day off

Many of you have been asking when I am going to get around to another post about the garden here at home.  Well, things have slowed down as far as the garden goes.  August and September are our hottest months of the year here in San Diego, so, the growing season dries up, quite literally.  All of the late summer crops came in and fall... well, they kind of dried up on the vines!  I think we got about two pumpkins this year due to where we planted and both were gifted to kids for Halloween here in the neighborhood.  The peppers and eggplant survived and are still putting out blossoms and fruits but considerably smaller than the summer crop.

sun dried tomatoes?

dried up leeks

eggplant

lipstick and Anaheim peppers

That much being said, the insects are still active and feasting on whatever they can find, save the last few leeks that I got out tonight.

grasshopper

hornworm

last of the leeks

I've been busy as a lot of you know, not so much in the garden but baking a lot.  My newest craze at home is sourdough.  That and canning up fruits and veggies to bring us through the winter.  We were fortunate to have been gifted a LOT of fruit this summer and fall and have made quite a larder on jams and jellies; everything from tomatillo salsa and tomato sauce to guava jam and kumquat marmalade, just to name a few.  Apple butter, pear butter, fig jam, grape, peach, mulberry, plum, zinfandel grape, pomegranate, tomato jam, chutneys and sauces galore.  You name it we probably have it!

this is just what we kept, we have given at least half away as gifts

Finally today though, with a bonus day off after attending a retreat in Simi Valley this weekend for some much needed R and R, I got busy again on the winter crops.  I find that getting a little help with the brassicas and greens by purchasing greenhouse grown starts really helps in this climate.  So, a trip to Walter Andersen Nursery for a few crops and $126 later, with a couple of dwarf fruit trees I couldn't resist for the front yard, I got started turning the soil, spreading some compost, worm castings and bat guano, and putting in some plants and seed.

Australian finger lime

dwarf nagami kumquat

kale, collards, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and cabbage

cuttings from the tomatoes to root for next season

softening up the soil

broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower

a bunch of varieties of winter squash

the veggie bed; carrots, beets, parsinps, turnips and onions... along with the rest in back

A good start with the day off!  I'll keep you all posted how it goes through the winter.  Now to get the dirt washed off my paws!

inagaddadavida

July is here and the garden is doing wonderful.  The yellow crookneck squash have yielded what they could now that the hot weather is rolling in and the rampicante, kamo kamo and even a volunteer mexican squash are all bursting with blossoms and young vegetables.

Elsewhere in the garden, tomatoes are all coming along nicely as well.  We have even had a few off the vine already, and the cherry tomatoes on the patio are almost there!

Pumpkins are all getting orange and big




















And the escondido gold, banana and tigger melons are all getting big and juicy too

The Anaheim and lipstick peppers are all fruiting and the corn is almost up to my shoulders.  Still, the eggplant are slow and putting out beautiful blossoms.

And the beans and carrots are all still yielding tons.

In the meantime, our neighborhood is an expanded garden in itself.  Everything from grapes to kumquats, peaches to grapefruit, loquat to bananas, lemons, artichoke, blackberries, apples and figs. Up the street, we even have a neighbor who grows papaya!  Going on a walk this time of year convinces me that for kindness to your neighbor and perhaps a friendly trade of produce, none of us would go hungry in San Diego.

more growth, and recycled veggies...

Well, squash and zucchini season is officially here!  If you have a garden, you know this time of year well... the one where you start leaving baskets on neighbors patios, baking zucchini bread, slipping extras into parked cars with windows down.  Who can resist such a high yield veggie for the garden though.  We have one plant this year, and have collected at least a dozen crooknecks so far.  No zucchini yet, but we planted in a more sunshine conservative part of the yard this year, so as to tone down a bit on the great zucchini explosion of last year.  We also opted for a kamo kamo this year which will be a late summer to early fall kabocha type squash that is quite versatile.  For now though, yellow crookneck galore.  Here are a few recipe ideas for you for the bounty.  We tried a curried squash with garbanzos, cauliflower and potatoes that was delicious.  http://allrecipes.com/recipes/fruits-and-vegetables/vegetables/squash/summer-squash

on the vine with blossoms still coming

ready for stir fry

Other than the squash, everything else is getting bigger and bigger.  We'll soon be opening our own farmers market out of the back gate I think.

sugar snap peas

blackberries, yum

blue lake beans

watermelon

stupice tomatoes

small sugar pumpkins

corn and kamo kamo squash

tomatillos

eggplant

lipstick sweet peppers

And then there was this little visitor who came as we were watering all of the groceries.

hummingbird taking a sprinkler bath

Finally, a few words on carrot recycling.  Did you know that after topping your carrots you can place them back in the soil and they will grow for you?  In fact, many vegetables will, including potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions, celery, chives, lettuces and more.  For information how, http://wakeup-world.com/2012/10/15/16-foods-thatll-re-grow-from-kitchen-scraps.  We have successfully made this happen with onions and carrots so far, but are giving it a shot with all of the root veggies this year along with re-seeding as we pull.  Here's some instructions on the carrots by way of photos.  We already have one carrot that successfully re-rooted, and two very happy aussie brown onions, not to mention all of our potatoes.  Keep you posted on how it goes!  Recycle your kitchen scraps and make them grow!

amarillo and nantes scarlet carrots

carrot tops ready for the garden again

re-planted and ready to grow