Garden Update, Nov 21, 2011

It's been a while since I've done a Garden Update! Here's a pre-holiday splash of color! :-) Red & White for some Christmas cheer (although we haven't had Thanks Giving yet)

We've had a few good rains these past few weeks and another rain coming on Turkey Day.
We're thankful for the rain, yet worried about the radiation fall out from Fukushima. There really isn't much we CAN do about it besides stop growing food all together.

The Mandarins in the backyard are starting to blush too

Broccoli (the larger leaves), Red Leaf Lettuces and Daikon Radishes

The Swiss Chard that doesn't quit; I chopped all the Chard during mid-summer when it started getting invaded by aphids. This one decided it wanted to stick around even though I butchered it! Go Chard!  Baby Daikon radishes in the back, cotton on the right side.

Lettuce among the bulb onions

Can you find the sneaky Chayotes?

Must clean up. Tomato that needs to be taken down.

Elephant Head Amaranth on the left, Eggplant in the middle and New Zealand Spinach in the back. All about 2' away from the Valencia Orange

Here's the NZ Spinach right under the Orange Tree

Navel Orange Tree starting to ripen

Raindrops sparkling on the Lemon Grass

Gardenias

Rain accumulating in the pockets of the relief

I like the color contrast of the Red Leaf Lettuce and gravel in the background

Rain-drenched Morning Glories

Hawk!!

Our Pineapple Sage brings lots of humming birds

Here you can see his ruby red throat, sorry it's a bit blurry, they move so stinkin' fast!

This time I somehow captured his ultra-fast wings!

Strange bug on a green tomato.
The bright glare is from the stainless steel bowl

Reddish Mums!

White Mums :-)

Our goldfish...that live in 35 gallon trashbins.

Yes, ghetto and yes the water is quite green, but they seem happy.

Even more ghetto perhaps, is that they eat our slugs and small grasshoppers.

Hey, they are an important part of the cycle.

We use the some of the water from their tank on the lawn to feed it every-so-often,

then the lawn is cut and becomes compost or mulch.

This was on a sunny day, shot from our front window.

Can you believe we have Plumerias growing in November?

Harvest Updates, Nov 21, 2011

It's Mikan (mandarin) time!!!

Tree Kale(collard)

Chayotes, Yam greens, Akane apples, and our one and ONLY persimmon.

It's the first persimmon from this tree!

more Tree Kale(collard)

More Chayotes, the Last of the Cucumbers and a Zucchini

More Mikan :-)

Chayotes galore....when you get this much you just have to start giving them away! The red thing is a mini pomegranate. It's not very sweet, but sure is pretty!

These are White Guavas!

It does look a lot like the Chayotes,

but the taste and aroma are a world apart!

Surprise eggplant from the plant near our Valencia orange tree.

Another Chayote, Zuke Eggplant Guava, Mikan day

The Mikans we shared with our neighbor

turned into a TROUT!!!!

I wanted to share this trout with you even though we didn't grow it or harvest it, that swapping with your neighbors is an important way to diversify your diet!

(They fish at a local stocked private lake, but they don't eat fish!)

More Yam Greens, Mikans and Chayotes

Even MORE Chayote....argggghhh... we stir fry, we boil in soups, we bake them, we chop them up into fried rice, we put them in our salads yet they keep coming!!!

The difference between a Chayote and a White Guava.

Green Onions and a hefty Eggplant

Lots of Guava! Share some with the neighbors and our Gardener

Size comparison of a quarter with some of our larger Mikan