One of my readers suggested that I should talk about setbacks and pitfalls and how I deal with them. Humans remember that perfect peach but do not like to remember the wormy apple. I am guilty of that!! Well, everything does not always work out as planned and I have learned quite a bit over the years.
For this posting, I would like to talk about the "wormy apple". I have had problems with this issue, especially with my Sierra Beauty apple tree...and unfortunately it looks like I will have the same problem this year. Why do I get wormy apples some years and not others? Well, I do not use any sprays on my trees. I asked a local apple grower and his solution to worms was sprays. I do not want to spray anything on fruit that I am going to consume...much less my kids. So, the worms come from the Codling Moth. These buggers are a real problem in my yard and the only real solution that I have is to thin fruit when they are about dime sized. I did this last year and had the most incredible apples around. This year I was a bit of a slacker...and I will not have great apples. What I mean by thinning is cut away any apples that might touch each other. Apple blossoms will produce 3 - 5 flowers and with the bees providing great polination, they all turn into apples. If I do not thin to one apple, they will all have the moth larvae. I was just a bit late this year....
Harvested today:
1) Three zuchini ($2.50)
Year-to-Date ($34.50)
Friday, July 9, 2010
Days 6, 7, 8 - Vacation and the Garden
I was meaning to talk about the garden when you go on vacation for a longer period of time, but we were really only gone for one day of harvest because I had an accident that required me to come home early (I slipped on a creek crossing and fell on a rock, breaking my Scapula (shoulder blade) on the second day). Bummer for the camping vacation...bummer for the rest of the summer...
Anyhow, what do you do with the garden when you are on vacation?
First of all you have to water your ground crops so you really want an automated irrigation system in place. This is a bit of work to set up, but saves time throughout the year. Fruit trees are a bit more flexible and can go weeks without watering.
The second problem you will have is coming back to 10 pound zuchinni which then shut the plants down for the season.
The biggest problem I see is that you tend your garden and trees all year and if you are gone for two weeks you may just find that you missed the entire peach season!! This has happened for one of our trees a couple of years ago...left the house with rock hard peaches, came back to them all rotting on the ground. We learned from that and now tell our neighbors that we will be gone and to harvest peaches. Who in their right mind would not spend the few minutes to come over to harvest perectly ripe peaches! After a few years of harvests you can pretty much predict what will be ripe to the week and inform your very lucky neighbors.
So, you will not be able to harvest when you are gone...nor could I on the day that we were gone.
Harvests:
Day 6: 4 Apriums ($2.00)
Day 7: gone
Day 8: Handfull of cherry tomatos (priceless!!)
Handfull of Strawberries
Total (Year-to-Date): $32.00
Anyhow, what do you do with the garden when you are on vacation?
First of all you have to water your ground crops so you really want an automated irrigation system in place. This is a bit of work to set up, but saves time throughout the year. Fruit trees are a bit more flexible and can go weeks without watering.
The second problem you will have is coming back to 10 pound zuchinni which then shut the plants down for the season.
The biggest problem I see is that you tend your garden and trees all year and if you are gone for two weeks you may just find that you missed the entire peach season!! This has happened for one of our trees a couple of years ago...left the house with rock hard peaches, came back to them all rotting on the ground. We learned from that and now tell our neighbors that we will be gone and to harvest peaches. Who in their right mind would not spend the few minutes to come over to harvest perectly ripe peaches! After a few years of harvests you can pretty much predict what will be ripe to the week and inform your very lucky neighbors.
So, you will not be able to harvest when you are gone...nor could I on the day that we were gone.
Harvests:
Day 6: 4 Apriums ($2.00)
Day 7: gone
Day 8: Handfull of cherry tomatos (priceless!!)
Handfull of Strawberries
Total (Year-to-Date): $32.00
Monday, July 5, 2010
Day 5 - Beekeeping
I was introduced to beekeeping about 7 years ago and we have only bought honey once since then...and with our honey-eating family, we go through a bunch. Beekeeping is catching on like raising chickens. I have four other friends locally that are now with a hive in their yard and unlike chickens (or other pets) bees can pretty much take care of themselves even when you are taking a vacation!!
My bees have been really busy lately and I figured that I needed to add some space. Boy was I right!! In one hive I could barely lift the top super...that means that there is a whole heck of a lot of honey in there. Typically one can expect about 2 gallons a year (8 quarts @ $20 per quart for local honey = $160) from a hive. Last year I may have taken too much, but we extracted 7 gallons. Some is given away to neighbors and as gifts that are always well received, but we do eat a lot ourselves.
So, I added a super to each of my two hives and expect to harvest sometime in July, leaving whatever they can make the remaining part of the season for surviving the winter. I will have to say though that there seems like a flower for all seasons in our town for the bees to forage.
The harvest for today:
1) One aprium ($0.50)
2) Kale ($3.00)
3) Pint of blueberries ($4.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $30.00
My bees have been really busy lately and I figured that I needed to add some space. Boy was I right!! In one hive I could barely lift the top super...that means that there is a whole heck of a lot of honey in there. Typically one can expect about 2 gallons a year (8 quarts @ $20 per quart for local honey = $160) from a hive. Last year I may have taken too much, but we extracted 7 gallons. Some is given away to neighbors and as gifts that are always well received, but we do eat a lot ourselves.
So, I added a super to each of my two hives and expect to harvest sometime in July, leaving whatever they can make the remaining part of the season for surviving the winter. I will have to say though that there seems like a flower for all seasons in our town for the bees to forage.
The harvest for today:
1) One aprium ($0.50)
2) Kale ($3.00)
3) Pint of blueberries ($4.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $30.00
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Day 4 - Berries
June and early July is a time of the year when there is very little fruit ripe in the garden. The exception is the berry.
Generally, we start harvesting Raspberries on June 1st and have a bowl of Raspberries each morning for about the entire month. Last Fall we had to cut the Rasperries to ground for some workers to put in a fence and because of this we have not had any yet. How do we get Rasberries in June you might ask? Well, first of all we planted the Heritage variety which has very strong self-supportive canes. At the end of the fruiting in the Fall, I cut the canes to be about 6 ft high and only keep the strongest of the canes. These mature canes will then sprout and have fruit by June 1st. Meanwhile the new canes will sprout and give us a second crop in August and September. Even though the second crop is larger, the first crop is what we all remember since we have not eaten a Raspberry for 10 months!!
This year we have been blessed with our first real nice crop of Blueberries though and I tell you, without the Raspberry stealing the show, these berries are becoming the star!! The kids eat them evey time they go in the yard and the grown-ups hardly get a chance to partake. Well, I took it upon myself today to do my own picking and was rewarded with a cup of some of the best berries you could imagine.
The other reward this year was our Strawberry patch. Really not officially in our yard, but a shared planting in a little strip of land between us and our neighbor. Kind of an island, it stays pretty snail and slug free...and if you are growing Strawberries you know what a slug can do to a nice juicy berry.
...and for the 4th of July, we harvested:
1) Two zuchini ($1.00)
2) Two apriums ($1.00)
3) One white nectarine ($1.00)
4) One cup of bluberries ($2.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $22.50
Generally, we start harvesting Raspberries on June 1st and have a bowl of Raspberries each morning for about the entire month. Last Fall we had to cut the Rasperries to ground for some workers to put in a fence and because of this we have not had any yet. How do we get Rasberries in June you might ask? Well, first of all we planted the Heritage variety which has very strong self-supportive canes. At the end of the fruiting in the Fall, I cut the canes to be about 6 ft high and only keep the strongest of the canes. These mature canes will then sprout and have fruit by June 1st. Meanwhile the new canes will sprout and give us a second crop in August and September. Even though the second crop is larger, the first crop is what we all remember since we have not eaten a Raspberry for 10 months!!
This year we have been blessed with our first real nice crop of Blueberries though and I tell you, without the Raspberry stealing the show, these berries are becoming the star!! The kids eat them evey time they go in the yard and the grown-ups hardly get a chance to partake. Well, I took it upon myself today to do my own picking and was rewarded with a cup of some of the best berries you could imagine.
The other reward this year was our Strawberry patch. Really not officially in our yard, but a shared planting in a little strip of land between us and our neighbor. Kind of an island, it stays pretty snail and slug free...and if you are growing Strawberries you know what a slug can do to a nice juicy berry.
...and for the 4th of July, we harvested:
1) Two zuchini ($1.00)
2) Two apriums ($1.00)
3) One white nectarine ($1.00)
4) One cup of bluberries ($2.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $22.50
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Day 3 - End of the Chard
Spring veggies have come to an end. It is now the time to replant some summer/fall produce to take that space.
Simple post today. I am tired and going to bed.
Harvested today:
1) Two Bunches of Chard ($6.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $17.50
Simple post today. I am tired and going to bed.
Harvested today:
1) Two Bunches of Chard ($6.00)
Total (Year-to-Date): $17.50
Friday, July 2, 2010
Day 2 - End of the Beets
You ever have a fresh beet from your own garden? I have to believe that it is the least appreciated veggie out there. Tomatoes are king of summer, snap peas in the spring and the winter squash in the fall. I remember growing beets for the first time in Santa Barbara and serving them to a friend for dinner. She said that she did not like beets but I somehow convinced her to partake. After that day it was one of her favorites!! Try it in your own garden.
This is perhaps the most difficult time to harvest from the garden. The summer veggies and fruit are not quite ready yet (cherry tomatoes are trying!!) and the spring greens are bolting due to the heat. Lucky for us we have some transitional plants and some early veggies.
Being gone most of the day, it was a light harvest:
1) Two zuchinni ($1.00)
2) The last of the beets ($3.00)
3) One aprium ($0.50)
Total (Year-to-Date): $11.50
This is perhaps the most difficult time to harvest from the garden. The summer veggies and fruit are not quite ready yet (cherry tomatoes are trying!!) and the spring greens are bolting due to the heat. Lucky for us we have some transitional plants and some early veggies.
Being gone most of the day, it was a light harvest:
1) Two zuchinni ($1.00)
2) The last of the beets ($3.00)
3) One aprium ($0.50)
Total (Year-to-Date): $11.50
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Day 1 - Here we go!!
Day one of the year-long adventure. I have been meaning to post once more before today, talking about the veggie plots...since I have already described the fruit trees.
We have eight small veggie plots. Four of them are "full-sun", two of them are partial sun, and the remaining two get some sun...but are shaded by our large Live Oak tree much of the day. In the four sunny plots I have the "hot crops". Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers. The next two are mixed use (bush beans do all right), the shady two are devoted to "cooler crops" like greens and peas. I do something in the plots thoughout the year...with winter growing a years worth of garlic in one plot.
All right. What did we get our first day?
1) a bunch of Chard ($3.00) (sauteed in our own garlic)
2) basket of stawberries ($2.00)
3) small basket of blueberries ($1.00)
4) one Aprium ($0.50)
5) one white nectarine ($0.50)
I need to get my scale...I misplaced it and will try to weigh things soon. Right now it is an approximation.. Aproximately $7.00 worth of produce in one day is a pretty good deal though...and oh you shoud have tasted the strawberries!! As my friend Scott said the other day, "Can't transport these!". Real garden strawberries ripened on the plant are just too soft and juicy.
Totals (year-to-date): $7.00
We have eight small veggie plots. Four of them are "full-sun", two of them are partial sun, and the remaining two get some sun...but are shaded by our large Live Oak tree much of the day. In the four sunny plots I have the "hot crops". Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers. The next two are mixed use (bush beans do all right), the shady two are devoted to "cooler crops" like greens and peas. I do something in the plots thoughout the year...with winter growing a years worth of garlic in one plot.
All right. What did we get our first day?
1) a bunch of Chard ($3.00) (sauteed in our own garlic)
2) basket of stawberries ($2.00)
3) small basket of blueberries ($1.00)
4) one Aprium ($0.50)
5) one white nectarine ($0.50)
I need to get my scale...I misplaced it and will try to weigh things soon. Right now it is an approximation.. Aproximately $7.00 worth of produce in one day is a pretty good deal though...and oh you shoud have tasted the strawberries!! As my friend Scott said the other day, "Can't transport these!". Real garden strawberries ripened on the plant are just too soft and juicy.
Totals (year-to-date): $7.00
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