Garden Updates

Garlic is happy

Carrots sprouting(circled in red)

British Wonder Peas sprouting

our Last Tomato plant. This one was cloned from one of the earlier plants

chrysanthemums singing after the rain

Lettuce enjoying the cooler weather

mystery curcurbit started growing in the strawberries... it must have survived the composting

front yard Mikan Mandarines turning orange

Sweet Potato growing in the front yard, most people wouldn't know the difference between it and ivy!

This little white hive is waiting for the swarming that will occur in spring. Notice it's right by the sprinkler box that keeps getting taken over by the honeybees.

Amazingly large Spider

I wanted to share this pic of a very large spider I found in our Valencia Orange tree after the rain. It was busy trying to fix the damage caused by the wind and rain on it's web. The spider's abdomen itself is 3/4" round! The whole body with legs is about 1-1/2"! That's one of the largest spiders I've seen here in the roaming around this area!

Garden Updates

Fall is definitely here, and we are readying our garden. This bed is growing Hairy Vetch, a green manure cover crop. It helps to fix much needed nitrogen into the soil We'll plant some Napa Cabbage in soon. The Brassicas(cabbage family) loves nitrogen. Green manures are a great way to add this nutrient as it will not leach into the ground water as steer & chicken manures would. I do use steer manure too, but in moderation.

Pumpkin ripening on the vine. Almost time for harvest!

White Guavas slowly ripening. The good thing about these is that they ripen one by one and won't overwhelm you with a sudden burst of a tree full of ripened fruit.

Kabocha pumpkin growing

First Rain of Autumn

We received our first rainstorm, and it is very refreshing! I am worried for the hillsides that were ravaged by the Station Fire(the largest fire in recorded history in these mtns). There's a high probability of mudslides there.

Rain drops on Lemon grass

Marigolds refreshed by the showers

Banana Leaves sparkle with rain beads

Columbine leaves enjoying the cool weather

Saving Seeds and Eating Local

We try to save as much seed as we can, to keep the Heirloom seedlines continuing. Royal Purple Bush Bean seeds on the left, Blue Lake Bush Bean seeds on the right.

Homegrown Lettuce for our Dinner salad. The Tomatoes were bought from the farmer's market.

The foods that included home grown and local produce:

Chicken Veggie soup with "HG" Carrots & Zucchini

Sauteed Veggies with Ground Turkey (HG Zucchini, Carrots & Chinese Chives)

"HG" Bittermelon sauteed with "HG" Carrots, "HG" Zucchini and Sausages

Sun Oven cooked Chili with "HG" Peppers

Fried Rice which included "HG" Carrots, Zucchini & Green Onion.

Meatloaf which included "HG" Zucchini, Carrots, Peppers and home-baked bread crumbs

"HG" Mikan Mandarines, Guavas and wild Strawberries.

Homemade yogurt (soy, since we are allergic to dairy) with Frozen "HG" figs

gifted Peaches that have been frozen and Persimmon from the Hacienda Hts home

Home baked Bread for sandwiches and toast

*HG stands for Home Grown

Harvest Updates

Lots of Peppers, we made Chili with this batch. yum!

Bittermelon, I'm finally getting used to it's flavor, C is eating the dish too, I'm proud of him

More Peppers! This might be the last batch this year, I picked all that was left on the bush. However, there are lots of pepper blossoms ready flower, so who knows! Peppers in Jan? Maybe, we'll see how the weather fares.

September 2009 Harvest Tally

Carrots 16.20 lbs

Zucchini 09.43 lbs

Pumpkin 06.19 lbs

Peppers 04.76 lbs

Watermelon 03.88 lbs

Bittermelon 03.30 lbs

Tomatoes 02.23 lbs

Tangerines 01.75 lbs

Japanese Cucumber 01.53 lbs

Guava 01.34 lbs

Asian Pear 15.25 oz

Basil(sweet&purple) 12.00 oz

Eggplant 13.75 oz

Figs 05.70 oz

Beans 05.00 oz

Chinese Chives(Nira) 04.50 oz

Strawberries 04.10 oz

Baby Corn 04.00 oz

Broccoli Greens 03.50 oz

Stevia 03.50 oz

Lemon Grass 01.50 oz

Myoga 01.00 oz

Lettuce 00.50 oz

Foraged:

Limes 09.00 oz

Pounds tallied: 50.61 lbs

Ounces tallied: 74.30 oz = 4.64 lbs

Total: 55.25 lbs

Daily Harvests

Thursday, Oct1st Harvest:

Carrots, Bittermelon, one of the first White Guavas of the season and a mini Kabocha Pumpkin.

Oct 2nd Harvest:

8 pounds of Carrots! (not pictured some more Guava)

Garden Updates

Today, we harvested the rest of the Carrots, (8 lbs!) We tilled in some compost and I sowed some hairy vetch as green manure for the Cabbage, Nappa(Hakusai) Cabbage and Kale that will be growing there next. Half of another bed is in preparation for a bed of Celery. The bed that grew Tomatoes was planted today with Shelling Peas(British Wonder). Hopefully the weather will keep cooler from now on, or the peas won't like it much! Here's some pix of the garden lately.

my Mom harvesting Sweet Basil

Most of the Garlic have woken up and are growing strong, the lettuce is coming along too, time for thinning.

Baby Zucchinis growing

Another try at Armenian Cucumbers. Hopefully this batch will be healthy and productive. It's a gamble whether the weather will not get too cold for these heat loving plants.

Green Tomato Salsa

This is what 20 cups of chopped green tomatoes look like!

Time for a bath!

Fin! Cooling down... chillin'

Harvest Updates

Peppers, Watermelon and Redleaf lettuce

Pumpkin, lotsa Zucchinis and a dinky watermelon

August 2009 Harvest Tally

Sorry this is so belated. Life has been hectic for me and tallying up these numbers do take a good chunk of time.

Asian Pear 25.25 lbs

Tomatoes 20.81 lbs

Figs 18.47 lbs

Carrots 06.13 lbs

Tangerines 05.50 oz

Zucchini 05.31 lbs

Komatsuna 04.94 lbs

Watermelon 04.63 lbs

Bulb onion 04.25 oz

Petit Gris Musk Mel 03.00 lbs

Broccoli Greens 02.88 lbs

Beans(green+purple) 02.29 lbs

Bittermelon 01.85 lbs

Green Tomatoes 01.81 lbs

Japanese Cucumber 01.72 lbs

Eggplant 01.11 lbs

New Zealand Spinach 13.00 oz

Kale 10.00 oz

Stevia 04.50 oz

Peppers 03.50 oz

Basil(sweet&purple) 01.80 lbs

Blackberries 01.50 oz

Myoga 01.00 oz

Strawberries 01.00 oz

Gifts:

Peaches 15.50 lbs

Foraged:

Limes 06.50 oz

Pounds tallied: 98.20 lbs

Ounces tallied: 36.30 oz =2.68 lbs

Total: 100.88 lbs

Some pictures of Harvest

Zucchini, Peppers and Tomatoes

Stevia drying in the shade

"Fall" Garden Updates

Peppers finally flourishing after the Pepper Weevil attack.

Red spider mites devastating our tomato crops. The leaves are turning gray because the mites suck out all the chlorophyll. We decided to yank all the tomatoes out even though most of them are green. Time for more green tomato salsa.

White Guavas starting to turn color

Navel Oranges growing big

Late season corn, about 4' tall, very short, but bearing fruit

Sunchokes blossoming.

Dwarf Cavendish Banana that was transplanted from the other house earlier this year is thriving in it's new location. Wanna know the secret? We buried chicken bones by it. Bones contain high levels of Potassium, which the Bananas love. Check out the first photo of the Dwarf Cavendish when we first transplanted it to see the difference!

White Hibiscus type flowers in full bloom

small jack-o-lantern pumpkin turning color.

This bed has some sleeping garlic bulbs, and a line of Romaine Lettuce.

Gerbera Daisies enjoying the sun.

Home grown/home made foods

Homegrown eggplant, carrots and peppers in this Coconut Chicken Curry

Homegrown carrots & zucchini in this tofu stir-fry

Home grown peppers, tomoatoes and zucchini in this fajita meal

Garden Updates

Here's some Corn, Beans and Kabocha pumpkins growing in the former pond area.

Tomatoes and Peppers...all being attached by Flea Beetles and Red Mites. ugh....

Very tiny Jack-0-Lantern Pumpkin

First Tomato/Egglant bed almost clear. We are thinking of planting Garlic and Carrots here next.

One of many harvests

Bug Action

I couldn't believe it when I found this Praying Mantis enjoying a wasp for it's meal! It's bug eat bug world around here!

Ladybird beetle laying it's next generation.