little winter garden starting small....

   The little winter garden is starting small. I have some leftover onions and carrots from the Fall, and new plantings of red cabbage, chard, lettuce, and collard greens. I have high hopes for some good salads.

backyard garden

sweet potatoes

I finally got around to digging the sweet potatoes. This year was the first year I planted sweet potatoes; I started with a little plant from a neighbor. I tried this plant off in a corner of the yard and tended it with benign neglect. Only grew one sweet potato from the plant, and it's delicious.

sweet potato - Ipomoea batatas - just dug

sweet potato - cooked and mashed

Satsuma mandarins

The satsuma mandarins have been good - not super sweet but still very good. There have been aphids on the new leaves, but the tree has still borne fruit. This spring I'll try more ladybugs.

satsuma mandarin

sanditas are still producing

Last season I planted a sandita vine (Melothria scabra) as an experiment to see how this little fruit tastes. The word "sandita" means "little watermelon" in Spanish, and the plant has been grown in Mexico since before the arrival of the Spaniards. The vine seems very hardy; the taste of the fruit is much like a cucumber.

Melothria scabra

worm in the compost

I took this video with a simple compound light microscope at 400x magnification. The first few seconds of the video are probably the most fascinating, but I found the rest interesting too. It's much better to watch in "full screen mode." Hit the little rectangle in the lower right of the video.  Hit "esc" to get back to regular mode. If anyone can reliably identify the species of nematode, let me know.

pineapple guavas make great quickbread!

The little pineapple guava bush has been producing well. Very low maintenance. We've been having delicious pineapple guava quickbread. Yum!

pineapple guavas and an orange from the yard

squash from the back yard

The squash vines take up more space than I expected, but the squash are well worth the effort.

cooked squash

caught in the act!

The figeater beatle, Cotinis mutabilis, is said to eat figs. When I see these huge members of the scarab beetle family, they are usually buzzing around the yard in their slow, lumbering way. Today, though, I caught one in the act of eating a dried fig. Though these beetles are destructive, I find their green iridescent green exoskeletons quite beautiful.

figeater beetle - Cotinis mutabilis

hornworms are back!

    A week or so ago, I saw the first hawk moth of the year flying in the garden. Hawk moths are large, beautiful flying insects with a lush furry appearance. Unfortunately, though, they portend the arrival of hornworms, the larval form of these critters. This morning I saw the first manduca sexta larva on the underside of a tomato leaf. The little bugger had already eaten a chunk of the leaf. I searched around the plants and found four more of these on the underside of the leaves.

    Note the tiny black "horn" on the posterior end, thus giving the name "hornworm" to these insects.

Manduca sexta larval form on tomato leaf

Manduca sexta on fingertip

Persian squash

   Today we ate the first of the Persian squash. I planted the seedling early this summer in the raised bed. Today the first squash was ready. It was delicious with a simple delicate flavor.
   It's been interesting to learn about squashes. The species Cucurbita pepo includes such varieties as acorn squash, spaghetti squash, yellow crookneck squash, and zucchini. Many squashes seem to be called different names in different areas.  I've seen the same fruit called "Mexican gray squash" or "calabacita" in local stores.

"Persian zucchini"

the corn is sprouting!

I planted corn on June 13 (7 days ago), and today the first of the seedlings are poking up through the soil. The tallest is about 10mm high.

corn seedling 7 days after planting

Mexican sour gherkin

Just for fun, I'm trying a very different little fruit this year. I planted a tiny vine from the local nursery, and it seems to be growing well. This is called "sandita" in Mexico, or "Mexican sour gherkin" here is the US. The Linnaean name is Melothria scabra. These little fruits are supposed to grow to about the size of grapes. It's in the same family, Cucurbitaceae, as cucumbers and melons, and it's interesting to see how the climbing tendrils look very similar to those of other cucurbits.

Mexican sour gherkin - Sandita - Melothria scabra

Mexican sour gherkin - Sandita - Melothria scabra

watermelons getting bigger

The watermelon vine is spreading widely across the yard. The biggest melon is now about 10cm and has a nice dark green color. It's interesting to consider that the root system underground is probably spreading as widely.

watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)

chard salad

Since the chard has been producing so well, I've been pondering various recipes. Chard sauté was fine, baked chard chips with olive oil and salt were good (but this was mostly a vehicle for yummy oil and salt), but the favorite was simply steaming the chard. Using a simple bamboo steamer, and for only a few minutes, the chard loses its bitterness. A neighbor taught me about adding a little lemon juice for extra flavor. Add some red pepper and tofu and you've got an amazing dinner.

chard in steamer

steaming chard

chard tofu salad with red peppers

first green tomatoes

Lately I've been reading more about local varieties of vegetables and how important it is to select the varieties that are known to do well in your area. I now have five different varieties of tomato plants growing, and interestingly, one variety already has fruit while the others are still only flowering. I have much to learn, and have started taking better notes in a gardening notebook. For example, one variety of tomato plant is already about 2 meters tall, but has very few flowers. Another variety is about a meter tall and already has green fruit. It will be interesting to see which eventually produces more, which takes up the most space, which tastes better, etc.

tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

baby watermelons

This is my first year to try growing watermelon. So far it's going well, though the little melons are only about 1/2 inch long now.

tiny watermelons (Citrullus lanatus)

roots of Swiss chard

I just finished reading Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon - great book. Among a wealth of other interesting facts, the author pointed out that Swiss chard and beets are different varieties of the same species. To understand this a little better, I pulled up one of the chard plants to look at the roots. Sure enough, those are beets down there. I tried eating one of the roots. It was sweet, but very tough.

root of Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris)

root of Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris)

drying Greek oregano

I pulled up the oregano to make room for more tomatoes and cucumbers. It smells great. One plant should be enough to supply us and neighbors for over a year.

Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare hirtum)

Wow, still more chard!

The chard just keeps giving and giving. It's been several weeks now, and the chard has been super prolific. It's good to remember what produces well, so chard definitely goes on my list for planting next year.

Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris)

chard from the yard

We had a great lunch today of rainbow chard and neon chard. I have never grown neon chard before, but a nice neighbor gave me some of her extra seedlings. It's such a joy to chat about gardening and to share advice and plants. The chard has been producing so well that I've given bunches to other neighbors.