12-23-2013 Symphony in green...and no real variation.

It is not simple talking about winter gardening when, yesterday, we had 77F (25C) and when the snow that's supposed to cover it all at this time of year came down this morning in the liquid form. (Not that you'll ever hear me complain about rain; I love that labor-free celestial irrigation)

Mâche or Lamb's lettuce.

One great thing to be said for this time of year is , fifteen minutes before dinner, going to pick the best looking escarole and bring it in for the freshest, crunchiest salad. I know that for most non-Belgian, this is an acquired taste with its slightly bitter flavor but for those in the know, it's the best.

Escarole

On the down side, every year I swear I won't grow curly endives; not that I don't love them but the ever changing freezing/warming temps damage its laced edges making it a supreme mess to clean up. So, here it is, once more I swear I'll never grow them again!!!!!

Curly endive.

Other Belgian delicacy to enjoy now: chervil soup! Chervil is now growing well during those cooler days and is producing its peak flavor.

This chervil picture needs a scratch and sniff app.

Head lettuce

Leaf lettuce

Kale

Parsley! Can't do w/o it any time of year!

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

11-28-2013 Thankful for my garden...

On giving thanks…

The last canning for this year: pickled sweet banana rings.

   What better place is there to express your thankfulness than in the garden? This little patch of black dirt where sweat, toil, care and attention turn what used to be harsh clay into black dirt and its fairy carpet of greens, yellows, reds and blues, of the crunchiest green endive to the sweetest Asian pear or fig without forgetting those plump little cherry tomatoes that never make it to the kitchen, appreciated as they are on the spot, from lovingly picking to appreciating lips in less than a second, with a taste lingering into the new morning. What better place is there to appreciate nature’s spell surrounding its disciple and follower with enchanting perfumes, awe-inspiring beauty and flavors hardly tasted anywhere else?

   Sure, at this time of year, our little corner hardly looks like the garden of Eden I get lured into throughout all summer; banana leaves look pitiful, dried and frozen, more like an army of ghosts trembling in winter’s cold breath. Even our house now stands in its midst in utter nakedness, having lost her leafy vestments, in the middle of what can only be called desolation. After the last few frosts, our little piece of paradise looks more like the Flanders trenches after the harsh 1917 winter with its black, dried stems, its bare branches, and the few green vegetables shivering under pale shrouds of winter covers, helping them survive those frigid nights.

   Good thing is, a gardener is an eternal optimist, not really living in the now but planning for six months, a year or multiples from now, already living into next season or planting to harvest ten years from today. Despite the cold wind, I already have noticed the seemingly tender leaves of poppies volunteering by the mail box, soon to be joined by corn flowers, tulips and daffodils. Before we know it, our garden’s bareness will again be covered in a wild tapestry of colors, shapes and looks. What better place to reflect upon my thankfulness than on this little spot where decay turns into beauty, where tiny little seeds provide sustenance for so many, in food and in appreciable beauty? What better place to soon meditate on the beauties of life, to appreciate the bounties and the knowledge that this makes me a better member of my small community, partaking of the goodness, sharing the knowledge, helping create more gardens in our neighborhood?

   While nature may seem dead right now, she is just dormant, taking a little break, maybe forcing us to appreciate her absence but soon we’ll be surrounded by her gifts again; gifts I am very thankful for, today and every day of my life. Thank you for my garden and everybody in my life, right here or connected on line.

My life wouldn’t be quite this full and satisfying without all of you.

11-04-2013 last colors for the year!

Having suffered a frost last week, very few colors are still visible and will be totally gone within a couple more weeks making room for the green of winter vegetables. 

Those are growing nicely due to cool weather and less evaporation.

Most of those Mexican sunflowers are gone now.

This one is a pure miracle, a volunteer sunflower blooming way after its due date. I love volunteers; you never know what pleasure they'll bring you.

This pineapple sage kept my bees supplied in nectar those last few days.

10-02-2013 Cooler nights!

Finally, the nightly temps are getting a little cooler: 50s and 60s. the day temps are still high enough: mid-80s to impact my winter crops.

pineapple sage: love the red flower; the smell is ,no doubt, very pineappley but it does not taste like it. Good as a late flower for the bees.

I have started leeks, carrots, endives, lettuce, spinach,bush beans and onions from seeds. Because it is still rather warm during the day, chervil has given me a hard time and refuses to germinate. Not ever taking "no" for an answer, I have started some indoors yesterday. Let's see if I get any luckier.

Bush beans.

In between seasons with my tomatoes; the summer ones have slowed down to a trickle and my late season ones have just barely started to turn slightly pink. This year, I added some late cukes to see how they would do. I followed carol Stein's advice; we'll see how that works out. 

Fruit: collecting the very last of my figs, now down to a couple a day.

I have some late season raspberries I planted last year. They have turned out into something of a surprise: first, they are much "wilder" than I expected; they have a major defensive system made up of mean thorns. They grow rather strongly meaning I will have to do some re-arrangement this winter and their taste is not as sweet as my spring ones. They are almost bland but I am happy to have some fresh fruit.

Flowers: while I was absent, visiting family overseas, one of my bananas bloomed but it turned into the story of the tree falling in the forest. Since nobody noticed, does that really count? It sure wasn't accompanied by my usual excitement at watching a new flower's birth. 

The last few days have been very dry so that  have to do some watering.

Sacrificing my parsley for future generations of swallowtails. Not easy since I love parsley but I also enjoy butterflies. Dilemma!

Dahlia. 

09-11-2013 Change of season

A Surprise Lily

I know it does not feel like fall yet, but, as far as planting goes, most of the summer crops are on their last show. Unless, of course you planted, in mid-summer, some fresh tomatoes to tie you up till first frost.

It is now time to start the fall vegetables.

 Problem is, the sun is still way too hot.
So far, my kale has sprouted and is growing, my endives and some of the carrots are also doing well but everything else will have to wait for some serious cooling down. The combination of high heat and no rain just have made it too difficult for some crops to germinate.

Future kale. Will taste it sweet self only after the first frost.

On the plus side: butterflies have really enjoyed those dry, sunny days and regaled us with their aerial ballet, including quite a few "inter racial" ones. Their subsequent landing on my parsley only mean that I will have to sacrifice some of my favorite herbs to feeding the last brood for the year. I should soon have some interesting caterpillars feeding on my parsley.

They all have a clear preference for Mexican Sunflowers.

08-20-2013 The other side of nature

For the last few days, I have tried to post this but my Gmail account had, somehow, been hijacked by my NCSU account causing a situation where Gmail did not recognize me or my blog and I could access it but not write or publish. 

Sometimes weird stuff goes on!

Well, my troubles are not over: Blogger now refuses to load my pictures. I guess this will be my first post w/o pictures. Not quite the same!

Ah, we're now back in the saddle. There is something to be said for a good reboot!

About three mornings ago, during my early morning daily inspection, I noticed that my corn, that had started to fill in nicely had been totally devastated, not by deer for only the kernels were gone. I know deer would have scarfed the whole thing.

    My first reaction was to blame raccoons since they did a job on half my corn last year but it did not look quite right. Raccoons are way more brutal during their nocturnal feeding; they tear through everything. Here some of the ears looked like they had been cleanly picked by somebody with a napkin on their lap and then, there were sign that some had played with the empty ears that I found in different locations. Based on my neighbors' observations I had to conclude the job had been done by a couple of my old fox buddies.  So much for liking those little creatures! They now have grown into hoodlums, forgetting that I gave them roof and shelter when they needed it; now they're back demanding dinner as well!

 

      The second challenge was  with my bees. I know that August can be a terrible month for them with very little pollen out there and not much more nectar.      

Out of the three hives, one had honey, not tons of it but a good amount and both of the others offered the same scene when I opened them: hundreds of bees, butt in the air cleaning up the bottom of empty honey cells. They had nothing left to eat and they were, understandably in a pretty grouchy mood. (This is where the veil and gloves come handy, when you face 30,000 hungry females!) 

      The most interesting part is that the only hive with stores of honey was run by the old queen, (not to be confused with the White Queen!) the one that produced those aggressive bees last year and the one I had considered getting rid of. Instead, I moved her to a new hive with only a small entourage of nurse bees and frames of brood figuring that cutting her troops number might bring peace to the village. It did, and that queen, quite obviously has other, vital qualities, like producing good honey makers.  The two weaker ones are run by young, inexperienced queens from a different source. (Something to remember!)

    My only choice, one I do not like much ended up being sugar water feeding. I don't like it because sugar is no real substitute for honey when it comes to nutrition but, if it keeps my girls alive...! I must say to their defense that bees in the S E US are not used to all those drizzles and rains and hesitate to go out on rainy days, thereby reducing greatly their store on a year like the one we just had.

    The third difficulty had to do with two days of rainy weather and its impact on my figs. Figs are born to bathe in the sun and the sun only; they love that last rush of heat before ripening. Their skin can take any amount of sun but totally falls apart when wet. We did not really get enough rain to brag about; it just continued drizzling just enough to melt those poor things. And then there is the clean-up, the day after, dealing with all that mushy mess. You can't leave them on the tree or it turns into the local fiesta for hornets, yellow jackets and huge green beetles: a mess. I collected enough usable ones to try and make some fruit leather. I'll let you know how it turns out.

On the plus side, this morning, after cleaning up the fig mess, I planted my fall crop of bush beans and onions. 

The humidity and skeeters made it less than pleasant but starting the next crop for the new season is always exciting.           

The crape myrtles are molting, ready to show off their new bark.

Eel River melon

Petit Gris Charentais

Petit Jaune. I love the designs on those water melons!

08-09-2013 ...it's still hot out there!

Spending a few days in Charlottesville Va made me appreciate cooler temperatures, cooler by 10 to 15 degrees, allowing you to eat outdoors morning and night.

Coming back to the 90s has felt very uncomfortable, not that I stay inside since the garden always needs some attention! I also noticed that that warmer sun has dried up the dirt, including some major cracks in some beds. This meant doing something I haven't done much this year: watering. And watering in long pants and long sleeves to avoid feeding too many mosquitoes that, apparently, eagerly waited for my return.

My tomatoes and cucumbers are producing enough for the family and a little more but not the large crops I have seen in the past. Some of those Roma tomatoes are great roasted. The gherkins I had every intention of pickling are coming in such small quantity that I just eat them raw. I must say that those old varieties are prehistoric looking with their almost thorny skins but, once you wash those away, you have a feast of really tasty treats. Other plus: even when getting larger, their seeds remain small and easily edible.

Happy Basil!

I like Banana peppers more than Bell peppers; they have more of a citrussy flavor I really like.

Asian pears

What else is going on? I am in the middle of enjoying my Asian pears; one variety has a skin as tough as leather but the juiciest, firm flesh. Two other varieties have a much more civilized skin; one of them may not look great for the market but the taste is something else.



The other near happening is the first few signs of my figs waking up. By sometimes next week they should start producing in earnest. Once they do, I will be very happy to share with any one of my friends in the Triangle who want to come on get quantities of the fresh fruit. If you're interested, contact me through "Message" on F B with ideas of dates and quantities requested. I'll try to keep everybody happy.

When I was at Monroe's house, this little guy thought he recognized me.

Banana field!

Excuse the quality of the following pictures but I decided tp post them anyway for what they show: a Sphinx Moth. Since they come out at night, most of us never see them. My neighbor Tom S. took the pictures.

Notice the length of the proboscis allowing the moth to draw nectar from the yellow flower (Four o'clock) on the top of the picture.