Author Archives: joelignacio

Late Night Salad Planting

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Today’s harvest was a variety of Lettuce and Parsley for a Lettuce/Parsley Salad.

Today's harvest: Various Lettuce and Parsley for a Lettuce/Parsley Salad.

This inspired me to sow various Salad Greens seeds that I want to use up since they are old or getting old (and I can’t just throw them away).

I planted:
– Mustard ‘Crimson Red’ (2012)
– Celtuce (2013)
– Garland Chrysanthemum ‘Maiko’ (?)
– Lettuce ‘Grand Rapids’ (2010)
– Lettuce ‘Simpson Elite’ (2006)
– Lettuce ‘Marvel of Four Season’ (2010)
– Lettuce ‘Mighty Red Oak’ (2006)
– Lettuce ‘Romaine Paris Island Cos’ (2004)
– Corn Salad ‘Bistro’ (2007)

Salad Green seeds planted.

I really not counting on a lot to germinate, but if I get a few plants out of these, that’ll be good.

Sunday Gardening

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It was very overcast today and cooler, such a big different than the close to 100°F temperatures we have been having the past 3-4 days.

I started working in the garden late and started by digging up the Purple Potatoes that really didn’t grow much. I only harvested a few small tubers, but found the biggest spider that I have ever seen in our garden.

This has to be the largest Spider I've ever found in our garden. Anyone know what kind it is?

I then potted up some of the starts from the cell-based that I just purchased, since I won’t be planting them out in the garden soon. That way they get a head start on growing. These included:
– Collards (leftover from an earlier planting)
– Flowering Cabbage ‘Red’
– Onions ‘Walla Walla Sweet’

I also removed the dying Zinnias from the front garden.

I planted more Salad Green pots including:
– Lettuce ‘Buttercrunch’
– Lettuce ‘Locco Rosso’

I also potted some succulent cuttings that were rooting:
– Kalanchoe hildebrandtii (3 rooting leaves)
– Aeonium ‘Cubic Frost’

Garden Transformation

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This morning, I woke up early (for a Saturday). I was looking forward to going to the nursery to see if they had any Cabbage and Lettuce plants.

I first went to Walmart and checked the garden center and found a couple of succulents that I liked. One was a Rock Purslane (Calandrinia spectabilis) that I’ve been looking for for a while now. Who knew that out of all places, Walmart would have it. The second was Pachysedum ‘Ganzhou’ which had a cool color. I’ve been checked the vegetable section and found a 9-pack of Bonnie’s Best Cabbage and Buttercrunch Lettuce.

My name is Joel... and I'm a plant addict.

I then drove to Mid City Nursery to see what they had. I ended up with a few plants including:
– Onions ‘Walla Walla Sweet’
– Cilantro ‘Slo Bolt’
– Flowering Cabbage ‘Red’
– Shasta Daisy ‘Goldfinch’

The owner came up to me and ask if I needed any help. So I asked him why my Kumquat plant has dying branches. He asked if I had it in the ground or in a pot I replied in a pot and he said maybe its not getting enough water. So I’m hoping that his explanation was correct and that my Kumquat doesn’t have a disease.

When I got home, I decided to pull out the Zucchini plants because they were not doing well and it didn’t look like they would produce any more fruits. In its place, I planted Portuguese Kale. I also pulled what pot of Swiss Chard that were also not doing well. I added new compost and planted 6 Buttercrunch Lettuce plants.

I also pulled all my Tomatoes in the Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System #2.

I think the Tomatoes are done for the year... so I'll be pulling them out and planting Cabbage in its place. The green in the photo is Parsley which are starting to bolt.

I planted the new Cabbage into each pot.

I'm going try to grow Cabbage this year. Wish me luck because I have never had good luck with Cabbage.

In the Square Foot Garden, I planted 2 squares of the Walla Walla Sweet Onions.

Growing Citrus with Less Water Talk

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I attended a talk hosted by Annie’s Annuals about growing Citrus trees with less water. The speaker talked about a lot of topics related to Citrus. He mentioned that California has historically been a dry area and the recent years (I can’t remember how much exactly, maybe hundreds) has been wetter than normal, which we have been getting used to. So now with the drought in California, it’s pretty much just getting back to normal. He showed some drip systems and highly suggested using mulch. Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch! He also uses straw like I do, so I felt like I’m doing it right. He also mentioned that Citrus grow very well in containers and suggested using Coir Mulch as 1/3 or the soil you use. This will really help retain water.

I attended a very informative 'Growing Citrus with Less Water' talk at Annie's Annuals & Perennials... then went plant shopping!!!

After the talk, I went around the nursery and went plant shopping. I got a couple of plants.

My new plants from Annie's Annuals & Perennials. (top to bottom, left to right) Kale 'Richmond' Pride' (Purple Tree Collard), Sunburst Aeonium, Dandelion 'Red Rib', Red Russian Kale, Blue Vein Sweet Pea, Oscularia caulescens, Cat's Tail Aloe and Goji Berr

The good thing is that I didn’t have to spend any cash, because I was about to use a gift certificate that they gave me when they used one of my photos.

Lacto-Fermented Green Beans

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About a week ago, my Aunts and Uncle gave us a bunch of homegrown Green Beans that they just harvested. Since only two of us in our household can eat beans, I wondered if I can pickle some. I haven’t seen Lacto-Fermented Beans sold in any store, so I didn’t know if Beans made good Pickles. This is how I made it…

My Aunts and Uncle grew these Green Beans and gave us some... so I gave them some Kimchikraut.

I washed the Green Beans and cut the top tips off. I blanched them in boiling water for only 2 minutes, then immediately drained the hot water and placed the Beans in a cold water bath to stop the cooking process.

While the beans cooled off, I made a brine by dissolving 2 tablespoons Sea Salt into 1 quart Water (bottled or filtered)… and set this aside.

To the bottom of a quart mason jar, I added the following:
– 1 or 2 Bay Leaves (or you can use a Grape leaf) These help keep the pickled vegetable stay crisp.
– 1/2 teaspoon Peppercorns
– 1/8 teaspoon Caraway
– 1/8 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
– 3 cloves of Garlic cut into halves

You can use whatever herbs and spices you like. Dill would be perfect, but we didn’t have any (my Dill plants are still small). Chili Flakes, Mustard Seeds and Coriander would be good too.

I stuffed as many Green Beans that will fit into the jar and then a few more. You want them crammed in the jar so they don’t float up once the brine is poured in.

I have glass weights (Crock Rocks) made specially for pickling that goes over the vegetable to keep them submerged in the brine. If you don’t have these, you can use a shot glass, or a small 4oz canning jar, or a cabbage leaf… anything to keep the vegetable submerged in the brine.

Pour in the brine until it’s about an inch from the top of the jar. I then sealed the quart mason jar with a pickling lid (Kraut Kaps) and set it aside to ferment at room temperature for 5 to 10 days.

Making lacto-fermented Green Beans and Lunar White Carrots.

After about 8 days, I tried the Lacto-Fermented Green Beans and they were perfect… and sooooo good!

These Lacto-Fermented Green Beans

Store the Pickles in the refrigerator.

Mail Order Eggplants + 5 Gallon Self Watering Buckets

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I wasn’t going to grow Eggplants this year, because I don’t grow them well… but I heard of some varieties that will grow in containers. I don’t see these locally, so I mail ordered three Mix and Match Eggplants from Burpee.

Three Eggplants from Burpee

They arrived yesterday and when I opened the package, the tags from two of the Eggplants were dislodged including some of the soil. Now I’m not sure which of the two varieties is ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Rosa Blanca’. The Eggplant ‘Fairy Tale Hybrid’ was intact.

Which is Which?

I went ahead and built three 5 gallon self watering buckets and planted one Eggplant in each.

Eggplants in 5 Gallon SW Buckets

I will place them in our front yard which gets full sun. I hope they do well.

Frustrated with Junk!

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I have to rant, because I am really frustrated.

Some background: we have so much stuff in our house, because my brother buys so much stuff… and things just get dumped in the living room, in back of the big screen TV, in the garage, in the family room, in the patio, everywhere!!! It’s like a junk yard. His room is so full that he sleeps on the living room sofa!

I want to try to clean our backyard patio because it’s getting harder for my Mom to get around and it’s just a mess. One of the things that takes so much room in our patio is an old lawn mower. I takes about 3-4 by 5-6 feet area and it’s a irregular shape, so things get dumped on it and falls down and it’s just a mess. I want to get rid of the lawn mower, because I don’t use it… and when my brother mows the lawn, which he rarely does, it take like half a day to get the damn thing to get started and it just stinks of gas fumes and exhaust.

I want to get a small reel mower, the kind that you push manually. Our lawn is small so it’s just too much trouble for a gas mower. A reel mower will occupy a much smaller space that we can use for something else… and it can be stored upright. Plus, you can use it right away, because you don’t have to add gas or try to get it started because it wont start up.

So my plan was to get rid of the gas lawn mower and replace it with a smaller reel mower. My cousin even said that they are having a big garbage collection day coming up so he can take the gas mower off our hands.

My Mom was even ok with getting rid of the mower, because she says it doesn’t even work…

But when she confirmed with my brother that it didn’t work… My brother say that he think he can get it to work… meaning HE WANTS TO KEEP IT!!!…

Oh my gosh!… this is so frustrating. It’s so hard to get freakin’ crap out of this house!!! For example… We have a microwave oven that doesn’t work well. We already replaced it with a new one and the “broken” one has been sitting in the patio for several years. One day, I wanted to bring a bunch of dead electronics to the e-waste disposal. My brother wouldn’t let me take the old microwave oven… He told me to leave it here, so being frustrated, I left it there near the front door. If he wants to keep it, he can deal with it… It’s still in the front patio to this day!

So that’s my rant… I’m just frustrated.

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