Garden

Thanks to my mom's care, the garden is going quite well. We've harvested many batches of green and red chard and lettuces to cook.

We've also got a couple apples that grew quite large (and tasty to boot). Our grape tree has several clusters on it that will hopefully continue to fatten up as the summer progresses, and our peach tree has a few peaches but they're quite miniscule. Sadly, we have just one lonely fig on our fig tree.

Lastly, I just noticed our large bird of paradise tree finally bloomed! Pretty cool.

Glorious Return

These days, my green thumb has been limited to buying pre-cut flowers from the farmer's market (see above). While my indoor vase looks quite nice, my outdoor garden has been sadly neglected. In fact, I don't believe I've done any actual gardening in over half a year!

Well enough of that. I finally got off my lazy butt today and hit the weeds. I must admit, I was motivated by a visit from my mom and Uncle Jamie, who came down from LA on Friday. The sole reason for the visit? To bring me mulch and to trim my palm trees. Now, before you think me a slave driver, please know that this was completely of their own accord. My parents just love showering me with free mulch that they get in LA.

Today I went about hacking weeds, clearing debris, pruning, and fertilizing. Amazingly, many of my plants were doing quite well despite my lack of watering. Lucky for me, it's been unusually rainy this year. At long last, Badge and I harvested the compost (a two year work in progress) and have spread the black gold along our raised bed to dry and fluff. Still a bit odorous but definitely looks nutritious.


Amazingly, the fig tree my mom found as a sapling and nurtured to adulthood appears to bearing it's first fig ever!! Hooray! Will keep close tabs on this one.


The chinese loquat tree is also having it's first fruit bearing year. There's probably almost 15 loquats fattening up.


Can't wait to eat these suckers.


So overall things are in good shape. My three heirloom tomato plants are still alive and I will meticulously nurse them back to health. The bananas are still green but hopefully getting bigger. Flowers are sprouting on the peach, lemon, and lime trees. Life is good :).

Too Much Tomato?

Don't be silly. There's no such thing.

Homegrown Tomatoes

Today, I got back from Portland and found this little fella all ripe and ready to be plucked.


Of course, I did just that. Chopped and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper, this brandywine tomato made the perfect succulent summer snack. I can't wait for more tomatoes to ripen!


In addition to my main prize, I harvested three ripe figs.


Fred approved.

Garden Update

Alright, Saturdays = garden update.

The little champagne grapes are ripening. I need to keep watch over them so they don't get overrun with ants like one of the bunches from last year.


The brandywine tomato is fattening up nicely. The stem looked flimsy so I propped it up using some fishing wire.


To my surprise, another tomato emerged last week.


And when I went out to check this morning, I found three more tiny buds! That's 5 in total so far. Hallelujah.


The rest of the garden is looking good (except the zucchini and cucumbers all died off for some reason...bad soil?) The stargazer lilies are in bloom which are quite lovely. Here's a closeup using my new 60mm macro lens.


Several months ago my coworker gave me a small pot of mini roses. She had them as centerpieces and then giveaways at her wedding. For a while I watered it without realizing there was an inner bowl without an holes for drainage. Subsequently, the poor plant was drowning. Since then I've been nursing it back to health and I'm happy to report it's pleased again. See first bloom below.


And of course I end with the gratuitous cat picture.

Behold!

Un toe-mah-toe!

This is the first tomato I've ever grown. It's a brandywine heirloom which is supposed to be very flavorful. I plan to guard this little guy against vicious bugs and plant diseases, but most of all from whatever critter was stealing my peaches.

Wish me luck.

Curses

What the hell.

A mysterious creature has stolen 90% of my peaches.

And no, that creature is not a Badger.

What the hell.

Redemption

Ok, Badge complained that my recently posted garden pictures were out of focus. I hate it when he's right. To redeem myself here are some in focus ones.

Fat peas:


Plenty of male zucchini flowers but no female yet:






First gardenia bloom!

Yoga And Garden = Happy

Whew, I had to take a little hiatus after that big Ohio post but now I'm back.

What have I been up to...

First, lots of exercising. I've been sticking to my schedule of running 3 miles 3x a week and going to yoga 3-4x a week. Last Friday, I even joined Busy Mama for a leisurely 3.8 mile run outside. I haven't run outside in ages. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it wasn't bad at all. Quite enjoyable. I'll have to start running outside more often (soon as I get my iPhone armband). On Sunday, I went with a fellow yogi Jen to the Ashtanga Yoga Center in South Carlsbad. If you're familiar with Ashtanga, then you know this is the studio of Tim Miller, one of the most prominent Ashtanga teachers in the United States. Most of our Four Seasons teachers practice there, so we were intrigued. The First Series class was quite crowded but we found a nice spot at the back of the room. Though I sweated buckets, I still enjoyed my practice. There was a slightly scary assistant teacher/drill sergeant who would occasionally come around and pry you into position with no regard for your flexibility level, but other than that I had a nice experience.

The previous Sunday, to the displeasure of everyone else in class, I requested we try a new yoga pose I saw online: Yoni Dandasana.


Yup, that's your foot bent backwards so your toe is pointing behind you. This turned out to be quite easy for me (I had a suspicion it would be, hence my request). I'm strangely flexible in ways like this, though quite inflexible in other ways. Yoni Dandasana of course led to: Mulabandhasana.


Yup, that's both feet bent backwards. I could still do this, which makes me wonder if I was doing it correctly. Will try again later in the week.

Aside from working out, I've been gardening. All goes well. The little veggie patch is filling out. I'm starting to get flowers on the zucchini and cucumber plants. Must keep watchful eye and prepare to pollinate!


Most of the tomato plants are doing well, though some of the seedlings are stunted in growth. I'll probably just throw those out.


The peach tree is looking pretty weighed down with it's bounty.


Can't wait to eat you.


Look, our first pea! So small...


Even our fig tree has 7-8 tiny figs growing on it. Hooray! In final garden news, our compost is finally coming along. Yes, that compost we started last year but sorely neglected. I give it another month or so for the dozens of worms in there to do their magic.

To end, here's Henry, who makes this bed of rocks look like a bed of goose feathers.

Extra Misc

This will be a misc post of few words. I am lazy.

On Sat night, we went to Hane Sushi, followed by Extraordinary Desserts, then Iron Man 2. Sushi was tasty but not spectacular, would try it again though. For dessert, I had some fried doughy thing (forgot the name) topped with fruit and lemon meringue ice cream. A bit too tart for me but good in it's lightness.


Badge had bread pudding with ice cream. I liked his better.

Check out this amazing parking job. I insisted this space was too small but Badge proved me wrong. What a man.


Garden is truding along.


Tomato seedlings are growing quite slowly, but at least they're not dead.


Sage and catnip are finally taking off.


Peaches still peachy.


Dianthus is bursting with flowers.


This particular patch of alyssum is doing well, though the ones in the sunny bed are looking dry and crispy.


General lusciousness.


Amazingly, the dahlia plant I thought was long dead has emerged. God bless it's little plant soul.


All the garden pics were taken with the 18-200mm zoom. To demonstrate the zoom power, check out this general view from my sofa.


Now zoomed in on a fern outside. Look at that detail!


Another view from sofa (forgot to take off flash).


Zoomed in on Fred hiding behind shoes.


Besides taking pics, we finally got our butts to Aaron Brothers to frame some of our pics from Taiwan. Here are two (love the one of my uncle with his granddaughter). We also got two pics blown up and custom framed. Not cheap but we had a 30% off coupon. Should get them back by end of month. Can't wait!


And finally, some cat pics for your amusement.