Sunday, July 1, 2012

Back to my Happy Place (Garden Update!)

...with PICTURES and EVERYTHING!!!  Ooh - and a Bonus Surprise Fruit at the end!

So today counts as a "Good Day" because I was able to walk - without a cane - ALL DAY today!

(How f**king sad is that?!  Being able to walk is cause for celebration!!!)

Anyway, I managed to wander around the yard today, and I snapped a few Progress Pics of the garden.  Grant you, they are cell-phone pics, and the afternoon sun is kinda harsh - so not gonna win any awards - but I think I managed to Picasa them into submission!

First off: Some Happy Flowers :-)

Happy Hibiscus (I just love these flowers - and the bush they are growing on is HUGE!)

And the Morning Glory Vines are abundant as ever!

Okay...  Now onto the EDIBLES!!!  

Mr. Cabbage is still in the ground!
Still appx 7-8" in diameter (for the main head - the plant itself is HUGE!)

We ate his buddy, in a cole slaw, a couple of weeks ago...  It was delicious!  I still haven't yanked this one out - lol - because there is NO room in the fridge!  We're going to have a BQ/Pool-Party in a couple of weeks so, maybe, I'll make a giant cole-slaw then!

Indigo Rose Tomato

Not the greatest picture, but I'm happy to see baby maters forming on this plant (since it's a brandy new variety).  They're forming REALLY dark, almost bluish shoulders right now.  The maters are pretty tiny right now, but I'm anxious to see how they come out!

Stephanie Stupice (of the Finny Farm)

This is the same tomato I photographed a couple-three weeks ago.  It's getting bigger, but still quite green (as you can plainly see).  I still think this is gonna be the first edible 'mater this year.

I gave a Stupice plant to a friend of mine, and she's been harvesting like crazy!  My maters are clearly under-achievers this year!

The rest of the Finny Farm is doing just fine.  Maters are vining madly with blossoms galore - but no fruit yet...

I'm pretty sure these are Early Girls

Okay, that covers the 'maters. Still no real "action" in the Paste-O-Rama bed.  Oddly, even my "volunteers" - which are WAY further along in terms of growth - don't have any babies yet.  I've seen plenty of blossoms, but no fruit.  Hmmm (I'm 99% sure that they should be heirlooms - since that's all I grew last year)...

Onto other stuff:
Oops.  I meant to harvest Artie, but it looks like he's gonna bloom instead!
(that's okay, the Farm Share keeps sending me artichokes!)

Santa Rosas
Commence Whining: "WTF am I gonna do with all these plums?!"


Yes, we have Plums-a-Plenty!  And yes, I will be posting recipes, very soon!!!

The white peaches continue to taunt me!
They're *almost* (but not quite) ripe.

These are smallish (about the size of plums), but will be plentiful!  The yellow peaches are looking very fat (and still very green).  Those won't be ready 'til mid- to late-August...

And...  Wandering over to the other side of the yard...  To the "Overflow Bed" (which *was* gonna be called the Bean-Bed except Tazz ATE all my bean plants!):

Satsuma Plums - need a couple-three more weeks...

Satsuma is a very tasty blood-red plum.  It was always my dad's favorite.  I *had* a Satsuma tree, but we had to chop it down to make room for the studio.  This was a bare-root tree just last spring, so I'm surprised that it has any fruit this year.  Pleasantly surprised!

Zukes are coming along...
Hopefully I'll remember to harvest them while they're still zucchini-sized
(rather than wait 'til they're bigger than weenie dogs!)

Okay...  Now for the Bonus Surprise Fruit!  Are you ready???  This is over on the far side of the yard, next to the Overflow Bed.  Actually, between one of our Queen Palms and the Italian Cypresses that line our back fence (bad location, actually).

It's tough to get a good picture, though...  Have to "zoom" 'cuz it's so high!
Know what it is???

Here's another shot from a different angle:

See 'em?  Poking up above the bulbous inflorescence?
BANANAS!!!

I think that's pretty exciting, actually.  It's like a little slice of the tropics in our (faux-tropical-resort) backyard!  

There are actually three banana trees planted in a very bad location. I'm pretty sure these are Saba Bananas. Great-Grand-pups from a plant I bought on eBay many, many, many years ago.  Every winter they die back and I swear they're "A Goner."  But every year, they manage to come back and - sometimes - put out pups. This is only the second time that they've bloomed.  First time was back in 2007 and I documented it here.

This year, it looks like they are a little bit "further along" than they were back then.  To be honest, I am not optimistic that we'll ever get to harvest any nanners (our warm season is too short).  They actually are an edible variety, but the fruits are only about the size of my thumb. 

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool that we've got nannas growing in our yard - particularly since I do absolutely NOTHING to nurture these plants.  No fertilizer and, quite frankly, I'm amazed they even get enough water to survive!

Nevertheless...  WAY COOL! :-)


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