I checked my blog this morning and realized the photos were not uploaded correctly, I'm sorry for the technical errors!
It's been INCREDIBLY HOT these past few days! Temps hovering in the low 100's! Going outside has been a daunting task. August...It's always been tough month for the plants. Bugs take over usually this month and it's hard to gain back your ground.
It's been INCREDIBLY HOT these past few days! Temps hovering in the low 100's! Going outside has been a daunting task. August...It's always been tough month for the plants. Bugs take over usually this month and it's hard to gain back your ground.
On a positive note, the tiny little Mango Tree has fruit almost ready! Here's the tree next to 2 compost bins.
Behind the tree is an over-grown white Rhubarb enjoying the rich compost from the bins. The Rhubarb has been around a while, it was given as a gift to my Mom from one of her friends. Being asian, we just never had much experience with this plant, and don't know what to use it for. I know the leaves are not edible and the stalks are. The red-stalked varity is used for strawberry-rhubarb pies, but this one's not a fun color like red.
Does anyone have any good recipes for Rhubarb out there?
Yay, Mango!
We had to clear the Tomatoes, it was just too far gone. I've tried planting tomatoes in the next bed where the cucumbers have grown, but since we didn't grow a nitrogen fixer before the tomatoes, we'll see how they do with just the horse manure compost I got at a local produce exchange.
White Guava tree and under it grow Myoga. It's myoga season right now, where the flower buds form a bulby structure very close to the ground. You have to keep a look-out for them before they get tall. The aroma is unique, the texture is somewhat like a raw bulb onion.
Oca is surviving, but not thriving... The only one that seems promising is in the "Pond" herb bed. There the roots are kept cool under the rosemary bush. It's my first year growing these, so I can't say I know what I'm doing! It appears they don't really like our hot, dry climate.
This area is crammed with all kinds of edibles Valencia Orange tree, New Zealand Spinach, Garlic Chives, Green Onion, Bush Bean, Eggplant and Amaranth!
Here is a view of the "Pond" bed, near the back. Garlic Chives line the row, then the burdock. The burdock seem to despise our heat and are really thriving under the palm branches. I've planted some Corn inbetween the Burdock in the area where they are not thriving, hoping to use up the space.
More peppers. This photo is a bit old, the production rate of the peppers has dropped this past week due to the heat. That and me not having time to give them more nitrogen. The leaves are looking a little anemic now.
6 comments:
100°and above in late August...wow. With the rhubarb, we like to make a simple sauce out of it. We simply cook it down, often with strawberries, and add enough honey or sugar to suit our tastes. It's very good this way. I'm off to read up on myoga.:)
I'll trade u weather temps - it was in the low 50's here the other night. I woke up thinking that it was gonna snow, lol.
As to Rhubarb, I've made the Victoria Rhubarb BBQ Sauce from Ball Big Book of Canning. It's a bit to sweet (this year I'm gonna make it with splenda) it's great on roasted pork or Chicken.
Have rhubarb ready to harvest, but I'm just gonna can it up simple and use later for pies.
If I can sqweeze another harvest out before Nov. then I'm gonna sell to a gf. $ toward next years garden.
Your garden is amazing !
You have a spectacular garden - I have garden envy! I hope you don't mind me asking a few questions. You have plants growing directly under fruit trees - is that okay to do? I thought that the roots might compete and take nutrients away from the tree? Also, do you hand water your garden or have automatic watering in place? Finally, I really, REALLY, would love to grow some garlic chives, except that I haven't had much luck starting them from seed - was told best to start from a divided clump. Is there any chance I can buy a clump from you - please? Thank you!
Thanks Mr. H and Pelenaka for the rhubarb ideas! We're trying to avoid sugar as much as possible, but I can try the BBQ Sauce thing, with maybe some fig jam?
@ Pelenaka, I hear Splenda is not all that healthy, the chemical that they bind the sugar to is Chlorine, and that doesn't do you much good.
http://www.splendainfo.com/dangers-of-splenda
I gave up artificial sweeteners quite a while back. Have you tried Stevia extract?
Hi Wendy, yes we have things growing under our fruit trees, it doesn't seem to bother them, except the citrus don't like the excess water since they are grafted onto drought tolerant root stocks. The only no-no I've discovered is, avoiding the nightshade family. I almost killed an old avocado tree one time by planting tomatoes and peppers under it and the verticillium fungus hopped onto the tree.
http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/resources/ucdavis_verticillium.pdf
oh, forgot to mention, yes you can have some garlic chives. I don't need money for it. But, if you have any fruits/veggies or seeds to offer, I'd be glad to trade.
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