Sunday, June 21, 2009

What's up in the Kitchen Garden?

Ning's happy about his cherry tree producing so many cherries.

This is about half of the cherry crop. Yum!

Lots of stuff in bloom now.

Strawberries - Getting about a pound every day.
Raspberries - A bowl full daily now.
Tomatoes - All in bloom now.
Figs - The few brebas are getting larger, not there yet.
Peaches - I'm wondering if I should have thinned more. They are weighing down the tree branches! WIll need to get some supports soon.
cherries - I also summer pruned them. CUt most new growh back to 6 inches to a foot, in most cases leaving the first tuft of leaves pluys a few. Most of the removed growth was about 2 feet in length.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Epihyllum forst bloom




This hybrid epi was purchased as a rooted cutting 2 years ago. This is the first bloom. The variety is "Piccolo". It opened last night, and is still open now, 24 hours later, so the bloosom has more staying power compared to the one-night-stand of Epiphyllum oxypetallum.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fresh Fruit! Garden Log for mid June.

Ning's Cherries are almost ripe. This is the oldest tree, about 7 years old. The 4-year-old trees just have scattered cherries.

The strawberries have been producing for a week. This is a typical day's haul. Plenty for our needs. The most productive have been the ones around the rowse bed and around the tomato patch. Fertilized only with compost.




Other Garden Notes.

1. Figs. I've pinched out the terminal buds on all of the fig trees. Those that were pinched 2 weeks ago have responded with new fig embryos at each leaf node. I've removed about 1/4 of them, in hopes of earlier & better figs. Brebas not yet ripe but growing larger day by day.

2. Peaches. Most are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. I thinned about 1/4 of the remaining peaches, to avoid over bearing, and inprove chances of earlier and better fruit.

3. Tomatoes. Most are blooming. All have been tied to their posts, and side branches removed for cordon training.

4. Peppers. Lots of holes in the leaves. What's eating them? But they are blooming.

5. Rhubarb. Over the hill. I made a wonderful strawberry-rhubarb sauce, similar to the video below but with 1/2 strawberries. Used frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberries still left over from last year. Great on pancakes! Yum!

6. Roses. First bloom is over the hill. They've been beautiful and prolific.

7. Asparagus starts. All are about 6 inches tall. Will I EVER get them established? Still trying.

8. Lawn. Still mowing using the mechanical mower. More clover this year. Not a problem.

9. Hazelnut trees. Still alive! Also all of the new fruit trees, including sour cherry, 2 Japanese plums, and multigraft Asian Pear.

10. Fallgold raspberry, now bearing too. These are SO good!

Lots of weeds going to the chickens. No eggs in a month from the 2 older hens. The 2 younger ones are not laying yet either. Come on girls.... earn your keep!

Rhubarb Sauce. Since my rhubarb was limited, I replaced about 1/2 with strawberries. I used tapioca instead of starch. Otherwise about the same. SO GOOD!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Weekend To Do List

This week, temp in the 70s to low 90s. Warm for this time of year. Most of the yard is growing like crazy. Some important items not to forget this weekend -

Clear an area around each tomato plant. Volunteer cilantro grew like crazy, and is impinging on the 'personal space' of the tomato plants. Time for some salsa.

Start pruning tomato suckers and start the first ties for cordon growing.

Mow lawn. Obvious.

Photos for blog, what's blooming, peaches, cherries, figs.

Net for cherry trees.

This weekend will also be the time to apply cement backerboard to the bathroom subfloor. This project needs to get underway again.

It's too warm now for transplanting - plans to move hostas will be delayed for next fall or spring.

Every day I inspect the epiphytic cacti - one has been SO close to blooming. The first time for that one, so I don't know how big it will be. Get out the camera!

Monday, May 25, 2009

What's blooming?

There are flowers everywhere. The dogwood finished, daffodils and tulips are long gone. The next wave is either "late Spring" or "Early summer".

More of "Edith Wolford" Iris.

The "Rustled Rose", grape-scent.

"Tamara" rose. 1st flower.

Clematis


Alstroemeria.

Red Poppies. The digital camera doesn't do justice with how red these really are. Seed grown, now in their 7th year.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Iris time.

Many of the irises are in full bloom. Here are a few.

"China Moon"

"China Moon"

"Pretty in Pink" (I think)

"Found Variety"

"Bumblebee Delite"

"Bumblebee Delite"

"Sunny Delight"

"Inuendo"

"American Classic"

"Edith Wolford"

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tomato log

On cool nights, I bring the tomatoes inside. Two weeks ago I bought 4 larger plants at Tsugawa nursery. They were so lush and beautiful. I planted them right out in the bed. It's an experiment. We'll see if they start to bear before my own seedlings.

Currently the plants in the tomato bed are sulking. There have been several nights as low as the low 40s, last night was 49 degrees. Tomatoes should not be set out until the minimum night temp is above 50. It WAS warmer when I planted them.

My own seedlings in pots are catching up to the purchased ones. The race has begun!

Thinning peaches. Victory over leaf curl!

Peaches and other stone fruits often over-bear. Too many can mean they all fall off, no bearing the following year, and the peaches are too small and not as flavorful It's psychologically difficult to remove peaches, but they are in clusters as thick as grapes, so about 3/4 have to go. I started thinning using a scissors, but finally twisted them off. I probably need to thin some more, but I'll wait to see how these do.

Before thinning. Peaches are so thick that the stems are obscured. They look like fuzzy grapes.

After thinning. I quit counting after removing 200 tiny peaches. There are probably still over 150 on the tree. Since these are genetic dwarf peaches, the leaves are much closer together than regular peaches. Plus, the final peaches are smaller. So, I don't think that they need to be thinned to the same distances as regular peaches.

If I was superstitous I would not declare victory. But we are getting to the end of when leaf curl is a problem. Click on labels below to see what I did, and what they looked like this time last year. It worked! Not only did I not kill the peaches with the plastic bags and spray, but they look great! I have pulled of about 10 leaves with leaf curl, but that's nothing compared to last year. Today I sprayed with neem - not sure if it helps, but they are in with the roses and roses definitely benefit (decreasing aphids and fungal disease)

What's blooming?

Tall lilac (blue) in full bloom, bushy Korean lilac (maroon) not quite blooming. Wisteria about 1/4 open, the fragrance already filling the air.

Rhodies are in bloom everywhere.

Lilac, close up.

Not blooming, but very pretty. This is "bloodgood".

Strawberries in bloom. The gardens have strawberries as borders. Quite pretty at this time.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Preventive measure: Tanglefoot for ants and aphids

Every year, I discover ants in the figs. It's not too bad - slice open and wash them out. If you miss a few, the ants have a nice crunchy texture and nutty flavor. However, the ants carry fungal spores, and it seems that the ant-infested figs also spoil before they reach their ultimate sweetness. Every year, I tell myself that "next year" I'll prevent the ant infestation.

Same with the cherries. Every summer, the leaves develop massive black cherry aphid infestations. I suspect that the ants cultivate the aphids. AFTER I see them, I get out the tanglefoot, but by then a lot of damage is done.

So this year WILL BE DIFFERENT! I actually did remember. What's up with that! Tanglefoot is great at stopping the ants from climbing the trees, and no toxic chemicals.

The instructions state to wrap the tree tightly with plastic, before applying the tanglefoot. I cut wide strips from plastic grocery store bags. These have enough stretch to make snug, bark-tight bands. They also tear quite easily, so there is no risk of girdling the tree with them. They start to deteriorate in about a year, which is time for the new coating.

I use a disposable plastic knife to apply the Tanglefoot. It's very gooey. Next to impossible to wash out of clothing.

I applied the same treatment to the pears, apples, cherries, and figs. The reason for also applying to the apples and pears is to reduce spread of disease by aphids.