Monthly Archives: March 2013

Google Reader is Dying :(

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Yesterday, as I logged into Google Reader to read various blog I follow. I got an alert message saying Google Reader is closing down.

Google Reader is Dying

Oh no!?!… I’ve come to rely on Google Reader to read various blogs and RSS news feeds, YouTube channels, Flickr photostreams and even friend’s Amazon Wish Lists. I’ve collected many feeds, all categorized into my different interests… (which is a little similar to the categories on my blog).

Luckily, I’ve read a couple articles that will help us Google Reader users move on:
– alternativeTo’s “alternativeTo Google Reader”
– Lifehacker’s “Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives”

I’m looking for a reader that is simple like Google Reader, one that has an online website which syncs to an Android app. It also has to work after Google Reader closes down. Here are a couple that I am testing out:
– The Old Reader
– bloglovin’
– NetVibes
– Feedly
– NewsBlur

Pruning and Dead Grafts…

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I wanted to start grafting some European Pears today, but there were many dead and or broken limbs, so I want through and did some pruning. It started to get dark, so I will continue pruning tomorrow.

I also went through the fruit trees and tried to cut off and remove tags from the dead grafts:
– Peach ‘Sierra Blanca’ (Graft 2008-07)
– E.Pear ‘Winter Nellis’ (Graft 2009-15)
– E.Pear ‘Warren’ (Graft 2010-19)
– E.Plum ‘Coe’s Golden Drop’ (Graft 2011-09)
– Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’ (Graft 2011-21)
– Nectarine ‘Heavenly White’ (Graft 2012-12)
– Nectarine ‘Stanwick’ (Graft 2012-14)
– Peach ‘Hakuto’ (Graft 2012-15)

Tomatoes and Peppers Sown

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I did a bunch of Tomato and Pepper seed sowing this evening.

Tomato Seeds

Here’s a list of Tomato seeds sown:
– Brandywince Red (2010)
– Hippy Zebra (2010)
– Sungold (2013)
– Green Zebra (2011)
– Speckled Red Roma (2010)
– Red Zebra (2010)
– Red Pear Cherry (2007)
– Velvet Red (2013)
– Vintage Wine (2010)
– OSU Blue (2011)
– Large Barred Boar (2011)
– Copia (2010)
– San Marzano (2010)
– Sweet Carneros Pink (2011)
– Lemon Boy (2013)
– Federle (2013)
– Yellow Pear G2 (2011)
– Rutgers Select (2010)
– Tiny Tim (?)
– Red Robin (2010)
– Sungold (2013)

Here’s a list of Pepper seeds sown:
– Chinese Giant (2012)
– Sweet Banana (2010)
– (Orange Bell) (2013)
– Carmagnola Rossa G2 (2008)
– Golden Marconi G2 (2010)
– (from Tomatofest 2012) (2012)
– Gypsy (2012)
– (Sweet Long Red from Trader Joe’s) (2010)
– Garden Leasder Monster Bell (2012)

Stitch Modern 2013 (continued)…

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The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild’s Stitch Modern 2013 quilt show last month was a great success. We had lectures, speakers, discussion panels, family activity day and even a sew day. I tried to help out at most of the activities and take photos, which you can see on my Flickr photoset called “Stitch Modern 2013 Quilt Show“.

Quilt San Francisco: The Evolution of an Art Form

The show is done, but the San Francisco Quilters Guild asked if we would display our quilts as a special section of their quilt show QUILT San Francisco: Evolution of an Art Form, which runs Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10, 2013 at the Concourse Exhibition Center (635 8th Street, San Francisco). They graciously allotted a large space for us to put up our quilts, which we set up earlier today. Most of the quilts from our Stitch Modern 2013 travelled to San Francisco with some others joining the show.

More info:

QUILT San Francisco: The Evolution of an Art Form
– QUILT San Francisco: The Evolution of an Art Form
– Terri’s Sneak Peak at The Fox’s Den

Stitch Modern
– My previous Stitch Modern 2013 post
– My “Stitch Modern 2013 Quilt Show” photoset
– Stacey’s Stitch Modern 2013 Wrap Up on the EBMQG blog

The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild
– The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild blog
– The East Bay Modern Quilt Guild on Facebook
– Upcoming EBMQG events on Facebook

March 6, 2013 Gardening…

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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.

March 2013 Harvest Day

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Today’s harvest (for March Harvest Day):
– Dinosaur Kale
– Flat Leaf Parsley
– Green Onion
– Red Russian Kale
– Red Giant Mustard
– Blend of Colors Carrots
– Walla Walla Onion

Today's harvest (for March Harvest Day)

It’s been a long time since I harvested Carrots. They took a long time to grow and there wasn’t many, but you don’t find much white and yellow Carrots at the grocery.

Harvested Carrots

I want to grow more of the non-orange ones, especially the purple ones.

Chopped Carrots

I made a Pizza (or Tart) using only vegetables that I harvested…

Pizza/Tart

and had so much vegetables left over that I made, so I also made a Veggie Frittata.

Veggie Frittata

Busy Gardening Day…

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It was a busy gardening day. I started by planting a few Green Onions bottoms with the others I planted last week.

Planting Green Onion Bottoms

I start grafting onto our two Asian Plum trees:
– Bubblegum Plum (which I’m really interested in tasting, so I grafted it in two locations)
– Plum ‘Golden Nectar’
– Pluot ‘Flavor Supreme’

People Watcher

This bird kept watching me as I was grafting scions onto our Plum tree. I thought it would fly away if I moved, but even after I walked around and climbed the ladder, it just stayed there. It eventually flew away.

I wanted to graft some Cherry scions, but I couldn’t find any good sites to graft onto… So I left it, and I’ll check our Cherry tree later.

Planting Swiss Chard, Beets and Mesclun

I had some plant that have been in cell packs since the fall, and they are still alive, so I planted the Swiss Chard into 5 gallon fabric pot and Beets ‘Chioggia’ into a large Daiso pot. I had two leftover Flat Leaf Parsley which I planted into a 3 inch pot for now, until i find a permanent place for them in the garden. Hopefully, these plants will grow big despite being left in their cell packs.

I also did a bunch of seed sowing. I sowed all of the Zesty Salad Mesclun Mix into a medium Daiso pot. I don’t think these grew well in the past and I just wanted to get rid of the seeds.

Sowing Spring Greens/Flowers

I planted the rest into cell packs:
– Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearls’
– Agrostemma ‘Milas’
– Bok Choy ‘Fun Jen’
– Bok Choy ‘Purple Choy’
– Kohlrabi ‘Early White Vienna’
– Bok Choy ‘Summer Boy’

Kiwi Leafing Out

A couple of the Kiwi plants have started to leaf out. I was worried that they died in the winter at their new location, but they seem to have pulled through. They was a couple dead/dried out branches which I trimmed. The rest of the blue bin where they were was empty, so I decided to plant a row of Super Sugar Snap Peas.

Sowing Sugar Snap Peas

Afterwards, I did a major trim of the European Plum tree in back of our storage. There were tons of dead limbs and limbs that sagged down. I tried to clear the bottom so we had walking space and just get rid of too much of the mass. I think it looks better now and hopoefully will grow better. Unfortunately, the Kirke Blue Plum that I grafted to it dried up.