[gardeners] Hello, again, friends!
Ron Hay (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Thu, 5 Jun 2003 08:03:02 -0700 (PDT)
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Hello, friends,
Sorry to have been such a stranger here. After our trip to Germany, which was nothing short of wonderful, our garden needed major help, since we had been so busy preparing for the trip, then away for two weeks, then being busy with church affairs on weekends.
We JUST got our garden in two weeks ago, having purchased plants from our local nursery. We got them in just before 3 blistering high 90 days hit, which, happily, were followed by a week of what we here in SoCal are pleased to call "June gloom," our fairly stationary fogbank which clears inland to haze in the late afternoon, and which clings to the coast like glue, drizzling every morning, as it is doing, as I write.
That weather pattern has been wonderful for the young plants, which appear to be thriving, except two weak sister corn plants. This year we've planted Armenian cukes, winged beans, Blue Lake bush beans, 6 varieties of tomatoes, including Heatmaster, for the first time; rhubarb chard and ruby chard; white, mixed and yellow corn; zukes, yellow crook necked squast and jalapenos. Wow!
Meanwhile, having been away at the time we should have netted our apricot tree, the squirrels are having a feast of semi ripe cots. We hope to get out there on Saturday morning and attempt to net what is left
The pomegranate, lime,and navel oranges have set major amounts of fruit, but the persimmon, nectarine, mandarin and blood oranges have only set small amounts of fruit, after record yields last year.
Speaking of record yields, our macadamia is absolutely loaded with nuts, and also with new blossoms. The Beaumont variety, which we have, produces flowers and nuts, all year long, which is a reason the commercial growers do not favor it, as harvesting would be a mess.
In our front yard,one of the stars of the show is a new rose we planted last year, Henry Fonda, a gorgeous yellow hybrid tea, which is just enveloped in blooms. The other stars are the floral carpet roses. Our neighbors are just amazed at the floral display they provide, having been rather dubious as we gradually reduce the size of our already small front lawn in favor of flowers.
The Mexican sage is almost finished blooming, with its 4 foot flower spikes of velvety purple blossoms; and the butterfly bushes, which we cut down in december to 1 foot stubs are now about 8 feet tall, almost up to our home's power lines, and, therefore, in need of pruning this weekend, too.
Lots is going on this weekend! Most of it will be involved in church music. On Saturday afternoon, our choir and the hired orchestra will hold a dress rehearsal for our performance on Sunday afternoon of a Mozart Festival, at which time the choir will perform The Coronation Mass, Ave Verum Corpus, and Regina Coeli; the orchestr will perform 4 of his horn concerti; and our organist will play several organ concerti. Should be fun, and Mozart is just so singable!
We had to smile when we began the rehearsals, after having just visited Mozart's home in Salzburg, where I was amazed at the nature of the kitchen: a flat, raised tile surface about 6 feet square, with a space underneath to stuff wood for cooking. Oh, yes, there were hooks for pots and pans and shelves for preserved goodies, but that was IT.
I've already rattled on long enough today, but perhaps, if there is any interest, would be pleased to tell some of the highlights of our recent trip
Ron
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<DIV>
<DIV>Hello, friends,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Sorry to have been such a stranger here. After our trip to Germany, which was nothing short of wonderful, our garden needed major help, since we had been so busy preparing for the trip, then away for two weeks, then being busy with church affairs on weekends.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We JUST got our garden in two weeks ago, having purchased plants from our local nursery. We got them in just before 3 blistering high 90 days hit, which, happily, were followed by a week of what we here in SoCal are pleased to call "June gloom," our fairly stationary fogbank which clears inland to haze in the late afternoon, and which clings to the coast like glue, drizzling every morning, as it is doing, as I write.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That weather pattern has been wonderful for the young plants, which appear to be thriving, except two weak sister corn plants. This year we've planted Armenian cukes, winged beans, Blue Lake bush beans, 6 varieties of tomatoes, including Heatmaster, for the first time; rhubarb chard and ruby chard; white, mixed and yellow corn; zukes, yellow crook necked squast and jalapenos. Wow!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Meanwhile, having been away at the time we should have netted our apricot tree, the squirrels are having a feast of semi ripe cots. We hope to get out there on Saturday morning and attempt to net what is left<IMG src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/02.gif"></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The pomegranate, lime,and navel oranges have set major amounts of fruit, but the persimmon, nectarine, mandarin and blood oranges have only set small amounts of fruit, after record yields last year.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Speaking of record yields, our macadamia is absolutely loaded with nuts, and also with new blossoms. The Beaumont variety, which we have, produces flowers and nuts, all year long, which is a reason the commercial growers do not favor it, as harvesting would be a mess.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In our front yard,one of the stars of the show is a new rose we planted last year, Henry Fonda, a gorgeous yellow hybrid tea, which is just enveloped in blooms. The other stars are the floral carpet roses. Our neighbors are just amazed at the floral display they provide, having been rather dubious as we gradually reduce the size of our already small front lawn in favor of flowers.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Mexican sage is almost finished blooming, with its 4 foot flower spikes of velvety purple blossoms; and the butterfly bushes, which we cut down in december to 1 foot stubs are now about 8 feet tall, almost up to our home's power lines, and, therefore, in need of pruning this weekend, too.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Lots is going on this weekend! Most of it will be involved in church music. On Saturday afternoon, our choir and the hired orchestra will hold a dress rehearsal for our performance on Sunday afternoon of a Mozart Festival, at which time the choir will perform The Coronation Mass, Ave Verum Corpus, and Regina Coeli; the orchestr will perform 4 of his horn concerti; and our organist will play several organ concerti. Should be fun, and Mozart is just so singable!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We had to smile when we began the rehearsals, after having just visited Mozart's home in Salzburg, where I was amazed at the nature of the kitchen: a flat, raised tile surface about 6 feet square, with a space underneath to stuff wood for cooking. Oh, yes, there were hooks for pots and pans and shelves for preserved goodies, but that was IT.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I've already rattled on long enough today, but perhaps, if there is any interest, would be pleased to tell some of the highlights of our recent trip<IMG src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/01.gif"></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ron</DIV></DIV>
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