persimmons in the yard

when we bought our home, we had no idea what was growing in the yard.  there was so much overgrowth and neglect that it was a bit overwhelming.  slowly but surely over the 5 years we have been here, we have removed, relocated and replaced many things and trimmed back others as well.  gone are the monstrous forsythia and all of the nandina as well as the lovely plastic pointsettias that were placed in various beds in the yard.  missing is most of the pea gravel that served as mulch in some of the beds.  one of the surprises in the yard besides the little grape hyacinths that popped up in the lawn is a pair of persimmon trees.  we are both fans of the familiar japanese fuyu persimmons that you find in produce and grocery stores and we were excited.  that is until we had the opportunity to taste one.  we have american persimmon trees and the fruit must be eaten when it is soft and mushy, unlike the firm ones we sometimes purchase.  if you do not know the meaning of astringent, try eating one of those fruits before it has been hit with frost and is still firm.  you will be lucky to peel the insides of your cheeks off of your teeth since they are the most astringent thing you can imagine.

lately, i have been doing a little research and a little reading on  native foods of the south and i read an article by a local food writer.  this got me to thinking about our little trees out back.  it was a warm sunny day and i headed out into the back yard with a bucket to try and gather some to see if they were worth the effort.  

as you can see, this little

tree has quite a few

still on the branches.

as they ripen and soften,

they fall to the ground

where they can be

gathered.

if you walk through the neighborhood,

you will find persimmon trees growing

wild.  they have most likely sprouted from

seeds dropped by the various animals

eating the fruits.

one of the ripe fruits on the ground just

waiting to be picked up.  darry likes to 

eat them and he is not much help if i am

trying to gather a bunch.  the fruits can be

put into a food mill where it is a little work to 

press them through, separating the pulp from

the skins and seeds.

another tree in the neighborhood

where i can easily gather the ripe

fruit.  ours are so high up that we 

have to wait for them to fall or tap

the trunk with a mallet to make 

them fall and then gather them.

crazy cactus

over the years, i have been given several "christmas" cactus plants.  you've seen them in the stores covered in their colorful blooms.  the blooms last for a few weeks and then all you have is a funky looking plant.  for the truly ambitious house plant gardener, you can attempt forcing the blooms every holiday season or you can do what i did.  put the plant outside in a sunny location for the summer and just let it grow.  then wait for the days to shorten and the night time temperatures hit about 50.  when the forecasts start calling for these cool nights and the overnight temps are dropping in to the 40's, you should see the plant start to set flower buds.

once the plant has developed buds, move it inside to a bright location, no direct sunlight, where the temperature is a constant of about 70 and wait for the show to begin.

when i moved my plant inside in mid-october, it had many more blooms than last year.  

it had so many blooms that were growing rapidly that we thought it would be

in full flower for halloween.  

this is a closeup of some of the blooms.  this is actually the second time this year

that the plant has flowered.  when we first put it outside in the spring, we had

a cold snap that forced me to bring it back inside.  this was around easter and the 

warm weather outside followed by sudden cold weather with shorter days forced a few

blooms, but nothing like the number you see in this photo.

the plant is now in full bloom as you can see.  (thanks for the photo tanner!)

even though the plant had a rough summer, it lost a large section to some sort

of ailment, the number of blooms is impressive.  some of these plants bloom at 

christmas and others bloom for thanksgiving, like this one.  hopefully, it

will still have some blooms for the holiday.

lubie and patches

it's hard not to like these two, it's also obvious how much they

like each other.  i can't believe that someone would just 

move away and not find a way to take them!

varmints in the garden!!!

along the side of our carport is a small bed of perennials.  last year darry added a few cannas to the bed and they did very well here, too well in fact.  they multiplied enormously and took over the bed crowding and shading many other plants this summer.  they weren't affected much by the drought either.  when we had our first frost this week, they were damaged and it signaled the time to cut them back for the winter.  many times over the summer, i mentioned to darry that they needed to be relocated since they were too aggressive for this bed and he decided to do it when he cut them back.  sugar bear beat him to the punch.  we were unaware of the invasion of moles in the bed until i found her in the bed digging.  boy did she dig, grape hyacinths bulbs, dahlias tubers and other plants lay on top of the soil baking in the sun.  i had visions of her hanging from the tree by her tail i was so mad!  that was when darry made the discovery. he gathered up all of the bulbs, tubers and plants and then he dug up all of the cannas making sure that he pulled up every single tuber.  in reality, it wasn't moles it was voles.  they are vegetarians and bulbs and tubers are their favorite meal which makes them the enemy of many gardeners!!!

what my poor little bed looks like now.

the frost also killed of many of the plants out in the front lasagna bed.

we plan to fill it with perennials next spring

more damage in the yard by either moles or voles

they seem to like this area by the north side of the house

some of the damage by the perennial bed

freeze warning

it looks as if the wonderful warm weather is coming to an end.  we have our first freeze warning of the season tonight.  darry and i had to bring in the plants that have been outside for the season.  now the cats will have something to do-shred my plants.  lucy is quite fond of lemon grass and the plant was looking beautiful and full if you recall earlier posts, she will have plenty of it to chew on.  

we harvested some of the pak choi and asparagus.  last winter the pak choi did fine in the garden during the cold months and we are hoping it survives the frost.

knowing that the old tomato vines wouldn't make it through the freeze, darry took them out and he picked all of the tomatoes on them.  we now have a large basket of tomatoes wrapped in paper in the basement.  we are hoping that they will ripen slowly and not all at once so that we can enjoy them. 

we also had to pull some of the pepper plants.  they were loaded with fruit.  as you can see here, we have some produce to eat.  

over in the lettuce patch we have a nice variety of greens to pick from.  here in the sink is a mix of mizuna, lolla rosa, garden cress, oaky red splash, italienischer and lau's pointed leaf.

weathering the change

since fall has finally arrived, things are looking a little different in the garden.  seeds are ready for harvest and plants are shutting down for the coming of winter.  the mums are in full bloom and the trees are shedding their leaves.  soon, it will be time to rake them all up and place them in the bin for next years compost piles.  even so, there is still plenty of things to look at and enjoy.

in the herb garden, the salvia is still blooming, not bad for a cheap 6pack of annuals!

the thai basil and thyme are still going strong as well

when the girls went to italy with linda last year, they brought back tomato seeds.

we were late in planting them and they did not do well in a bucket.  planting them in the garden among the other plants has given them the chance to take off.  we hope to keep them going long enough to try the tomatoes that the plant has set.

this has been a good year for our little miniature roses

when the cardoon was done blooming, i cut it back to the ground.  it is coming back nicely along with the catnip that we thought was long dead.  the two plants look nice with the grosso lavender.

the pineapple sage and the nasturtiums are doing a wonderful job of covering up the 

air conditioner.  next year i will plant more nasturtiums to do it again.

the asparagus plants had been allowed to grow up into large ferns and when they began to

yellow, we cut them back.  much to our surprise, they immediately began to send up shoots.

for the first time in 4 years, we will actually be able to harvest them and cook them for dinner!

up until this week, we have had such warm days and nights that i never thought to bring in

my christmas cactus.  it wasn't doing well, it lost several large branches and others look awful.

but the lousy condition of some of the plant has not stopped it from setting flower buds.

looks like i will have a halloween cactus this year!

oktoberfest

according to the calendar, it is officially fall. but out in the garden, it is still late summer.  the ground is still warm enough that it is making it difficult to get lettuce and greens to germinate.

we are also still picking plenty of peppers.  these are bells that if left long enough, they will be yellow.

our little artichoke did absolutely nothing all summer and is finally growing.

the only thing that is flourishing right now are the cooking greens. from the left, turnips, two types of pak choi and red mustard.

the year's herb garden was huge, despite the drought.  we had so many plants get too large and next year we will have to plant them in different areas.  the flamingoes have been residing in the herb garden this fall.

hard to believe but today i was out picking tomatoes, these are big beef

the chocolate cherry is still in production

this weeks pick

it is october and the heat is finally subsiding although you wouldn't know it this week.  we had temps up in the mid-high 80's.  we also got some rain today, we have gone about 4 weeks without a drop so this is a much needed change.  despite the fact that it is october, our garden is still producing, small amounts, but we are still picking peppers and tomatoes.

if you leave banana peppers on the bush long enough, they get a nice red color

mizuna on top, italienischer in the middle and garden cress on the bottom

we are once again attempting to over winter greens

this will probably be the end of the tomatoes, even so, the big beef is hanging on

not bad for october

the tomatoes are cherokee purple, ananas noire, mortgage lifter and big beef

red banana peppers and yellow ones too

pak choi and assorted greens

fall into step...

the arrival of fall means it is time to plant winter gardens.  last year we were lucky and had greens for the entire winter.  these are various cooking greens, mostly pak choi and mustard as well as chard.
hopefully, our beans will make it through the first frost. we have never tried planting them at this time of the year.  we also have one little roma tomato that never did much this summer, we planted it in a bucket late in the season and if we are lucky, it will set some fruit.
personally, i can't wait for the various lettuces and salad greens to grow large enough to pick.  fresh picked salad greens can't be beat.  the heat of summer kills them off fairly early here in the summer and i really miss them!
our new tenant, she has taken up residence on a garden post next to the bird house.  she is a black and yellow argiope, argiope aurantia.  that fancy zig zag pattern was made by the male who is much smaller and was not visible on any of my trips to photograph her.
this is her from the other side, she didn't make taking her picture easy!  it seems she prefers to show her belly and not her back!  

traveling gardener

the truth is, time tends to fly even when we aren't thinking about it.  this month was a special one for me because it marks two milestones in my life.  darry and i were married 23 years ago on the 14th of september and on the 12th, i celebrated the 25 year anniversary of my graduation from the culinary institute of america.  a small group of my classmates were on hand for the reunion festivities and we had a wonderful time.  

traveling north to attend the reunion also meant a chance to see family members.  my travel plans brought me first to pennsylvania, then on to new york, new jersey and back to pennsylvania.   the scenery was lush and green with a hint of fall colors

mom and steve picked me up in scranton and we drove back to bushkill, after having a late lunch with with my uncle peter and aunt katherine.  on our drive to the house, we made a quick stop to see the scenery of smithfield beach on the delaware river.  it was a gorgeous day and the river was as smooth as glass.

mom's house is in a wooded area and due to the large amount of deer, everything is shrouded in wire fences.  this is the little pond in her yard that is home to many frogs.

a close up shot reveals all of the non edible garden art.  the large amount of trees on the lot prevent plants from growing and the deer eat just about anything that does grow.

mom and i went to lambertville, nj to wander in the shops and have lunch.  we ate in an old train station that has been converted to a restaurant.  it is along side a canal near the delaware river.  they had a small series of container gardens that held herbs along the old train tracks.

when i arrived in hyde park, ny on the campus of the CIA, i hardly recognized it.  so much has been added and the landscaping added has changed things dramatically.  this is the new herb garden outside the colavita center which is where the caterina di medici restaurant is located.

this rhubarb was so impressive that i could not resist taking a photo of it.  hopefully mine will look like that some day...

the entrance to the garden features a rose garden with many varieties to admire.

this is a new waterfall and landscaping added to the old pond that sits in front of the dorms we lived in.  what an improvement!!!

while walking around the campus, i spied espaliered apple trees among the landscaping in front of Roth hall, the main building on campus.

finding myself with a little time to explore, i drove down to beacon, ny to do a little shopping.  this is the back of a building located next to the public parking lot.  it just goes to show that you do not need a huge yard to create your own garden oasis.  on the ground level there is a group of comfy seats and a water fountain on the wall as well as potted plants.

the folks in beacon obviously take beautification seriously.  the trees along main street were surrounded by colorful flowers.  it also made me miss the area, the hudson valley truly is a beautiful place.