Bakyard Orchard Walkabout

Midsummer, the yard and backyard orchard is jungle-like in greenery.

On the left Illinois Everbearing mulberry. This is year #3. Not many mulberries yet, but the ones I get are incredibly good.

Container gardens, tomatoes, beans, onions, peppers.

Left to right, pole beans, King fig, Sal's fig (in white pot), Bonanza miniature peach (2 peaches this year - leaf curl disease again), and some branches of Lattarua fig.  The Sal's will move to the Battleground place soon.

The purple leaf tree is Hollywood plum.  The plums are still firm but getting closer.  On the far left, one of the ginkgos I grew from a seed, now about 10 feet tall.  Half as tall as the one the same age, in the back yard.  The difference is likely the benefit of watering, improved soil, lots of dog "product" over 10 years in the back yard.  The mulch is made from prunings I took from the cherry trees.

The grass is brown for the summer.  It will grow back.  Apple on the right is Jonagold.

Charlie standing by Liberty Apple.

The yellow fruits are Shiro plum. We've eaten a few. This week they should be in full juiciness and sweetness.

Today I noticed the summer figs starting to soften. Maybe a week away? This is variety "Petite negri", red inside, blue-black outside. My favorite.

Scene of the Crime

Murder most fowl in the hen house. I've discovered that instead of the usual 3 hens, we now have 2 hens and a pile of feathers. No calls yet from CSI-Vancouver.

There's not even a corpse to draw a chalk outline around. I suspect raccoons. Possum or rat wouldn't carry the body away. I think. The survivors are traumatized. One has witnessed a similar crime before. If only she could talk.

Lilies

I don't know the name for this one. It's quite beautiful. It's now mid season for lilies. The orientals are just beginning. Tiger type lilies are finishing. I pollinated Citronella with pollen from Orange Turks Cap lily (Lilium henryi). The Asiatic lily hyrids are long gone, and the Trumpet lilies are almost gone as well.

First fig of the year.

The prize goes to Lattarula. I had one yesterday but it was slightly spoiled on the tree. So the is the first really good fig. At 72 grams it's a fair sized fig, nice and juicy and sweet.

I also planted 3 little fig plants at the new place in Battleground. More on that later. The soil is a little better than it was originally here in Vancouver, but not much. Plus, it's mid summer, hot, dry. As potted fig plants, they should have less transplant shock than one dug out of the ground. I planted 2 King figs, each about a foot tall, and one Petite negri, which I've been growing for about 4 or 5 years and has a fair number of small figs on its branches. With lots of water and lots of mulch, maybe they will do OK. One year I left a potted Petite negri fig plant sitting on the deck without water for about 2 months, and it survived.

Beans are ready

These are the beans I planted in tubs April 14, so roughly 90 days from seed to bean.

There are lots more beans on the plants, ready or barely formed.

The beans themselves aren't visible until you get right into the plant.