Labor Day

Who takes Labor Day off?  There's work to be done.

Garlic Chives

The garlic chives are in bloom.  Really they are.  Rather than chop the heads off the flowers, I'm letting them go to seed.  This will give me plenty of chives through the winter for baked potatoes and such.  Letting the chives go to seed attracts loads of pollinators.

Butterflies and honey bees love this stuff.  I can only imagine what the honey must taste like.  I wouldn't mind a garlic chive honey to baste over a barbecued ham.  BBQ ham?  Baked potatoes?  I must be hungry.  Hope I can remember how to cook.

Kitchen Update:

Cody's backside poses for the photo while his frontside continues to work.

The soapstone is in and the travertine floor is being grouted today.  Loads left to do:  mahogany butcher block counter top, electric plates, glass and lights for the hutch, cabinet hardware, trim molding,  appliances, plumbing, and counter stools.  But we're moving in the right direction.  I didn't think it would ever be possible but Farmer MacGregor is tired of painting. 

Spring is Popping

A few edibles have bolted.  The mustard and broccoli are certainly attracting the bees in the neighborhood.  Those items will remain in place because all the bees in the San Joaquin Valley are welcome in this garden. They will get pulled as the weather warms and the beds are prepared to be solarized.

Mustard planted to repel Root Knot Nematodes.

After the sweet rain/snow earlier this week, the warm sun is encouraging most everything in the garden to pop.  The first to break bud was the Santa Rosa plum.  It's always first and this year it looks like there will be 5 million plums. The deciduous trees were selected for reliability to grow successfully in this area (Bakersfield, California - zone 8-9).  The next characteristic to help narrow the choices was taste.  Very important.  Then, the time of ripeness.  This timing helps to keep fresh fruit from June to October.

Blenheim Apricot

The second tree to welcome spring is the Blenheim apricot.  Even though a lateral limb of this espalier had to be shortened to remove a damaged portion, it looks like 2013 will be another banner year for this fruit.

Lilac (variety unknown) looks ready to explode very soon.

The edible garden does have a few non-edibles (as far as I know) that help to lure pollinators to come on in and enjoy themselves.  More blooms expected all the way through to fall.

You Think Your Legs Are Hairy!

Helen B knows her bees!  This IS a Valley Carpenter Bee.

Xylocopa Varipuncta (male)

They are the largest bees found in California and are about 1" long when they are full grown.  The males are yellow and fuzzy.   They are commonly found in unpainted hardwood and telephone poles where they tunnel in and build nests. Those tunnels can be up to 10" long. That's where the adults spend the winter.  The gals look much different. 

They are shiny and completely black.  They mean business too.  Unlike the males, the females have stingers; but they aren't supposed to sting unless you deserve it.  You've probably seen loads of these gals when the wisteria is in bloom. 



Robin Waayers' Flickr photo (cool image!)

These are good guys; so leave them alone and encourage them to hang around to help pollinate your garden.  They can't fit into tube-like flowers and steal the nectar by cutting right through to get what they want.  Keeping bigger flowers around for them might reduce that nasty action.  Wisteria seems to be a favorite; but I've seen them enjoying lavender too.  Maybe they will help with all the berries currently blooming.

If you're in the San Joaquin Valley, let me know if you've seen many buzzing around this spring.

Thanks, Helen B, for telling me about the bees.




Perserverance

Over the past few days, the weather has been marvelously abnormal.  Wind, rain, hail, snow.  Delightful.  It's still sweet pea season around here; so regular harvesting of the blossoms is necessary to try to encourage more blossoms to develop.  I was out collecting a bouquet for a work associate's birthday and thought that one of the stems cut was too old.  It had yellowed from its vibrant purple.  I was just about ready to put it in my pocket for later disposal in the composter when I noticed that the yellow wasn't part of the flower.  It was a yellow bumble bee.  I don't think I've ever seen a yellow one before.  Typically, they are completely black around here.

Yeowee!  This guy was very alive and had been stunned by the quick drop in temperature I guess.  I gingerly placed the stem down amongst the vines.  The guy didn't move for about 3 days until the weather heated up and he moved on.  Glad I didn't heat him up in my pocket.

Thanks Pollinators

Wow.  Pollinators are bombarding the Texas Ranger early this morning.  Bees, butterflies, and bumblebees were getting busy.  The activity seemed to slow down as the sun got higher in the sky.The pollinators zoomed between the Texas Ranger, lantana, lavender, and pumpkin blossoms.  Texas Rangers grow great in zone 8-9.  Very low maintenance.  Very low water needs once established.  With the important work of pollinators in the garden I can enjoy harvests like the one I had this morning.Granny Smith apples for an apple cake needed to be harvested to remove a bit of weight from the lateral branches of the tree.  I’ll spend some time after this post searching for a recipe.A “dinky donk”, softball sized watermelon was cut up for taste sampling later this afternoon.  I’m guessing that it’s a Sugar Baby variety.  There are a few more forming.  I’ll keep the vines around for a few more weeks while the weather is screaming hot.  Maybe I’ll get a few more melons.  Winter crops (seeds) are waiting to be planted as soon as the melons get pulled.

I Love Global Warming!

Sweet peas continue to bloom in the garden.  Sure.  They’re starting to go to seed but there are still sweet peas blooming in the garden and it’s June 4th!  Once they have petered out, the green beans will be planted.  Shoot.  Green beans probably won’t be ready until Labor Day.

Typically I’m whining about the hellish heat by the time the calendar pages have been torn down to show June.  I’ve been in a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans all day long.  Right now I have some comfy slippers on keeping my cold feet a bit warmer.  What the heck?!  I love it.  Please hear my gratitude.  I hope it’s as loud or even louder than my whining.

Sure.  There are some around here complaining that it’s not hot yet.  I only smile at them and nod hoping not to trigger anything in their obvious mental unbalance.  Rather than me rant about the foolishness of “global warming” or “climate change” or whatever else it’s called now, the bees and I are deliriously happy with things the way they are now and will enjoy buzzing around the garden as long as this weather holds.  It’s good to be content.

Sunshine

The angle of the sun is moving from the south up to the north giving me more daylight in the garden.  Rather than hibernate after dinner, I can go out in the garden while dinner is cooking and get a bit more work done like a busy bee.

 

Raking the gravel out in the garden, pulling out the spent broccoli, or weeding the camellias are some exercises recently performed out in my garden gymnasium.  Farmer MacGregor joined in the calorie burning by mowing the lawn.  This weekend will be dedicated to more weeding and planting lettuce, carrots, and corn.  Heck, I might even consider a trip to the nursery to buy a flat or two of flowers for the front yard.

 

 

LILAC ALERT:

Bees Keep Doin’ It

 

Sowed some flower seeds today in anticipation of summer.

Dwarf Fairy Candytuft – Thrown outdoors in a flowerbed in the front yard.  More were sown to propagate indoors.  The hope is that the front flowerbeds will be lined with the pink, low growing flowers.  These hardy annuals should only grow to 6”.  The summer heat may bake them to a crisp; but they will rise again in the fall.

Nasturtium Jewel Mixed -  The plant is low growing and the flowers are bright, bright, bright – usually orange.  The flowers produce seeds that keep the brightness growing.  A few seeds were sown in a hanging basket while others were tucked in with the sunflowers.  This could be an irresistible cocktail for the honeybees.  Please note that I misspelled nasturtiums (nastursiums) in the index and do not know how to correct that.  If someone would like to direct me, the error will be repaired.

Teddy Bear Sunflower – These were sown in the cinder blocks that frame the raised beds where I hope to have a successful crop of corn this summer.  Maybe the bees will be attracted to the sunflowers.  This dwarf sunflower will grow between 3’ and 4’ tall.  The double flowers are a puffy 6”.

On Saturday, I received a free sample of some Gardner & Bloome All Purpose Fertilizer (4-4-4).  It was just a dinky bag; so I sprinkled it where the sunflowers and nasturtiums were sown and watered generously.  Something should sprout in about 10 days and that’s the last day where frost might be a concern here in Bakersfield, California. 

Looks like summer is on the way.

Sometimes Junk Just Works Out

I did not trim the blooms off the chives this week.  On Wednesday the thermometer reached 111; and the rest of the week was similar.  Pee Youie!  I stayed inside for most of the week.  This weekend, the weather is perfect.  PERFECT!  The butterflies and bees are flocking to the chives.  They are welcome.  I don’t know what kind are partying in the chives but here they are:

     There was a peculiar cloud formation this afternoon that was giving my camera fits.  It was very, very difficult to focus on this because it was all smudgy.  It looks like something bigger is forming in the middle.  What kind of formation is this?  Does this type of formation accompany perfect weather?

 

DBE gals:  You can click on the photos to view an enlarged image in a separate window.  Let me know if you need help.

Spelling Bee

I have a proofreading department here at Maybelline’s Garden.  This is a feature I enjoy free of the responsibility of paying wages, benefits, or even a bouquet of flowers.  My proofreaders belong to the Daughters of the British Empire, Sir Edward Elgar Chapter.  It seems there was a recent disturbance in the proofreaders department.  Lyn had noticed that luffa was misspelled.  She conferred with Marjory to double check her catch of my California public education spelling.  Yes.  They agreed that I had indeed made an error.  Today, Marjory notified me of the error.

I thought of this alert on and off until this evening.  Of course I questioned myself because I make plenty of spelling errors either from typing carelessly or believing that I had spelled the words correctly.  I looked at the seed packet.  I looked in my Sunset
Western Garden Book.  I looked online.  There it was.  Luffa is spelled 3 different ways:  luffa, loffah, lufah.  I’m probably spelling the American way (That’s the right way, by the way!). 

There is a problem within my proofreading department.  They spell some words cockeyed like colour, flavour, favour, spelt, catalogue, and others.  On top of that, Marjory spells her name 2 different ways and Lyn only uses 1 “n” in her name.  So from time to time we will have this issues arise.

I’m happy to have loyal readers and proofreaders watching out for me and keeping me on my Croc covered toes. Thanks to Lyn and Marjory in the proofreading department

Lemon Squash

Lemon Squash is moving right along now that the heat has been turned up.  The plant (leaves, stems, & flowers) looks just like zucchini.  It’s the fruit/vegetable that is different.  It really does look like a lemon.  It’s supposed to be about the size of a lemon as well.  Right now the tendrils are continuing to grow and reach for the support in order to climb on up.  More and more flowers open each morning with gobs of pollen for the garden insects to get drunk on.

Bees Do It

There’s more than just produce in the garden.  There’s a variety of flowers that attract the local bees.  It’s good to have them here to help with the pollination of the tomatoes, melons, squash…you get the point. 

Lobelia

Lantana (yellow)

Thyme

Sweet Peas

Lantana (purple)

Lavender

Nasturtium

Strawberries

Grapefruit

Lemon

Note:  The fancy French radishes (Jaune D’Or Ovale) planted on April 28 look like they have sprouted; but it was too dark this evening to take any photos.

The Winner Is…

The Santa Rosa Plum is the 1st fruit tree in the garden to pop.  It popped today.  The tree was planted on January 12, 2009 from bare root stock.  It bloomed on February 20, 2009.  We’re ahead of schedule this year!   It has been warm and sunny lately.  This may explain being a week ahead of last year.  I suspect bees will follow tomorrow since these opened in the late afternoon.  The pollen is almost fluorescent.  There are about 24 buds on the baby tree. These buds have a couple of flies on them and the biggest bud has a spot that looks like a burn.  All the fruit trees were sprayed with dormant oil this winter to help prevent infestation and disease.  The oil is suppose to be perfectly safe and recommended to use on these trees to eliminate borers.  I don’t know what these flies are up to; but I don’t like it.  I’ll keep an eye on this. The apricot looks like it will be the runner up.  Here’s the bud at the bothersome cut shown previously.  The sap is still formed but the bud has gotten a bit plumper.  Here it is last week (02/06/10).

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Years ago, my kids would pull these flowers (weeds) and make bouquets for the neighbors.  Our yard once had scads of them.  Now there are only a few that remain.  They bloom in the early Spring.  I like to keep some around to remind me of those cute kids.Oxalis luteol has clover shaped leaves.  The roots are tuberous.  The flowers have five petals and grow in bunches on long, slender stems.  How they get from growing in the ground to growing in a pot I just don’t know.  One thing – they’re easy to grow so they must be a weed.The bees were buzzing the other day, busy collecting pollen for honey.  The warm sun encouraged the blossoms to open and invited the bees in.  I wonder what the honey tastes like. Today, it rained again.  No bees.