Before and After

It's nice to look back and see how far we've come, so here's a flashback in time:

Mostly dirt, some patches of left-over lawn and large rocks strewn about.

Feb 2009

And this is present day

April 2011

Garden Updates April 25, New Vine Trellis and New Bed!

This is one of the few figs that over-wintered.

The other new figs look like this still.

Edible Chrysanthemums are cute as well as yummy. There's my son in the background pulling carrots

Guess what!? Tim dug a new bed just in time for the tomatoes! We double dig the beds and amend with LOTS of compost so it's not simply fitting in the wood framework.

Blackberries with a lot of flower buds. Yes, there's a huge hole on the right side. Tim was digging out last year's compost that he buried

Looking at the Loquat tree from under it's canopy

Here's the new Vine Trellis. Nothing fancy. We just needed something quick for our Chayote, Ground Nut vines, Passion Fruit vine and Chinese yam vines.

The Myoga is doing well

The neglected half of the garden where it's mostly ornamentals.

A view from under the Loquat tree

Swiss Chard planted, now that the lettuce is almost done.

Lupini beans are barely hanging on as they are masticated each night by the slugs!

This isn't the peach tree in the front yard. This one is a volunteer peach that came up in a 15 gallon pot that is practically ignored on the North-East side of the house. It seems hardier than the one we planted in the front. Mom says keep it and wait to see which tree will bear a better tasting fruit. 

Zuke blossom!

Onto the next bed~! Weekend Warrior Tim started diggin' up more dirt!

Harvest Updates

Garlic Chives are extremely hardy and productive. (But very pungent!)

 Strawberries, Carrots, NZ Spinach and Komatsuna greens

Carrot Bouquet!

More Carrots and Strawberries

Meals from the Garden

Garden Stir-Fry with HG(Home Grown) Carrots, Yu Choi and Komatsuna. Farmer's Market bought items: Cabbage and Zucchini. Canned item: Straw Mushroom.

HG New Zealand Spinach quickly blanched. We eat this with a bit of soy-sauce. Our son eats it like if you were to put a plate of french fries out in front of him, with both hands stuffing his face!

Been busy! More Strawberry Jam canning, Komatsuna pickling, and seed starting some onion and more Lupini beans.

HG Seri in the rice, HG Garlic Chives, Carrots and Sun-chokes in the stir-fry

Canning jars are piling up! Next to them are some dried herbs

Garden Hot Pot with Komatsuna, Carrots, Green Onion, Edible Chrysanthemum and NZ Spinach. Store bought items include Shiitake mushrooms and White Button mushrooms. Organic Chicken & Wild-Caught Salmon to flavor the broth as well.

Lucky Hummy

This lil hummingbird was a lucky one. He/she was caught by Lori our cat about 2 months ago.  Fortunately, I was there when it just happened and I was able to get Lori to stop gnawing on the poor thing.  The bird lost most of it's tail feathers and was in quite a shock and couldn't fly. It didn't look like it had any internal damage.  So, I made a temporary rest stop in a bucket with a soft cloth until he/she was ready to fly off. I also made some nectar with organic sugar and some water and fed it some.  After about 20 minutes he/she was ready to fly so we let it go.
I almost forgot to post this but was looking through the pics on my computer and found it.


Below is our son's rendition of "Humiy" as a memento of the occasion. Just the other day, a hummingbird came so close as I was watering the garden in the morning. It hovered right in from of the water spraying out of my garden hose. Then about a foot away from me, it landed on the wet stone and started bathing! I soooo wish I had a camera then.  It was so adorable. I also wondered if it was the same bird we rescued about 2 months ago.

Flowers of April

Harvest Updates April 20

Radishes, Komatsuna greens and celery

LOTS of Loquats,  Strawberries, more Komatsuna greens, and New Zealand Spinach

This is Seri (Oenanthe javanica) another Apiaceae family. The Apiaceae family includes carrots, celery, parsley, cilantro(coriander), dill, cumin, parsnips and even queen anne's lace)

More Komatsuna Greens. We have so much that we salted then to make Tsukemono.

Garden Updates April 18

Lots of Roma Tomato blossoms

Diamond Eggplants starting to come along

Romaine Lettuce starting to flower

Mango blossoms in full bloom. We'll see if there will be any fruit set this year. Last year there were 3 or so, but the tree dropped the fruits prematurely.

New plant alert! This is a perennial tree kale plant. I received 2 cuttings of these from a generous friend.  It can supposedly grow 6' tall!

Canna Edulis. Edible Canna or Arrowroot plant. The tubers can be eaten

Apios Americana or "ground nut".  They are very small still.  It's not peanut, but a tuber. The plant is a climbing legume that fixes nitrogen, grows tubers and also flowers and beans that are edible

Just a view

Amish Paste Tomatoes in pots already flowering. The big problem... we're out of beds to plant them in!  The older beds have all grown the Solanaceae (nightshade) family and I want to make sure I don't keep repeating crops to avoid diseases.

Daikon radishes growing well among the others

Cucumber needed a stake to climb on, so I placed a bamboo post right by

Fresh, healthy snack right out of the ground!