These are quite lovely, aren’t they? I always have great difficulty getting these giant structures (whole thing is about a metre long) down from the tall palm trees that produce them. I take them down because they produce a huge mess over the rest of the garden as they develop. Not the lovely tiny yellow flowers but the little palm nuts (tiny scale model (large grape-sized) coconuts, essentially - same family) that result later, one nut for each of those tiny yellow buds that you see!
So I cut them off. Sad, I know, but there it is.
I do it early because they have to fall. Where do they fall? All over the plants below, doing a lot of damage if I am unlucky. Better to have the much lighter blooms fall (still bad enough) than the Continue reading ‘Yellow Fibre Bundle’
It’s Mother’s Day in America… but it can be Mother’s Day everywhere!
(Rose from my garden earlier this week. Made a card out of it for my mum…)
Continue reading ‘Happy Mother’s Day’
Well, among the many things that took place over the weekend (more later I hope), I found a good chunk of time for some gardening. The primary objective on Saturday was to prepare the ground and plant some young plants for future vegetable goodies. I planted three types of squash, three types of tomato, two types of corn, and harvested some peppers from the pepper tree (I might plant some as seeds for new pepper trees, since they are so beautiful) as it is producing a huge new crop already.
I’ve also planted three types of peas. Here are some pictures (click for a bit larger). In Continue reading ‘Gardening Update’
One of the marvellous things about gardening is the variety of pleasant things that develop as a result of your work, again and again, while you are off doing other things (like your day job). It’s a bit like teaching, in a way: You do your best and hope that Continue reading ‘Pink Explosion’
Babiana. (Click for larger view.)
This will serve nicely as my Easter greeting to all who readers care to be greeted in that way (Happy Easter!), but especially to my mum and sister who actually sent me Easter greetings cards in the post. Thank you!
I picked the lovely Babiana because (besides loving the name …this led to an ichat conversation with my sister about whether or not I’d name somebody this, to which I replied (not fully seriously) that I happily name a daughter Babiana… only to withdraw that when my sister suggested that the name would be shortened to Babs… and I was immediately put in mind of Carry On movies - I mean no offense whatsoever to any Babs in the readership, of course)…. because these were planted, partly with mum’s help when she was last visiting here, and so she gets to see how they are doing. They are in the same batch as the gladiolus plants I mentioned about two or three weeks ago, and I still have yet to get to tell you the story about my getting these bulbs, which is sort of interesting, Continue reading ‘Happy Easter’
I mean the good type of Hummers: Hummingbirds! (Some types of which are already visiting the garden even though the flowers they like are most not ready yet. One of my Budlea plants died - from the frosts I think - and another is ill. I expect to get three more of them from the market this week. The hummingbirds like them (butterflies love them), although they prefer the Mexican Sage plants which are right Continue reading ‘Hummers’
No, not the name of a new Jazz singer as far as I know. Instead, it is the single most powerful source of a sweet scent in the garden. What has been happening is that the Jasmine has steadily crept up one of the palm trees, and is engulfing it in hundreds of tiny flowers. (Click for larger view.)
The scent from this is huge. For better or worse, the web does not allow communication of scents, and so I can do no more than offer this rather odd picture (the tree is quite tall, and so it is an odd one to take, and hard to get the right sense of the situation while letting you still see the plant), and leave the rest to your imagination.
The only downside to this wonderful scent is the fact that it is close to the group of Continue reading ‘Jasmine Tower’
The flowers from one of the earliest of the bulb varieties I planted late last year have started to emerge. Here’s gladiolus tristis:
Lovely aren’t they? There are many stems of these, with more and more opening every Continue reading ‘Light Yellow’
Here’s some remarkable news from the garden. You may remember that last April I noticed a tiny tomato plant growing out of a crack in some steps, and that I promised to keep an eye on it? (Picture, left.)
Then later in July I reported that not only had it survived, but it produced tomatoes? (Picture, right).
Well, it just continued on through the cold spells we had here this Winter, and some weeks ago I noticed that it had tomatoes on it again! This is a shot I took today: Continue reading ‘Staying Power’
Big rainstorm coming, and so I don’t think this beauty will be here in 24 hours:
These flowers are quite large compared to other roses I’ve shown from the garden - Continue reading ‘Pink and Orange’
I always love it when these pop their heads out to sample the sun:
Continue reading ‘White’
Last week Saturday morning, I stepped out to the garden to do maybe forty-five minutes’ worth of much needed pruning. Sometime late in the afternoon saw me finish. Things just got way out of hand. More and more tools were assembled:
…there was much in the way of climbing of ladders and parts of the roof, and I’ve now got about three huge piles of stuff to deal with -here’s one:
…and one tiny garden waste bin that the city to picks up (I cannot compost much of this) each week. At that rate, cleanup will take about a month or so… By then, half the stuff will have grown back.
It’s all in a good cause though. It is what ensures that I can share all those photos of Continue reading ‘Trimmings’
I accidentally used the term “de-gauss” (or perhaps “degauss”) in conversation the other day, referring to something I had to do for my well-being. I was asked for an explanation. Thought I’d explain what I meant to you too:
One of many effective ways to de-gauss: Get the best gin ever (Hendricks’), a decent tonic water, the very tastiest of lemons (it’s from the tree in the garden), a glass, some ice*…
…and a really comfy chair. Hey, it’s been a long and busy day.
-cvj
P.S. Oh. There’s some other use of the word involving getting rid of trapped built up magnetic fields, etc., etc. You can google that.
(*Yeah, I know it’s not a great snapshot, but you get the idea.)
“..It’s pretty serious.”
“Yeah…” (chuckle) “…right!”
“No, it is serious… Your smoothies are going to be more expensive.”
(Silence, as the enormity of this economic revelation sinks in…)
* * *
Part of a conversation I overheard between two students while I waited for a class to start. One student was apparently a bit dismissive of the other’s concern about the effects of the recent sustained cold temperatures on the local farmers. He did not see why she was concerned about the farmers. She could have Continue reading ‘Citrus’
Well, that flower that so many of you - like me - enjoyed so much a while back has opened up very nicely. So I thought I’d share an update photo of it:
-cvj
The final rose or two before the big prune back, methinks. ‘Tis the season. These bushes are way taller than me now, and stretched a bit too thinly.
-cvj
I’d like to wish a Happy and Successful New Year to all readers, whether you be regular, occasional or first time visitors! In a very short time, you’ve all helped make this blog into a pleasant, informative, and fun place to visit (certainly for me).
I’d hoped that this could be -and it has indeed become, with your help- a place that Continue reading ‘Happy New Year!’
Some Winter gifts from the garden:
-cvj
Spotted in Griffith Park on a quick hike:
I’m thinking that this is a variety of bindweed (but see below*). I’m not sure though. Thoughts anyone? (Convolvulus sepium, that is.) Bindweed is a sort of wild morning glory, and this really Continue reading ‘White’
You’ll recall that I had a fig emergency not too long ago. Too many figs from my tree and (despite commenter Moshe’s suggestion to just eat them all) no inclination to eat them all in one sitting. Recipe ideas were considered (and thanks all of you!), and I made a decision. I was looking for a way to preserve them, not how to immediately eat them, and so sadly I did not take up all the lovely suggestions of things to do. By a day or two later I had several more, and so it became urgent. As hinted at by the post entitled “Jam Tomorrow” (which I took a while to deliver on - sorry) you can guess what I decided to do: Fig Jam, of course!
So I bring you the first of what I expect to be several trips to the kitchen on Asymptotia, where we go through all the steps together (remember the Taiwan-inspired Beef Lo Mein that I did on CV?). So the thing to do is chop up those figs into smaller chunks -roughly eighths (keep halving three times):
I looked at various sources for an idea of the proportions of ingredients, and eventually settled on a few that I decided to hybridize. I’ll leave it to you to google on “fig jam” and find your own ideas, I found that there is a popular Epicurious recipe, which first appeared in Gourmet magazine some years back, that uses roughly the following (I did not do the rum and sesame seeds mentioned elsewhere):
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
2 lb firm-ripe fresh figs
2 strips fresh lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
… proportions that I rescaled (see below).
This meant that I needed an idea of the actual weight of the figs. I don’t actually have any scales in the kitchen or anywhere in the house. (I usually use volume measurements in my cooking.) So this meant that I would have to rush out to the shops to get a scale. This did not appeal to me, and after a short while I remembered that I’m actually a physicist, and so can use other means to get an estimate, fashioning some scales from Continue reading ‘Jammin’’
Imagine my surprise the other day when I stepped out into the garden for the first time in a busy week and looked up and saw one of these large flowers staring down at me!
They are huge. I have this giant cactus plant, you see, over twelve feet tall in places, Continue reading ‘Not Triffids!’
Would be a nice name in an astronomical context too, wouldn’t it? Well, this time it is a shot from the garden. The roses just never seem to stop giving…
-cvj
These tiny tomatoes are a beautiful yellow. I’m actually more captivated by their shape, though. They remind me of the large yellow/orange butternut squashes an order of magnitude or more larger.
I’m going to harvest these guys soon, but it is a bit sad, because they look so lovely on the plant.
-cvj
Chile de Arbol:
I love these little trees’ splash of colour. And of course, the products are very tasty!
-cvj
…. and er, a dwarf bean. Just remembered to harvest these. Lovely colour:
I think there’s a tasty ham and bean soup in my future, don’t you? Or do you have alternative suggestions.
-cvj
The corn has matured (they’re less full because of low volume of watering while I was away… but that’s ok… they’ll taste great!), and I’ve got a huge corgette/zucchini for my trouble. Must get around to harvesting the peas soon.
Upcoming…. that flower promises a tasty patty-pan squash in my future…..
-cvj
Saturday morning’s fig harvest.
I think you’ll agree with me that this constitutes an emergency. I need to make some tasty thing or other in order to use these up. I’m thinking of something in the pie department. I have a few ideas of my own, but nothing is blowing my skirt up at this point. Recipe suggestions welcome… So dust off those recipes… Help!
-cvj
I’ve temporarily forgotten the name of this beautiful flower. I’ll let you know when I recall it. [Update: Athena worked it out and reminded me....Scaveola, or fan flower] Its blue is more dramatic than the camera has captured. It nods somewhat more to purple than is suggested here. It grows reasonably fast and close to the ground, and is drought tolerant, so I used them as a quick ground cover to repopulate a part of the garden. They’ve done very well since I planted them in the Spring.
One thing I love about them is the asymmetry of each individual flower. Look closely (click on left image) and you’ll see that there are five petals on each, but the five are on only half the flower. Very asymmetric on that scale, but on a slightly larger scale, symmetry is restored by arranging a five of these “half-flowers” around a central leaf cluster to make a sort of larger, symmetric super-flower.
Very elegant.
-cvj
Speaking of fresh produce, some of you are probably wondering how the garden is doing. I’ve not seen it for a long time. I told you about the fig tree, but not of other things.
Well, there’s more to come, but here are a few pleasant things to come home to (as a result of the improved drip system I mentioned earlier):
I’ve got corn! I have not grown corn since I was a child, so this has an extra buzz for me. If you want to teach a child the value and wonder of gardening -and more seriously, give them a key component of an appreciation of how our planet’s food supply works- get them growing something easy and fast-growing like corn, or beans. It’s just magical, even as an adult, since these things grow and change so fast, you can almost see them progressing in front of your eyes. Please consider getting a child involved in something like this (or just yourself if you’ve never grown anything!) It is fulfilling, and easy - and you don’t need a garden. You can do it on a window-sill, or on the doorstep, with a deep pot or two.
Another good and easy thing to grow that gives results that are easily appreciated are various things from the squash family. Cucumbers, pumpkins, patty pan squash, etc. Here are some zucchini (courgettes) coming along nicely in the shade of the leaves of their parent plant, not so far from the stovetop pot:
Continue reading ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’
Last year long after a Summer’s decent crop of figs I heavily pruned back the fig tree, and pulled it clear of some trees it was tangled in, cut those back a bit to give it some light, and tied two if its main branches to a post to try to train it to grow in a new direction.
It’s payback time! All through the Spring this year I’ve been watching it grow back even stronger and more happy, fed by more light and the knowledge that someone cares. It was covered in several tens, mabe hundreds, of green figs when I last saw it. Now that I have returned, (first day back - straight out to the garden to see what’s up) I see that I am more or less just in time! A few have over-ripened already, and some animal or other has helped themselves to several more, but there’s more than enough for desert for me and my guest tonight at dinner. Yum!
There are many more where those came from…. Dee-licious!
-cvj
For those of you who have been wondering, here are a few notes on various projects in the garden. You might recall (if you read my writings over on CV about a year ago on the subject) that I built a circulation system for the garden which drips water periodically at the roots of some of the plants. It has two control valves (one for the back and one for the front) that, after crawling around under the house with bits of string tied to my arms and a flashlight in my mouth, are connected by wired to a programmable timing device in the basement. Well this year saw me improve the system a little bit for the new season of heat.
I’d made one major silly mistake last year that as a physicist I should not have made. The pipes the run from the water supply to the pump (and are therefore under pressure all the time) were made of the same flexible black pvc as the rest of the system’s major arteries. most of the rest of the system is under leaves, dirt, or mulch, and therefore protected from the sun (and not under much pressure anyway) while this crucial section just sits there staring back at the sun all day. I happened to be home one day when the inevitable happened for the first time. The sun rapidly heated up and softened the pipes and the snug joints just slid open and there was water everywhere! If I was not home that day, hundreds of gallons of water would have been wasted (and poured into my foundations). Major design flaw. So I decided to do this year what I should have done then and replace the pipes with a heavier gauge white pvc, with secure joints.
I’d never done this before, and so I learned a lot that day. One of the things I love about this sort of project is how amazingly standardized all fixtures and fittings are. After wandering around the plumbing section of the hardware store for not too long, and consulting some sketches I’d made at home of what I wanted to do, it was pretty easy to get all I needed (various coupling joints, elbows, and lengths of pvc) to replace the old sections. Everything fits together snugly and one is reminded of ones childhood days of fun making things out of Lego, Mechano, and Better Builder (do I recall that latter correctly? does not seem to exist any more).
There was some fun chemistry as well. I was puzzled for a while about how I was going to put threads on the plain pvc pipes and joints I’d picked out. First, the male and female parts did not seem like they wanted to go all the way into each other without a fight to make a secure joint, which was a worry. Also, there seemed to be no threading machine (to make screw joints), and I did not fancy the prospect of having to buy one, in case it was expensive. Silly me. There’s an entire system of chemistry that makes the joints secure! You paint Continue reading ‘Open Heart Surgery’
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