Plans for 2012

Reflecting on this 2011, I realized that what I enjoy the most, my garden, is almost always on the back burner now. Gardening gives me peace, and I feel one with the world. I love the smell of the soil, I love looking at buds opening, I love growing from seed and watching a plant sprout, grow the first true leaves, transition from sprout to seedling to plant, to whatever it's going to become, a vegetable, a shrub, a tree, or whatever. I love puttering and trimming and planting and transplanting. I love making compost, mulching, preparing garden beds and containers.

And yet, I barely get into the yard now. Homework usually extends through the day off or weekend, or I'm not up to it.

Will 2012 be different? I hope so. Life isn't really worthwhile, going day to day to day without a break. There will be more time off - this time around I really will take the vacation time I've earned. I will remove some of the non-performers. There I'm thinking of one fig tree in particular, and a hazel nut tree. If the peaches don't perform next year, they are going as well. That will take away some maintenance time.

The raspberries will go, too. They spread too much, are too vigorous, and I don't have the room. Despite producing a lot of raspberries last year, we didn't eat many.

I'm not sure what else will be different. I keep moving into containers - much lower maintenance, and very productive. This winter will be a turning point.

No pics today. Jan 1st will be the start of renewal.

Schlumbergera season

They are way to easy to grow and bloom. Downside: as they grow larger, the flowers face downwards. If hanging, that's fine. On a table, up-facing flowers are easier to view. Summer outside in the shade. Try to remember to water them at least weekly. Bring inside when it's cooling down. Avoid keeping them in lit rooms at night - not difficult. When they start to bud, I provide some orchid bloom food in weak solution.

A pink Sclumbergera. Probably about 3 or 4 years old.

I think I was going to throw away this red one. But this year the color is very good. So I will keep it.

I grew this salmon Sclhumbergera from gift cuttings about 6 years ago. I think this year I will start from cuttings again, for more compact size.

Tolerance

Can I get up there?  Huh?  Can I?

Please?  I Promise I won't mess with the little animal there.

Don't even think about letting that creature up there.  Don't even think about it.

You let it on the bed.  Damn you!

That spot looks very comfortable.

Cymbidium spikes

This NOID cymbidium is the only one producing spikes now. I'll hold on to some hope for the others. One that bloomed last year is not making spikes yet. If they don't bloom, I will have an excuse to buy a new one.

Peppers

THe peppers did quite nicely this year. I've concluded that, in this area, the container method is the best way to grow them

Schlumbergera

I took the best looking Schlumbergera to work, so no pics of those! This one was left to dry out too much this summer, but is making a nice display of salmon colored flowers now. I think I will start some cuttings after it blooms, to have a smaller plant that is easier to care for.

This Sclumbergera was pure white last year. This year it is a very pale pink & white mixture. Really quite striking. It was in a mix, half red, and half white, and I separated them to have each color individual. This is an ideal size. The photo doesn't do it justice.

Some of my Ginkgos in the fall

These are 3 Ginkgo biloba trees that I started from seeds about 5 years ago. They are in potting soil in a half barrel. They got a big dose of compose this year and grew like crazy. The seeds were obtained locally from ginkgo trees here in Vancouver.

This is one of my front yard Ginkgo biloba trees. It is planted in the front yard in a hard clay soil. I water it once in a while in the summer. This tree is too tall for me to reach the top now. Growth is slower than the backyard tree, which is about 3 times as big, tall and with heavier trunk. The leaves on the backyard tree are still green, probably due to enrichment of the soil by the doggies - it's in the center of their "rest-room". This tree is about 13 years from seeds obtained by my dad from a local tree in Quincy Illinois, which itself had been grown by an old German gentleman, Herman Dege, who taught me about ginkgo trees, their ancient provenance, that they were conifers, and the dinosaurs grazed among them.

The 3rd Ginkgo, from my dad's seeds. This is the smallest, only about 6 ft tall now, in a drier spot with even worse clay soil. Still, it grows little by little.

Saturday homework

Just homework today.
Goals tomorrow:
Get through homework backlog (yeah, right)
Inflate bike tires. Leave them for a few days to see if they deflate.
Bake pie.
Make lunches for Monday

I'm keeping the birds well fed. There were very few insects around this summer. Maybe the birds helped.

It's hard to get a good pic of the birds. I don't want to sit waiting for them. There are birds at the feeder almost constantly.

My buddy Charlie.

He stays by my side while I'm doing homework.  I couldn't survive without him.

My home office window.  The orchids are in an in-between stage.  Not growing much, not blooming.  The holiday cacti are blooming like crazy.  One cymbidium has started sending out spikes.  I haven't decided if I should leave the others outside.  It's starting to become chilly.

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".