Smith Fig. 1.16.14

Smith Fig Tree.  10.16.14

 The containerized Smith Fig has been ripening a fig every few days.  They are small.  The flavor is in the "excellent" range.  I also have one in-ground.  It was killed to ground last winter in the historic freeze.  I should keep this one in container for another year.

The figs might be smaller or later due to the young age of the tree.  It is in it 2nd year.  Or because of container.  Or climate.  Or maybe they are small figs.  But they have been delicious.


Smith Fig.  10.16.14



Smith Fig.  10.16.14

October Tomatoes & Okra. 10.12.14

Tomatoes, Okra, and a Fig.  10.12.14

Not bad for almost mid October.

The tomatoes are Better Boy. 

The Okra is Burgundy, Dwarf Green Long Pod, and Baby Bubba.

The fig is a lone fig from Brunswick.

There may be a few more.  We had vegetarian BLT today.

Back from Vacation. 10.11.14

At the Acropolis.  Oct 2014

Mosques, Istanbul.  Oct 2014.

 Ning and I went on a cruise vacation for 2 weeks.  Now returned safely.

I almost canceled - recovering from pneumonia and bronchitis, and side effects of work and Gleevec.  I thought the cruise would be healing, and it was.  Very worthwhile.

There were a lot of places - Venice, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul, Naples/Pompeii, Rome, Florence, Toulon/Marseilles, and Barcelona.

I took more than 1,000 pics - easy to to with electronic camera with good memory card.  Very selective with pics to post - respecting the volume of memory needed, and this blog is really my gardening log.

When I was late teens / early 20s, I was a young soldier stationed in Turkey.  Getting to visit again was a bit of a bucket-list item.  That and Ephesus, and Rome, and Pompeii, and Barcelona.  I could not ask for more.

Four O'clocks, Ephesus Turkey, Oct 2014

In front if Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Oct 2014

 Since this was my year of the 4:00's, I liked seeing some in Ephesus.  Similar to some I grew here.

I tasted figs in Athens - larger but not as flavorful as the ones I grow.  I imagine that is because they need to travel from the countryside, so are not fully ripe.

Observing city and countryside trees and plants, there were lots of Sycamores, lots of olive trees, scattered fig trees, vineyards.

I-pad panorama views are pretty interesting.  They pull a lot into the photo.

As an autodidact student of religion and social history, I loved some of the places.  Example, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, built in the Christian Roman Empire, started in the year 537 possibly on older Christian and possible prior Roman or Greek Polytheistic temple site, some of the materials taken from the Ephesus temple of Artemis; with mosaics of religious figures, destroyed in the iconoclast period, sacked by the crusaders sent by the Catholic pope, rebuilt, then remade into a mosque by Ottoman Turks, victorious over Constantinople, becoming Istanbul, and finally, Ataturk, fed up with the intrigues and politics of the Caliphate, expelled the Caliphate and secularized the Mosque.  There has been some restoration, while still respecting the interplay of Christian and Muslim aspects.

Palms, Toulon France.  Oct 2014.

Sycamore, Topkapi Palace Compound.  Istanbul, Oct, 2014

 I am probably unusual in spending as much time admiring an ancient sycamore, as admiring paintings or sculptures, but that's how it is.

The Vatican / San Pietro piazza looks to me a lot like ancient Greek and Roman temples.

The Pantheon of Rome, built close to 2000 years ago and in continuous use, first polytheistic, then Roman Catholic, beautiful stone work, soaring spaces, and natural light via ostium at the summit.  Amazing place.

Inside Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Oct 2014

Pompei, with Vesuvius.  Oct, 2014.

Panarama inside Pantheon.  Rome, Oct, 2014

Panarama, St. Peter's Square, Oct 2014.

Today's Kitchen Garden Yield. 9.21.14

Kitchen Garden Yield.  9.21.14

Fingerling potatoes, Asian Pears, more Tomatoes, various winter squash, a yellow summer squash, okra, various peppers, containerized Thai and Tabasco peppers, and probably some things I forgot.

This is one of our best garden yields ever, for this time of year.  Very happy with the result.

Fall Planting Spring Bulbs. 9.21.14

Bulbs planted 9.21.14

I always plant bulbs this time of year.  Some have persisted and multiplied for a decade.  Some others seem to fade away with time.

At Battleground, deer eat tulips, muscari, and some of the others.  So none of those planted.

These "Joy of Gardening" bulbs from Fred Meyer are not reliable as far as color - last year the Anemone mix was all blue, and the daffodil mix was all the same.  But they grew well and it's OK.  These are the ones I planted this year.

Jetfire is early and very bright.  I have some that have multiplied for more than 10 years.  Ice Follies is also a nice variety.  I was going to move some, but it's easier to start over with new ones.  The double mix, we'll see what happens.

I usually plant narcissus in clumps of 3 to 6.  Instead of a single hole for each bulb, I did a "group hole" with shovel, place the bulbs, and cover.  The anemones, I pulled out the hard-scape tree edging around a ginkgo, planted the anemones, and filled in with soil.  The mulched area under the trees needs to be wider, so the edging is not needed or helpful.  It made for easy planting.

I have more to move when they sprout in Spring. This is enough for now.  I don't want to buy more than I can plant.  This was about 100 bulbs.  They will brighten Spring a little more.

Epiphyllum in bloom. Bunga bakawali / Tan hua. 9.21.14

Epiphyllum oxypetallum.  9.21.14

Epiphyllum oxypetallum.  9.21.14 

 The annual blooming of the "bunga bakawali".  This year was the first time at the Battleground place.  I've been keeping it on the east side of the house, watering about every other week.

Unlike past bloom seasons, this time the flowers have opened one at a time.  Which is nice, because I missed some of them, so I had opportunity to catch this one.  The flower was fully open at 10:30pm, and starting to close by 5am.

Prior posts describe this plant, known in Southeast Asia as Bunga bakawali and in China as Tuan hua.  It's very beautiful.  The fleeting moment of beauty is a lot like life in general.

Adding to the other info I posted, is this from wikipedia:  "
In India it is called Brahma Kamalam, named after the Hindu god of creation, Lord Brahma. It is also believed that the wishes of People who pray to God while the flower is blooming will be fulfilled....

The Chinese chengyu (four character idiom) 曇花一現 (tan hua yi xian) uses this flower (tan-hua; 曇花) to describe someone who has an impressive but very brief moment of glory, like a "flash in a pan", since the flower can take a year to bloom and only blooms over a single night. Therefore someone described as "曇花一現" is generally understood to be a person who shows off or unexpectedly gains some achievement and is thought to be an exception or only lucky. The flower also has a rich history in Japan, where it is known as the 月下美人 (Gekka Bijin) or "Beauty under the Moon".

Epiphyllum oxypetallum. 9.21.14

Figs. 9.20.14

Champagne Fig.  2nd year in container.  9.20.14

Carini Fig.  9.20.14

 The first-year Carini fig has produced a few figs.  Burgundy-red.  Big juicy figs, pronounced fig flavor.  Last year this variety also produced same-year from cutting, but I lost the tree due to freeze.  This fall I will store the new trees in a shed, which worked well for the ones I treated that way last winter.

This Champagne fig is 2nd year from cutting, stored in container in shed last winter.  The figs are smaller, glowing yellow, and very very sweet.  I like them a lot.

Tomatoes. 9.20.14

Better Boy Tomatoes.  9.20.14

This year was the best tomato crop ever for me.  The main difference, the only difference I can think of, is the pee-cycling.   Tons of big tomatoes, tons of cherry tomatoes.

Better Boy is one of my favorites.  Nice Midwest flavor.

Bud Grafting Update. 9.20.14

Tart Cherry.  9.20.14

Apple 1.  9.20.14

Apple 2.  9.20.14

 I've been very ill for 2 weeks, starting to recover.  No fever and back to work.  Still a lot of fatigue.

So gardening has lapsed.  Not much is lost, some wilting due to not watering.

The grafts mostly look pretty good, going into fall.   Now they should be uncovered.

Most of the tart cherry grafts appear to have taken.

Most if not all of the plums took.   The Satsuma tree died, so that doesn't count.

I only budded two apple buds, onto the 3-way grafted tree.  So if they take, it will be a 4-way tree.  These are un-named, from neighbor tree.  Small, McIntosh type, maybe small due to lack of care.  One looks more viable than the other.

A couple of the Sweet Cherry bud grafts did not take.  Most look like they did.

At least one lilac didn't take.  The others, I don't know.  The one that didn't take looked plump, but it fell off.

Asian Plum.  9.20.14

Sweet Cherry.  9.20.14

Grafting was one of the most fun parts of gardening this year.  I learned a lot, it's really easy, and kind of an adventure.

Okra. Ginger. 9.20.14

Okra.  9.20.14

Okra and Ginger.  9.20.14

The okra has been producing a few pods at a time, on the deck.  We get enough for stir fries and soups/stews.  This seems to be the key to growing okra in the Pacific NW - grow in containers indoors until really warm outside, continue in containers in sunniest, warmest place.  One 1 or 2 gallon container holds one okra plant, a 3-5 gallon can hold 3.  Different varieties do differently.  The best of the types I tried, so far, are Burgundy and Baby Bubba hybrid.

I'm very pleased to have fresh okra.  So good.

The ginger plants are also poking along.  It may just be too cool, even in the warmest spot.