Every day when I go to the mailbox, there is another plant or bulb or seed catalog. And I read each and every one... especially when they also send me "half-off your order!" emails and tantalising photos of plants that I can't buy at Home Depot or the local nurseries (unless, of course, I'm prepared to spend $37 on on that absolutely-adorable helleborus at Capital Nursery which really isn't going to happen... you have to draw a line somewhere).
Today it was "Royal Dutch Gardens", the other day it was Brecks and before that, Spring Hill....
I dare you. Go online and browse their catalogues.
Given the financial state of our local nurseries--very sad--I think I'll be doing most of my garden shopping online in the near future. If I don't already. Just how many of those "grab bags"--boxes of green treasure--did I order last year?
Can't wait for spring to see what comes up. No I didn't write it all down or map everything I planted. I was too tired after the digging.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Where are the allotments?
I grew up in England, where allotment gardening was part of life. You often had to wait a long time for one to be available, but then you had space to grow all your family's fruit and vegetables.
I remember the one that my Dad was allocated; it was overrun with couch-grass and nettles, and almost-impossible to get under control. And the allotments in Manton, Rutland, where I lived when my daughters were born. My then-father-in-law told stories of how his dad had somehow "captured" more than his fair share of allotments to grow his prize dahlias.
I saw allotments in the center of Warsaw, Poland, and in the Netherlands, too. They provide growing-space for people who don't have enough growing-space at home, who live in apartments, or who simply love gardeing.
Allotments are made available at an affordable rental and gardeners are expected to keep their own plots neat, tidy, and free of invasive plants. Usually you're allowed, or provided-with, a shed or other structure for keeping tools or garden chairs whatever you need to enjoy gardening.
There may be a small orchard at one end of the allotment, lots of vegetable plants, and flowers too.
So where are America's allotment gardens? There are a few 'community gardens', run on a similar pattern, but nothing like the systems in many other countries. And yet there are many fine parks and open areas within American cities, where allotments could be opened up.
What do you think? Would people use them--or are they too-suspiciously-socialist-like for the average Joe?
I remember the one that my Dad was allocated; it was overrun with couch-grass and nettles, and almost-impossible to get under control. And the allotments in Manton, Rutland, where I lived when my daughters were born. My then-father-in-law told stories of how his dad had somehow "captured" more than his fair share of allotments to grow his prize dahlias.
I saw allotments in the center of Warsaw, Poland, and in the Netherlands, too. They provide growing-space for people who don't have enough growing-space at home, who live in apartments, or who simply love gardeing.
Allotments are made available at an affordable rental and gardeners are expected to keep their own plots neat, tidy, and free of invasive plants. Usually you're allowed, or provided-with, a shed or other structure for keeping tools or garden chairs whatever you need to enjoy gardening.
There may be a small orchard at one end of the allotment, lots of vegetable plants, and flowers too.
So where are America's allotment gardens? There are a few 'community gardens', run on a similar pattern, but nothing like the systems in many other countries. And yet there are many fine parks and open areas within American cities, where allotments could be opened up.
What do you think? Would people use them--or are they too-suspiciously-socialist-like for the average Joe?
Monday, February 13, 2012
This weekend in the garden
Buds on the young peach tree, and on the lilac I planted a few weeks ago. Forsythia (planted last weekend) bursting into flower, and the four cuttings I took from it and stuck in the earth all seem to be surviving. There's a new green in the grass, and the bare oaks seem to be somehow greener; that sounds silly, but it's as if you can see them preparing to leaf right before they bud.
Daffodil leaves are a couple of inches high. Tulip noses poking out of the pots, at least those that haven't been dug up by squirrels. At least, I think it's squirrels. I don't think it's the turkeys. They are too busy scratting up the peas, despite the chicken wire protection.
Rasberry canes are sprouting; most of the new bare-root roses have baby leaves.
I have a hellebore in flower, under the trees. Shy and pink.
Sunday, I dug and planted the beds for asparagus, strawberries, and the seed potatoes that had longer sprouts; more potatoes to be planted later. Including some that are blue.
I wonder what the turkeys, squirrels and coyotes will do with all that? I might need to cage off the entire back yard.
Daffodil leaves are a couple of inches high. Tulip noses poking out of the pots, at least those that haven't been dug up by squirrels. At least, I think it's squirrels. I don't think it's the turkeys. They are too busy scratting up the peas, despite the chicken wire protection.
Rasberry canes are sprouting; most of the new bare-root roses have baby leaves.
I have a hellebore in flower, under the trees. Shy and pink.
Sunday, I dug and planted the beds for asparagus, strawberries, and the seed potatoes that had longer sprouts; more potatoes to be planted later. Including some that are blue.
I wonder what the turkeys, squirrels and coyotes will do with all that? I might need to cage off the entire back yard.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Israel again: Haifa and the north
This is the final set of photos from Israel: from Haifa, and the north.
Amazing that one small country can have such diverse landscape and climate: from stone desert in the south to temperate and mild rain in the north. All beautiful.
Some ideas came home with me. Red anenomes and leaves that look like fennel. Cyclamen growing wild under trees. Plants to grow Za'atar.
Photo album: Haifa and northern Israel
(I changed the name of this page, because it seems to be receiving a lot of search hits from people who cannot spell and who are NOT looking for this page.)
Amazing that one small country can have such diverse landscape and climate: from stone desert in the south to temperate and mild rain in the north. All beautiful.
Some ideas came home with me. Red anenomes and leaves that look like fennel. Cyclamen growing wild under trees. Plants to grow Za'atar.
Photo album: Haifa and northern Israel
(I changed the name of this page, because it seems to be receiving a lot of search hits from people who cannot spell and who are NOT looking for this page.)
Israel part five: the Dead Sea
Judith and I took the bus from the Moshav to the Dead Sea, where I picked up my rental car. We had to laugh when it was brought out by the Hertz lady... it was TINY. At least, in comparison to what I'm now used to in the USA. It wasn't quite as small as a Smart car, and somehow they'd managed to fit four doors on it, but it was still tiny. A Hyundai Getz. I was worried that it wouldn't get up the bigh hill to Dimona, but it did, very well... and by the end of a week of driving it, I wanted to bring it home with me.
Here's the day trip to the Dead Sea: I had dust in my camera, which stayed there until I could take it to the camera shop here.
Day at the Dead Sea
Here's the day trip to the Dead Sea: I had dust in my camera, which stayed there until I could take it to the camera shop here.
Day at the Dead Sea
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Israel part three: Tel Aviv
I spent 24 hours in Tel Aviv with my sister, Judith, who knows the city very well. We window-shopped at night, explored Jaffa early in the morning (photos soon), wandered through the market and streets of Tel Aviv, had lunch and then we both had to leave for home--Judith back to her home in the desert, me back to the USA and Sacramento.
I hope we can do it all again soon.
These are my pictures of Tel Aviv.
Smilebox: Tel Aviv
I hope we can do it all again soon.
These are my pictures of Tel Aviv.
Smilebox: Tel Aviv
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Israel part two: life on the Moshav
My sister, Judith, and her family live on a Moshav, between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, close to Jordan and close to 400 metres below sea level. A farm in the desert? Yes, indeed: peppers and tomatoes and dates and watermelon and flowers and courgettes and more. We saw the Moshav's produce for sale in Tel Aviv; you may well have eaten peppers grown by my brother-in-law, or tomatoes from his neighbour.
Smilebox: the Moshav in January
Smilebox: the Moshav in January
Monday, February 6, 2012
Israel part one
Here's the first complilation of photos--from the Arava. There will be more to come: it was a wonderful trip and, as always, hard to leave.
Smilebox: a day in the desert
Smilebox: a day in the desert
Monday, January 16, 2012
A few more pictures from Israel
See the jeep?
See Dolly?
Dinner in the desert! Prepared by Itzik (above) who drove the jeep.Thank you Judith for arranging such a wonderful day! Happy birthday Shimon!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Winter oaks
The "live" oaks--evergreens--shed some of their leaves every day, but hang onto enough through the winter to hide their branches.
Sunny Sunday
An American Robin enjoying the red berries...
... Fury sneaking a few minutes in the sun...
... the new rose garden...
... and lots of pots of bulbs and daffodils waiting for spring.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
January
This mild, dry winter has allowed me to spend several days outside during the Christmas and New Years' holidays, and this weekend. I now have a rose garden, where last summers' tomatoes grew; several bare-root, floribunda, grandiflora and one or two hybrid tea roses, all fragrant (of course)... and mulched with leaf-and-grass compost from last year.
Today I planted a plum tree (Prunus salicina 'Santa Rosa') and a "common" lilac (Syringa vulgaris), both at the back of the garden at the boundary with the green belt. I wandered here and there around the whole plot, brandishing the plum sapling, trying to find a spot where it would have enough light and yet not grow up to shade the vegetable garden, nor be under an oak tree. I hope this spot is the right one.
The broad beans are growing well under their chicken-wire nissan huts, which the turkeys have not yet overturned. I will plant more tomorrow, and some peas.
Maybe it will rain at some point this winter. Maybe.
Today I planted a plum tree (Prunus salicina 'Santa Rosa') and a "common" lilac (Syringa vulgaris), both at the back of the garden at the boundary with the green belt. I wandered here and there around the whole plot, brandishing the plum sapling, trying to find a spot where it would have enough light and yet not grow up to shade the vegetable garden, nor be under an oak tree. I hope this spot is the right one.
The broad beans are growing well under their chicken-wire nissan huts, which the turkeys have not yet overturned. I will plant more tomorrow, and some peas.
Maybe it will rain at some point this winter. Maybe.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
OK, OK. I know.
Update is long-overdue. Been running around: two trips to England, one to Russia, down to the San Francisco Bay Area too... in-between have been preparing garden for spring planting, using sheet mulch to (hopefully) kill off the weeds and prepare the soil.
Also found my tree guy--at least, I think so, we'll find out when the tidying-of-trees happens tomorrow. And of course the decision had nothing to do with the fact that he sounded just like Sam Elliott. Really.
And the gate--the one that fell on and squished Karli--is upright and safely tied in place. It will be fixed and safely functional within the next couple of weeks, once the contractor has obtained the needed parts.
Also found my tree guy--at least, I think so, we'll find out when the tidying-of-trees happens tomorrow. And of course the decision had nothing to do with the fact that he sounded just like Sam Elliott. Really.
And the gate--the one that fell on and squished Karli--is upright and safely tied in place. It will be fixed and safely functional within the next couple of weeks, once the contractor has obtained the needed parts.
New vegetable garden before...
... and after. Weed/light block of old newspaper and recycled-paper mulch topped with garden compost from the pile and some netting to hold it all in place.
And there is room for more. Where to put the asparagus bed?
Friday, October 14, 2011
Fireplace discovery
The living room fireplace is a wall of rock with possibly the ugliest fake brass insert, still full of old ashes. The chimney needs a new liner so there will be no fires built in this... And I thought that it was hiding a cement mess and not a proper fireplace.
But this evening I found out how to remove the top trim and could peek in, behind the insert. There is a huge , proper brick fireplace! Perfect for a mass of candles.
Anyone want a Country Comfort fireplace insert? Complete with free cobwebs? Perfect for hallowe'en!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
One welly-booted step at a time...
Second bank of sprinkler valves has now been fixed--this one controls the irrigation around the fruit trees and around the south-west side of the house--the first bank to be fixed controls the beds around the pool and the bank behind the pool fence. Each bank has either five, or six, valves controlling five or six sprinkler circuits. I've dug up and fixed most of the sprinkler heads and excavated several areas where the underground pipe was leaking but the valves and timers or rather, the whole water and electricity thing, is not my idea of fun.
Now I can make a permanent herb garden; dug and planted part of it this morning; tarragon, garlic chives, sage, German and Lemon thyme, rosemary and a volunteer baby sweet basil all planted.
Then it was already too hot to dig any more--at 10.30 am--so rest will have to wait until later, or early tomorrow.
Planning what to plant in the rest of that border...
Friday, September 2, 2011
Pickle and chutney season!
With nearly 1/2 an acre that I can grow things on, this year is just a beginning. Windfall apples from the existing tree; lots of cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes and lemon cucumbers and squash and pumpkins.This weekend I plan on digging the first new vegetable garden ready for "cold season" planting (lettuces and peas for example, yes this is Sacramento).
Americans are not often very familiar with things like English chutney and pickles. "Chutney? What's that?" But I love making it and Dylan, at least, loves eating it. So as well as searching for an authentic-tasting pseudo-Branston-Pickle recipe online, I was browsing my oldest cookbooks (bought in an Uppingham second-hand bookstore when I was expecting Jade). Not only did I find some yummy recipes, I also learned a lesson in food preservation... and how timid we have all become over the years.
The book is hardback, "British Everyday Cookery" and it has an advert for Fry's Pure Concentrated Cocoa on the back, and the price "1/6 NET" on the front cover. That's one shilling and sixpence; equivalent of 7.5 pence in current British currency, a few cents US.It's full of recipes that I remember from my childhood, like treacle pudding and bread-and-butter pudding and toad-in-the-hole and trifle and vegetable marrow (yuck) and Victoria sandwich (yum). But it's the preserving section that I was looking for and some of the recipes will have many of today's cooks freaking out in their sterile, sanitized kitchens.... here's an example.
TO PRESERVE WHOLE TOMATOES FOR WINTER USE
Fill a stone jar with very sound, ripe tomatoes. Place a few cloves and a sprinkling of sugar between each layer. Cover with a mixture of equal parts of mid vinegar and cold water which have been boiled. Place a piece of thick white flannel over the jar, letting it fall well down into the vinegar. Then tie over the jar a cover of brown paper. These will keep for a long time and will not be harmed even if the flannel collects mould.
Hmmm yummy. Mould. That would have the exterminators and fumigators lining up... and yet, this was how food was preseved for winter when few people had refridgerators or iceboxes. Salt, sugar, and vinegar. Sometimes boiled up and sealed in jars with wax-paper rings and a muslin cover; sometimes in boxes or barrels and layers of salt, sometimes just stacked in a root cellar or laid out on in the attic. People lived on what was in season, what they could preserve, and what they could gather.
While I enjoy the immense choice we have today, and the ease with which we can keep food fresh and healthy, I very much enjoy being able to grow my own food. More coming soon.
Americans are not often very familiar with things like English chutney and pickles. "Chutney? What's that?" But I love making it and Dylan, at least, loves eating it. So as well as searching for an authentic-tasting pseudo-Branston-Pickle recipe online, I was browsing my oldest cookbooks (bought in an Uppingham second-hand bookstore when I was expecting Jade). Not only did I find some yummy recipes, I also learned a lesson in food preservation... and how timid we have all become over the years.
The book is hardback, "British Everyday Cookery" and it has an advert for Fry's Pure Concentrated Cocoa on the back, and the price "1/6 NET" on the front cover. That's one shilling and sixpence; equivalent of 7.5 pence in current British currency, a few cents US.It's full of recipes that I remember from my childhood, like treacle pudding and bread-and-butter pudding and toad-in-the-hole and trifle and vegetable marrow (yuck) and Victoria sandwich (yum). But it's the preserving section that I was looking for and some of the recipes will have many of today's cooks freaking out in their sterile, sanitized kitchens.... here's an example.
TO PRESERVE WHOLE TOMATOES FOR WINTER USE
Fill a stone jar with very sound, ripe tomatoes. Place a few cloves and a sprinkling of sugar between each layer. Cover with a mixture of equal parts of mid vinegar and cold water which have been boiled. Place a piece of thick white flannel over the jar, letting it fall well down into the vinegar. Then tie over the jar a cover of brown paper. These will keep for a long time and will not be harmed even if the flannel collects mould.
Hmmm yummy. Mould. That would have the exterminators and fumigators lining up... and yet, this was how food was preseved for winter when few people had refridgerators or iceboxes. Salt, sugar, and vinegar. Sometimes boiled up and sealed in jars with wax-paper rings and a muslin cover; sometimes in boxes or barrels and layers of salt, sometimes just stacked in a root cellar or laid out on in the attic. People lived on what was in season, what they could preserve, and what they could gather.
While I enjoy the immense choice we have today, and the ease with which we can keep food fresh and healthy, I very much enjoy being able to grow my own food. More coming soon.
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