First tomato blossom

A friend gave me a few tomato plants, big sturdy things that had been grown in used paper coffee cups. I put them in the garden last weekend and noticed just today a few blossoms on one of the plants.
The plant is growing near an apple tree and its accompanying guild plants — yarrow, comfrey, fava beans, narcissus bulbs, and a few volunteer peach seedlings.

tomato flowers

Pumpkin pie experiment

This week I cut apart one of the Winter Luxury pie pumpkins and roasted it in the oven, then made a pie out of the pulp. The flavor and texture were both delicate and wonderful. And the pumpkin produced many seeds, which I saved for growing more of these delicious pumpkins next year. In the past I have made my pumpkin pies out of butternut squash flesh and they have been delicious, but this winter luxury pie pumpkin has a much more subtle and refined flavor. I cut down on the amount of spices which the recipe called for, to allow the pumpkin flavor to be available to the palate. This pumpkin definitely lives up the the description I read in the Nichols Garden catalog which states:

Beautiful 5 lb, 10" diameter, netted pumpkin is what every pie pumpkin promises but rarely delivers. Completely smooth, thick flesh cooks to a rich mellow flavor. A friend asked a market vendor to recommend a pie pumpkin; she reached under the counter and exclaimed, "This will be the bes you've ever had," as she brought out a Winter Luxury Pie.

The pumpkin I used was the largest of the harvest and produced six cups of cooked flesh, enough to make three pies total. I froze the remaining flesh in two-cup increments. I'll be ready to make another pie soon.

Currants & Gooseberries

currant

gooseberry

These gooseberries and currants bloomed early this spring, and we had lots of rain and cold during and after their blooming so I was worried the berry crop might be compromised. Same situation for the peaches and apricots, all were rained upon during bloom. I went out today and lifted a prickly branch of the gooseberry (last year's wood) and found a lovely row of berries filling out quite nicely. On the black currants I found clusters of the immature fruit here and there. I still won't have enough for jelly this year, but I'll eat them out of hand when they are ripe. In the fall I made a few cuttings of the black currants and put them in the front yard, in the berm and basin area. I just stuck the dormant wood into the soil. They seem to root fairly easily, so I will continue to increase my stock that way. They don't seem to be bothered by the walnuts either, so they will make a nice addition to the walnut guild.

Strawberries

The strawberries are starting to ripen. I picked this group this morning. Everyday brings more sweetness to them. I've yet to taste from today's harvest but I'll eat them even if they are a little tart. It is the first fruit from the garden.

Tomatoes

Frost has yet to visit us, but it is looming, and so I've still been picking tomatoes. The flavor is milder than the tomatoes from the hot months, but it is still pretty good. I picked three tomatoes just today, the others are from throughout the past week or so.

Saving Seed - Black Beans

During the cold weather we like to eat black beans in various recipes. Black bean chili with butternut squash is a staple winter-time meal for us. I've been buying organic black beans from the grocery store for years. I've grown plants for the past few years. This year I got a pretty good yield from a few plants I grew in the front yard. Some of the plants are still maturing but I cut some of them today and gathered a pile of seed pods. Once all the plants mature and the seed pods dry fully I'll thresh and winnow the seeds and maybe I'll get enough for one pot of chili.

Popping beans (aka Garbanzo beans)

I'm growing a type of garbanzo bean (aka chick pea), Cicer arietinum, that produces small brown seeds that are supposed to cook quickly in a small amount of oil and pop, but not like popcorn. Having a bean that cooks quickly saves time and energy. No long soaking required and long simmering times are not needed. I got my seeds from another member of Seed Savers Exchange and I'm growing those out to increase my stock. Most of the seeds I produce this year will go back into next year's crop, but I'm going to try popping a few, since I've never actually done it (only read about it).

I've never even grown garbanzo beans before. Only bought bags of the big pale seeds at the bulk section of the market. The plants very much resemble lentil plants, which I have grown. The pods hang under the foliage, so I've pulled this plant back to show the pods.

Fig - Conadria

Ficus carica - edible fig - Conadria puts out an early (breba) crop and a late crop. The breba crop has been ripening over the last week or so, a few at a time. Sweet fresh figs, right from the tree, are one of my favorite things to eat.
Figs are drought tolerant after being established. Conadria starts out with green figs, then they start to droop a little, then more, and finally turn yellow. When the fig pulls easily from the tree they are ripe and sweet. Conadria can be dried too, but I haven't tried that yet.

Other fig varieties in the garden include: Verdal Longue, Celestial, Brown Turkey Improved, and Panache Tiger. They are all young trees and it looks like the Brown Turkey Improved will fruit in the summer, and possibly the Panache Tiger.

Siberia 8 days later

Eight days later the Siberia tomato has put on quite a bit of growth.

Berry, Berry, Seed

The hot days have started becoming the norm and the garden is getting nice and full of plants, insects, flowers, and fruit.

Gold Raspberries
These Fall Gold raspberries have been fruiting for a week and they are earlier than the red raspberries, which are just starting to ripen today.

Blueberries
Many of the blueberry plants are fruiting, having started a week, or so, ago.
Each day we get more ripe berries.

Peanut
This is a peanut plant, just a week old. I planted Tennessee Reds and Virginia Jumbos. Peanuts need a long, hot growing season, which we have here in Chico, California. Peanuts are legumes and will create pegs that the plant thrusts into the soil toward the end of the growing season.

A guild of sorts

This selection of plants happened to come together in a rather unplanned way. Leeks, chard, borage, fig, parsley, clover, and alpine strawberries. I also grew daikon and fava beans as cover crops. I feel like something is missing from this guild, but I am not sure what it is. This area is located near the oaks and the plants benefit from the oak leaves. I usually don't dig the leeks when I harvest them, rather I cut the below the soil line and they do grow back from the roots. Borage is a mineral accumulator and bees love the blossoms, which are edible, as are the leaves. I think maybe it needs nasturtium or perhaps a melon for the summer. Something to cover the ground after the daikon, fava, and borage are cut. I don't want too much clover since it is known to attract gophers (they also love fig roots and alium roots too).
I loved looking at this planting progress through the fall and winter
Here is a photo of the same spot in November 2008. Note the droopy chard plant, fungi, very small borage plants, lots of blossoms on the alpine strawberries.

Warm April Day Pictures

A few 80+ degree days have finally arrived and the garden is starting to explode in growth and flowers. The bees are still loving all the borage and now they have the neighbor's mature orange tree to visit (the smell is magical) along with salvia officinalis, lots of daikon is still blooming, lots of calendula too. I've harvested some artichokes and fennel bulbs that I steamed and ate and shared with friends. Some of the leeks are starting to form flower heads, the arugula barely had a chance before it bolted, but I managed to have a few salads with it before they bloomed. Some of the red chard is starting to push up flower stalks. Apricots are filling out and I've been thinning the tiny peach fruits on the white peach tree. Strawberries are just starting to ripen, and I have been forced to share most of them with pill bugs and slugs so far. Melon seeds are germinating in the ground and in pots, as are winter pie pumpkins. Here are some photos of various things from today, which is called Earth Day. Why have a special day? Everyday should be Earth Day.

Fennel blossom (yellow) and borage (blue)

Carrot Blossom


California Poppies


Artichoke - ready to pick

Frost & Green Tomatoes

The tomato plants finally wilted in the cold weather. I picked most of the tomatoes green and brought them inside. I've been advised to put them into a bag with a banana to get them to ripen. They've been slowly ripening on their own, a few at a time. I think they look beautiful in the shiny green state.

Amaranth starting to bloom

Amaranth is an ancient food plant, used by the Aztec, Incan, and Mayan cultures. Both the leaves and the seeds were used for food. Much information is available on this plant and its uses at Wikipedia.
The flowers on this small planting are just starting to open and will develop into bright pink plumes.
If I leave some of the plants after they go to seed, the birds will enjoy eating the seed.

Vegetables from the garden

Green beans, two kinds of summer squash, and tomatoes harvested from the garden.