The Lithops that I grew from seeds are getting bigger and I potted them up into a larger pot with some stones mulch. I’m not sure if I like the stones or should change it to white.
Here is how they looked before repotting:
I also repotted some succulent leaves that have grown into baby plants and a Echeveria from the care home that a friend worked at in San Jose.
I got a tip from one of John Kohler’s video from growingyourgreens.com that Home Depot was having a half price plant sale… so after work, I took my Mom there… She also wanted to buy a trash can to make into a rain barrel. We got a 44 gallon heavy duty trash can and some PVC fittings for the Square Foot Garden. I also got a few plants for half price:
– 4-pack Black Beauty Zucchini (with 6 plants)
– two 4-pack Sugar Ann Snap Peas
– 2 inch Yellow Straightneck Squash (2 plants)
I’ll divide the Zucchini and Yellow Squash and plant them into larger pots, then give them away to friends and family, keeping about 2 for myself.
I did a bit of gardening today, since the weather’s finally cleared up. It’s been raining for the past few days and parts of the garden are slightly flooded, but most of the garden got a good dose of water, which is good. I placed out a bunch of empty buckets and plastic storage boxes and collected as much water as I can get. Our rain barrel was filled to capacity and my Mom placed an empty trash can under the rain spout in back for the garage, but we found out today that it had a hole at the bottom. :(
Our Red Giant Mustard are still growing, but they probably just have about 2 more harvests left before bolting… so I want to keep the Mustard as well as some Kale and Mizuna coming. I planted 4 squares (4 plants each) in the Square Foot Garden today:
– Mustard ‘Florida Broadleaf’
– Mizuna (Red Leafed)
– Kale ‘Rainbow’
– Mustard ‘Red Crimson’
I then went around the garden and picked a bunch of greens!!!… Mostly from the front yard, but also got some Kale from the back. The greens include: Collards, Curly Leaf Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Kale, Red Russian Kale, Redbor (G2) Kale, Kailaan, Broccoli Raab, Bright Lights Swiss Chard and Beet greens.
Click the photo above to see the annotations on Flickr.
I chopped then up and sautéed them with Onions, Garlic and olive Oil with a touch of Chicken Stock, Salt and Pepper… and they turned out so good!
The Mushroom Kit (that my Nephews and Niece gave me for Christmas) was not growing, so I was about to remove it from the kitchen counter and put it outside in the patio. I placed it near the patio door to remind me to take it outside… then a few days later, I noticed that suddenly there was growth… Now it’s back to the kitchen counter…
I never posted photos of the Apple & Pear Sauce which I made back in September 2011… So here they are.
I harvested a bunch of Apples and Pears from our garden. We have a bunch of trees, so I just take a couple here and a couple there for a mixture of different Apples, Pears and Asian Pears.
Just dump them into the sink and wash them in a pool of water.
Skin them… You can leave the skins on, but I like the Apple and Pear sauce without the skins. Chop them up into pieces.
Place the sliced Apples and Pears into a big pot with about a teaspoon of cinnamon and some sugar. I usually put about a quarter to a third of the amount that the recipe calls for because my Mom doesn’t like it too sweet. You can also add a little bit of lemon or use honey instead of sugar… You can find various recipes online.
Set the stove between medium and high until the Apples and Pears soften and releases its liquid (I don’t even add water). Once it starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low… then just continue to mix, mash and cook it down until it’s a consistency that you like. I like a little bit of fruit chunks, so I don’t cook it too long. It will get darker as you cook it more.
Once done, I place them in prepared canning bottles and boil the bottles according to the canning instructions. Once cooled, these should last for a while.
We have ours stored in the pantry and sometimes when I feel like making a simple and quick pastry, I’ll open a bottle and fill biscuit dough (from those refrigerated tubes) with about a teaspoon of sauce. Fold the edge together to enclose the filling and crimp the edges.
Then roll the dough in cinnamon sugar and bake. Eat while warm because once they cool down, the pastry may get soggy.
At one side on our house, we have a bunch of succulents that are under corrugated plastic panels to protect them from rain.
The only problem is that the plastic panels is opaque green and creates a shade over the succulents. My Mom suggested we get clear corrugated plastic panels to allow more light to come in… We didn’t have a vehicle to carry the panels from the store to our house, so we haven’t been able to replace the panels… until this morning when I asked my niece if she could drive us to the local home improvement store. They fit perfectly inside the van and I finally was able to replace the green ones.
Now the succulents will have more light and hopefully will grow better.
I saw this tree with reddish leaves on a tree at our church’s parking lot (Northern San Francisco Bay Area/zone 9b).
Anyone know what this tree is?
I also have another photo here.
I saw some seeds and collected some.
[Update] It’s Purple-leafed Hop-bush – Dodonaea viscosa ‘Purpurea’ (Family: Sapindaceae)
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.