I thought I would give you an update on the hardy figs. This is the 4th year that the hardy Violet fig has been in my garden and it does great! It is always late coming up and doesn’t really come out of the ground until very late in May or early in June. Now it is jammin’!
And for those of you who read my post 2 or 3 times back, when I showed you a picture of the same fig growing in a pot on my back porch, and remember that it looked like sticks in a pot with just the inklings of new leaves sprouting….well, as a recap, the reason it dropped all it’s leaves to begin with is because I brought it outdoors in mid-April from night time temps of 65 degrees to having to endure a snow storm the 2nd night it was on the porch. That really wasn’t very kind of me and I should have waited a week or two longer to bring it outdoors from such warm indoor temperatures, but it is hardy and I knew it would be fine.
So, after the snow event, the plant dropped every single leaf it had and looked miserable for quite a while. Then, about 2 weeks ago it began re-leafing out and now look at it! It is gorgeous and getting more leaves and new growth every day.
You can also see that it is beginning to get baby figs! Soon I’ll be picking fresh figs to snack on. I love them so much!!
Because we have had such a nice spring and early summer so far, the gardens and the flower field, the orchards, and everything look great! We have had nice moisture and until recently the temperatures were mild. The past two weeks it has begun to get hot, but it is July after all, so that is to be expected. The flower seed crop field looks amazing.
Everything is blooming like crazy and we are starting to harvest seed now too. This morning, Chris and I harvested the rest of the Shangri-la Sage seed crop and started harvesting some of the Gaillardia. The Turkish Sage (Salvia dagastanica), which is the low purple flower you see in this picture, is starting to have some seed ready to pick, and on it goes. Every day there is more seed to be picked than the day before and that will continue until late November when we will finish up the last of the seed harvesting. We are only just getting started at this point.
Speaking of harvesting, I’m also picking from the food gardens now. I dehydrated a giant sack-full of cherry tomatoes and several purple beauty bell peppers. I put herbs and garlic on the tomatoes before I dried them and now they are delicious and ready to be eaten as hiking snacks, put on flat bread pizzas, into sauces or tossed into pasta. Yum!!
This is the first year I really got a harvest of tart cherries. There were about 4 giant cups of cherries, so they are now pitted and frozen until this winter when I will bake them into pie. This is the first year that the tree was really old enough to produce, so going forward I will expect to pick a lot more from this wonderful cherry tree.
I cut the scapes off my garlic and we will cook them in butter and put them over top of noodles, maybe with some summer squash too or a bit of fresh rosemary. It was also time to begin harvesting the red lake currants, which I love so much. This is a huge mixing bowl filled with currants and there are probably 2 more bowls worth that are not quite ripe that I will harvest later this week. These will go into the freezer to bake into fairy bread and some will be eaten fresh in our daily breakfast of yogurt, fruit and nuts (with a sprinkling of chocolate chips of course to make it gourmet).
The harvest season is in full swing now and I’m a very happy woman.
I’m also quite happy because this past week brought my first weekly mountain hike of the summer. We hiked the Megan Lake trail, which is one of our favorites.
The water in the creek is roaring and very high due to the huge winter snow pack. In fact, there was still some snow along the trail as we got up higher in elevation, but it wasn’t enough snow to prevent us from getting up to the lake. We did have to take off our hiking boots and socks and wade the creek because the log crossings were under water.
Once we got to the lake, Shrek had to do a thorough check to see if the trout were awake yet. He does love communing with the trout! I’m not sure they are very interested in him though.
On July 4th, I found myself all alone, and in peace and quiet, working in my garden. Shrek, Chris and some guy friends (Jay and Mike) went hiking. I trimmed some whiley grape vines, picked the currants and strawberries, planted the butterfly garden near the front porch, and enjoy doodling around in the White Rabbit Garden. The day was delightful and I even got a half hour nap (that’s pretty much un-heard of for me).
The gardens are very beautiful right now. This is a nearly wild rose, but which I call Professor’s rose. We used to have a huge Maine-coon cat named Professor Longhair. Sadly, Professor has been passed for several years, but when he was alive he loved to be in the garden with me and this rose was his favorite place to hang out. He even enjoyed eating the roses! I think he was a little bit of a flower kitty child at heart.
The hollyhocks are gigantic this year from the spring and early summer moisture and are easily 6-8 foot tall. I have about every color and they are just so beautiful around our little casita home. The Belen hen greets people at the entrance of the White Rabbit Garden standing between a yellow and white hollyhock with dark and pale pink hollyhocks in the distance near the porch railing.
From the Belen Hen and all of us here…hope you are enjoying your summer!
