So... What's growing in your garden?

 
 I just got done planting my tomato plants. I also have radishes, carrots, chives, dill weed, and strawberries. All are in the ground now as I think that the threat of frost is past. This being Alaska, I hope we are past the last frost. So far all are doing well. Hope to have tomatoes by July. I will keep you all up to date.

David O.

It is WAY too early to plant here...I'm fascinated that you have stuff in the ground in Alaska!  We've had freeze warnings overnight twice in the last week.

Concord grapes
Santa Rosa plums
Turkey figs
Some variety of peach
Bearss limes
Washington navels
Valencia juice oranges
Blood oranges
Meyer lemons
Olallieberries
Habaneros
New Mexico peppers

Figs
Yuzu
Raspberries
Tomatoes
Roses (not for eating)
Artichokes
and a crap load of herbs

Ever have rose petal jam?

Tomatoes and Bell Peppers are in, Squash goes in this weekend if the damn rain ever lets up. No Sweet Corn this year, we have a local source for u-pick Silver Queen for $2 a dozen, We can't grow it for that price.
Concord grapes are tiny but growing and spreading fast. Raspberries are caning nicely, and the Wild Blackberries that surround us are all just past a heavy blooming session.
Fruit trees are looking ok. Too much rain is causing some Cherry rot and a sick Cedar on my neighbors land is sending Cedar Rust Spores onto some of my apples close to his property (nasty rust on fruit and leaves). Cherries will be ready in a week or two.

Our first ever Apricots need some drier sunshine to bring them to full potential by the middle of June. Santa Rosa and Ozark Premier Plums are doing well as are the first bunch of PLUCOTS we ever had here.

A few regular Pears are doing ok (2 trees) The Asian Pears are again doing very well and will supply the materials for Pear Butter later in the Summer.

Apples? Yeah they are really coming along. I hope the Suncrisps survive the Rust invasion. I will spray again this saturday and hope to salvage the two damaged trees (and their apples). The Granny Smiths 14 of them (6th year) are still immature for fruit production. The Golden Delicious and the one mature Arkansas Black are loaded. The Rome Beauty, Red Delicious and Fuji and Prairie Spies are all looking quite good as well. Even the Crab Apple has some nice fruit this year..

Barring any major climate disaster, we should do well this year.

  Wow Mayor, I didn't know you were such an avid gardener. Could you please send some rain this way?! Been a little dry here. The sunshine is great for the tomatoes but we haven't had any precip here for about a month now. Good thing that my garden is small so I can hand water if I have to.

 I decided to plant some purple bell peppers just for S&G to see how well they do up here. I saved the seeds from the crop I grew in AZ. a few years back. I am germinating basil indoors as we speak as basil hates the cold.

 Good luck and good harvest everybody!!


David O.

Al, this year's Concord harvest will end up in bottles. *hic*

herbs - basil, chives, rosemary, and oregano are doing well. Neighbors on both sides of me have tomatoes and cucumbers, so should get some of their surplus 

I tried cilantro and dill this year for the first time, but I think it's way too hot for them, and they are languishing.  

Herbs: Basil, rosemary, tarragon, chives, chinese chives, dill, garlic

Vegetables: Kale, mustard, tomatillos, tomatoes (in planter at the house, we've had terrible wilt problems), peas, sugar snaps, scarlet runner beans, rattlesnake beans, chard, burdock, potatoes, serrano peppers, jalapenos, lettuce, and a half dozen other things I can't recall at the moment.

Fruit: Strawberries, plus plenty of wild blackberries and raspberries.

i always have chives, spearmint and sage (perennial here) and wild raspberries.  got some broccoli, red bell pepper, sweet basil, cinnamon basil and thyme this year.  i may do tomato - not sure since i have limited space and had that last year.  i have seed for alpine strawberries and a couple varieities of ground cherries (and i gotta get them going or it'll be too late! ).
 
rose petal jam sounds fabulous - and a wonderful way to utilize the thousands of petals i get (have a couple of humongous rambler roses and they're just starting to bloom now; plus i have another half dozen rose bushes too).  can you post the recipe for the jam please???  thanks!!

I don't have a recipe for it. I remember having it back in the sixties when a friend's grandmother would make it.

 I found a recipe using a general search in yahoo.com.

Here it is:

Ingredients  2 cups of rose petals
2 1/2 cups of water
3 1/2 cups of sugar
1 lemon (or 1/4 cup lemon juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package of pectin

Preparation  Take your roses and snip off the white part at the bottom of the petals.
You can just grasp the rose from the top and snip the bottom. No need
to do it petal by petal.
Wash them thoroughly.
Place in a pot ( I like using a glass pot for this) along with the water, the sugar,
the lemon juice, and the vanilla extract.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 35 minutes.
Take the pectin and dissolve into about 1/2 a cup pf water and mix thoroughly.
Take dissolved pectin and pour in the simmering mixture stirring briskly.
Remove from heat. Let cool. Then put in jars. Can be kept in the fridge.

If you prefer you can put the water, rose petals and sugar in a blender or food processor before cooking. This way you don't have whole petals in your jam when it's done. The petals if not put through the blender can be nice and add texture so it's not necessary.

Enjoy!

David O.

OK, we finally have a sunny weekend that allows us to do some yard work, and score a few update photos to share with you. Hope your gardens are progressing well too !

First you see Janet checking the ripeness of some of the cherries. With all the rain we have had, our cherry crop seems to go from unripe to rotting pretty quckly. If we can get some sunny days that may straighten them out a bit. We'll hope to see them turning pink shortly---  
   






Then we have some of the Delicious Apples coming along just fine, followed by an example of the Suncrisp variety. 2 of these trees are showing some Cedar Rust Damage. We are working on controlling it.




The Plums and Apricots are doing fine. Another example of fruit that needs some sunny days to promote growth.



Here is a view of the front part of the property. Granny Smith Apples on the left.



And here is the "Back Yard" with most of the other trees. The little one in the front right is a first year Arkansas Black.



And finally my Security patrol !! Chasing Deer and Crows is their main task !!!

Al

The family is looking good, I hope this year will be a bumper crop for all your labors. 

Thanks Don, we'll hold some Plum Butter for you !

No garden fro me, too much work.

 Great looking fruit trees Al.
Ours here in AK are still in the flowering stage. The weather here has been surprisingly mild for this time of year. Last year we had late frost and lots of rain. Been pretty dry this last month. As I said earlier, I have most of my garden in the ground except the basil and chives. I will leave them in pots so I can bring them in on colder nights. Right now we are experiencing almost 18 hours of daylight so everything is greening up nicely.
 I love the security system!!

David O.

My strawberries are coming along nicely, hopefully in 2-3 weeks I can sample the first ( ok LOTS ) of them.

I hope this year will be a good year for them, I want some strawberry jam

Lots of u-pick strawberries in this area. We put in 50 plants but lost more than half in the heavy rains in April and early May. Jan has replanted them in large pots to help them thru the early stages. Guess we'll have to buy ours this year.

Deer are visiting out Apples several times a week. I have checked with our DNR warden and 'doing one in' to prevent fruit loss is legal..My back deck has become a hunting stand.

And now I'm scrambling to catch up!  We skipped spring entirely, and it is now 90F.

My chives have taken over the world as usual, and the rhubarb is coming along nicely.  Something ate my grape tomato plants down to the ground last night, so I'm thinking those might be a bust this year.  I discovered a patch of wild strawberries the size of Nebraska yesterday, but it's got poison ivy mixed in and I don't know if it's worth it.

Other than that, I've got some parsley and thyme that's started sprouting, and my Concord grapes are looking pretty darn good so far.

  I use chicken wire to cage my tomatoes for the support as well as protection from predators. Mama moose in the area are calving so they are out looking for goodies. I told the kids to stay clear of any moose that they see just in case. New mamas can get pretty aggressive if they feel that the calves are in danger.


David O.

This was the first time I've had a problem, at least since they built the condos surrounding my house and all the critters moved out.  But I found out who it was today, I think!  I've apparently got a woodchuck living under my grape arbor...scared the bejeesus out of both of us when we came face to face this afternoon! LOL!  It was either him or the turkeys.

I've got the old fencing stuff around somewhere in the garage...if the plants look like they're not dead I'll try to find it.

  So far the radishes are going gangbusters!! They love the 18 hours of sun. Tomatoes are looking good but still in the bloom stage. Time to fertilize. Strawberries are doing great but are still in the vegetative state. I got a late start. Green beans have started to sprout and look strong. The herbs haven't broken ground yet but that is expected until the soil warms a little more. We haven't had much rain here in the past month so I have been having to water by hand.

  Felix, I have seen moles and woodchucks as well as rabbits devastate gardens overnight. Watch out for those critters!!


David O.

I can remember when we would get so excited over the first things to show in the early Spring garden...Radishes were a big deal since they came up so quickly.

Our Scotties do a good job of digging out the moles, but se still get rabbit damage at night now and then. The dogs are restricted to the deck at night so the critters have free-run, but do get barked at. We don't want the dogs to take on the stray coyote or big raccoon or skunk that comes thru the area late at night.

Update- Our cherries (4 trees) are very small this year, but they are turning pink and red in the bright sun this week. Picking time may be over the coming weekend. (photo to follow)

boyardee65


  Felix, I have seen moles and woodchucks as well as rabbits devastate gardens overnight. Watch out for those critters!!


David O.

Oh, trust me, I'm familiar!  I grew up with a 100-foot by 175-foot garden in my back yard (the same back yard I have now).  I'm just having to dust off my brain to remember how to deal with it! LOL!  The deer are long gone, as well as all the rabbits...which is just weird and no one knows why.  All we have left are squirrels, woodchucks, raccoons, skunks and turkeys.

I filed the form required by the Indiana DNR for permission to use deadly force against Bambi and his Gang of apple destroyers. The State will issue permits to 'hunt' deer on your own property in the off-season if you show evidence of 'crop' damage due to the deer. I am not anxious to hose-down the herd, but a couple of deterrent hits might stop the group from wrecking havoc on my orchard.

  I don't know if deer are deterred by capital punishment or not but either way they make a nice stew to enjoy with the salad and dessert that you just saved!! 

  There is a law here in Alaska that allows you to take moose out of season if they are damaging your crop or endangering you or your children. The salvageable meat is donated to local native tribes or people on public assistance. Same goes for moose that have been struck by cars.

David O.

 The weather here has been amazing!!!  Sunny and 70-80 degrees and no rain or cold weather in the forecast.

Looks like I will be transplanting the basil and chives into the garden.  I planted another long row of radishes because I love them so!! I think that my carrots are finally breaking ground as well as the dill (only time will tell.)

 Dandelions here are always a threat, so, punishment for my 8 year old is to dig out the plants; roots and all!! She hates it but she gets to enjoy the fruits of her labor, (so to speak.)

David O.

Bottle Rockets seem to be doing the job at keeping the deer on the move !! Safer than firearms in this semi-rural neighborhood!

We just finished our first batch of Cherry Jam. 6 pints and 1 quart did the job on the first day's picking of the pie cherries. The Yellow sweet cherries are doing poorly this year. The trees have a good load, but they go from immature to brown-rot in the matter of a few hours. We hope to get at least a few useable Yellows this year, but with rain and near 90 degree temps I tend to doubt our success with them (again).

The Plucots are fairly small, but they have turned a nice frostly blue color ...now we will watch them and the other Plums and Apricots for any sign of ripening. I think they will be our biggest single crop this year.

I bought a mango tree this evening.  It will go on my patio along with my guava and Key Lime Tree.  

I like the exotics.  Key Limes aren't found here.

I had a passion fruit vine growing last year, but I dried out in our heat spell.

I have a small patio and no dirt so it's pots for me.  Now I'm looking for a Bay Laurel tree.

OK Here is a brief update on the Orchard.

The yellow sweet cherries are going from tasteless unripe to brown rottin g in a day. Way to much heat and rain for proper sugar control in the fruit.

Here is a photo taken today.


The red cherries are doing ok. These are sour pie cherries and we made one batch of Cherry Preserves ( several pints and a quart) last night.



The Plums and Apricots should be next, but only the Plucots are showing any change at this point. Just frosted color, still hard and no taste.  This is our first in Indiana bunch of Plucots grown on thrown-away Sucker growth that made it here from the desert of SoCal and has finally started producing.



More to follow as the season progresses.

I am SO VERY jealous!

Marlene,
 I wish you were here. The heat (near 90 again today) and heavy thunderstorms that really wet things down are moving the cherries (a cool weather crop) so fast we can't pick fast enough. Janet finished picking enough for a double batch of preserves, but by tomorrow the remainder you see in the photos will be way past prime.

Now we pick them and then do the double boiling and Pectin thing. It will be another late evening in a hot kitchen, but next Fall and Winter it will be worth it.

We have a longer harvest time for the Plums, Pears and Apples...but the cherries come and go in just a few days.

"Scratch one flat top" was the cry that went up from Commander Robert Dixon after his divebombers sank the first Jap carrier of WW2 at the Battle of the Coral Sea.

During today's Battle of Fontana, the cry is "Scratch one plum crop" as unseasonable Santa Ana Winds tore through the Cajon Pass to devastate my Santa Rosa plums.

Here is a view of the carnage under one tree:

Jack,
 I feel your pain !! We lost a large (Plum laden) branch on the Ozark Plum tree yesterday in a violent thunderstorm. The tree will survive, and we won't cut the broken branch until we see if it's fruit will continue to ripen. I have a feeling that all on it will be lost.

Our two Santa Rosa's don't have near the load that the Ozark does this year...but their fruit looks about like yours ('cept it's still on the trees!!)

I won't forget watching the video of a CHP car on the 15 near Devore that was on the left (downhill side) of an 18 wheeler when a gust of Santa Ana hit the empty trailer and dumped it on top of the police car. No injuries, but the cop saved herself by diving across the seat as she skidded to a stop with the trailer on top of her car. (97 or 98 I think).
Janet grew up in Fontucky so she remembers the gentle breezes well.

I'll bet Janet remembers the gentle caresses of the Santa Anas. Kinda like being gently caressed by a grizzly bear's paw.

Of course, the bone-dry air that accompanies these conditions make it so I can't do a thing with my hair!

Meaning the hair on my face, naturally.

Those Santa Anas made their way to Sherman Oaks today. They sounded like a train going through the store.

Sad thing in Los Angeles is that it brings out crazies theat like to light matches.

Why is it always in Griffith Park?

Because that's where some of the homeless crazies live...

You want to hear a freight train or five, come out here to the mouth of Cajon Canyon during a good blow. Bring some rope to tie yourself to a tree lest you end up setting down somewhere in OC.

As the "Mayor" of that lush tropical paradise (Cajon Pass) I recall many times when the trains heading for L A were halted on the desert side of the Pass to prevent them from being blown off the track when the winds rushed down the canyon. Empty Auto-Racks (Car Carriers) were particularly vunerable, but even tank cars would roll off the tracks near the bottom of the Pass, where the winds were the strongest. Since the famous Nudist resort is located right in that danger zone, I often wondered how the resident's avoided being sandblasted during the gusts ???

mar52


I bought a mango tree this evening.  It will go on my patio along with my guava and Key Lime Tree.  

I like the exotics.  Key Limes aren't found here.

I had a passion fruit vine growing last year, but I dried out in our heat spell.

I have a small patio and no dirt so it's pots for me.  Now I'm looking for a Bay Laurel tree.

Sounds great, Marlene.  A hint from Key Lime Land: Let the limes ripen until they are yellow, for the best flavor and juiciness.

The vegetable growing season is done down here.  I have chives, parsley and other herbs growing in the shade, but what I'm now waiting for are these babies:


 
Hopefully the squirrels, rats and parrots will leave me some.

 Mayor Al, sorry to hear about your poor weather conditions there. We still have had no rain. My tomatoes and basil love the hot weather but some of the other crops are starting to wilt. Still no fruit on the tomatoes, lots of flowers though. Going to be a great crop. The radishes are still going great. Carrots and dill finally came up.

 Don, the mango tree looks great! My mom used to live in Gainsville and used to ship mangoes to me when I lived in Colorado.

David O.

WOW!  Don't think my patio is large enough for my mango tree.  I can't plant it.

Parrots???

We have a pomegranate tree that does bear fruit but it's so badly planted (from the previous owner) that it really only manages one or two ripe fruits a season.  We're working on improving its conditions.

 

Marlene I probably made this up but I thought a bay laurel was a kind of magnolia, or there might be a kind of magnolia here that's called a bay laurel.  I don't see why you couldn't do that in a container, given a big enough container.  I just hate to pay as much as they want for the great big pots; I'm always on the lookout for a cheapie place to get pots.

Speaking of being cheap, we declared war on tomato cages this weekend.  We have two better boys and some other thing that are really a good month behind being caged and are starting to lean.  We have the Gardeners' Supply catalog and Julie just flat out rebelled at spending $12 to $15 apiece for cages, when we really need two cages per plant (cabled together).  So she found some Mother Jones something or other on tha Intarwebs last night where you cobble together something out of PVC and that's going to be our next little project.  Wish me luck on that. :)

Nancy

I recall seeing groves of Pomagranite in the Visalia area of the Central Valley of CA. It is hot and dry there most of the year. I wondered how the fruit would do in the Humid South??

We have some cages, but for the heavy bearers we use the metal fence posts with heavy wire strung between them...like a short fence. Works for us, and the posts are easy enough to pull and reuse next season. We do the same for the 4 surviving Grape Vines

mar52: We have a couple of varieties of wild parrots around here (no doubt descended from runaways).

Nancypalooza:  Bay Laurel is one of the names of bay leaves we use in cooking. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Laurel

They can get very big, but they grow OK in pots.  I have one in a 14" pot.

I don't buy tomato cages. I make my own out of wire garden fencing. I can add another layer as the plant gets taller. Looks like I am going to need some as the tomatoes are going gangbusters.

David O.

Nancypalooza


  Marlene I probably made this up but I thought a bay laurel was a kind of magnolia,

That would be a no.

mar52


  Now I'm looking for a Bay Laurel tree.

Try to find a California Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica). Same qualities as the European bay, but much stronger, so you use fewer leaves.

Ooooh, thanks for all the advise!  

I'd have an orchard if I could.  I don't do well with little, in the ground plants because they get attacked by the sargeant caterpillars. They can clear a plant of leaves in just a few hours.  They seem to attack just when the peppers or corn is fit to pick.  

Now I'm trying trees!  Just bought a Damsen Plum (or something like that) on Ebay.

Off to look for my Bay tree!

Al: I really think that the previous owner of our house and the neighbor bought the trees maybe at the same time, probably for the foliage?  And the neighbor's is much taller, or maybe our owner liked hers and went and got one.  The orange of the flowers is gorgeous.  We always have about one or two fruit that get all the way to ripening but we always blamed that on the poor soil conditions.  Maybe it needs a friend?  We're actually going to be putting a small french drain in behind it and building up its bed, and we keep pruning it for shape so we'll see how it does next year.

Don/enginecapt: I told you I made it up!  :)

 Well, an update. Tomatoes now have about 200 blooms and some fruit on the vine. I will be pulling radishes for the rest of the summer as I keep planting in two week intervals. The Basil that I started indoors is now outside and just sprouting. Same with the chives. The green beans are robust and growing about 2 inches per day. The strawberries are doing well, lots of blooms. Carrots and dill are still sprouting but If I don't keep the dill free of blooms, it will take over the garden. 

  The weather here has been great. We got a little rain on Thursday, so I took a day off from the garden to go fishing on Friday. (got shut out)  Oh well, the worst day fishing is still better than the best day working.

  David O.

Our garden which is owned by Mamaw Smith and myself is doing  very good.  Our early cabbage did not do good due to the insects which literally ripped them apart was not good and we tore them out.  Tomatoes, garlic, beans, beets, onions cucumbers and corn is doing very good.
 
We have had a issue with our sprinkler systerm.  We use water from the Tennessee River and we devloped a leak in the system.  We have tried to get it repaired ofr the past week but it appears that it will be Monday before we can repair it.  The water is spraying into my boathouse storage area by the gallons.  I covered the leak with towels to keep it from spraying my equipment.  That worked but the water was immense inside the boat storage system.
 
I have about 200 feet of New Guinea Impatients that create a huge amount of roadshow.  They need water every day.  I watered them yesterday at the expense of my boat house which was hosed by leaking water.
 
Water and food makes the garden and plants grown and bloom.  Without it, nothing works.
 
Hopefully the irrigation folks show up tomorrow morning.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I'm posting the large size of this so you can see (sorry screen size folks) but what's growing now is baby amphibians of some sort: 

   Awww! They're so cute!  Take THAT Octomom....    

My garden is 14 x 80.  I'm growing onions, peppers ( several varieties,tomatoes, watermelon, zucchini, okra, beans, lettuce, potatoes.

New home in a new area for me. Poor soil, heavy clay so I mixed in some humus to lighten it up some. This year will be a learning experiance for my garden.    I put some temp raised beds for insurance of some type of fresh vegtables. chow Jim                  

Despite the 90 degree temp. and 90% humidity today, we are picking and making our first batch of Apricot "Butter". Unfortunately the fruit is high in the trees, so Janet is standing on the hood of the tractor while I pull the springing (and wet) branches down so she can use the picker to get the fruit.

With that done, and the buggy parts cut out, we have cleaned and boiled the fruit with some Apple Juice for sweetening and it is now in the slow-cooker (about a two gallon batch). After 6-7 hours we'll bottle it up !  The next batch will be from better Apricots, so we have high hopes for a good supply for the winter.  This is a big  deal for us. We both love Apricots and have worked for ten years to get these trees to produce useable fruit.

NEXT DAY--
 One of the Chinese Apricot "Bushes" that forgot the limit for its growth. Still a lot of fruit after picking a two gallon batch yesterday.

I picked my first zucchini yesterday and I should have some tomatoes by July 4 which was always my benchmark date.  The birds have eaten every cherry from my cherry tree.