March 13, 2014
Bishop
berrries, Gardening, Strawberry
asparagus, birthday, gardening, Meyer lemon, peas, strawberries, tomatoes
This morning I woke up on the green side of the earth rather than the under side……That was a good thing and made even better with a handful of fresh picked strawberries – <strong>Yee Haw</strong> – the strawberry harvest has started. I picked a nice handful of red, ripe, sweet berries. Once in hand the self-talk started. Should I share them? Should I eat every one of them before I get into the house? A bit of a dilemma for me.
I didn’t share-(sorry Kathy) and I didn’t eat every one of them. The very best berries found their way into my mouth and several others started the frozen package being accumulated for the jam making later this spring. There is something so very special about berries picked at the peak of their flavor. That first berry I bit into caused a wonderful flood of true strawberry flavor and my mouth was overjoyed.
A handful of Birthday Berries for me!
A healthy berry bed….more berries on the way!
While wandering through the garden on this beautiful birthday morning I found a few early stalks of asparagus….Not enough to save for anyone other than the birthday boy. If you have never had asparagus picked and savored the freshest, you are missing the sweetness that is missing from commercially farmed and shipped from who knows where asparagus.
My lemon tree is showing signs of blossoming soon. I can’t think of a flower blossom that is any more intoxicating than that of citrus. It is amazing how some scents and aromas can cause flashback memories. When my lemon tree blooms I am always transported to a late night motorcycle ride from UCLA down Sunset Blvd., to Will Rogers beach. That cool night ride took us through what used to be extensive citrus orchards before the land was converted to homes and estates. Fortunately many of the home owners kept the citrus trees, helping to fill the air the night with that intoxicating citrus blossom scent…..I said <strong>intoxicating</strong> before didn’t I! Let me dive into the Thesaurus! Intoxicating is a good word for the scent filled night air but…..there could be a stronger word or something better able to convey the sweet olfactory assault that created the enduring memory!
How about “enthralling” – no, doesn’t capture the feeling/memory/brain recalled sensation. “stimulating” – not quite strong enough either. “Enchanting” – close. “ Exhilarating” – needs a little more to meet up with the sensations and emotions connected to the sensory memory . I’ll have to wave the white flag and give up on finding the perfect word….I will take any suggestions – English majors preferred! Just trust me…..it was an amazing memory.
The garden is shaping up nicely; onions, strawberries, snap peas, asparagus, beets, turnips and yes, tomatoes are in the ground and putting down roots. I’m another day older and the garden is entering the new growing season….It may sound trite but I feel renewed….not older – just entering a new phase…. TTFN Bishop
January 14, 2014
Bishop
Gardening, Strawberry
greenhouse, PVC, strawberries, tomatoes
The strawberries are blossoming and the high achievers are beginning to ripen! You have seen my past posts on my strawberry towers and if you haven’t you can search going backwards in time. I have reloaded the towers with Chandler strawberries after adding a few more pockets to the shorter towers.
My newest adventure with the leftover pvc from my youngest son’s Engineering project at Texas A&M University is shown below. I did have to buy a couple extra joints beyond the 12″ of 3″ pipe he needed but what the heck! I have started construction on a mini greenhouse with the hope of getting my tomatoes off to an early start! Is it possible for me to have ripe tomatoes before May 1st? That will be my challenge!
I enjoyed a misshapen strawberry today and the harvest is just around the corner…found a perfect berry today that is two maybe three days away from being perfectly ripe. I hope to share a photo and a tasting critique…..Unless of course my 4 year old garden helper from down the street comes into the yard and finds it before I can pick it! He is all boy and into anything and everything!
A look at the towers
One of the early blossoms
The mini greenhouse awaiting the cover and tomato transplants
Quick photos by my iPhone….I continue to be amazed at the quality of the images!
TTFN
Bishop
December 25, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Composting, Gardening, mulching, Potato Growing, Strawberry
asparagus, beets, carrots, chard, Christmas Post, compost, compost bin, gardening, strawberries, strawberry jam
My postings for the past couple of months have slowed a little but I have tended to some of the chores!
• Spreading compost from the bin on the right and turning the bin on the left.
• Son Ben did a fantastic job adding gravel around the edges. Looks great! An early and well appreciated Christmas gift.
• Turned ad prepped the bed for potato planting.
• Cut back the Asparagus ferns and added a layer of compost and leaf mulch. Gotta love Houston, two days ago I noticed several young shoots about 6 inches above the mulch…my reward for taking care of the bed. NOW GO TO SLEEP DANG NABBIT!
• Carrots and sugar snap peas have emerged from the late fall plantings.
• Planted 6 Blueberry plants and 8 replacement bare root blackberry plants – Ben was a little overzealous when he added a pvc irrigation line in the blackberry bed. We had a good laugh!
• Planted more Chard and Beet seeds yesterday as well as some red onion seeds in the front portion of the potato bed.
December 4th I ate my first ripe strawberry – way too early, it was kinda small and misshapen but it was sweet! Inspection yesterday showed numerous blossoms and a few dozen green berries trying to fill out. It may be another stellar strawberry year and maybe, just maybe a few more jars of jam to share.
One of several confused strawberries. This was the little one I ate! Yum
TTFN & Merry Christmas – share something wonderful with those you love!
Bishop
November 25, 2013
Bishop
Composting, Gardening, jam and jelly, Strawberry, Vegetables
asparagus, carrots, compost, cucumbers, gardening, peppers, strawberries, sweet potatoes, worm poop
I haven’t written much lately about the backyard garden but it has been slowly morphing into a winter garden. I harvested the last cucumbers two weeks ago because I knew that the Houston winter temperatures were coming. On the vines were a few edible and nearly a dozen immature cukes that became worm food. The sweet potato vines finally showed their dislike for anything below 50 degrees F. They weren’t grown for tubers this year, but they did provide great ground cover. I found a couple of nice sized tubers and a bunch that were restricted by the heavy soil to elongated sausage looking things. The dying tomatoes were pulled up along with the Poblano pepper plants.
I left the Serrano peppers in as the plant is still setting fruit. I made a batch of Serrano Pepper jelly last week and may make another batch soon. This week I also made a couple of pints of lemon curd from my Meyer Lemon tree. What an amazingly rich treat – 4 very big lemons, 2 cups of lemon juice, at least 2/3 cup of zest, 12 egg yolks, two sticks of butter and two cups of sugar… I am afraid to calculate the calories per teaspoon! I will send a jar to my granddaughter – she loves it!
Over the past two weeks I pulled about 2 large wheel barrow loads of compost out of my bins to amend the beds. I fed a bunch to the asparagus bed hoping to get it producing better during this next spring. I added a bunch to a section of the beds that I have designated as the carrot patch. That same bed is also home to my sugar snap peas – hopefully this planting of peas will be the one that produces. I tried on two previous efforts to get them to sprout and the cool weather never showed up. They don’t like warm weather! I hope I didn’t miss the weather window!
Some of my strawberry plants are confused. Weeks ago I had a number of them blossom and I plucked the blossoms off. After traveling and working for a few weeks out of town, I ignored them. I now have green strawberries – about 3 plus months too early! My 100 new strawberry plants planted in early October have settled nicely into their new home and will hopefully bring me a couple of good years of harvesting pleasure.
I have four pineapple plants started from tops nearly two years ago. They are now beginning to leaf out vigorously and who knows, this may be the year. A little research says it takes 2 years and maybe more if it is cold, in order to flower. The leaves look like they are becoming mature so this could be the lucky year. I put another top in the ground a week ago to add to my collection. According to the research the buggers will start spreading on their own. May wind up with 30 or 40 before long.
My little buddy Caleb and his now walking little brother Levi, stopped by for a visit a few days ago. Caleb is ALL boy….gotta keep an eye on him. Levi loves to munch on cucumbers off the vine and the cherry tomatoes, not so much for Caleb. They both enjoy the strawberries when they are in season. I hope to have them back this week to help plant my beets and turnips. I was in the process of harvesting the worm poop and adding another bin to the top of my worm composting bins during their visit. Being boys….they both loved touching and playing with the little wrigglers! Mom wasn’t as enthused or amused as the boys were! I sent them home with a couple of long stemmed roses for their mother……she left smiling!
The new carrot patch….waiting for the emerging tops.
The old sweet potato bed – cleaned out and what next ????
Pineapples – hopefully this year they will fruit.
Those danged, confused strawberries.
Strawberry towers planted with about 75 of the 100 new plants.
TTFN
Bishop
October 11, 2013
Bishop
California, Healthy Lifestyle, Strawberry, Vegetables
Carpenteria Farmer's Market, Cork Tree Bistro, Friends, Island Brewery, strawberries, tomatoes
Thursday Afternoon – We, my wife and visiting friends from Canada took a stroll down the 800 block of Linden Avenue in Carpenteria, California. The weather was perfect and our friends, Alan and Jan, seemed to enjoy the day.
Below are a few shots I took as we wandered down the street, puntuated with stops at the brewery a few blocks away toward the beach and at the Cork Tree Bistro on the way back. It was a great evening.
Orchids – so beautiful!
I wish I could get my heirlooms to grow this beautifully. Jan had the green striped variety with her lunch on the pier in Malibu.
I couldn’t resist – I bought three baskets! Yum
The colors and variety are a visual treat as well as nutrional treat.
TTFN – Houston is cooling off but it will never match the weather in and around Santa Barbara!
Bishop
September 21, 2013
Bishop
Gardening, Potato Growing, Vegetables
cucumbers, gardening, hummingbirds, sago palms, strawberries, sweet potatoes
Trying to balance work, travel and my backyard duties has been a juggling act. My hired help has had to step in and lend me a hand. My hired hand is a bit expensive but he does good, albeit slow, and deliberate work. Expensive in that I pay him an hourly wage and have to feed the 6 foot 5 inch behemoth too! He really is worth every grocery bag that he chomps through!
This week besides the usual lawn mowing and edging he harvested some long overdue Sago Palm pups. He did a beautiful job removing them and now we are in the process of potting them. Sago Palm pups can be a money making venture. I may ask him to cruise the neighborhood and remove the pups for our neighbors.
A nice sized pup!
Before I took off to Colorado last week I was replanting some of my strawberries. One of my beds was devastated by the brutal summer an then wiped out completely by my son as he did some irrigation work in the strawberry patch. It really turned out well for me in the end. I had a portion of my veggie beds where I had dropped some strawberry plants into several years ago. They took over that end of the bed! I am needing to clean that end out to plant some fall veggies so no harm done. I moved quite a few out last week and have more to do this weekend. Can’t wait for the spring harvest!
The newly planted strawberry bed
The white flies destroyed my cucumbers and devastated my friend John’s too. I replanted and the white flies returned only this tie I was ready! At first sign of the little buggers I blasted them with a good and safe insecticidal soap. They are looing really healthy! My discarded sweet potatoes have overwhelmed the 4X25 foot bed near the garage. Wow….I will be very curious to see the resulting harvest in a month or so.
My healthy cucumbers climbing the trellis
Those pesky sweet potato vines!
The hummingbirds have been cruising through the Houston area on their way south. We love watching their antics around the feeders as the greedy ones chase others off.
Backyard Visitors
Rain has been long overdue and we are getting a huge dose of it over the past several days! Needed but probably not quite enough to pulls us out of the state wide drought!
TTFN
Bishop
August 20, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Strawberry
strawberries, strawberry, strawberry towers
I think I have used that title before but being a simple guy …….. I am simple aren’t I? Don’ any of you answer that question.
I have been in withdrawals from my blogging habit……..hmmmmmm, maybe if it had indeed been a habit I would have been blogging every chance I had….isn’t that what habits create. So, I don’t quite have a blogging habit but I do derive a lot of pleasure from sharing my blog life, whether it be my gardening blog or my beer brewing blog. Rest assured that I haven’t been idle. I am still sweating through several T-shirts every time I am out working in the garden.
The heat has the tomatoes struggling so I yanked most of them and replanted with some high dollar grafted varieties from a local nursery. I am cautiously optimistic! I set my buddy John up with 3 new plants and his seem to actually be doing better than mine. His cucumbers are doing very well…..mine succumbed to the dreaded white fly attacks. I still have peppers doing well, the single eggplant has taken over a corner of the garden and my asparagus ferns look very healthy….it bodes well for next year.
Talking about next year. I had a bumper crop of strawberries and therefore a bumper canning effort for my low sugar strawberry preserves. I like the low sugar recipe, not just because of the reduced calories but primarily due to the fact that more of the berry flavor comes through! If you have followed me for a while you may remember my efforts with strawberry towers. It makes the garden grow vertically and keeps those nasty bugs that live in the beds off of the berries. I eschew using bug sprays of any type. My first attempt at strawberry towers worked ok but I shredded my hands and fingers planting the bare root plants through the small holes. My subsequent efforts were easier on the hands, created bigger but fewer pockets. I like volume when it comes to berry harvest!
So back to the drawing board. Not wanting to waste materials I sought out a way to make the first towers more user friendly. For my second generation efforts I had used an electric heat gun to soften the pockets and it gave me an idea. I took the original towers (first generation), heated the lower edge to soften the hole and stretched it like a protruding lower lip! I think it is going to work.
http://wp.me/p13JYy-5v original post
http://wp.me/p13JYy-lP this post shows an image of the second generation tower
A close look at how the hole gets stretched once heated
Modified and original views.
A look at my heat gun….a hairdryer on steroids. I call it my “Binford” hotter than Hell model!
I am nursing my Pineberry (a white strawberry with red seeds) plantings, trying to root as many runners as I can. I hope to plant one tower entirely in the white colored Pineberries.
Tuesday my oldest son and I are off on a day long fishing adventure – gardening again on Wednesday. I will highlight a path he put in for me as I get caught up on the stories floating around in my head.
TTFN
Bishop
July 28, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Berry Preserves, Canning, Composting, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, jam and jelly, mulching, Strawberry
blackberries, compost, compost bin, dewberries, grass clippings., strawberries
This growing season saw a bumper crop of strawberries. The result was lots of fresh berries for snacking and tons for jam making, lots of jam! The blackberries were starting to look really good toward the end of May. I had high hopes for a good blackberry harvest based on the number of blossoms and the large size of the developing berries – and JAM!.
The blackberry harvest started out strong. When I was home more berries made the freezer bag than we used for fresh eating. During my out of town work assignments the ratio was reversed. I still thought I had a chance to load up the freezer but the local birds discovered my luscious, juicy and organically grown berries. I would see dozens of berries that needed another day to finish ripening only to discover them gone, missing – nowhere to be found the next day. Evidence of birds sitting trellis wire was abundant. I guess next year I will have to invest in some netting.
Friday this past week I needed to clear some freezer space for my wife. I had partial freezer bags of blackberries, strawberries and some wild dewberries. I spent an hour and a half scratching the living daylights out of my arms and legs as I braved the thorny dewberry patches only to be rewarded with less than ½ gallon of berries! They have great taste but they are, oh so small. I decided to make a mixed batch of berry jam! Problem solved, room in the freezer and a 9 + jars and jam! I say 9+ because I fill a jar of the foam skimmings’ and the bottom of the pot for my wife. She makes an interesting oatmeal frittata with egg whites and tops it with the lower grade jam. Still tastes great but doesn’t look as nice in the jars.
Garden chores out of the way for today consisted of removing 5 tomato plants that gave their all against this brutal summer that Houston has been suffering through. I replaced them with some grafted varieties and hope to get them well established during the tail end of summer. I hope to have tomatoes through Thanksgiving again this year!
My son and his friend kept the garden well watered including all of those pesky weeds. I should have provided some more detailed instructions on weeding while watering – an alliterative activity that aids the garden. That said….I have been pulling weeds like crazy! They have made a nice layer in the compost bin. I added about 6 inches of leaf mulch and 10-12 inches of grass clippings on top of them. The pile should really heat up now!
I pulled the leaf mulch out of my second bin. I am nearing the bottom of that bin and found some nice finished compost. I spread about 8 – 5 gallon bucket loads of the compost into the bed holding most of the tomatoes and cucumbers. Today being a three t-shirt day in Houston I will postpone spreading the remaining compost for another day…..none of the upcoming days look to promising in the next week so I guess I will just have to suck it up through a few more days and shirts until the job is done.
Thorny, scratchy and very tasty wild dewberries.
Kathy’s Frittata – Her first bite was followed by these words, “Ewww seeds, but tasty!”
TTFN
Bishop
July 17, 2013
Bishop
Gardening, Photography
almonds, avocados, California, gardening, grapes, pistachios, strawberries, vegetables
I have been in California since July 3rd and won’t return until the 24th. I have left others at the house in charge of my vegetable patch. I am hoping for the best. Even though I left good instructions I think my garden misses my dirty hands….. It’s not that others can’t do what I do but I would suggest that my soul and the soul of my garden have a stronger connection. I am missing my visual fix, my fix from the garden/earthy odors and the fix I get from sampling the bounty.
My son Joe is at the house now….I asked him to send some current photos……he said he would – when got around to it. Now I suspect that was a literal comment and he is hunting for a “roudtuit”! Once he finds it it I am sure he will then send me some photos for my visual fix!
Here is what I remember….. and what I need to see more of!
Wine Barrel Composter
Gate to my Garden
The pole bean arches with some red blossoms.
The May 10th tomatoes picked in the dark. Dark at 10:30 AM. Yes AM – today’s storm is very dark. 4 inches per hour of rain heading our way!
One of the many blackberry clusters.
Celebrity Variety – 4-5 inch size and does well when it is hot.
Some of my Swiss Chard
All is not lost…..I have been up and down the state of California traveling through those commercial sized gardens and orchards. Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, citrus, avocados in the orchards. Fields of strawberries, tomatoes, grapes, onions, cabbage and more. Last Friday I sat a the in-laws place watching polo on some of the most verdant grass you have ever seen!
Prince William galloping across the verdant grass on his way to scoring a goal in the 2011 match in Santa Barbara. From the in-laws patio!
Joe – I am still waiting!!!!!
TTFN
Bishop
May 10, 2013
Bishop
Buzz Polination, Healthy Lifestyle, pollination, Tomato Growing, Vegetables
asparagus, beans, cucumbers, gardening, Pineberry, strawberries, tomatoes
May 10th 2013 I picked the season’s first red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – tomatoes – yes plural form of the word tomato, more than one – Yee Haw cowboy! The Sweet Million variety is the first to deliver the goods. My Celebrity plant will not be too far behind. My mouth will just have to wait a little longer to savor a BLT with one of MY red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – real tomatoes. I will have to admit that I am not so optimistic with my Mortgage Lifter tomatoes – at least so far this season. I have had blossoms, I put my bumblebee suit on and buzzed the flowers with the electric toothbrush but the blossoms close up and drop off! Another update – I have my wife to thank for having tomatoes to pick today….she was tempted yesterday…thank goodness they weren’t apples or margaritas!
(see- https://bishopsbackyardfarm.com/2012/10/02/a-vibrating-garden-visitor/ ) I also planted some grafted heirloom varieties purchased from Burpee so maybe I will have some better luck!
The May 10th tomatoes picked in the dark. Dark at 10:30 AM. Yes AM – today’s storm is very dark. 4 inches per hour of rain heading our way!
The asparagus bed gets better each year…I think it is on year 5 for the oldest root crowns. Sometimes the spears never make the kitchen……they are so good freshly cut! Last night I snacked on a few after my return from McAllen Texas, down in the Rio Grande River valley. I also savored a few Alpine strawberries and a few full sized berries off of my strawberry towers. The white Pineberries seem to be busy sending out runners…..I may have to snip that behavior and try to force it until later this summer.
Finger sized asparagus spear….flash photograph at 10:30 AM!!!!!
My friend John and I have cucumber seeds in the ground ready to start up the trellis. He is a bit more limited with space so he is only growing a slicing variety. Me, on the other hand have slicers, Armenian long style and “picklers” planted in my beds. I will promise my family….no more attempts at making dill pickle. I can’t compete with your favorites! So, sweet or bread and butter types will be my focus. Several years ago I made a spicy, mildly hot bread and butter recipe….I liked it! If I remember I will share that recipe later on this summer.
I am pleasantly surprised, my quiet strawberry beds, resting after an early spring burst of activity, are showing lots of blossoms….again, Yee Haw cowboy! I really don’t think a person can have too may strawberries! The arches over the garden entry I built with Crepe Myrtle pruning’s are supporting several varieties of pole beans. The blossoms are heavy on some of the supports indicating a potentially bountiful harvest. Once the vines are filled in a little better I will share a photo. I have a mix of red, purple and white pole bean blossoms showing. Fingers crossed that the vision in my head is reflected in the end result of the planting.
The pole bean arches with some red blossoms.
Chard, Brussels Sprouts and some tomatoes
My Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree has set a good number of lemons, some are approaching egg size right now. What is interesting though is that there is evidence of many new blossom forming on the tree now. Not sure if this is in the realm of normal behavior but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth….I will certainly take and enjoy any extra efforts by my little lemon tree!
Weather update….nearly 2000 lightning strike per hour in some areas just east of Houston. Flooding, hail and dark, dark skies! we are bracing for some very wet weather.
TTFN
Bishop
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