March 6, 2013 Gardening…

Everyday when I go out in the garden, I check the seeds that I’ve sown to see if anything new have sprouted. As I was walking by, I noticed that the soil in the two trays with the Wildflower and Flower Garden Mix was uneven. I think the birds have been using this as a bird feeder! Argh!… I’ll probably have to sow more seeds and put these trays into a dome or in the patio.

Carrot (Blend of Color Mix) Sown

After harvesting some carrots yesterday, I was excited to sow more seeds. I planted a square 3″ cell pack with Blend of Colors Carrot Mix. I’ll have to search online to see if I can get just purple Carrots.

Homemade Cactus Mix

I was running out of Cactus Mix, so I mixed up some using 4 parts regular potting soil, 1 part play sand and 1 part perlite.

Lithops lesliei Albinica Sown

I used this mix to sow Lithops lesliei ‘Albinica’ seeds into a 3″ pot. I can’t wait for these to grow.

Snow?

I’ve been watching the fruit trees to see what fruit tree is about to open it’s bud so I can start grafting onto it. So far the Asian Plums have bloom and the flowers are starting to fade. It looks like it’s been snowing.

Stark Saturn Peach in Bloom

The Cherry and the Peach trees look like they will open within a week. The Stark Saturn Peach graft has already bloomed ahead of it’s host Elberta Peach.

Thai Basil

After heading back inside when it got too dark to garden, I plucked the leaves off a bunch of Thai Basil I bought at the Asian Grocery… and saved a few cuttings to hopefully root. I’ll make a Basil Eggplant dish with the leaves tomorrow.

So Many Fruits…

I just updated the What’s Growing? page and didn’t realize how many fruit trees we have until I listed them all down. Below is the list so far, not even including all the grafts that I have made.

Continue reading

Peaches and Apricots…

My Peach ‘Stark Saturn’ Folia graft (from 2008) is finally bearing fruits. Below is one of the two fruits.

Peach 'Stark Saturn'

The Peach ‘Elberta’ Folia that the Peach ‘Stark Saturn’ is graft to is not fruiting that much this year, but we still have a few fruits. These two are young Peach ‘Elberta’ fruits.

Peach 'Elberta'

Our Apricot Folia tree, on the other hand, has tons of fruits this year.

Apricots

Grafting 2011 Batch 3…

Our Peach is just starting to bloom and the Apples look like they will break dormancy soon, so I grafted the last batch of Peaches/Nectarines, Apples and a Persimmon.

Persimmon 'Chocolate' Graft

– Nectarine ‘Silver Lode’
– Peach ‘White Hale’
– Nectarine ‘White Rose’
– Peach ‘Lola Queen’
– Apple ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’
– Apple ‘Pink Pearl’
– Apple ‘Pink Parfait’
– Apple ‘Lady Williams’
– Apple ‘Pippin’
– Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’
– Apple ‘Royal Gala’
– Persimmon ‘Chocolate’

Late Night Gardening Update…

11:01pm Royal George Peach graft is blooming… Fantasia Nectarine graft is starting to leaf out… #

11:10pm Cilantro and Butter Daisy are sprouting… #

Garden Progress…

11:50pm The Peach ‘Flavorcrest’ graft is blooming… #

11:51pm Peach ‘Elberta’ in Veggie Bed is starting to flower and leaf out simultaneously… #

11:53pm The Peach ‘Stark Saturn’ graft (on Peach ‘Elberta’ in Veggie Bed) is starting to leaf out… I don’t think it even bloomed… #

11:55pm Sparker Radish seeds are finally starting to sprout… #

11:47am My Chayote is now 10 inches tall!… #

12:10pm I brought my new Epidendrum Green Hornet Orchid to work… As I was watering it, I noticed it had a scent which reminds me of Alyssums#

Breaking Dormancy…

09:15am The Lilac in the front yard is breaking dormancy and I think it’s leafing out. I’m not sure if leaves comes out first or flowers… #

7:14pm I started on the my Wooden Orchid Box, but I’m not done yet. You can view my progress here: j.mp/bTipw4 #

11:43pm The White Grape Hyacinths are starting to emerge out of the ground, while the purple ones are already blooming… #

11:48pm Peach ‘Elberta’ in Veggie Bed is starting to flower and leaf out at the same time… Peach ‘Stark Saturn’ grafted onto it is leafing out… #

Gardening Update + Edible Broccoli Leaves?…

5:16pm Lemon Verbena is breaking dormancy and starting to leaf out… #

5:18pm The grafted Peach ‘Flavorcrest’ is starting to bloom… #

7:26pm Potted up my new White Chinese Ground Orchid into a one-gallon pot… #

7:47pm Are Broccoli leaves edible?.. We got a bunch of Broccoli with leaves from my cousin and the leaves look almost as good as Collard Greens… #

8:30pm Winter-sown Zinnia ‘Whirligig’ is already sprouting… #

[update]

turtleinashell from LiveJournal send me this link:
Broccoli Greens! on Daily Grocery Co-op