Rainy garden offerings

Human nature - never satisfied. With only an annual rainfall of 11 inches, San Diegan wish for more rainfall to fill up our reservoir and water our gardens naturally ( and for free). Then the rain comes down, and the frown appears on the foreheads and smiles turn down :(

I am no exception to this. I LOVE even miss the rain but not winter rain because it is cold! When one grows up in the tropics where you can play in the warm rain, winter rain is a big let down. Strolls through the garden lessen. Thankfully, I live in San Diego, when winter days can unexpectedly be sunny and 75F. When that happens, it is time to spend all day in the garden and the kitchen is close.

I was in my garden despite deary weather to harvest the last of my Persimmons. Took a quick look around and snap some pictures of the plants that keep going despite the weather. You can see the drops of rain on the fruits!!

Pomelo ripe for eating. It holds well on the tree

From the look of the leaves, my Pomelo plant is lacking in Iron. Actually, I think all my citrus plants are in need of iron and some trace minerals... more loving care that is for sure.

Satsuma Tangerine almost ready to be enjoyed

The ripening schedule for the Satsuma Tangerines and Pomelos are in line with Chinese New Year. My kumquats are also getting fairly big and getting some color on them.

Kaffir Lime (Limau Perut)

The Kaffir Lime plant is loaded with fruits.

The flavor and the fragrance of the my Kaffir Lime leaves depends on the weather; the hotter the weather the more intense the flavor and fragrance. I am told there are some variety of Kaffir Lime more fragrant and flavorful but the nurseries are pretty general in their labeling so I have not been able to spot different. Hence, I still have only one plant.

A young fig overwintering. 

I neglected to remove the net I had draped over the fig tree to prevent the birds from eating the ripe figs. As a result the fig grew through a hole in the net cutting itself in half, growing over the net. I am going to have to sacrifice the fig. 

Immature Blueberries already on the plant

This particular pot of Blueberry seems to have acclimatized to the climate in my garden. It has flowers, immature fruits and ripening fruits on the same plants a good part of the year. It is almost winter so it should really quite bare but as you can see my breakfast fruit is being formed on the plant. Definitely a candidate for making cuttings.

How's does my garden grow?

I know it has been awhile since I blogged about my garden. By no means have I forgotten it although I have neglected it a fair bit. This is an unknown price for college education.....This summer we have been getting ready for daughter L to leave for UC Berkeley. We have so far visit Berkeley twice this year and will be moving her into the dorms in 10 days time!!! These trips and the pace of getting things together with her has taken its toll on my garden. I have not been able to create the bountiful garden I had envisioned in early spring. My kitchen garden in particular has suffered the most. We were away at Calso during the hottest week and that utterly killed my tomato plants. I know, the irony- heat and tomatoes! There was just not enough watering during those critical scorching days. I nursed them back to unproductive living dead status... Today, in an act of tough love, I yanked them out and started again with left over seedlings I started earlier. They are a bit stunted but maybe now that they have been elevated to Kitchen Garden status, they will take off. I can only hope.

This is not to say that I have not worked on my garden at all. I did so in drips and drabs. I did fertilize my trees and they have rewarded me with delicious fruits.This past 2 weeks had me waking up early and taking advantage of the cool mornings to spruce up my garden. The days were killer hot until this week. I also worked the evenings from about 5 pm to close to 9 pm if the children's activities did not interfere with these zen moments.

My rewards? The glorious sweet smelling blooms of the kumquats- heavenly. And now the trees are loaded with little kumquats, a promise of delicious pleasures to come. Three pomelo slowing getting bigger. It took a longer time to adjust to the transplant. It is a fragrant pomelo- cannot remember if it was the `green tea' variety. Sweet, juicy,not pulpy and unlike the flavor you get with market bought pomelo.

The mango tree is doing well with a fair amount of fruit. I am so glad it survive the transplant into the ground last year. It is quite an achievement to get Mango to fruit in our area.

June 29 2009 - flowers set and little mango form.


August 11, 2009 - after fruit drops. Remaining fruits almost palm sized.

Not to be outdone, three new plantings last year are flowering and seem to be setting fruit- the Ciku,the Nona and the Passionfruit. Whoa! Amazing. Just 2 days ago I was rewarded with yet another first in my garden- the Dragon Fruit plant is finally fruiting!! I am so excited.


August 11, 2009- just spotted dragon fruit ! (talk about being busy)


August 15 2009- how the fruits have lengthen!



Nona / Sugar Apple - flowering hopefully some fruit will set before the cold!



Ciku /Sapote flowers

Persimmon- reliable yearly delight!

Passionfruit grown on a arch trellis

Good old faithful Fig tree which we transplanted last year from the pot into the ground has really taken off. The fruits are large, purple and utterly delicious. As you can see from the pictures, the birds think so too!! We have been fighting them for the fruits. They cleverly eat out the fig on one side, leaving it hanging, so from certain angles you think you still have delicious fruits. The figs are the fruit in season now and it is GOOD.


August 11 2009-Figs swelling up to large palm sized and turning deep purple.



We have enjoyed blueberries, blackberries, peaches and now figs. Oh before I forget we did also enjoy the oranges- Valencia and the Navels, the Clementines and lots and lots of Calamasi (limau kasturi). So all is not lost in my garden....:)