Sunday, June 29, 2008

Aarrrgggghhhhh. Figs at whole foods, $6.50 a pint. Not as good as home-grown, not nearly as good. Had to buy some, to get a taste since there may not be a breba crop this year.

Most of the Vancouver fig brnaches are pinched a the tips now. That gives me some hope, since the pinching is only done when there are about 5 or 6 good leaves.

Despite a slow start this year, it's looking good now.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Gingko trees. Progress report.


Medium Ginkgo tree:
2008 19 inches (so far) with current total height 65 inches
2007 14 inches, final height 46 inches
2006 11.5 inches, final height 35 inches
2005 final height 23.5 inches




Smaller Ginkgo tree:
2008 16 inches so far with current total height 40 inches
2007 11.5 inches, final height 24 inches
2006 final height 11.5 inches

Onions and Garlic

All of the multiplier onions have fallen over and are drying. So I pulled them up. I'll dry them in the shade - one year I dried shallots in the sun and they all cooked. These are the "white potato onion". I like the flaver - it's different from modern varieties. Maybe more like a shallot, but milder. Plan: save about 6 larger bulbs, and most of the smaller bulbs, since there isnt much to eat on the small ones. Plant thme in september. The rest can be eaten.

Multiplier onions. Here they are drying in the shade.

The first garlic plants are drying out and falling over. These were levtovers from the year before - I did not know they were still in the ground.

Inchelium Red garlic. Not brown yet - I'll wait until they are. Given the size of the plants, I'm hoping for BIG garlic bulbs. This variety is the one that I think I'll keep growing. To the side, potatoes almost ready to bloom. At the rear, Ning's Chinese Beans are climbing their strings.

Clustermap

CLustermap showing the past 11 months or visits. Total in 2 years 17,354.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Strawberry Time!

Strawberries are the "unsung heroes" of the backyard orchard / garden. They take up minimal space. I use them as borders around the vegetable garden and fruit trees. They are very very cheap - a couple of plants will quickly multiple to dozens, if you allow the runners to root and grow. I probably have about 100 plants, but only bought 4. Currently I cut off all of the runners, because I have little use for more plants. At the Farmer's Market today, they were $2.00 per pint. We eat a couple of pints per day, and this will probably continue for the next month. They do take some maintenance, especially cleanup and weeding.

Border for the rose garden. Since the roses are organic, no issues with eating the strawberries.

Today's catch.

I've seen "Buddha's Hand" citron. This is the strawberry version. Tasted the same as the others.