Fig Update. Looks like a good year. 6.4.18

Brunswick Fig Tree with Brebas.  5.4.18

The fig trees are doing great this year.  With a mild winter, and early spring, those with breba crops have lots of growing fruits.  The trees that look the most promising this year for big early crop:  Brunswick, Carini, Lattarula, and Desert King.  It's interesting, since Brunswick has not usually done that well.  But it's a big, sweet, delicious fig when it does. There is also a small tree that I started from a bonus cutting a number of years ago, "Sicilian White", with some brebas.

Trees that, earlier, had a lot of brebas that fell off:  Atreano (one remains, which will be the first taste if it matures), Smith, Hardy Chicago.

Most of the new growth on the fig trees, is past the 5-leaf stage.  That's when I tip the new growth to encourage a main crop.  I've been doing that on the daily tree inspections.

Back on Track. Resuming GrowingGreener Blog! Pawpaw Progress Report. 6.2.18

 I think the hiatus is fully over now.  Live is back to what passes for normal.  I've been continuing to garden, but it's been difficult to keep the blog going.  I think that's done now, so here we are again.

For starters, last month I pollinated as many pawpaw flowers as I could.  NC-1 got pollen from Sunflower, and vice versa.  Of the dozens that I pollinated, there are maybe one dozen little pawpaw clusters growing.  I'm stoked - this is the largest they've gotten for me, ever.  Maybe this will be the year!

Some continue to fall off.  I have been watering these pawpaw trees once weekly, with 2 5-gallong buckets of water.  Maybe that will help them hold on to their fruits.

Planting Annual Flowers, Brussels Sprouts, Collards, Tomatoes. 4.23.18

 Today the soil temperature was 65F.  It might be too early for zinnia and marigold seeds, but I planted some anyway.  Also some nasturtium seeds.

Brassicas, on the other hand, are cold tolerant.  I planted the collard green and Brussels sprouts seedlings into the vegetable garden bed.  I think they will thrive now.  If not, it's easy to grow more from seeds.

Yesterday I planted some of the tomato plants into their outside garden bed.  Again, it might be too

early, but these are extras and they are large enough that I'm finding it a challenge to take care of all of them.

I'm not sure if nasturtiums count as kitchen garden or flower garden.  The greens are peppery delicious in salads or mixed greens.  The flowers are also good.

Growing Oriental Poppies from Bare Root Starts. 4.21.18

These are poppy plants, from bare root starts that I bought at a big box store in January.  Two of the three plants survived an grew.  They are not as big and lush as the older oriental poppies in the yard, but I think they will bloom in a year or two.

Let's See if Deer eat Petunias. 4.21.18

I planted a "tree ring barrel" with petunias.  Deer are the main gardening challenge in my area.  I'm trying to find plants that they wont eat.  This year the deer pressure is higher than ever, with 2 families regularly crossing my yard. 

The "barrel" is a stack of concrete or cinder block type crescents that connect together into a ring, used to protect trees.  They stack nicely, and in that way make a barrel-type planter.  I like them because they last far longer than oak barrels, and can be disassembled easily and relocated in pieces, much easier than moving a big barrel.

We'll see what happens.  This may just be another deer salad bar.