opuntia

Opuntia flowers. I was thinking about removing this cactus. It's difficult to weed around it. Especially when the weeds are thistles - double ouch! Frankly, the fruits are not great and take a lot of effort in slicing and peeling for minimal taste. The flowers only last one day, and most bloom over a period of a few days.

Still, when it does bloom, it's interesting. As the flowers age, the color changes dramatically. Interesting. Maybe I'll keep it.

Featured Blog

This is an interesting read from Iowa: "Plants are the strangest people"

Darker colors

Mixed colors with burgundy, lavender, purple, and colors that I don't know how to name.

Rose of Sharon

Eggplant

Malva - a weed in my garden.

Tradescantia pallida

Sempervivum

White

Sweet alyssum. Nicely fragrant. Has been re-seeding itself in containers and on the ground.

Chilian jasmine. Nicely fragrant. It hasn't been getting the TLC that it needs, but manages to survive.

A white-flowered sedum. Very hardy, extremely easy to grow, prevents weeds, stays compact, can be spread over a large area wtih no-effort cuttings. In the winter, I just cut off pieecs and stick them into the ground. That's all.

Pascali. One of the all-time winners. It still hasn't settled in here. I'm not giving it a lot of care, either. So far not much fragrance.

I think that this rose is called Jennifer. It's a bit like the variety 'popcorn'. Very hardy. The catalog claimed so fragrant you can smell it at a distance. Not.

Trumpet lily. Not perfectly white, but the only white lily that I have blooming right now. I can't tell if it's fragrant.

Huimingbird fun

The hummers are visiting regularly. Sometimes there are several.
My hand isn't steady enough for a perfect shot.
They are fun to watch. The especially like the crocosmia.

Today's Green Change

Daniel's "before".

Ning's "before" = Daniel's "after".

Ning's "after".


For me, bike is absolutely better, but long hours make it impossible.
Ning has a much longer commute the improved milage will have a big impact.
The bumper sticker was mine already.

tomato log

Tomato heights - randomly selected

Lemon Boy 38" and 42"
Ponderosa Red 22 "
Sweet 100 32" adn 34"
Most of the rest appear to be in the high 20s to low 30s.

Yellow

The yarden does not have a 'theme'. Maybe organic, or diverse, or multifunctional, or love of nature. But no 'landscape' or 'design' theme (sorry HGTV. actually, not sorry). Still, sometimes there is a 'momentary theme'. Currently it could be 'berries'. I noticed that there was a lot of yellow in these pictures, so today it's 'yellow'. That's realizing that there are lots of colors all over the place. Especially green. But today, we'll stick with yellow.

Unknown yellow rose.

Yarrow

Yellow Sahin's Clivia, out of season but blooming nicely.

Petunia.

David Austin rose, Happy Child.


Tomato "Sweet 100"

Sedum with yellow flowers.

Yellow leaf sedum.

Fig Progress Notes

Almost all of the fig branches are at the 5-leaf point where I remove the tips. The earlier branches are responding with embryonic figs. There is hope for the future! This one is Hardy Chicago and seems to be the earliest to start main crop this year.

Berry time

Strawberry peak season.

Raspberries too.

Here is are my biased opinions regarding raspberries: These highly expensive, delicate, very delicious fruits are very easy to grow and worth having in the organic yard. These came from what were originally 2 plants that were basically sticks about 1 foot long; and one more that invaded under the fence from a neighbor. They are fairly trouble free so far, in the 4th year that I have grown them. They produce about 1 bowl, as pictured, daily, and have done so for 2 weeks. They'll probably continue for about 2 more weeks, and the current canes will be worn out. New canes have already grown in their midst, and they'll start bearing late summer for about another month. So, every day I get to eat hand-fulls of a fruit that I would not have bought due to the high cost at the grocery store.

If I was smarter, I would have planted them with an underground barrier, like the bamboo, since they have their own idea about where they want to grow. Maybe I'll work on that this winter.

Cherry Trimming

Gradually, this tree is recovering from a "flat top haircut" that it was subjected to before we bought the house. Each summer I remove dead branches, and a few crossing branches, keeping to a "bowl" shape with open center. A couple of larger branches have died - it might be a losing battle.

I like to leave spurs on the sides of big branches, which result in tufts of flowers in the spring without obscuring the aged branch structure. These spurs result from prining suckers back to short stems with a few leaves.

Cat Body Language

She was found homeless, feral, and malnourished. Not any more. Initially we named her "George W. Bush". The only thing that she answers to is "kitty kitty kitty.". Her body language has many words. All translate to "me".

Alert

Hunting

Pretzel

Play

Stretch

Tomato Progress notes

Tomatoes now range from 20 inches to 32 inches. Tallest are Supersweet 100 and Lemonboy, both at 32 inches. Not actual tomatoes on the vines, but many blossoms.

Cilantro is blooming like crazy. The purpose, other than to have seeds for next year, is to attract hoverflies and tiny wasps which are considered beneficial.

Random thoughts, learning to live greener

I started thinking about why we do the things that we do. Simple things add up, and sometimes simple things can make a difference. Like the quote from Margaret Mead. "Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty". Like this example, years of putting clothes into the dryer, even though it's in the 80s outside, dry and sunny. The dryer uses energy, generates heat (and it's already a very hot day), and pulls cool air out of the house. Is the dryer easier? Probably not much. It's not that big of a deal to hang clothes on a line. Is it faster? Who cares, it's not like we're standing there fanning the clothes. Do the clothes come out better, cleaner, neater? Not really, and for most, it doesn't matter. Do the neighbors care about clothes on the line? If the do, how obnoxious of them. Is the dryer better for clothes?" Probably not, the dryer lint suggests that dryers gradually wear clothes down. I guess there's always the bird poop issue, but how often does that happen? So why do we use the dryer instead of hanging clothes on the line? I have no idea. Just habit, I guess. Just not thinking.

That being said, it started raining after these were hung out to dry. Still, it will pass, and they'll dry soon enough.

I know, it's not like I just discovered how to make solar cells from used plastic water bottles. Still, sometimes we just need to THINK about why we do what we do. Maybe it can make a difference.

True, about 4 months out of the year, hanging clothes outside may not be an option. But there is the other 8 months. An indoor drying rack might help with the 4 rainy winter months, and humidify the house a bit when it is most needed. And not drawing heated air out of the house.

This photo is probably my great-grandmother and her daughter.

Postcard from Manilla, 1907

It's the washing, not the drying, that's so much work. You won't see me outside with a washboard, but this summer I'll try to continue this new habit, and continue working on living in a more aware manner. Not just with living greener, but other ways as well.

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.

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.