Now my hands smell all nasturtiumy.
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Tag: garden
garlic harvest
I didn’t set out to grow a crop of garlic; I just poked a clove into the ground here or there among other things. But underground they multiplied, and here we are — six fat heads.
twisted roots
I pulled the whole carrot crop, and now have a big bag of orange curlies. Bring on the carrot recipes!
potato fruit
I never thought of potatoes as having fruit, but there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. After all, the closely related tomatoes bear fruit. I’ll be interested to see how big these little nuggets get before the leaves die back, and I can harvest the rooty goodness.
Ah, I just did a little reading on the subject. The fruit are toxic (as are all parts of the plant except the tubers). Potato fruits are produced when the plants experience cool temperatures and sufficient water. Their seeds can be planted, though they will not produce clones of their parents, as tubers will. I probably won’t bother saving and replanting the seeds as I have limited space for potato experiments in my garden …. but good to know!
To clarify, ‘seed potatoes’ and ‘potato seeds’ are two different things. The former are sprouting tubers, and will grow as clones of the original plant. The latter are, well, actual seeds.
everything all at once
One of my favourite sit spots is under the silky oak tree, on the edge of the driveway. There’s a big Tagetes lemmonii bush (a fan favourite around here) right next to it. The species is named for John Gill Lemmon, husband of American botanist, artist and intellectual Sara Plummer Lemmon (1836 – 1923).
Sara was responsible for the California poppy being designated as our state flower. She established Santa Barbara’s first lending library, where she also sold art and music supplies and hosted cultural gatherings. She sounds like a really interesting woman — I’d like to know more about her.
hummingbird update
One of the two eggs hatched several days ago, but I can’t tell if the baby is actually alive. I haven’t heard it cheep, and whenever I peek it appears to be sleeping in this same position. The mama is either away from the nest, or sitting on it; I haven’t observed her bringing food to the hatchling. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a successful outcome here, but I’m not feeling very optimistic.
Passiflora edulis
I first journaled this passionfruit last December. Today I picked and ate it.
micranthocereus sp.
One of our “small-flowered candle” cacti is suffering from a little erectile dysfunction. Its aggressive spines have prohibited a close examination of the problem, so I can only guess at the cause.
(I got bored with drawing spines, so some of the cacti appear bald, but in reality they are all covered in a very sharp dense fuzz.)
garden textures
Cornu aspersum
Click to enbiggen.
We have a LOT of snails at the moment; they especially love the citrus. As I picked them off the trees this morning, I checked the whorl orientation, and yep, they were all dextral. It would be fun to see a sinistral snail! The idea makes the daily removal somewhat more interesting.
hashiworks 