Turmeric Plant Out Back

I really love the way turmeric plants come up.  The straight tall shoots unfurling and spreading out.  They have a nice thickness to them that I appreciate.  They form much the same way elephant ears and ginger do. Not sure if they're in the same family or anything but they grow similarly.

So far it seems that turmeric likes rich loose soils that drain well.  They don't mind a pot.  Currently this one is right in among day lilies and some other plants but it'll probably have to be moved to keep growing and spreading well.

As mentioned before I've heard it can go well wrapped around fish or other meats.  I wonder if they can be used like banana leaves...  We like to get tamales from Glorias that are wrapped in banana leaves and they are awesome!

Tomato Flowers

It's been a while since I've had a good home grown tomato.  These grew from seeds and are a smaller variety so they should produce pretty quickly.  They've shot up in the last week.  I wasn't sure they were taking hold at first.  Last Thursday though I noticed these little flowers growing and hope sprung anew.

Again once the sunflower is gone it'll have more room and may be getting much bigger.

My wife doesn't much care for raw tomatoes but cooked are fine.  I find this isn't so great for the varietal flavor of the tomato and loses something.

If you like tomatoes raw or cooked, what's your favorite variety.  The usuals are plum, cherry, and hothouse but the beefsteak and brandywine can also be found occasionally, especially at more specialty grocery stores like Central Market.

Composter

Finally got a real compost drum.  I prefer a pile but our yard really isn't set up for such a thing.  This will have to do.  These are quicker though so I'm thinking eventually I'll get the hang of it and it'll be fine.

One thing it won't do is attract ants to it but it also won't have some of the beneficial bugs that help till it together and further leave organic compost material.

I've transferred the contents of the laundry basket that I had put compost stuff in into the barrel and gave it a few turns.  The other thing is the slosh.  It has a bit of moisture in it.  I hope the screws account for that. There are over 60 of them holding it together.

At the previous house there was a good location for a pile.  One of the things you have to keep in mind is that they create heat and can be flammable even if they seem wet.

Sunflowers

This sunflower has gotten pretty heavy.  I hope this means that the seeds are developing well.  I've kept it watered so this should be the case but won't know until I try harvesting.

The head is getting yellow but I want a little more darkening before I cut it off.  Once he's gone the pot will have that much more room for the other plants.  Will need to spread them out soon.

In this pot I have several things.  Among them are tomato plants, turmeric, day lilies, green onion, and some kind of fruit tree (apple I think? really not sure.)

Up front there are of course more things growing but this was out back by the bird feeder where the seeds for the sunflower came from originally.  So much going on at one time right now though.

Day Lilly After Rain

By now if you can't tell that I really like my day lilies then you haven't been paying any attention.  These flowers are short lived but have a lot of color.  One of the benefits is that, as long as the conditions are favorable for it, they will keep putt on flowers.

This year the temperatures have been significantly lower than average and thus the blooming time has extended all month.  Of course if you keep them watered well they can go even longer.

I should be able to cross them soon when I get more blooms at a time.  The plants make pods with round black seeds, a dozen or more at a time.  I crossed the lily I use for my avatar myself.  Unfortunately I planted it on the north side of the house and it got very little sun.  It died back and didn't return.

I now have 4 places I'm growing lilies and keeping a good eye on them.  I don't plan to have that happen again.  They also like being dug up and replanted.  The one on the front right of the house in the front planter was not really dug and divided like the rest of them have been and it shows.  It's put on some flowers but not like the rest.  Come fall I'll dig him up, divide, and replant more spaced out, probably 4-5 dimes the space.   Thinking doing the same around the tree and putting lilies there too.  I should have more than enough by then.

Planning on getting a greenhouse soon too.  Not sure how soon, maybe next year even, but sooner than I thought.  I was looking at 6-7 years out.  Rushing a plan is never a good idea.  See how things are working and plan accordingly.  You can always revise a plan whereas revising a yard is a lot more difficult.

Sunflower Bust / Turmeric Boon

The sunflower produces only one seed.  We replanted it in hopes of a better plant next time but I really don't know.  There are many reasons this can happen.  Looking at the flower head though, I think the culprit is poor pollination.   I only ever saw one bee hovering around and that likely is the only seed that got a good dusting.  There are bees around of course but we are a bit away from their usual grounds.  We have farms near us so they may have bee hives.  There are also woods around the lake we are next to so there could be wild hives as well.  I think the more flowers people plant the better the chance we will get some good harvests.  I know we have neighbors planting gardens, at least little ones.

I don't think the HOA wants bee hives in the neighborhood so the best bet is to plant some bee friendly plants near the woods in hopes of attracting a hive over there close by.

On a better note, we planted some turmeric in various pots.  I know at least one of them started rooting but I can't remember which one I found that way.  One of them, and of course I can see this one easily, has sprouted leaves.  This is the first time I've actually gotten turmeric to grow.  Usually it either dries out and composts or gets too soft, rots, and then composts.  Either way it ends up being other plant food.  Anyway I have high hopes of some day harvesting my own turmeric plants.  That would be awesome!

I see the entire plant is edible so I'm now looking forward to using it to cook either pork or fish.  Both would be good.  The taste is said to be gingery, makes sense because it's related to the ginger plant, and somewhat floral.

What would you use turmeric leaves for?

Day Lily #2

Here is the other day lily we bought last year that has decided to finally bloom.  This one is an orange flower with a little darker center, a more common flower.  This cluster has quite a few blooms on it though.

Day lily flowers only stay open for a day but the presence of so many buds means that it will have flowers for several days even if each individual flower is fleeting.

Next spring I'm going to have to amend the soil and divide up the root system.  It can get really crowded and dividing give the plants plenty of room to divide and thrive.

Again I'd like to try cross pollinating these guys.  This kind of flower is perfect for toning down or possibly a splash of contrast, depending on what the genes decide to do when crossing.

It's been a while but when I was a kid, back in the day, my grandfather had a grant to cross breed hibiscus plants.  I don't recall how many varieties he produced but I remember him making charts and reports on the resulting plants. We had so many pots of them inside and outside of the house.  The den would have them lining the wall in winter if it was going to get too cold.  I still remember the flagstone path that led to the sitting area out back and the flowers that surrounded it.  At the time I thought of it like my own little jungle.

Office ivy Growth

Since last time I posted about the ivy it's grown quite a bit.  It used to be in front of the wire sculpture and has since grown into it, around it, and back down the other side.  Some impressive growth here.  Our office manager said she'd like to repot it so it keeps growing well.  It doesn't seem to have complained so far though so I'm not sure if that's needed.

One of the reasons ivy plants trail out so much is to have more room to put out air roots.  These take the moisture out of the air and help the plant to keep going.  If you feel along the ivy you can find these little root bumps all along it.  These also help the plant cling onto anything it comes in contact with.  They will form those webbing out roots and grab hold of buildings, trees, rocks, anything they can find.  Apparently they don't seem to like the wire metal though.  It has avoided clinging to it.  Not sure if it's because it's metal, too thin, or what.

The white planter it's in has gone through some changes too.  Currently it's sporting sun glasses and a beard.  At one time there was an ear ring but it didn't last long.  I have one of these pots at home too.  It's made to hold your glasses and be a place to put a plant on your desk.  I don't think they though about an ivy though.