Tag Archives: apple

A Little Bit of Winter Gardening…

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I got a little bit of gardening done this weekend. I went through the cell packs I planted in the late fall and got rid of the pots which failed to grow seedlings. I found some Mushrooms in some.

Mushroom Mushroom Mushroom...

There were Celtuce that surprisingly survived, so I planted those into a large Daiso pot.

Transplanted Celtuce

I also pulled a lot of weeds near Veggie Beds 1 and 2 and pick off damaged and dead leaves from plants.

Litchi Tomato Flower Buds

As I was weeding I noticed that there was another volunteer Litchi Tomatoes, making the total to three plants now. They are also starting to form flower buds. These are sure strong plants… or maybe they like cooler weather. I’ll have to pot these up into a large container and give Litchi Tomatoes another try.

Calendulas

Around the beds, volunteer Calendulas and Daffodils are blooming.

Daffodils

Spring Starflower

I even caught the first Spring Starflower to bloom, which means there are about 100 more to come.

Fruit Flower Buds

Also starting to bloom are some fruit trees, including the two unknown Asian Plums, the grafted Inca Plum and surprisingly a very very early grafted Anna Apple. I’ll have to start grafting Plums next weekend.

I wish I had more time to garden.

Homemade Apple & Pear Sauce + Cinnamon Apple & Pear Filled Pastry…

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I never posted photos of the Apple & Pear Sauce which I made back in September 2011… So here they are.

Unknown Apple Variety

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.

Various Apple & Pear Harvested

Just dump them into the sink and wash them in a pool of water.

Washing Apples & Pears

Skin them… You can leave the skins on, but I like the Apple and Pear sauce without the skins. Chop them up into pieces.

Apples & Pears Skinned and Chopped Up

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.

Ready to Make Apple & Pear Sauce

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.

Reduced Apple & Pear Sauce

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.

Bottled Apple & Pear Sauce

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.

Filling Dough with Apple & Pear Sauce

Then roll the dough in cinnamon sugar and bake. Eat while warm because once they cool down, the pastry may get soggy.

Cinnamon Sugar Apple & Pear Sauce Filled Pastry

So Many Fruits…

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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.

Continue reading →

Unknown Apple

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Unknown Apple by joeysplanting

We have this Apple growing in our yard, but we lost the plant tag a long time ago. It has a really good taste that is sweet and a little tangy. When you slice it open, there are portions of the flesh that are semi-translucent–like it’s been frozen–but it hasn’t. I haven’t seen this in any other Apples. My Mom says that the fruits are always like this and it reminds her of a Pineapple.

Anyone know what kind of Apple this is?

Apples, Pears and Asian Pears…

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Apple and Pear Crisp

I harvest various Apples, Pears and Asian Pears from our garden to make an Apple and Pear Crisp.

Harvested Apples, Pears and Asian Pears

I harvested the two Asian Pear ‘Hosui’ Folia fruits because they were starting to soften. I think I should have harvested them a few weeks ago when they were more firm.

Asian Pear 'Hosui' vs Other Asian Pear

The Asian Pear ‘Hosui’ fruits are more brown and spotted than our existing Asian Pear (unknown variety) Folia that they are grafted onto.

One of our Apple variety has splotches of semi-translucent areas inside the fruit. It looks mushy, but isn’t. My Mom says that this is normal and it tastes a little like Pineapple.

Unknown Apple Variety

I didn’t remember to take a photo of the unpeeled Apple. I’ll have to check the tree and take a photo.

Anyone happen to know this Apple variety?

Grafting 2011 Batch 3…

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Our Peach is just starting to bloom and the Apples look like they will break dormancy soon, so I grafted the last batch of Peaches/Nectarines, Apples and a Persimmon.

Persimmon 'Chocolate' Graft

– Nectarine ‘Silver Lode’
– Peach ‘White Hale’
– Nectarine ‘White Rose’
– Peach ‘Lola Queen’
– Apple ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’
– Apple ‘Pink Pearl’
– Apple ‘Pink Parfait’
– Apple ‘Lady Williams’
– Apple ‘Pippin’
– Apple ‘Belle de Boskoop’
– Apple ‘Royal Gala’
– Persimmon ‘Chocolate’

Found Pineapple Seeds + More Grafting…

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12:27am The Winged Bean that I soaked wasn’t doing anything, so I took an xacto knife and carefully removed the bean’s coating… #

2:45pm It was so fascinating seeing Cocoa fruits in a Kashi commercial. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before. Had to rewind it several times… #

2:46pm Found about a dozen Pineapple seeds in a Pineapple… Guess what imma do with them?… #

4:28pm Grafting European Pears, Asian Pears, Persimmons and Apples… #

Massive Seed Sowing Sunday…

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This weekend, we had beautiful summer-like weather with highs reaching 78°F (normal average is 63°F). Looks like we are going to have an early spring (which is what I think Mr. Groundhog told us). I remember last year, I couldn’t plant outside until May because he had rain everyday in April.

Sowing Seed

It’s funny seeing myself plant seeds… Does anyone else sit down cross-legged with slippers and short on and work on the ground like that? I think I need a potting table…

I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and start planting seeds… and I did some massive seed sowing:

– Lemon Cucumber
– Cosmos ‘Picotee’
– Cosmos ‘Sensation Mixed Colors’
– Orange Cosmos from treebreeze (Thank you for these! :)
– Sunflower ‘Summer Sun’ (Ox-Eye) (Heliopsis Scabra)
– Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearl’
– Strawflower (Helichrysum) Tall Double Mixed Colors
– Nasturtium ‘Jewel Mixed Colors’
– Zinnia ‘Envy’
– Zinnia ‘Candy Cane Mix’
– Zinnia ‘Dahlia Flowered Mixed Colors’
– Zinnia ‘Giant Cactus Mixed Colors’
– Zinnia ‘Thumbelina’
– Lamb’s Ears (I think they are Lamb’s Ears) seeds that I collect from San Anselmo

Spider Fancy Spider House?
Spiders, Spiders, Spiders: As I was filling the 6-pack cell pots with soil, I found a Spider living in between them. I released it so it can find a new home. My Mom then noticed a Spider that had made a home in our of our decorative bird house. Then when I was sowing the seeds, I notice hundreds of tiny baby spiders around the 6-packs, so I tried to disperse them around the garden to make new homes.

Peanuts: I also took the Peanut outdoors and repotted it (again) into a larger container (its permanent home) filled with potting soil and a lot of perlite to make the soil really loose.

Garden progress:

Recent blooms: Spring Starflower, Rananculus

Spring Starflower Ranunculus

About to bloom: the very first Columbine, Pears, Apples, Clematis, Wisteria

Emerging growth: Forsythia leaves, Taro