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.

Lemon Mint

We got two kinds of mint that I put under the fig tree.  Mint can be hard to get to grow sometimes but when it does it can take over.

On the plus side it can help keep some bugs down like fleas. We haven't had a problem with fleas as of yet but it can't hurt to prevent them in the first place.

The mint shown here, I believe, is lemon mint.  I could be wrong but that's what I'm told we were given.  The other mint we have is spearmint.  These have spread out a little but still not very far. 

The fig tree is still coming back nicely and has several shoots now.  Taken off two leaves so far and not a lot of change. Will wait a bit longer before trying it again.  Maybe it's not quite big enough to send enough to that sprout to make a difference.

The green onion is blooming nicely. Several poof balls of flowers have opened up and some fairly large ones.  Also planted a red onion among the green ones.  It was sprouting anyway.

I was able to remove a lot of weeds recently.  The best time to do weed removal is right after a good rain or possibly during a rain if it is late and will get dark before it's over.  Instead of having to fight the weeds to pull them out, most of them came out fairly easily if not immediately.  A couple of the harder ones to pull were the dandelions.  They have a tap root that can go down for a while even on a relatively small plant.

Water Conservation

It's that time of year again where you're starting to see signs and reminders that we need to be conserving water.  Of course a scene like this one isn't uncommon but it's also usually fixed promptly.  If not then so much water really can just go straight down the drain.  That is to say the storm drain which we have an ample amount of on our street.  It's great.

This of course applies to residential systems too though.  There are a lot of neighbors who are still having their sprinklers aiming badly and streaming straight to the lake.  Sure it helps the lake level (not really) but it's more or less just wasting their money and the water resources.  Of course no matter what we're losing more water due to evaporation from the lake than we're actually using.  It's a huge lake and one of many in the area.  The lake has gone down several feet since the heavy rains that made ramps disappear.  Still haven't made it out to the lake properly since we moved out there though.  Gone to look by but no boating, fishing, swimming, or even just laying a blanket out for a nice picnic. 

That's not to say we don't need to water though.  Watering helps keep the grass from completely dying out and the foundations of all of the houses from cracking and making a total mess of a brand new neighborhood.  Also trying to get trees, bushes, and other plants to be established.  It's quite an undertaking to be sure.

Among our plants we're getting up and going are of course the fig tree, a lovely addition to any home and the joy to many a bird that will without a doubt get used to its presence.  We also have our daylilies going.  At first I though I had killed half of the plants we got since they immediately died back to the dirt.  It's since been put in a pot and has now grown back in several places in the pot, doing great!  Our green onion we've had since forever (I think some of it was from the first house) is bouncing back so well we're ecstatic.  The chives as well are flowering.  The plumeria has roots I can see but so far the leaves haven't unfurled yet.  Super waiting for it.  I also planted three passion fruit seeds.  They've yet to show themselves but you never know with a seed until you know, you know?

One thing I'm thinking of getting is a bay tree.  I know they can grow in this area since there's one in Fort Worth in the historic pioneer house attraction but not sure how much care it's going to need.

If you have a favorite plant you've grown, please let us know in the comments.  Especially if it's something I can grow in my own yard.

State of the Garden

This may well put things into perspective.  So far I have a nice hazy vision of what I'm thinking I might want to do with a portion of the yard... maybe.

Right now what I really need to do is mow.  In fact that's what I'm probably going to do straight after I get home so the neighbors don't get upset with me now that we've had more that 24 hours between rains.

At work I was looking at regrading an amenity center open space with lots of grass.  At least that's what it looked like before they dumped 12 feet on top of half of it.  Now I get to figure out how to put in an ADA ramp down the 4:1 slope without it costing much...  I've found though that if  you start at the top and wind a little you can get under 5% down the walkway and although you have to do some cutting and filling along the way it should look nice when it's done.

I'm still evening out some spots in the back myself.  Might need to do it again and make the back a little smoother.  It's so hard to get a nice even slope.

On the plus side, the green onion and rosemary plants are loving the new place and have kept right on going.  The pineapple plant super loves it and is growing a lot more than previously.  The center is getting thick.  I can only hope it might produce a flower and of course a new baby pineapple.  That would be awesome!

And if you're wondering what t hat white thing is in the middle of the picture, I don't have any clue.  I was just holding my phone and the camera came, on as it does, and I accidentally pressed the power and up volume buttons and took a screen shot of the camera looking at something probably in my hands.  But I don't recognize it.

Basil Seeds

The basil plant has done really well this year.  Usually it flowers, makes seeds, and dies.  It's made seeds fairly well but has kept on growing despite the heat.  I've watered every day and sometimes twice so that probably helped keep it going.

The picture here is from after the flowers have pollinated and the seeds are forming.  It's not quite ready yet but soon there will be hundreds of seeds to save.  Basil has been consistent with how it produces and seeds so it's a no brainer that it would be one of the staple plants in the garden.

After the heat dies down and the green onion flowers again, it too is pretty much guaranteed to make seeds and possibly baby plants along side them.  This is in addition to splitting which they don't always seem to do.  Or if they do I don't realize it.  Of course only two green onion plants survived last winter's freezes.  Most of the new plants are either from seeds or new transplants from the store, a pretty reliable source for new plants.

The flowers have surprised me though.  We bought chrysanthemums and they have held on pretty well.  They have flowered throughout the summer, coming back when the weather cools a little from the 100's.  Of course that's been a few weeks but I already see new flowers forming and hope they bounce back hard with their color.

First Bloom in the Garden

This daikon already tried to bloom once but never got to flower.  Since, it has put off new flower buds and is now the first bloom of the year in the garden on the patio.

The green onions are just "green" with envy about it since they all have shot up scapes well before this but have still not opened up.  Still anticipating quite a bit of show from them but, yeah, still waiting...

Several of the other seeds have also popped up, including the eager butternut squash plants, the lone carrot, and the beans.  As long as they are kept happy in the pots this should be a nice growing year.

Cup of Green Onion

Growing your own food sounds like a daunting task.  Sometimes it can be easier than you think.  Here is a classic example of a plant that is super easy to grow even indoors with a little bit of light at the right time.  Sure it'd do better in the dirt but a cup of water can give you that bit of extra green onion. These were the trimmings of the green onions after using the tops for enchiladas. 

There are plenty of other plants that can be grown indoors if you have a nice sunny window.  Often these are sold with grow lights for countertop growing. Among these are basil, oregano, thyme, mint, and of course garlic (onion family and all).

Some plants really do just taste better grown at home.  Back when I had a small garden we planted carrots.  Of course I didn't think too far ahead and should have tilled down further, the carrots only got as long as they could push their roots because under the nice soil there was super hard clay.  One of the carrots actually turned to the side to keep growing.  They were super flavorful though.  That kind of taste you just can't get at a grocery store.  Possibly at a farmer's market but even then they often go for varieties that are more large harvest than flavor.

We still keep thinking we'll get some more rosemary since it just keeps growing once you get it established.  It's one of those strange plants that no one wants more of because all you have to do is wait and you'll have plenty, but if you have to buy it at the store is ridiculously overpriced.  You don't really even have to do much to it and you have enough for the whole neighborhood.  In that way green onion is much like rosemary.  You just cut the tops off when you need them and the plants just keep growing.  For those that might remember we had green onion in our front yard for nearly a decade that just kept going even in the freezing winter days (this is Texas that's all you get).

Garden Harvest

The garden is growing well. Here are a few of the picks from yesterday.  We already ate one of the zucchini and a few of the cherry tomatoes.  The peppers we have planned for a curry although we haven't decided which kind to make yet.  It will almost definitely involve potatoes though since, as far as we can tell, potatoes seem to go well in every curry dish.

 

There are plenty more tomatoes out there as well as some more forming zucchini and peppers. There is also some squash that should be ready soon and hopefully some cucumber.

 

I planted some green onion from seed recently and it's taking off well enough.  It isn't huge but it's already a few inches tall. Quicker than I expected.

 

It's supposed to continue raining for some time this week which hopefully won't interfere too much with the outdoor activities we have planned. The percent isn't too high so maybe it will be mostly morning showers.  We can deal with that.

Resilient Agave

Some plants were meant to survive the cold better than others. This agave has kept out of the snow by letting the ice form on the leaf and then pulling away from it. Now it has a canopy to hide under and can get a bit of sunlight. Even without doing this the agave is resilient enough that the frost won't hurt it.

The saffron just under it is just as resilient although it looks much more prone to the frost.  Unlike the agave the saffron is not so tolerant of heat and bides it time until cooler weather arrives. Here it's as happy as it can be and will grow through the winter into the spring.

Another of the winter happy plants in the garden is the green onion but it's more like the agave in that it can take the heat and cold and doesn't die back in either unlike it's relatives the chives or larger onions.  Green onions are a great way to have a fresh taste to your cooking all year long.

Planting for Spring

Spring has sprung even if the plant store is a little more wary. We've already got plants in the ground and seeds from last year are already popping up and saying hi.

Among the returnnig plants are the dill, which has come up in a carpet in the area it was in last year and is already attracting the black swallow tail butterflies, and the cilantro or chinese parsley, which again doesn't want to grow in the planting beds but likes to stretch out and grow in the rocks.  I think this is partly due to the birds eating most of the seed they can see on the dirt and when they're in the rocks it's harder for the birds to get to them and swallow them up.

From the plants that come back from the root we have the purple cone flower, hollyhock, a wide variety of iris, daylily, ferns, a basil plant that just didn't want to die, lemongrass, fennel, and onion.

The survivors who stayed green and happy all winter were oregano, thyme, lavender, green onion, rosemary, the monster beet, and of course the live oak.

We've planted seeds, starting from north to south, for corn, bush beans, beets, carrots, onion, and radishes.

Plants we've put in as plants are tomato, thyme, and rue (near our rose bush out front).  So far everything seems to be acclimating well.  the tomatoes, which usually droop a little at first, never even tipped a leaf.  We actually planted two thyme plants, a lemon thyme next to the one that's finally acclimating well and a yellow leaf thyme out near the fennel.

After the Heat

What's left in the garden?
At the back of the house there are still some tomato plants that have endured the heat and kept alive as well as some new tomato plants that have decided to sprout.
On the side of the house there's basil, beets and cucumber.
At the front of the house there's chives and fennel.
At the garden there are still the zucchini and squash plants as well as a little bee balm and onion. This fall they should produce well.
Pulled some onions from the back that seemed done for the summer and they were tiny. So maybe fall onions will be better.

Eat What You Grow

It's a fairly common idea and one that many if not most gardners use as long as the crops make. The problem I seem to have is I don't remember what all I've planted, much like many people don't know what's in their cabinets when thinking about what they want to eat. Today for instance it finally donged on me that I had chives in the garden. Probably not the worst thing to forget but I've had it there for almost two years now and this is probably only the second time I've used it.
The green onion up front has decided that it likes walking. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's when the flower stalk forms little onion plants in the flower head and bends over. The little onions then root and grow without going through the seed stage. Since I noticed them I was able to just remove them from the flower stalk and plant them in some of the pots that didn't have anything growing in them.
The large squash in the community garden is growing nicely. One of them is really getting big and two others are hanging in there. Hopefully this fall we'll have some nice squash to eat.

Growing Herbs

It's amazing how much money growing a few herbs can save you. In the last week we probably saved twenty or so dollars by not having to buy the herbs we're growing.
Among the recently used herbs and plants were, parsley, sage, rosemary, lavender, thyme, lamb's ear, mint and chives. On top of that we had beets, peppers, onions and green onion.

GBBD Lament

I unfortunately do not have anything that is really blooming at the moment unless you consider weeds to be blooming. Well, I guess they are. But the flowers aren't what you would call showy or even pretty in a delicate sort of way. They're just weedy and annoying.

On the topic of bulbs though I do have a few notes to comment on and ponder over.

I noticed a post about green onions and which types grow where and how to use them etc. In my backyard I just let them grow near the house. There is always some sticking up somewhere and I haven't had to worry about it in years. I know, I did buy some for my gumbo last week but that was different. They looked neat!
There are a lot of bulbs that I just leave in the ground. Lillies, iris, hyacinth, and a couple I don't remember up near the street. They come back every year without fail.

In the DFW metroplex my peppers also come back occasionally from the year before. In fact one of them has lasted three years, a little jalapeno.

The last flower in the yard that I can recall was the rock rose a few days ago. It seems to bloom whenever it wants without any pattern I can see.

Gumbo

This either describes the soil I have to contend with or what I'm having for supper today. Amber, my wife, is sick and needs some comfort food. It's also spicy and will open up her sinuses.

I bought something at the store called small bulb green onions. I did no research on them but decided they would do just as good as regular green onions in the gumbo I was about to make.

So far it's an emphatic YES! Tastes pretty good and there's the extra added onionness, if that's a word, to the taste.

I fully intend to plant some of them in the yard for even more green onion plants. They seem to stay pretty well especially in the coming winter. I didn' t have to buy them but just couldn't help myself...

Side note. I've added my wife's Etsy page to the list of links on the right side of my blog under her sites/blogs section. Let me know what you think.