.

Our semi-dwarf navel orange bloomed twice last year. This is one of the later oranges that is ripening now.

I have three dwarf Eureka lemons. This tree is producing, but the other two aren't doing much. They seem to take turns, so it's good to have three trees plus the Meyer lemon.

I sowed green bunching onions a bit too thickly earlier in the year. I kept them all, spreading them out in various pots. I ended up with 110 green onions, many of which have been eaten by now.

The lone Fuyu persimmon on my new tree may actually be fertilized. It's looking promising.

The Garden of Infinite Neglect is looking neglected as usual, with kale, collards and chard going to seed.

I have a dozen strawberry plants in the Garden of Infinite Neglect that may or may not give us some berries. They're sending out runners, so at least we'll get new plants.

The only strawberries I'm harvesting are from my strawberry pot.

I had strawberries and peaches from the garden on my cereal this morning.

The artichokes are coming as fast as we can eat them. I had two for dinner tonight.

Snow peas are growing up a pea fence by the water meter. I make use of every square inch of ground.

These are the best flowers yet on the thornless blackberries, at least on one of the plants. The other plant is looking pretty miserable.

I'm growing these Summertop Japanese burpless cucumbers in pots. I have some Tendergreen Japanese burpless cucumbers growing up a new cucumber trellis in back.

Most of the front yard is planted in flowers. Pink Mexican poppies are in bloom now.

Hope you enjoyed this tour of our yard and garden in early May.

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My 100th Blog Post: Our southern California fruit, flower, and veggie gardens in June

Posted on June 16, 2010 | 11 Comments

The hens are molting and taking dust baths. They’re so much fun to watch.

It’s another gorgeous day in paradise here in Huntington Beach–sunny skies, with temps in the high 70s. My garden is booming and blooming along, with some things newly planted and some things ready to harvest. Here’s a peek.

Raised bed #1 has tomatoes, bell peppers, yellow squash, chard, a couple of parsnips and a carrot. Yep. A single carrot.

Raised bed #1 looking from a different angle.

Raised bed #2 has chard, tomatoes, cabbage, leeks, eggplant and some miserable Snow Wind peas that are past their prime and need to come out.

 

Raised bed #3 has tomatoes, radishes, Blue Lake pole green beans, a few Scarlet Runner beans, onions, lettuce, a lanky purple cauliflower that shows no signs of making a head, and some spinach that needs to go to the chickens.

Raised bed #3 from a different angle.

The Babcock Improved Peaches are beginning to blush. I wonder what is embarassing them.

The Katy Apricot has only three apricots on the tree, but they're big ones. Looks like they'll be ready soon.

The Panamint Nectarine tree is loaded with fruit this year. I can hardly wait.

The Snow Queen Nectarine is a young tree and only has a couple of nectarines on it, but they look really good. Betcha they look good to the squirrels, possums, raccoons, etc. too. Who will get this lovely fruit?

This is the only peach on the August Pride peach tree, another young tree.

This is the last ripe Eureka Lemon left on the tree.

But my other two dwarf Eureka lemon trees have set fruit.

And the Eureka lemon trees are still blooming. What a lovely smell.

I have three Valencia oranges that I'm saving for a special occasion. I'd better come up with that occasion pretty soon because they won't last forever.

Next year's crop has already set on the Valencia orange. Ditto the navel orange, but I didn't photograph that tree.

The strawberry harvest seems to have peaked, but I'm still getting a berry or two.

I ate all of the ripe blueberries before I got my camera out, so I'll move on to apples. Looks like it's going to be a good year for the Granny Smith apple tree with about three dozen apples set.

Our semi-dwarf Fuji apple is still a baby, so we have only three apples on it. None on the Gala, which is a full-sized young tree.

The blackberries still aren't ripe.

Looks like I have two more artichokes to harvest and then that crop will be finished.

My red and yellow onions are starting to bulb up. I hear that they form bulbs about three weeks after the summer solstice.

My Red of Florence bunching onions are still tiny, but their bulbs are already red. This is a new variety for me so I can hardly wait until they're ready to eat.

This is my first cucumber of the season, a Tendergreen. It has a long way to go before its ready to eat.

I like my Smart Pots so much, that I got two more. I'm growing winter squash, eggplant, sweet potatoes, German Butterball potatoes and sunchokes in them.

I need a bigger pot! These winter squash (mini Red Kuri, mini Green Kuri, and mini Blue Hubbard) are only 13 days old. Check out the size of those cotyledon leaves. Righteous Bovine!

My first attempt at growing sweet potatoes is going well so far.

As soon as the Peruvian Purple potatoes came out, I added more fertilizer to the pot and planted some German Butterball potatoes. So far, so good. I'll add more potting soil to the pot as they grow to encourage layers of potatoes to form.

The Garden of Infinite Neglect has patty pan squash, Millionaire eggplant, Scotch Blue Curled and Lacinato kale, collards, Golden and Lutz Greenleaf beets, Kyoto carrots, loosehead Chinese cabbage, lots of chard, and a row of flowers.

I'm already harvesting Early Girl tomatoes. These are Celebrity Tomatoes.

My first Black Krim has set on a tomato plant that I grew from seed.

This is my first attempt at growing Komatsuna, a Japanese mustard green. A cabbage worm got part of it, but once I dispatched the worm, the plant recovered.

These are the Blue Lake pole beans that I replanted after the raccoon dug them up. They don't seem much worse for the experience.

This is my newest tree, a Haas avocado. All of the fruit that had set fell off. Maybe next year.

I had 6-7 fruit set on the Littlecado tree, but the only avocado left is this one. It may fall off too as it's pretty small. If this tree doesn't produce any avocados next year with the Haas next to it to fertilize it, I'm going to cut it down.

I never promised you a rose garden, but here it is.

I love the color of this rose. It's my best bloomer. Can't remember its name.

My iris bed in back is pretty new. This is the first bloom on my Grandma's Purple Flag, an old time iris.

These yellow iris have been in the ground for several years and are reliable bloomers. The other four varieties did not deign to bloom for me this year. Or last year. Maybe next year.

Most of the front yard is heavily shaded by the two liquid amber trees, but the pink Mexican poppies and blue Lilly of the Nile bloom in June, along with Scabiosa, chrysanthemums, lavender, oregano and marjoram.

My butterfly garden has golden yarrow and Mexican sage in it.

I never got around to planting my gladiolus bulbs this year. This one is a resprout from last year.

So is this lavender gladiolus.

Pots of succulents make lovely drought-tolerant accent plants in our dry climate.

The backyard has been filled with nasturtiums since January. They've dropped a gazillion seeds, so I should have plenty more next year too.

Nemesia is a lovely drought-tolerant flower that bloom all year round for me.

Same with the allysum. It attracts beneficial insects as well, but doesn't self-seed as readily as the Nemesia.

It's time to pick more lavender to make lavender sugar. I've nearly used up my first batch.

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Harvest Monday, April 19, 2010

Posted on April 20, 2010 | 15 Comments

Our Super Sugar Snap pea vines have topped nine feet. I can no longer harvest the peas and have to depend on my 6 ft tall husband to pick them.

Well, that photo of Vic picking peas should say it all, but I am not a woman of few words. I want to add that I’m enjoying my garden this year more than I’ve ever enjoyed any garden season in the past.

White snapdragons and collards

Yellow snapdragons and rainbow chard

In part this is due to the fact that this really is my best garden ever. Being semi-retired is giving me time to work on it and I think that the results are apparent.

Pathway in back of house bordered by roses, grapes, narcissus, allysum, pansies, nasturtiums, Nemesia and fruit trees.

rose

But the largest part of my enjoyment is due to the network of fellow gardener/blogger/photographers that I’ve found over the internet. Being able to share my garden with others and see the gardens of people who share my interests has added immensely to my enjoyment.

Irises are blooming in my small water garden in back framed by nasturtiums

Irises are blooming in my larger front yard pond as well.

One of the many advantages of having a garden is that you can grow varieties that may not be available at stores or even local farmer’s markets. I’m trying quite a few new vegetables this year, and new varieties of favorite vegetables.

Lacinato kale, a new variety for us

 I’m also enjoying the challenge of growing food in a limited space. I am even utilizing the driveway this year. 

Sunchokes and blue potatoes, growing in Smart Pots in the driveway

Mammoth snow peas are growing in a tiny dirt strip next to our water and electric meters. I haven't grown this variety in over 30 years and am looking forward to having them again.

Also, I’m learning a lot from reading the blogs of others. I enjoy learning more about preserving and cooking from Thomas, Dan, Mac, and Villager. From Daphne at Daphne’s Dandelions, I’ve learned a lot about record-keeping. I had never weighed and tracked my harvests before. I’ve set up a seed inventory in Excel as well as a fruit harvest Excel spread sheet. Now I actually know how many pounds of fruit I’ve harvested so far this year (14 lbs) and from which trees/vines/bushes/plants they came from.

Semi-dwarf Granny Smith apple tree is in full bloom, promising a good crop of apples this year.

Our strawberry harvest is only a few berries at a time from the strawberry pot, but the berries are delicious.

My next step will be to set up a similar spread sheet for vegetables. Then I hope to keep a running tab on my sidebar of the year’s total harvest, as you see when you visit Dan, Thomas, Annie’s Granny, Daphne and other bloggers.

What I do not plan to do is track how much I spend on my garden. I don’t want to know. Suffice it to say that I’m having fun and enjoying life.

But what cannot be quantified is how much pleasure I’m deriving from growing so much of our own organic produce, including having chickens that lay eggs, and having so much beauty in the yard this year.

Pink cobbity daisies in front yard

Henny Penny and Henrietta

This is the rocking chair on my back deck. The fountain burbles, the hens cluck, and birds sing while I rock, read, sip wine, and watch my garden grow.

 What a great life!

If you had a harvest this week, visit Daphne at Daphne’s Dandelions and tell about it.

Harvest for week prior to April 10, 2010

16 eggs

8 oz. Kale

8 oz. Leeks

12 oz. Lettuce

33.5 oz. (2 lbs, 1.5 oz.) Snap Peas

1.5 oz. Strawberries

Total Harvest = 2 lbs 15 oz. produce, plus 16 eggs

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Wordless Wednesday for Gardeners, April 7, 2010

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 15 Comments

On Wordless Wednesdays, people post a photo, or photos, on their blog with no explanation. The story is in the photo. But if you link to the main WordlessWednesday site, you’ll be lost among hundreds of photographers. So I decided to set up a Wordless Wednesday site for gardeners.

Post a photo or photo essay of your flowers, fruits, vegetables, garden, yard, patio, deck, balcony, houseplants, etc. on your blog site. Then come here and click on Mr. Linky below. Follow the directions, then come back to this page to leave a comment. Be sure to visit your fellow gardeners.

Regrettably, Java Script doesn’t seem to run on WordPress, so you have to click on the Mister Linky text below. That will show you who else has linked, and will give you an opportunity to add your name to the link.
Is anyone else out there using WordPress and Mr. Linky? Is this how it works for you? Frustrating.

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Harvest Monday–April 5, 2010

Posted on April 7, 2010 | 3 Comments

Once again, I’m doing Harvest Monday late. I went to Los Angeles yesterday with a friend to see the Renoir exhibit at the LACMA. We had a great time, but it didn’t give me time to post my weekly harvest.

I got a new rain gauge so I can keep track of what little rain we get here in southern California. Yesterday’s storm brought us a mere 0.15 inches of rain. That’s it for the week. But my rain barrels collect rain off the roof, which collects from a broad area. I was able to save many gallons of rainwater with even this little storm.

The harvest this week included chard, snap peas, cabbage leaves, purple broccoli, radishes and loads of lettuce.

Before I get to the specifics of this week’s harvest, let me catch you up with spring in our garden. The ginger has FINALLY poked its head above ground. The rhubarb has come up.

Growth on the horseradish in the center pot is rampant. Ginger in the pot on the left has just poked the first sprouts above ground. All three ginger roots have now sent up a plant shoot.

The blue potatoes in the first two Smart Pots are doing well, as are the sunchokes in the back left.

The stone path in back is beautiful this year with nasturtiums, irises, narcissus, roses, allysum, Nemesia and pansies.

The beautiful Mt. Hood daffodils have finished blooming in front, but the pink cobbity daisies, orange Kaffir lilies, and camelias are blooming nicely.

And the Super Sugar Snap Peas that ate Los Angeles are now a whopping 8 ft tall. Given that they’re in a raised bed, that means that I can no longer reach the peas to harvest them. I have no intention of pruning them. I’m thrilled that something in my garden grows so nicely.

Raised bed #2 has chard, lettuce and leeks ready to harvest, plus garlic, red cabbage, white cauliflower, radishes, and Snow Wind Peas coming along.

I thought I was growing purple cauliflower, given that the tag on the transplants said "cauliflower," but it is clearly broccoli. No matter, it tasted fine in a stirfry.

The first artichoke has formed and is growing. I wonder how many artichokes my eight plants will give me this spring.

These strawberries have now turned red and are ready to pick today. How exciting. My first strawberries from a strawberry pot. It's working very well, with the promise of a small but ongoing harvest for some time to come.

I had to share a photo of this egg with you. Henny Penny always deposits a pattern on her eggs. This one looked like, well, since it was laid the day before Easter, I call it a risen Christ egg. We ate it for a Seder dinner that we attended at a friend's house.

And with that lovely jumbo egg, I’ll get on to the harvest from last week.

14 eggs

13 oz. snap peas

3 oz. kale

6.5 oz. lettuce

2 oz. parsley

3 oz. (3) German white icicle radishes

2.5 oz. cabbage leaves

8 oz. chard

2 oz. purple broccoli

1 oz. sorrel and cilantro

TOTAL HARVEST: 14 eggs plus 3 lbs, 5 oz. produce

To see what other’s are harvesting this week, or to add your own, visit Harvest Monday at Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Mid-March photos of my garden

Posted on March 14, 2010 | 5 Comments

It’s cold (relatively speaking), windy, and my allergies are acting up. But flowers are blooming everywhere and bird songs fill the air. Must be March in southern California.

I promised myself that this would be my best organic garden ever, and so far that’s what it’s shaping up to be. I’ve been working on growing more fruits and vegetables in our yard for several years now, and this is the year that I expect to reap the reward for my past efforts at planting fruit trees, bushes and vines, other perennial flowers and vegetables, as well as building a chicken coop, resetting the pavers in back, and incorporating raised garden beds into our landscape.

After removing a misshapen magnolia tree and reducing the size of the herb garden, I installed these three raised beds from Gardeners Supply Company for growing vegetables.

In addition to my new raised beds in back, I have two vegetable gardens in front: The Garden of Infinite Neglect and the Garden of Perpetual Responsibility.

The Garden of Infinite Neglect is looking less neglected with its refurbished flower border and new vegetable plantings.

In the Garden of Infinite Neglect, I have everbearing crops of Scotch Blue-curled Kake and Collards. But the Green Savoy Cabbage crop was a bust, and I’m feeding the leggy, non-heading, insect-eaten cabbages to the chickens one by one. I have some Lutz Greenleaf Beets that are so old that I dare not use them for anything except beet greens. I just never got around to harvesting the things. You can see why I call this my Garden of Infinite Neglect.

I let some chard go to seed there last year and the seeds fell all over the place. I’m now harvesting dozens and dozens of chard seedlings at 1-2 inches high as microgreens. They’re fabulous in a salad. So neglect can pay off sometimes.

However, those chard seedlings sprouted AFTER I planted my new rows of Rainbow Chard, Lutz Greenleaf Beets, Chioggia Beets and Bok Choy. Except for the Bok Choy, I can’t tell what’s what. Oh well, it will all sort out by harvest time.

I have a couple of new rows of Golden Wax Beans that have their first true leaves, a patch of patty pan squash (3 heirloom varieties, Bennings Green Tint, Yellow, and White) that has yet to sprout, and a Millionaire eggplant left over from last year that is reblooming for the 2010 season.

Somewhere under the kale, I have a couple of Green Bunching Onions that are going to seed. I save seed from heirloom vegetables, so I’ll just let them go to flower and set seed. When the flowers are dry, I’ll harvest them into a paper bag and shake out the black seeds. Elsewhere in the Garden of Infinite Neglect, I have a patch of yellow onions that are coming along nicely. Maybe I won’t neglect this dry, pathetic patch of dirt so much this summer.

Garden of Perpetual Responsibility has fewer weeds than usual, thanks to my pulling weeds frequently to feed the chickens.

The Garden of Perpetual Responsibility is beginning to get more morning sun as the seasons progress. The artichokes are growing nicely, as are the red onions. The rhubarb hasn’t come up yet, and I’m beginning to worry that it didn’t make it. Most of what else is in there is white Lantana to attract butterflies, Lily of the Nile (perennial flowers), Nemesia, a lovely blue perennial and self-seeding flower that bees love but that desperately needs thinning, two thornless blackberry bushes that are still dormant, and weeds. No end to the weeds. Maybe this will be the summer that I get them out BEFORE they set seed.

I grow green bunching onions continuously in these shallow bowls, adding fertilizer whenever I plant new seeds.

Due to lack of space and sun, I also garden in containers. I’ve been growing green onions with a continuous harvest for about a year and a half now. Whenever I have half the onions in a bowl pulled up, I plant the other half. With two bowls going, I haven’t needed to buy green onions until this week. I guess I need three bowls of onions.

The container of horseradish has a lot of healthy looking sprouts.

The horseradish is up and doing well. I won’t be able to harvest any roots until the plant goes dormant in the winter, so this is pretty much a 10-month committment. I planted ginger before the horseradish, but it hasn’t broken ground yet. I’m assuming that because ginger is a semi-tropical plant, it is waiting for warmer weather to sprout.

I have three sunchoke sprouts above ground now. This one suffered some insect damage to the new shoot.

I’m experimenting with sunchokes this year, aka Jerusalem artichokes. I’ve never grown them before. I know that sunchokes are invasive, so I’m growing them in Smart Pots, which are large, felt-like containers. After the sunflowers die back in late summer, I’ll harvest the tubers from the Smart Pot. 

Blue potatoes growing in Smart Pots.

I’m also growing blue potatoes in Smart Pots. I planted three blue potatoes in each of two Smart Pots, and they’re growing like gang-busters. The loose potting soil in the felt pots should make them easy to harvest.

Panamint nectarine blossom

My Panamint Nectarine is in full bloom right now, but the Snow Queen Nectarine is still dormant, as is the Santa Rosa Plum, Katy Apricot, all three apple trees and the two Asian pear trees.

Peaches on the Florida Prince peach tree.

It looks like it will be a good year for my Florida Prince Peach tree. The August Pride Peach has just finished blooming, with about three dozen peaches set, while the Babcock Improved Peach is just now beginning to bloom. With three peach trees that bloom at different times, my harvest is spread out over a longer time.

Flower buds on my Bearrs lime tree.

The two lime trees are beginning to bloom, a bit after the Eureka lemon trees. The Meyer lemon and orange trees have no flower buds on them yet, but it’s still early for them.

The artichoke tree has loads of buds on it this years, so I’m hoping that some of them set fruit. The avocado tree that I planted is a semi-dwarf, and has been a very poor producer. This year it got more water than usual because the rain barrel overflow spout from our new gutter is directed at the roots of the avocado tree. I am hopeful.

The grapes have sprouted their new growth of spring leaves.

My grapes made it through the winter and have their new leaves. They didn’t flower last year, but I’m hoping that with more established roots that they’ll grace us with some Thompson Seedless and Seedless Red Flame Grapes this year. And that’s what I seem to have the most of in my garden. Hope!

(To read more of Lou Murray’s environmental writing, see her weekly column, Natural Perspectives, in the Huntington Beach Independent at www.hbindependent.com /blogs_and_columns)

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February fruits, flowers and veggies in a southern California garden

Posted on February 17, 2010 | 9 Comments

I built our front yard pond myself. We gave it a "lick and a promise" cleaning last month, but it needs additional work to keep ecological succession at bay.

Spring has arrived here on the coast of southern California. For us, spring is a long, drawn-out affair, with new things popping into bloom every week.

This year, I plan to photo-document what is in bloom each month, posting the results around mid-month. We have a small yard, 6,000 square feet, with most of the ground occupied by house, driveway and sidewalk. Still, I do the best I can with the space that I have, growing food, maintaining habitat for wildlife, and having flowers to lift my spirits.

Spring is an especially fun time for this photo project with my young fruit trees coming into bloom and my raised beds for vegetables seeing their first spring. Come take a peek at ”granny’s bloomers.”

The paperwhites that I planted by the side of our pond and dry streambed have finished blooming, but the snowdrops are in their prime.

Our pink magnolia tree is quite pretty this time of year.

Our August Pride peach is the second of our stone fruit trees to come into bloom, with the first blossom on Feb. 14 this year.

Most of the August Pride peach flowers are still in tight bud.

With three camellia bushes by the front walkway, we should have pink blossoms from January into March.

Pink cobbity daisies carry out the pink theme for February on the other side of the front walkway.

Even the flower buds on the dwarf Eureka lemon tree are pink.

One out of three of our dwarf Eureka lemon trees has set fruit already. The Eureka lemons have pointier ends than the Meyer lemons and are more sour.

The Garden of Infinite Neglect by the front sidewalk is looking less neglected than usual with a refurbished flower border. I have kale, collards and beet greens ready when I want them, savoy cabbages that might ripen some day, hopeful sprouts of yellow onions, and newly planted seeds of beets (Chioggia and Lutz Greenleaf), Bright Lights chard, baby bok choy, and yellow summer squash.

Garden of Infinite Neglect from the other direction.

I have navel oranges bigger than this head of savoy cabbage. Well, it's trying.

The chickens and I have been working on weeds in the Garden of Perpetual Responsibility. I pull them, they eat them. Finally I can see my eight artichokes and 50-plus red onions above the weeds. Someday in the next month or so, this garden should get some sunshine as the sun moves north (or we tilt, however you look at it).

Green onions, strawberries and ginger grow in pots along the driveway. I can hardly wait to see a sprout in my pot of ginger.

I'm not so organized that I have an all pink garden. The first of my freesias opened this week and they're everywhere. They've naturalized in the yard and I just let them grow. They fill the spring air with a delightful fragrance.

These lovely little Epidendron orchids bloom all year long. I have several pots of them. Other year-round bloomers in my yard are Nemesia, allysum, gazania, rosemary, lavender, lantana, and probably some others I'm forgetting.

Whoops, one of my readers pointed out that these are Epidendrons, not Dendrobiums. I was given this orchid by a friend, and misidentified it.

The lavender Scabiosas are doing well this spring.

Pansies grow in the flower border of the Garden of Infinite Neglect. Oh, look, I have a lavender theme going.I want to try making some lavender sugar this spring. Apparently you just pick the flower heads and put them into a sealed jar of white sugar for a few months.

Lavender smells wonderful and attracts bees to the garden.

I'm growing purple cauliflower this year too, a new variety for me called Graffiti.

I'm even growing blue potatoes. Here is the first shoot.

So much for the front yard. On to the back.

I liked the play of light and shadow with this wacky shot of a red cyclamen.

Masses of pink jasmine grow up two trellises and over our deck, filling the air with a sweet, heavy scent.

The first flowers just opened on the Sunshine Blue blueberries.

The first flowers have opened on my tomatoes. This one is an Early Girl.

My citrus harvest is winding down. I have five navel oranges left, and three Valencia oranges (the entire crop from that new tree), which I won't harvest until the navels are gone.

My limes are long gone, but I still have a baker's dozen of ripe Meyer lemons, four ripe Eureka lemons, and more lemons coming along.

I'm experimenting with a January planted zucchini. The first tiny buds have just appeared. Remind me later in the season how excited I am by this.

I am currently growing this Green Oakleaf lettuce, plus Red Saladbowl, Lollo Rossa, Red Sails, and Black-seeded Simpson, in addition to a tray of mesclun salad greens.

I planted these double paperwhites around my raised beds fairly late in the fall, so they're in prime bloom now.

I also grow nasturtiums and parsley around the raised beds. The nasturtiums are just beginning to bloom.

The mint never totally dies back in winter, but it's just now getting its spring growth spurt. I use it for tabbuli.

Those tiny fuzzy things are baby Florida Prince peaches.

Raised bed #3 has been in a state of suspended animation since I planted it last October. It's finally starting to grow now, with lettuce, spinach, radishes, cauliflower, red and yellow onions and Super Sugar Sprint peas.

My three raised beds give me a lot of pleasure as well as food. Bed #2 is featured in this photo, with chard, red and green savoy cabbage, leeks, lettuce, and garlic. Behind it is bed #1 with bell peppers, garlic, mizuna, lettuce, carrots, parnips, and chard.

The three apple trees and the plum don't show up well in this photo because they're still dormant, but you can see our coop where the three hens live.

Spring is such an exciting time in the garden. I hope you enjoyed your tour.

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