Sunday, October 30, 2011

Apricot Pie

These were apricots that I processed and froze this summer. I baked the pie using instructions for peach pie but cut back the sugar by about a third. This is my usual olive oil crust, but I used vinegar instead of lemon juice. The taste of vinegar cooks out, but it makes the crust very flaky. Yummy pie!

Rainy and Chilly

Turns out yesterday was the perfect day for a little planting - today is chilly and rainy. The rain will settle the bulbs and onion/garlic sets in nicely.

I read about planting garlic.  Some gardeners plant on the shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice) - we are WAY ahead of that.  Some plant in early October.  So I'm in good company.  The various ones that I'm sure I have missed in the ground have not sprouted above the ground, so I'm not much behind mother nature on that either.

I planted the following. They were from Dutchbulbs.com. The photos are from that site as well. I ordered them this summer, this time a small number due to I know I would not have a lot of planting time.

"Blushing Lady" Narcissus. Six bulbs. Something to add variety to the many others already planted over the years.

Narcussus "Dinner Plate". There were two very large bulbs - the size of Amaryllis bulbs.

Hemerocallis "Sixth Sense" listed as "6" flowers with ruffled petals in cream and gold tones with a red eye and wired edge. Mid-season, rebloomer, tetraploid, semi-evergreen." Being semi-evergreen it may not be as hardy as a dormant variety, more hardy than an evergreen.

Hemerocallis "Startle". This is a dormant variety, so considered more hardy.

Lilium citronella, an old variety. I like these. They are also labeled as "Yellow Turk's cap lilies".

Saturday, October 29, 2011

After some time off from gardening

During the past couple of days, I've started again.  In an era when many are jobless, it's important to have perspective.  Still, it is nice to do what I enjoy,


This week I bought 2 large plastic bins for container planters.  I planted garlic and multiplier onions.  One variety of garlic has been growing in my yard for 6 or 7 years, Incehlium red.  The plants that I had in containers did very well.  The plants in the garden were inhibited by weeds.  I also bought via mail order, from Southern Exposure, a couple of German Garlic heads.  These had huge cloves, but were a bit soft.  Both are planted.  If they grow, I'll have above 50 heads this fall.

I planted white potato onions this week, also in container.  This year the patch was overtaken by weeds, and I'm more and more sold on containers.  This is a bit late.  I've planted them as late as January, and I think they did OK, so late Oct planting should work too.

There are still some peppers and tomatoes and figs. Not bad considering I let them all go to weeds this summer.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Orchid Report

During all of the destruction, construction, work and chaos, I've tried to keep the orchids properly placed, watered and fed. There may be a few casualties, but I think most have come through it. One concern was the fumes from floor finishing - it may be a while before the effects show up, but there does not appear to be any immediate death due to that exposure.

A new addition, Brassada Orange Delight "Hilo Sunrise". It was in spike and is now blooming. Bright and cheerful, compact size. If it stays small, and grows new, blooming pseudobulbs next year, that will be great.

Yamamoto Dendrobium Spring Dream "Apollon". These are the first blossoms on growth in my hands. It's interesting that so many of the Yamamoto Dendrobiums bloom in summer and again in winter.

Another view of Spring Dream "Apollon". The central eye is greener than shows up on the digital photo.  It has a single keiki, which is cool. If there were a lot of keikis, it would be a sign over too much nitrogen, but this one is on old non-blooming growth, and is a single keiki.  I will let it grow in place for a while.  There is also a new growth from the base.  Once the plant is done blooming, I will change back to a higher nitrogen orchid food to encourage the new growth to develop.

Yamamoto Dendrobium Yellow Song "Canary".

Friday, September 09, 2011

Kitchen 99% done.



There are still some odds and ends. I always withhold judgement, or try to, until the lady with the cow-horn helmet sings. But I gotta say, this is a big change for the better. Doesn't quite feel like home, but I'm told that will pass.

Friday, September 02, 2011

Another small step in the kitchen

So close. Maybe another week. The first thing I'll make is a vegetable pie, with tomatoes and peppers from the garden. And a stir fry with beans that are wanting to be cooked now. It's hard to do that with no stove.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Kitchen. Another step closer.

Now with some cabinets.

The required doggie pic.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Fresh Fruit

Shiro plums. Only a handfull of others on the tree. That's really all I need right now.  They are only in their 3rd year.  This was the branch most in the sun. It was rainy during pollination time. That might have been an issue. I tried hand pollinating, don't know if that helped. My idea is next spring if it is raining during blossom time, cover with plastic.

These plums are amazingly good.  I never thought I liked plums.  Then someone brought in a bag of Shiro plums to work, a few years ago.  They were very good.  So I bought this tree.  It's worth it.  Eating them is almost like drinking a very sweet wine, with no astringency, like a muscat.

Fresh figs and plums, seconds after picking them. There are only a few. That's all I need at a time. This makes ripe fig breba this year as #1 Latturula (this week) #2 King (this week) #3 & #4 Vancouver (probably Brunswick) and Petite negri. The bigger brown one is Vancouver, the black one is Petite negri.  The plums are small.  Probably because I didn't water the tree during the heat.  That may be why they are so sweet as well.

Taste test for these varieties. I thought I would like the Brunswick (the light brown interior) better, based on memory from previous years. I like the Petite negri better. The Brunswick is sweet as honey, amazingly sweet. But I think the Petite negri is more "figgy" and still very sweet, with a better texture. Given a choice, I would take the Petite negri. They are all good.

Kitchen Remodel

The kitchen is another step closer. It now has a floor, the ceiling is painted, and the walls are painted. Next week, cabinets.

More from the raised beds.

The strawberries are doing great! I thought everbearing types might give one or two strawberries a month, but these are really productive, sweet, great flavor, red all of the way through. The deeper half/barrel has bigger and more berries compared to the shallower containers. That may be due to not drying out as fast.

The container grown beans are also more productive compared to the ones in the ground.