2010 Summer At A Glance

Summer has come to an end. Ideally I would have been posting all summer about what was blooming or what vegetables I was harvesting, but life got busy and kept me from the computer. I wish I could say it was because I was spending so much time in the garden, but even the garden got neglected this summer. Gardens are like relationships though, you can't expect a lot from them unless you're willing to put in the work. Thankfully, the garden is always forgiving.

Now it's time to turn my focus to the fall and winter garden. We're lucky in Sacramento that we're able to grow vegetables year round. While people in the rest of the nation are putting their gardens to sleep for the winter, I'm putting in broccoli, snap peas and onions. I'm also starting to get an idea of how our citrus season will be starting in December- like the first pummelo's (pictured above) that are already causing branches to break on the young tree.

Due to my laziness, all of my 20 or so basil plants are flowering. I'd like to say I'm doing it to allow them to produce seed, but that's not really the reason. Of course there are some ornamental basils that you WANT to flower- like 'African Blue', which the bee's absolutely love- or the 'Cardinal' basil pictured above. Cardinal is one that I've taken many cuttings from, it had a lovely basil scent to it yet strongly smelled of licorice. My research (ie, Google) has concluded that I can't save seed from it. My only complaint is the flowers are sooo heavy that the plant has a tendency to lay down. Next time I'll plant it between stronger plants that it can lean against for support.

I had a successful year with melons too. Cantaloupe (or Musk Melon like my husband calls it), Sugar Baby watermelon, Moon & Stars, and the cute individual sized Tigger melon- all made appearances in our garden this summer. Tigger was a large producer, I harvested lots of seeds from them and will happily grow it again next year. The Moon & Stars watermelon is pretty cool too- it literally has a moon and stars on the outside! It wasn't as sweet as I was expecting, but I wonder if its sweetness was affected by the abnormally cool summer we've had.

It's a good thing I have a large garden this year- because I had a large amount of caterpillars to go along with it. I'm a sucker for caterpillars and butterflies though- so I happily share my garden with them. We also had our first Monarch butterfly sighting in three years. It is very rare to see them here in Sacramento as we're not on their migration path. I planted a bunch of milkweed in the garden to help any that happened to be lost, and go figure, the one Monarch we got in the garden went straight to the milkweed.

Heading into winter I start to get scared about what plants aren't going to make it. Last year I lost my Pelargonium sidoides (pictured above) that I bought at the UC Davis Arboretum plant sale. I searched for months locally for a replacement with no luck. When my friend Chuck in the Bay Area found some at a nursery near him, I quickly put in my order for several plants. Hopefully at least one of them will survive......

Despite what it looks like in this picture, it was actually a bad year for tomatoes. Perhaps my biggest lesson was to not plant so many black and yellow tomatoes! The black tomatoes still remain my favorites for flavor, but color-wise they look kind of gross in salsa and tomato sauce. I think I even had one comment that my salsa "looked like puke". Gee, thanks. Next year I need to remember to do more red tomatoes! The biggest dissapointment I had was with the Black Pearl cherry tomato. It's a hybrid that I bought at a local nursery. I had hoped it was similar to the Black Cherry tomato, but it severly lacked in flavor. It was, however, a very prolific plant.

Salvia's still remain as an addiction for me. I believe I have about 15 different salvias- various colors, various bloom times, and various sizes. I lost a couple last winter to frost, this year I'm taking cuttings of my favorites just in case! I think my favorite purchase this year is the 'Peruvian Sage', but 'Wendy's Wish' is a close second. The Pineapple sage still remains my overall favorite though, and it's still a few weeks away from blooming. I love crushing the leaves in my hand and smelling that lovely pineapple scent. I have become a sucker for plants that smell good, even when they're not blooming.

Sunflowers did amazingly well this year. I usually lose them to squirrels, but investing in squirrel feeders has kept my squirrels out of the vegetable garden. I did learn the hard way to not buy the whole sunflower seeds for the bird and squirrel feeders- I ended up with a hundred or so sunflowers that I didn't even plant. It made the front yard garden look way overgrown and messy, but I couldn't bring myself to rip them out until last week. It's hard not to smile when you have a bunch of cheerful sunflowers staring at you. I also learned about feeding the squirrels whole peanuts (in shell), as I had several peanut plants pop up throughout the yard too. It's kind of sad really- I tried growing peanuts a few years ago with no luck- yet the squirrels seem to be pro's at it. Guess I'll keep them around.

We also added our first hops plant to the garden, and hopefully can harvest hops next year to use in making beer. I'd like to add a few different kinds if I can, but I need to build a better structure for them to climb. Add that to my long list of things to do.....

In the past I had tons of spring flowery plants, but no summer/fall bloomers. I purposely told myself that this year I'd only buy plants that flowered in the summer and fall- and it's nice to see my money has been well spent. Oodles of Gaillardia, rudbeckia, echinacia,sedum, salvias....they are still brightly showing their colors heading into fall. Most of them will b e providing our bird friends food as they pack up for their long trip into winter. Some of my favorite additions for this year have been the Leonotis menthifolia (also known as Lion's Tail, pictured above), and agastache 'Tutti Frutti' which has been a favorite for the hummingbirds. The hummingbird's are VERY protective of their agastache and practically dive bomb me every time I try to pull any weeds around it. Lucky for them I find it cute.

I've grown winter squash in previous years, but this is the first time I've had enough room for pumpkins. I put in 8 different kinds of pumpkins and only got.....two pumpkins. That's kind of disappointing. I dont think I fed them enough. I'm not giving up on them! To quote Walt Disney, "Keep Moving Forward", I just need to find out what makes them happy.

It was a good year for coneflowers, but I've learned the hard way about some of those fancy coneflowers like 'Tomato Soup' (pictured above) and 'Mac n' Cheese'- stick with your standard echinacea! This is the second grow season for my 'Tomato Soup' plant and it was a lot less red this year than it was last year. It was more of an orange color this year. The second year for my 'Double Decker' coneflowers was kinf of sad too- they just looked like standard coneflowers that had a bad case of bed head. Go figure. Just goes to show you don't need couture plants- stick with what is native to your area!

So my goal for Fall? ORGANIZE. I have lots of plants, and I love them all but I need to do a better job of pairing them with other plants that will compliment them. This fall I'll be spending a lot of time splitting plants up that did better than I expected (Gaillardia), moving plants around that didn't do as well as I thought (blueberries), and moving plants that flat out don't look good next to each other (wow- had no idea I planted so many yellow flowers!). Still, I'm so happy with the way the front yard garden is coming along and feel so blessed that my husband let me rip out half of our front yard. Life is good!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day- July

Here is my Garden Slacker...errr...I mean Garden Blogger Bloom Day post! This is some of what you COULD have blooming if you were in zone 9/Sunset zone 14 like I am in Sacramento, California. You'll have to excuse my lack of plant names in this post, I am trying to get these pics in rather quickly! But if you have any questions about what anything is, just ask and I'll respond! Update: okay, I added some of the plant names and links to where you can find more information on them!

Linanthus grandiflorus, which used to have pure white blooms- and now they are a pinkish/purple color.

Origanum rotundifolium ‘Kent Beauty’ (ornamental oregano)

This is Anagallis Monelli 'Blue Pimpernel' from Annie's Annuals. It has been a non-stop bloomer for the past couple of months, and is probably one of the plants that I get asked about the most in my garden. These blooms are BLUE, this picture doesn't do it justice.

No, this echinacea does not have a serious case of bed head, this is actually an Echinacea purpurea 'Double Decker'.

Gaillardia, which is quickly becoming a groundcover for me. Thankfully, I don't mind it! Doesn't it just scream sunshine?! Can you believe this was just planted this spring from a 3" pot? And did I mention how drought tolerant it is?

Rudbeckia.... and as you can see by the pictures in this post I have a LOT of Rudbeckia, unfortunetly I didn't do a good job of remembering their names.

Eriogonum grande rubescens “Red Buckwheat”, a California native that has done pretty well in the garden so far. It just started blooming a couple weeks ago, and we should continue to see it bloom for another couple of months.

Ageratum

Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'

The first sunflower bloom of the year isn't even one that I planted- this one is from our bird feeder.

More Rudbeckia....

Echinacea

More Rudbeckia.... these were grown from seed this year and have really taken off!

Selago Serrata, which looks nothing like the one at Annie's Annuals, but I still like it!

Dicliptera suberecta, otherwise known at 'Uruguayan Firecracker Plant'. I got this plant from my friend Chuck, but you can also purchase it at Annie's Annuals.

Centaurea cyanus 'Blue Diadem, which needs to be dead headed pretty badly (as do most of the plants in my yard right now)

Another non-stop bloomer, Anchusa capensis 'Blue Angel'

Eucomis 'Pineapple Lily'

Physostegia virginiana, otherwise known as 'dragonhead' or 'obedient plant'

Santolina 'Lemon Fizz'

Do you see the bee? The bee's love artichoke blooms!

Is it just me or does the side shot of a blooming artichoke remind you of Kid n' Play? Did I just age myself?

Nicotiana 'Lime Green'

Lot's of squash blooms.... these are 'Starship' scalloped squash- seeds from the "Summer Scallop Trio" package at Renee's Garden.

Mimulus 'Richard's Red'

Seeing Green:Tomatillos

There will be no shortage of salsa verde for us for this upcoming year- our tomatillos seem to be picking up the slack for the tomatoes!
We have 6 different tomatillo plants- not counting the four “volunteer” plants that have sprouted in various places in the yard. I planted 3 different varieties this year, and so far I don’t have a preference in flavor (which means next year I can just stick with one variety- yay!).
Tomatillos do very well in Sacramento’s heat, which is not surprising considering they grow like weeds in Mexico. Just like with tomatoes, the size of the fruit can vary on one plant- from the size of a marble, but most commonly it’s between a golf ball and a mandarin. One thing to remember about growing tomatillos is to plant at least two! They are “self-incompatible” so you need at least two plants in order to get any fruit. If you set the plants out at a young age, they may get chomped by bugs(well, mine do), so I plant at least three just in case I lose one!
The fruit is picked when the husk (I call them lanterns) has started to split open, or the fruit has completely filled its husk. The flavor can vary based on what stage they are in. A tomatillo still inside its husk will be tangy in flavor with a slight lemon/grass taste and is lovely bright green. One that has busted out of its husk will taste much sweeter with a slight pineapple flavor and will be either a lighter green or pale yellow color. Of course, coloring will also depend on the variety you’re growing- I have a purple variety growing that has apple green colored fruit with purple shoulders (see picture above). The flavor is best when the fruit is still green, however, unless you are willing to “fondle” every single tomatillo you have growing on a daily basis, it’s much easier to just look for husks that are starting to open.

One thing I love about tomatillos is their long storage life. In the husk, they can last up to two weeks in the refrigerator. If you remove the husk before refrigeration, they can last even longer. Since I like to only have to make salsa verde once a year in a huge pot, I remove the husk, wash the sticky residue off of them, pat them dry, and then freeze my harvest into Ziploc bags until I’m ready to make it. I prefer to freeze them whole out of pure laziness, but some people cut them into smaller sizes. Freezing them whole retains more vitamins and keeps them from losing flavor.
Don’t have enough tomatillos for a batch of salsa verde? You’ve got several options. 1.) Buy some at the grocery store. Most grocery stores carry a small quantity of tomatillos in their produce department. They are usually still in their husks, and are located near the peppers in my grocery store. 2.) You can buy canned whole tomatillos at the grocery store as well, usually located where you’d buy diced chiles and salsa. 3.) Use green tomatoes in their place. This option is especially helpful at the end of the tomato season when you’ve got a bunch of tomatoes on your plants that you KNOW aren’t going to ripen.

As for what to do with all of those tomatillo’s when you’ve got them- salsa verde! If you’d like to try canning your tomatillo salsa, check out this recipe on Lelo in Nopo’s website. I made it last year and it was fairly easy. Not a big enchilada fan? There are other uses for tomatillos besides making salsa verde. I like to slice them and throw them on the grill to serve as a nice simple side dish. You can also add some chopped tomatillos while making rice, when the rice is cooked, drain excess water, add a little lime juice and some chopped cilantro. If you make your own tzatziki for falafel or gyros, try adding chopped tomatillos instead of cucumbers.