Is there any symbol of spring more powerful than a fruit tree in blossom? Is there any thought more appealing to the winter weary shopper than being able to walk out into your garden and pick a juicy, ripe fruit straight from the tree?
My first battle with the coconut didn't go too well, and since I was tired of having the partly-open thing on the kitchen counter, I got serious yesterday.
Remember the coconut I brought home from Florida? I was trying to decide if I should try to let it sprout, or just eat it.
One of my tasks at the bakery each morning is peeling apples. I peel between 30 and 100 apples a day depending on needs (usually closer to 30), so I think about apples a lot.
At the start of this month I posted about the melons that I'm growing in containers on my deck. At the time I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough time for any of these fruits to ripen, that the cold weather would arrive too soon.
I post about the maypop (Passiflora involucrata incarnata) vine a few times each year, but I just can't help it. The blooms are so beautiful, intricate, and fragrant, the vine is vigorous and attractive...
One thing that makes the cold days of winter something to actually look forward to is citrus. When those fruits start arriving in big numbers from Florida and California, it's a time of delicious happiness.
One of the most unique and vicious-looking plants I've been growing this year is Solanum atropurpureum, with common names of "Purple Devil" and "Malevolence" . You can see a hint here of why it has these names:
When I was just out of college, a coworker of mine who was not from Chicago but had gone to school there for a few years noticed that I, like other Chicagoans he knew, often tacked the phrase "or no?" onto the end of questions. For example: "Did you watch the Bears' game yesterday, or no?"
Last year the robins took most of my already tiny blueberry crop from me. I didn't realize that they'd be so fond of unripe fruits, then tried to react by throwing some bird netting over the two potted plants.
Was it just last year's spring (2011) that I finally got my first blueberry plant? Was it just last fall that I saw their first autumnal display of wonderful color? It seems like I've always had this incredible foliage in my garden.
I know that I wasn't very diligent when it came to deadheading (removing spent flowers) from most of the perennials and shrubs in my garden this year. It was just too hot, I was too busy, [insert your favorite excuse here] -- whatever the reason I just didn't do it.
One of my favorite plants right now in my garden is "Maypop", Passiflora incarnata. A vigorous perennial vine, I planted it a couple of years ago at one of the supports for the pergola over the patio. My thought at the time was that this would be a nice replacement for the annual vines I had been planting here every year -- my expectations were relatively low.
Another day with some random garden observations, thoughts, and photos. I haven't done this for a while, but it's time. Starting with a little harvest of Maypop and Mexican sour gherkins:
The tomatoes are starting to ripen! Oh, it's just a few here and there, and they are the smaller first fruits produced by the plants, but it's still exciting.
I was excited about my blueberry crop this year. Although the plants are still in smallish containers, this was their second year for me so should have produced quite a few berries.
I started collecting photos a week ago for a post I was going to call "emergence" -- it was going to show all of the things that are bursting out in my garden, out of the soil, out of the branches of deciduous trees.
As you may recall, I have two passion flower vines in my garden this year. One potted that that the raccoons stripped of fruits, and one growing on my pergola which has been untouched. I've been checking those fruits every week or so, but haven't noticed them getting any riper -- although I don't have much experience with knowing a ripe fruit from an unripe one.
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