Fruit tree order

Maybe it's way too early. I ordered 2 new fruit trees today for planting this winter. Last year's trees came in January, which was an ideal time to plant them.

The new trees are plums. I don't think that I can copy the photos because they are copyrighted, so here are the links -

Shiro plum. Stark's has a lush photo of Shiro plums here. Dave Wilson Nursery gives some more details here. Details that went into this choice are: I've eaten them and they are very good. Those were locally grown. They are self pollinating. That may not be important since they'll be near an aprium and another Japanese plum.

Hollywood plum.

Obviously from the links, they are from Raintree Nursery. Based on older blog entries, my 2007 fruit trees arrived mid february 2008 - and they've grown great.

Today's Catch

This was yesterday's catch - my 'day off'. I made some 'blonde salsa' - yellow tomatoes, yellow peppers, onion and garlic, all from the garden. Very good.

A few more, this is today's catch.

Ning's eggplants. He's had several crops.

The fall planting of beans is blooming. There are tiny beans forming. It might be a race to fall, but maybe this method worked and we'll get a fall crop of beans. This rotation was garlic -> beans this summer.

The slugs ate a few holes in the leaves, but the mesclun grew by leaps and bounds. Good for stir fry or fried rice.

September 11th is my garlic planting day. My day to remember planting garlic, mainly because I was planting garlic on that horrific day. Not much room, since every nook and cranny is filled, but this spot is somewhat open. This location contained beans until a few weeks ago. The bean plants finished bearing, and were fed to the chickens. Nothing goes to waste. I planted cloves from 3 heads of Inchellium Red. Next to find a place for some German Red, which I like better due to flavor but it is not as productive. This rotation was scallions -> beans -> garlic. After planting, I applied swept-up leaves for mulch ans some chicken wire as kitty/doggy deterrent. Neither critter can resist freshly dug soil (kitty for her litter, doggies for digging).

In a note, the work hours are not tolerable, at 13 to 15 hours daily. Fortunately, this time of year, all that the garden needs is watering about every 3rd day, and a little puttering each weekend. We'll see next year if the work report is better.

Lots of tomatoes this week.. AFter so much pessimism about whether they would produce at all, I'm happy to have a good crop.

The dogs had fun at Long Beach this weekend. I slept in the car while Ning drove.

Charlie is so animated that it's next to impossible to get a good shot.

Brugmansia

Charlie's not as enthusiastic about this as I am. It's late but I had neglected it for a couple of months. Not sure what's causing the holes in the leaves, probably a caterpillar.

Today's Harvest

The first pears were eaten today. Very good. Still a handful of beans. Cayenne peppers are reddening. Still a little sourness in the grapes, but definitely closer. Tomatoes are in full performance mode. Some squash blossoms - raw, they taste like lettuce. Some lettuce - this was left over from Spring, and somehow is at it's peak now.

Mesclun is full of holes - slugs. Tome fo rsome organic slug bait.