Monday, August 04, 2008

Close up of sunflower, cilantro and raspberries


These are cilantro seeds, Coriander. I'll save some for planting and some for grinding up for spices.

These raspberries sure take a long time to ripen. I can't wait to pick them. At least I don't have to worry about Japanese Beetles in the west or at least I have never come across any here. When I was a kid I would eat raspberries off the my neighbors bushes. Once I was eating them so fast I "crunched!" into one. I spit it out quickly to find a Japanese Beetle. GROSS!!!

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Flowers


Leek flowers

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Freakish tomatoes

The sunflowers leaves are being chewed on, but I'm sure the seeds are developing nicely anyway.

This is a flower from a leek. The variety is Prizetaker. If you look at the bigger image you can see a little bee on the purple flowers.


I harvested many tomatoes today. I thought I would start you off with the normal looking ones and then get to the freaks. This is Brandywine O.T.V. (Off the Vine) with a potato leaf. It is the only red variety I planted this year.


Brandywine from Croatia. They are pink with a regular leaf. It is a rare variety, only available from Santa Clara Master Gardeners. I hope to save seeds from it, so I can grow from my own seeds.


Anna Russian. By far, the most productive of my tomatoes so far this year.


Now some of the freaks. This is Ed's Millennium. I picked one normal looking tomato and a crazy looking monster tomato. I have more pictures below.


It doesn't look so scary on the plant.


On the food scale it weighs 1 pound, 8.5 ounces. That's a big tomato!!!


Freak!

One of the Anna Russian's is looking a little bit like an alien too. I'm sure they will taste great.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Plums & Dog Photos


Another photo of the La Salle sunflower.


I have a young Improved French prune/plum tree. This year 4 plums grew. One fell off the tree a month ago and the birds got another. These are the remaining plums. I hope we can eat them this weekend. I might try to take the yeast off the skins and make a sourdough starter.


Yesterday, when I first gave the pups the orange ball, Carbon got it first. That didn't last long...


Button got the ball and jumped on top of the dog house, the only place Carbon can't get her. He barks a lot and tries to jump up, but he just can't do it. To see the chase scenes, go to my overflow dog blog.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Purple silk & orange ball


This is a strawberry flower blooming off of a runner.

The corn didn't grow very tall, but but it looks like we should have a few ears. I've been hand pollinating the silks being they all seem to be maturing at different times.

This is my first hand-full of green beans. Variety is Blue Lake Pole. I ate them raw in a couple of minutes. mmmmm...

The dogs got a new toy today. It's an orange ball made by West Paw Design, the Huck. It's made from 10% post-industrial waste and the manufacturer will recycle it when the dogs are done with it. Plus, if the dogs destroy it, they will replace it for free. That's a challenge that Button likes. :) Tomorrow I'll post photos of the dogs playing with it.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The dirtiest dog... ever & some garden pictures

A lot of good it does to wash this little dog. She loves to roll around the backyard in the dirt. Then she comes into the house to shake off. Fun.


Developing raspberry. This variety is Caroline. I also planted another variety called Tulameen, but it got a slow start.


I planted a few Basil plants and Thyme that I started from seed.


Finally a honey bee sighting, but there was only one. I'll have to keep an eye on the oregano to see if more show up. More about bees soon...

Monday, July 28, 2008

2 Sunflowers



Here is my newest sunflower. Variety is La Salle. It has a small seed shell compared to some of the larger sunflowers I grow, but the seed inside is just as big.