Another productive Monday with Anthony and Donna. We planted 4 apple trees in the front yard. Rubinette, Hawaii, Wickson Crab and Williams Pride. These 4 TINY trees all came from Kuffel CreeK—our SoCal apple expert (see link at right). I am finally following through with the idea of putting my apples on the east side of the house, where they will receive plenty of light without the blazing late afternoon rays that can burn the fruit. I plan to add 2 new low chill cherries to the same area next spring: Minnie Royal and Royal Lee. I think cherries will benefit from the same treatment. My Stella cherry in the back orchard has succumbed to borers which entered (as they often do) through sunscald wounds.
We spent the remaining hours weeding one of the veggie gardens and refreshing the paths with a thick layer of newspaper and straw. The plant that took 99% of our weeding time was Oxalis, the eradication of which former LA Times garden editor Robert Smaus said was his single most time consuming garden chore. I think I would agree. At this time of year these devil plants are busy forming little bulblets underground that will stick around to annoy you again later. I dig them out carefully— trying to get the bulblets and smashing the loose ones between my fingers. Squish squish.
We also prepared the pumpkin bed- an area between 2 rows of trees in the orchard where I loosened the soil with a garden fork and then papered and mulched. When my pumpkin seedlings are strong I will punch holes in the sheet mulch, plant four hills and lay down a drip line. I was happy with the way the vines wandered through the trees and near the beehives last year, but was disappointed in the number and size of fruit. I will adjust the drip lines so they get a little more water and try to feed them more.
We are eating from the garden this week: cabbage, lettuces, cilantro, arugula, Fuerte avocados, thyme, Bay leaves, tarragon, green onions, leeks, snap peas, kohlrabi, Swiss chard, beets, curly endive, tangelos, tangerines, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, limes and undoubtedly something else.
One of the lettuces I planted last year reseeded itself all over the yard- I love the way it looks in and around my roses—bright green and ruffled. Yesterday I noticed it coming up in cracks in the driveway. Hardy and determined. John asked "what kind of lettuce is it? It must have a name— like Farmer's Joy or Pride of the Driveway?"
Finally, for anyone who wants to read a witty, informative and humorous food growing adventure I recommend "Farm City" by Novella Carpenter. Her successes and failures squatting on an abandoned lot in west Oakland shed an interesting light on food growing in the city. I loved her story of dumpster diving at upscale East Bay restaurants to feed her two pigs, and was touched by her beautiful wording of a belief and experience I share with her: that you can love your farm animals, treat them with respect and care and then eat them.
http://www.amazon.com/Farm-City-Education-Urban-Farmer/dp/1594202214/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269321879&sr=1-1
It's spring crunch time. Time to prepare for the biggest garden season, mulching, feeding and seed starting. How many tomatoes will you grow???
Monday, March 22, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Back to the Blog....Happy Spring
After a 5 month break from blogging I am back at it, sorry to have let so much time slip by. These months were somewhat discouraging, having lost the garden help I had, and it's interesting to note that my lack of enthusiasm for writing lasted as long as it took me to find the right people to join me in my work. My big yard is more than I can do by myself, but gardening in a non traditional way makes it difficult to find energetic and open minded workers. The average LA garden worker does not want to work side by side with me, and follow my specific methods. I work hard at adding organic matter to my beds, rather than sweeping or blowing it away and I do not like straight lines or shrubbery forced into geometric shapes. I aim to remove lawn and blacktop and I hate and I mean HATE people who do not treat my dirt with respect. These things are not normal. The woman who for 10 years helped me one day a week moved on in her life, and the crew that came a few hours a week for clean up turned out to be ignoring my rule of "No Chemicals" and was shown the door.
I was lucky enough to find Anthony's Green Gardening service. Anthony and his wife Donna are just getting established and they join me Monday mornings for 4 hours. We work hard! They are sweet, energetic and conscientious and I feel very lucky to have stumbled into their world. They understand. The garden is catching up to where I want it.
This week I have herb seeds in the light table. I'll be moving the Basil seedlings outside to acclimatize and filling that spot under the lights with a tray full of tomato seeds. I have pared it down to just 16 tomato varieties - not easy for the likes of me. One of the first things Anthony, Donna and I worked on was redoing the big herb garden- adding irrigation, digging out over zealous plants to move to confined areas, giving everything a haircut and relocating certain plants to better locations in the bed. It looks a little sad right now, but as the weather warms and I fill in the gaps it will be beautiful again. Over the next weeks I'll be scanning the farmers markets and nurseries for herb plants, in addition to the unusual things I am starting- Culantro, Papaloquelite, Vietnamese mint, Thai Roselle, Shiso and many more.
Here are a few photos from the garden this week. The Apricot tree with the beehives in back. Rainbow chard. The chard bed with garlic behind. The last of the male turkeys. He is a "Sweetgrass" and very beautiful. Behind is a "Royal Palm" hen. I'm glad to say that he grew out of humping a pumpkin and has found solace and satisfaction in the 3 hens that are his for the taking...
I was lucky enough to find Anthony's Green Gardening service. Anthony and his wife Donna are just getting established and they join me Monday mornings for 4 hours. We work hard! They are sweet, energetic and conscientious and I feel very lucky to have stumbled into their world. They understand. The garden is catching up to where I want it.
This week I have herb seeds in the light table. I'll be moving the Basil seedlings outside to acclimatize and filling that spot under the lights with a tray full of tomato seeds. I have pared it down to just 16 tomato varieties - not easy for the likes of me. One of the first things Anthony, Donna and I worked on was redoing the big herb garden- adding irrigation, digging out over zealous plants to move to confined areas, giving everything a haircut and relocating certain plants to better locations in the bed. It looks a little sad right now, but as the weather warms and I fill in the gaps it will be beautiful again. Over the next weeks I'll be scanning the farmers markets and nurseries for herb plants, in addition to the unusual things I am starting- Culantro, Papaloquelite, Vietnamese mint, Thai Roselle, Shiso and many more.
Here are a few photos from the garden this week. The Apricot tree with the beehives in back. Rainbow chard. The chard bed with garlic behind. The last of the male turkeys. He is a "Sweetgrass" and very beautiful. Behind is a "Royal Palm" hen. I'm glad to say that he grew out of humping a pumpkin and has found solace and satisfaction in the 3 hens that are his for the taking...
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Falling in to Winter
Friday we harvested Lemon Guavas, Jujubes, Passionfruit, Butternut Squash and Pumpkins. Kyra (my new garden helper) cut down the 15 foot cornstalks in the front yard. I have never seen corn this tall, but this is my first time growing cornmeal corn. It got a lot of attention and comment from neighbors, walkers and cars slowing to gape. Kyra: “How am I going to find your house now?”
We pulled out the watermelon vines and are giving the last to the birds. The Turkeys are just reaching maturity and starting to display. Hanna and the kids are all doing well. The eggs have slowed suddenly down with the cool fall weather so I will put a lamp in the coop soon to extend their light hours back up to summer levels. I read in the last issue of the internationally bestselling “Backyard Poultry” (yeah right) that pumpkin is a natural wormer for birds. Last week I gave a split pumpkin to the ever hungry flock and it was gone in a couple of hours, husk and all. The hens were indifferent and left it mostly to the turkeys- pumpkin being one of their very favorite treats.
Many people are asking what I’m putting in my winter garden. What I have put in is getting dug up every night by a very vigorous raccoon. Last night I set a trap for him or her and oh help me god if I catch a skunk. We caught a neighbor’s cat first at about 10pm. I will go out when it gets light to see what …….
I’ve planted onions and garlic. Onion plants in a 6 variety assortment from Peaceful Valley. Early California garlic, also from PV, and Inchellium Red and Shantung Purple from a garlic farmer I know. I’m experimenting with perennial onions- walking onions, potato onions, multiplier onions and shallots. The coon isn’t digging up these beds. hmmmm…… I do not recommend the onion sets (bulblets) sold at the big boxes and nurseries. In my yard they have gone to seed before they make a bulb. Bad. You can put onions in from seed and have spring onions with full bulbs next summer or you can buy 6–packs at the nursery. Separate the little plants, trim top and roots and plant.
6¬–packs of cauliflower, chard and broccoli are in to get a head start. I will be starting other cabbage family plants in the house as seeds- I should have done this a month ago. This is where you get to plant some unique and wonderful things- Spigariello, Romesco, Broccoli Raab, colored Cauliflowers, Bok Choy, Napa Cabbage, Tatsoi and more.
Parsley and Cilantro- Cilantro grows easily and goes fast – be ready to throw out some more seeds.
Direct seeding- Now’s the time for all the lettuce greens. A good assortment of Lettuces broadcast over a 4x4 ft. area will provide you with months of cut and come again salad. You can plant a fresh patch later in the season. DON’T buy one of those “mesclun” mixes- the more vigorous mustard family plants will crowd out the lettuce. Keep lettuce on it’s own. Plant mizuna, red leaf mustard, arugula, mache, dandelion, curly endive (frisee) and garden cress separately.
Carrots, and radishes. Mix these seeds together to broadcast. The fast growing radishes with be pulled up and gone, leaving more room for the slow growing carrots. The French breakfast radishes are a fave.
Scallions- red and white. Renee’s garden seeds has a good combo at OSH
Peas- oh yeah! Snap, shelling and Snow. Snow Peas grow low so a 4 or 5 ft. trellis is enough. Snap and Shelling need at least 6 ft. but 8 is better. This height is important. Ever since the original snap pea was developed the breeders have been coming up with new ones. They have all kinds of names- Super Sugar Snap etc. Not one of the many I have tried compare with the original. Just Sugar Snap.
Beets and Turnips. My experience with these is mixed at best. If we have a long cool spell with no frosts or heat waves the root crops thrive. But we live in SoCal…. I take my chances because when they are good they are sooooo good. Golden beets are my favorite.
Don’t forget Fennel and Daikon!!
Happy Gardening
We pulled out the watermelon vines and are giving the last to the birds. The Turkeys are just reaching maturity and starting to display. Hanna and the kids are all doing well. The eggs have slowed suddenly down with the cool fall weather so I will put a lamp in the coop soon to extend their light hours back up to summer levels. I read in the last issue of the internationally bestselling “Backyard Poultry” (yeah right) that pumpkin is a natural wormer for birds. Last week I gave a split pumpkin to the ever hungry flock and it was gone in a couple of hours, husk and all. The hens were indifferent and left it mostly to the turkeys- pumpkin being one of their very favorite treats.
Many people are asking what I’m putting in my winter garden. What I have put in is getting dug up every night by a very vigorous raccoon. Last night I set a trap for him or her and oh help me god if I catch a skunk. We caught a neighbor’s cat first at about 10pm. I will go out when it gets light to see what …….
I’ve planted onions and garlic. Onion plants in a 6 variety assortment from Peaceful Valley. Early California garlic, also from PV, and Inchellium Red and Shantung Purple from a garlic farmer I know. I’m experimenting with perennial onions- walking onions, potato onions, multiplier onions and shallots. The coon isn’t digging up these beds. hmmmm…… I do not recommend the onion sets (bulblets) sold at the big boxes and nurseries. In my yard they have gone to seed before they make a bulb. Bad. You can put onions in from seed and have spring onions with full bulbs next summer or you can buy 6–packs at the nursery. Separate the little plants, trim top and roots and plant.
6¬–packs of cauliflower, chard and broccoli are in to get a head start. I will be starting other cabbage family plants in the house as seeds- I should have done this a month ago. This is where you get to plant some unique and wonderful things- Spigariello, Romesco, Broccoli Raab, colored Cauliflowers, Bok Choy, Napa Cabbage, Tatsoi and more.
Parsley and Cilantro- Cilantro grows easily and goes fast – be ready to throw out some more seeds.
Direct seeding- Now’s the time for all the lettuce greens. A good assortment of Lettuces broadcast over a 4x4 ft. area will provide you with months of cut and come again salad. You can plant a fresh patch later in the season. DON’T buy one of those “mesclun” mixes- the more vigorous mustard family plants will crowd out the lettuce. Keep lettuce on it’s own. Plant mizuna, red leaf mustard, arugula, mache, dandelion, curly endive (frisee) and garden cress separately.
Carrots, and radishes. Mix these seeds together to broadcast. The fast growing radishes with be pulled up and gone, leaving more room for the slow growing carrots. The French breakfast radishes are a fave.
Scallions- red and white. Renee’s garden seeds has a good combo at OSH
Peas- oh yeah! Snap, shelling and Snow. Snow Peas grow low so a 4 or 5 ft. trellis is enough. Snap and Shelling need at least 6 ft. but 8 is better. This height is important. Ever since the original snap pea was developed the breeders have been coming up with new ones. They have all kinds of names- Super Sugar Snap etc. Not one of the many I have tried compare with the original. Just Sugar Snap.
Beets and Turnips. My experience with these is mixed at best. If we have a long cool spell with no frosts or heat waves the root crops thrive. But we live in SoCal…. I take my chances because when they are good they are sooooo good. Golden beets are my favorite.
Don’t forget Fennel and Daikon!!
Happy Gardening
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A few pictures of the late summer garden
The Turkeys are growing up.
Pumpkin Perfection
The Girls
Hanna and her brood enjoying their breakfast of eggs, comfrey and yogurt
Luxury Pie Pumpkins and Trombone squash
The Volunteer Pumpkins on the roof
Pumpkin Perfection
The Girls
Hanna and her brood enjoying their breakfast of eggs, comfrey and yogurt
Luxury Pie Pumpkins and Trombone squash
The Volunteer Pumpkins on the roof
Friday, September 11, 2009
Gloria's query - my answer
Now is the time to think about fruit trees you might want to add to your garden. Order now, plant in January or February.
Kazi,
I'm finally placing my order from Bay Laurel for a few bare root trees to plant this winter. I'm only adding 4 this winter. I'm looking at the "low chill varieties" section of their web site. Can you give me some feedback on varieties based on your experience?
Apple---I've heard Anna does well here. What do you grow & like?
Plum---Tempted by "Mariposa" for obvious reasons. Do you have a favorite?
Peach---?
Nectarine---?
I'm going to throw in a Kiwi for good measure too. And lots of different blueberries to try in containers.
Thanks in advance!
G
ok Gloria here are my ideas
As far as apples- Anna needs a pollinator so you would have to get 2 kinds. I love my Fuji best of my 3 apples -which seems kind of average but it does well. Next time I plant I will refer to Kevin Hauser's great site (below) and his list of the best SoCal apples- I've heard him speak and he's inspiring. In my notes from his class Rubinette was his favorite, along with Hawaii. The top 10 of that day included Dorsett, Williams Pride, Gala, Stump, Anna, Fuji, Wealthy, Winesap, Arkansas Black and Wickson Crab. He is a believer in ignoring chill hours when it comes to apples and he has tried literally hundreds of varieties in his Riverside garden.
http://www.kuffelcreek.com/growingapples.htm
Peach is easy- Red Baron on Nemaguard rootstock (NOT Citation) . Stunning tree- great fruit- my favorite SoCal peach so far.
Mariposa sounds great. I love red fleshed plums in general. I would like to plant Mariposa, but haven't tried it. Plums are good on Citation rootstock. Mariposa sounds like a good choice. I have Santa Rosa, Late Santa Rosa, Flavor King Pluot and Elephant Heart. The Elephant Heart and the Flavor King are not very low chill and their fruit set is inconsistent from year to year but they are also my favorites.
As for the nectarines. I am not a fan of the new super sweet low acid ones. I like my fruit with an evident sweet/acid balance, otherwise I find it insipid. I have tried about 4 nectarines over the years and not been happy with any of them. Meanwhile, I managed to steer my friends correctly. I have 3 friends with the old SoCal standby Panamint and I have enjoyed the fruit and the preserves from their trees- on Nemaguard. That will be my next nectarine.
If you want some more opinions go here:
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_taste_files/taste_index.html
Dave Wilson is the wholesale grower that grows most of the trees that Bay Laurel sells and I believe they are the sole distributers for Zaiger genetics- the hybridizers that brought us pluots and many other new fruits. Dave Wilson's taste test results are always informative. A lot of the winners fall into the low acid catagory, but even though that's not my thing, it's fun to look at the results.
fun....I love looking at the Bay Laurel site
http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/
best, Kazi
Kazi,
I'm finally placing my order from Bay Laurel for a few bare root trees to plant this winter. I'm only adding 4 this winter. I'm looking at the "low chill varieties" section of their web site. Can you give me some feedback on varieties based on your experience?
Apple---I've heard Anna does well here. What do you grow & like?
Plum---Tempted by "Mariposa" for obvious reasons. Do you have a favorite?
Peach---?
Nectarine---?
I'm going to throw in a Kiwi for good measure too. And lots of different blueberries to try in containers.
Thanks in advance!
G
ok Gloria here are my ideas
As far as apples- Anna needs a pollinator so you would have to get 2 kinds. I love my Fuji best of my 3 apples -which seems kind of average but it does well. Next time I plant I will refer to Kevin Hauser's great site (below) and his list of the best SoCal apples- I've heard him speak and he's inspiring. In my notes from his class Rubinette was his favorite, along with Hawaii. The top 10 of that day included Dorsett, Williams Pride, Gala, Stump, Anna, Fuji, Wealthy, Winesap, Arkansas Black and Wickson Crab. He is a believer in ignoring chill hours when it comes to apples and he has tried literally hundreds of varieties in his Riverside garden.
http://www.kuffelcreek.com/growingapples.htm
Peach is easy- Red Baron on Nemaguard rootstock (NOT Citation) . Stunning tree- great fruit- my favorite SoCal peach so far.
Mariposa sounds great. I love red fleshed plums in general. I would like to plant Mariposa, but haven't tried it. Plums are good on Citation rootstock. Mariposa sounds like a good choice. I have Santa Rosa, Late Santa Rosa, Flavor King Pluot and Elephant Heart. The Elephant Heart and the Flavor King are not very low chill and their fruit set is inconsistent from year to year but they are also my favorites.
As for the nectarines. I am not a fan of the new super sweet low acid ones. I like my fruit with an evident sweet/acid balance, otherwise I find it insipid. I have tried about 4 nectarines over the years and not been happy with any of them. Meanwhile, I managed to steer my friends correctly. I have 3 friends with the old SoCal standby Panamint and I have enjoyed the fruit and the preserves from their trees- on Nemaguard. That will be my next nectarine.
If you want some more opinions go here:
http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_taste_files/taste_index.html
Dave Wilson is the wholesale grower that grows most of the trees that Bay Laurel sells and I believe they are the sole distributers for Zaiger genetics- the hybridizers that brought us pluots and many other new fruits. Dave Wilson's taste test results are always informative. A lot of the winners fall into the low acid catagory, but even though that's not my thing, it's fun to look at the results.
fun....I love looking at the Bay Laurel site
http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/
best, Kazi
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Chicks
The wily and ever determined Hanna, my English Game Hen, marched out from under the turkey barn 2 days ago with 5 chicks. She was hiding under there for almost a month without me knowing! I gave my last rooster away a few weeks ago, so clearly she managed to get a little action right before he left. He was an Auracana and beautiful. If the chicks make it they should be beautiful too. They were so tiny that they squeezed through 1" chicken wire! Updates to follow.........
Monday, August 31, 2009
What I Built on my Summer Vacation
The New Mexico Solar Crop Dryer
It's not fair for me to say I built it. The great and wonderful Dmitri, along with my brother Wenzel spent 2 long mornings and a few more odd hours with me in the garage to construct this beauty. I had bought all the materials and only had to run to the hardware store 3 or 4 times.... We worked from an old set of plans I got off the web. The plans were typed on a typewriter and illustrated with small sketches, and were"almost" complete. Dmitri's experienced eye and liberal dose of modifications were much appreciated. The plans said it would cost me about $60 to build. This was definitely not the case.
The dryer is sitting in my back yard, drying out in the sun. After the wood dries I will finish the outside with either Watco or Walnut oil- both food safe oils that will harden. It is a "dual system" dehydrator with both direct and indirect heat from the sun. At the toe of the boot shape air enters and is heated passing over and under the flat black piece of corrugated metal. The heated air rises through the screen trays and exits through a screened opening on the top of the back. There is a hinged flap on the top vent that can be adjusted to control the air flow/temperature.
God I hope this thing works well. I tried one tray of tomatoes a few days ago that was very successful. Now I have to do my homework and try a variety of things from the garden as they ripen. It's taller than me, and I'm 6'2", so It doesn't lack for space. The trays are 46 inches wide.
There is something about it's odd shape and the elegant and simple way it works that I find very appealing. I think it needs a name.
It's not fair for me to say I built it. The great and wonderful Dmitri, along with my brother Wenzel spent 2 long mornings and a few more odd hours with me in the garage to construct this beauty. I had bought all the materials and only had to run to the hardware store 3 or 4 times.... We worked from an old set of plans I got off the web. The plans were typed on a typewriter and illustrated with small sketches, and were"almost" complete. Dmitri's experienced eye and liberal dose of modifications were much appreciated. The plans said it would cost me about $60 to build. This was definitely not the case.
The dryer is sitting in my back yard, drying out in the sun. After the wood dries I will finish the outside with either Watco or Walnut oil- both food safe oils that will harden. It is a "dual system" dehydrator with both direct and indirect heat from the sun. At the toe of the boot shape air enters and is heated passing over and under the flat black piece of corrugated metal. The heated air rises through the screen trays and exits through a screened opening on the top of the back. There is a hinged flap on the top vent that can be adjusted to control the air flow/temperature.
God I hope this thing works well. I tried one tray of tomatoes a few days ago that was very successful. Now I have to do my homework and try a variety of things from the garden as they ripen. It's taller than me, and I'm 6'2", so It doesn't lack for space. The trays are 46 inches wide.
There is something about it's odd shape and the elegant and simple way it works that I find very appealing. I think it needs a name.
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