Plums in bloom. 3.14.18

Hollywood Plum.  3.14.18

Hollywood Plum (pink flower) and Shiro Plum (white flower) in full bloom. Unless there's a late frost, it looks like there will be a bumper crop of the world's best plums this year. Hollywood is deep purple, inside and out. Shiro is yellow, super juicy, and super sweet. 

From what I've read, neither of these cultivars require a pollination partner.  Since I have them planted near each other, I can't say whether that is true.  Both are on the North side of the house, not in full sun, and are still incredibly productive and trouble free.

Sourdough Cast Iron Skillet Pizzas. 3.13.18

Pizza Pizza! Not about gardening, except for the Roma tomato sauce.  Back on track with sourdough crust, cast-iron skillet pizzas with home grown Roma tomato sauce. These crusts take a long time to rise, starting in the morning for an evening pizza. I might experiment with a faster yeast crust, or a hybrid for more sourdough flavor, but they are worth it. Time to start Roma tomato seeds today, too.

Sourdough bread with Jalapenos. 3.11.18

Since Ning had his heart surgery, I quit adding cheese to the breads. This loaf is sourdough, with jalapenos sauteed in olive oil, plus 2 tbsp olive oil. I don't miss the cheese, and love the flavor and texture. I've been feeding and using and regenerating this sourdough starter for more than a year now, and it's still excellent.  Often, I use at least 50% whole wheat flour, but sometimes I just use unbleached bread flour.

Violets. 3.11.18

From time to time I dig up violet plants from the old yard in Vancouver, and plant them in borders and beds in the Battleground yard.  They make a nice ground cover and few weeds will grow in them.  Herbivores and slugs don't seem to eat them.  I don't give them any care. 

Fifteen years ago, I planted some violets from my parents' yard in Illinois..   The plants and leaves were bigger, but slugs kept eating those and they died out.  So apparently, NW violets are less palatible to slugs.

Resilient Collard Greens Plants. 3.11.18

This is different. These are old collard greens plants that I pulled out last fall to clean up a garden bed. I threw them into the chicken yard so the hens could pick them clean, and left them in the sun for a couple of weeks. The stems were still firm, so I thought, wonder what will happen if I replant them. So I did. They survived the winter, and are making new crowns of greens on the top again. Those are resilient plants.  We've been eating greens from the collard greeen plants all winter long.  This is the 3rd year for these chicken-rescue plants.