Garden Updates

Happy Spring! Spring has definitely sprung here in SoCal. Here's a snapshot of our back raised beds. The fig tree is vigorously leafing out and has already started fruiting. This is actually a very unusual thing for our fig tree. Last year it had 2 fruits that came out with the new, spring growth, this year we seem to have at least a dozen. Normally, fig trees will spout their leaves first, then the fig "flowers" come later.

 Here's the "pond" I dug out most of the burdock except a few so we can  hopefully get the burdocks to flower, then set seed. I seeded the rest of that back(left side in this pic) with sesame seeds since we found quite a bit of root-knot nematode infestation. I also sprayed a generous amount of Dragonfire SPP in that area as well. I will be growing marigolds there just to top it off and hopefully get rid of most of them. This "pond" soil is VERY sandy since the soil was brought in to fill the hole. Root-knot nematodes love sandy soils.

 Clivia under the Navel Orange tree is in full bloom!

 Valencia Orange tree in bloom

 Columbine

 Lori sitting by the white, delicate Azaleas

 Freesias in a pot next to the raised bed of lettuces

 Here are the lettuces, tender and enjoying the day after the rains

 This area will end up having 2 more raised beds, but for now, we have soil mixed with compost for potting. I also have a few stray plants that have decided that it's a great place to live. (Potatoes, black radish, spinach and a few strawberry plants)

 Starting the Solanaceae and the Apiaceae families in the "green house". I'm also starting the peppers and eggplants. I have a special trick I'm trying this year. Placing the seeds in a ziplock bag with a moistened, paper napkin, then closing the bag and taping it to the back of my iMac. (constantly warm behind there!)

 Now, onto the front garden: Red roses in full bloom!

The Kyohou grape has broken dormancy and is happily climbing towards the top. It looks like it has a good number of flower clusters too.  :) 

 Pansies and edible Lupines (Lupini) under the persimmon tree

This is the divide between the neighbor and our property. It's been widened from about 1 ft to nearly 3ft wide over the winter and gated off so the animals don't do their "business" there. We have broad-beans, peas, cosmos, asparagus, and nasturtiums planted here.

close-up on the broad-beans (fava)

Close-up on the peas

 Here is the view of it from the other end. We placed some stepping stones inside so we can tend to the plants. On the right side of the stepping stones is "Alauria" the peach tree. She has flower buds for the very first time!!! :)

 Our ornamentals

Apple: Fuji always seems to wake up sooner than Akane.

 Japanese Maple in front of Plumeria

 Delicate, yellow, thornless rose vine; A cutting was given to us from our neighbor and mom has grown in to 6 ft in height now.

Front Garden Updates

The front Garden is starting to wake up from the winter slumber already
This area is the long strip that is planted with Asparagus (Jersey Knight). I planted some Peas and Fava Beans and they have started to sprout, but I noticed these mushrooms before the Pea sprouts, mushrooms are so cute. :-) Does anyone know what these are called? I wouldn't eat them, but I wish I knew what they were called.

Here you can see the Pea sprouts on the sides of the mushroom trio

Pansies grown from seed, they just sprout where the parent plant was, we'll move them sometimes so that they'll line up in a nice ring around the Persimmon tree.

Lupine seedling

Rose and Rock

Succulent Blossoms

"Alauria" our front garden peach tree

Pretty asparagus berries...the neighbor's wall looks almost like sky or snow, ha!

wildflowers on the east-side of the house

Wintering (Fuji) apple

Sleeping beauty, (Akane) apple

Avocado (Haas)

Avocado (Haas) blossoms

Plants growing under the Avocado tree are pretty much self-sown right now. Cosmos, Edible Ice Plant, Johnny Jump-ups, Royal Purple bush-beans and Purple Orach. Along with the Blue Basil pictured at the base of the tree in the full-tree picture above

Garden Updates, August 23rd

As you can see from our harvests, our little fig tree is an amazing producer


Here's a view of the little fig tree" that can" It's about 7' tall and about as wide. It's an unbelievably small tree for the amount of fruit it supports

Here's our Zucchini bush that keeps going. It grew out and is now resting on a path.

Here is a sweet potatoes and corn bed. Trying this companion planting to see if it works.  The concern is, corn is a very nitrogen hungry plant, yams are not. Yams supposedly don't produce well in their tubers if you supply too much nitrogen. All you get is leaves. So, currently we are only giving compost to the corn's "feet" and not the sweet potatoes.  Let's see how it turns out!

Cucumbers, which I train the vines almost daily

A view from one angle. There's Kabocha pumpkin in the bottom left, carrots and onion bed in the middle, okra on the left side mid area, 

Okra

Peppers

Lettuce hiding in the shade

Burdock and Amaranth

Onto the front garden: This is the divide between our neighbor and us. Asparagus was planted earlier. Now we have Corn, Bush Beans, Dill and Cosmos growing there.

These Fuji's are looking mighty fine!

Satsuma Mikan (mandarines)

"Alauria" the peach tree gifted from our neighbor is growing pretty well. We've had a few problems at first, peach tree borers which lay eggs on the branch tips and the larvae bore their way into the new branches. I just kept pruning off the infested parts and boiling them before throwing them in the compost. We'd also had white mildew but we stopped watering so much and the problem went away. Under the peach tree, I have a rare purple sweet potato growing.

This is the Haas Avocado. Under it I've planted some Royal Purple and Green Lake Bush Beans, Blue Basil, Purple Orach and some Cosmos. Two voluntary vines of sweet potato have also sprouted, since we had planted them there last year. We're not sure if we have enough time for the Sweet Potatoes to properly grow tubers, but we're just letting it grow.  Maybe there's a streak of purple in me. Most of these plants have purple tones!

Here's one of the Akane Apples, we just have a few this year. I think 7 was the total. Last year we had 3.