Garden Updates

Tada!!! Finally, the new bed is finished. The peppers were *supposed* to go here, but we put those in the ground already where the potatoes were(had to dig the taters out early grrrr) .... So, I'm thinking Kidney Beans and Corn here!


Here's the Chard, Bush Beans and Lupini bean bed

Here's the Chard and the Royal Purple Bush Beans up close
 

The large tree is the Loquat tree. This is the "Before" pic.
I'm doing some major pruning to it right now.

Here it is in mid-progress. Why am I cutting it so severely? These trees grow extremely fast. When one branch grows, it extends about 2' and each year there are about 3 growth spurts. So, in one season, this tree can easily grow 6'!!!
 

The Tomato that never quits. This Tomato grew on it's own in the middle of winter and survived to produce hundreds of bite sized sweet tomatoes. Each fruit is about 2" long and a brownish color. Not pretty but very tasty.

Here's our Brown Turkey figs, I'm always amazed at this tree. It's only about 7' tall and it always grows 7 or 8 clusters of figs on each branch.

Little Kabocha Pumpkin from a volunteer plant

Navel oranges are the size of a golfball now

Kyohou grapes are fattening up!

We bought a Patio table and chair set at a yard sale for $65.
We just need to reupholster the seats and they'd be good as new!

Here are the chairs... we want to place the set under the Grape Trellis
in the front garden once we put the fence around our property.

Hi Lori!

Here's the back side area, the giant hole is still there by the Blackberry bramble waiting to be filled

Blackberries in progress... can't wait for dark, sweet, tartness

It's hard to tell, but I planted Sweet Potato slips where the Celery had been growing.  Guess how I obtained these slips? It's kind of a gamble, but I purchased them at the Farmer's Market.  They were selling them as greens to sautée

The left vine is Passion Fruit, The middle lower part is Chayote and Morning glory.  I've got to move fast and plant the Ground Nuts and Chinese Yam (Nagaimo) as well!

This is under the Fig tree. Can you see the yellow 4 o'clock? Look in the foreground and you can see a stick with writing on it. That's where I direct seeded the Comfrey

Here is where the "Salada Musume" Burdock seeds were planted

Eggplants and Bell Peppers growing steadily

Tree Kale thinking happy thoughts

It's starting to look like a jungle! In the foreground are the

Zukes, Cukes, Pumpkin, Lettuce and Green Shiso

Garden Updates

Front Garden Updates: We moved the peach tree from the parking belt area where the ivy is and planted it where the Papaya tree that perished with the frost was... :-(   The tiny peach tree is in the lower left corner of the pic.  The very green tree in the middle is the Mikan (mandarin) tree

Close-up on the Mikan Tree, the buds ready to burst into blooms. I've noticed that there are very few bees this year and I'm worried for them because of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) and for the trees that need pollinators to set fruit.

Here is the front garden Grape Trellis in the works. There needs to be some design revisions, but slowly we are seeing it come together.

Haas Avocado in it's 2nd season here.  It has blossomed profusely and we've had to support the heavy "head" with some thick stakes.

Fuji Apple showing some new growth

This is the new buds of the Persimmon tree in the front garden

Now, we go to the backyard.  This is our make-shift greenhouse to start seeds. We've covered it with plastic during the coldest months to keep it warm and frost free. These past 2 weeks have been warm so we haven't closed the plastic.

The fig tree took a relatively short break and is already leafing out with vigor. It even over-wintered some figs and is growing quickly. This little fig is about an inch long already!

Celery inside the bed, on the upper right outside of the bed is Shungiku (edible Chrysanthemum)

Green Table Grapes are energetically sending out new growth. There's quite a few flower clusters too :-)

Just cleared the Peas, and in place we're getting some potatoes ready. I'm slicing them up according to the nodes on the potatoes, then letting them dry a day.  The nitrogen from the root nodes of the peas should help the potatoes nicely, and we'll amend with compost from the bins as well.

White Freesias enjoying the cool afternoon under the Valencia Orange tree. In the back the strawberries have geared up for production.

Garden Updates-Front Yard Trellis

We've been waiting, and my brother finally had some time to work on the foundations for the grape trellis that will go up in the front yard.  Here, he and Tim are measuring to level the posts since our property has a gentle slope downwards towards the street. The bucket and the bag have gravel we sifted out from the dirt we hauled in from San Dimas.

Here they are using some tools to levy the heavy concrete foundation post.

Here they go, into the hole!

Trying out the wooden post, temporarily to see how it looks.

Now this is exciting!

Garden Updates

Beautiful Alma Paprikas turning color

Egyptian Walking Onions that I traded at the RIPE Altadena (Residential In-season Produce Exchange of Altadena)

Amish Paste Tomatoes still going strong in the bed we grew the Hairy Vetch cover crop in

4 new beds waiting to go into the ground... But first, the brickwork needs to be completed around the edge of the concrete. The gravel under the concrete keeps coming out and needs to be retained by a brick border.

This bed had the Cucumbers, Corn, Beans and Zucchini. It still has the old Zuke but, I've planted another one a few feet away. Hopefully the new one will take. It had a rough transplant where half of the root ball fell off while I was trying to get it out of the pot. The 4 pots you see are more Cukes. This is the gamble bed, to see if we can coax a few more cukes before the end of summer.

This bed had the Cherry Tomatoes.

The Garlic Chives have grown in quickly after 2 trimmings within 3 weeks.

The Navel Oranges are getting pretty large. We will have a good crop this winter if all goes well.

My brother is giving us a hand digging this Super-dwarf Cavendish outta here. It turns out this plant will never fruit and it's a waste of resources to keep it around.

This is the NEW Banana Tree that is replacing it. The Double Musa (Mahoi). It's supposedly produces 2 bunches of bananas in it's second year. Hopefully this one will bring us the fruits we've been waiting for. Grow tall little one!

In the foreground, the new "Mahoi", behind it is the branble of thornless blackberry, then in the back you can see the larger super-dwarf Cavendish that will soon be yanked

The Garden from the NE view. You can see the sun-chokes have finally flowered against the wall. (yellow daisy-like flowers)

Here's a closer look at the Sun-Choke Flowers backed by white hibiscus flowers

This bed had the other bed of Tomatoes...they didn't fare well because we have root knot nematodes in this bed. In order to help reduce the nematode numbers, I'm trying sesame and marigolds. I'm also going to be spraying more beneficial nematodes again, when the temperatures get a little cooler.

This is White Sesame in the front and Yam behind it

This is the path behind the house I'm standing next to the Loquat tree. On the left, you can see the Rhubarb and the Asian Pear tree stump

Here's the Rhubarb and Stump close-up. Notice the stump is trying to grow back from the base of the tree, which is the root stock. The grafted stock seems to have died off, so we will have to uproot this tree. We're SOOO Saaaad.... :'-( 

On a happier note, our peppers were stellar this year with no insect problems and they are still very productive! The key to our pepper success: Rock Dust!

Some cuttings that we are rooting. Cuban Oregano, Thai Basil, Scented Geraniums and a Plumeria branchling.