Vacation Snaps

I've been back from California for a week now. The trip went so fast...as usual. I didn't have enough time to do the things I wanted to do, or see as many people as I would have liked, but isn't that the way it goes?

Nor did I have a lot of time to play with my new camera. But I did play a little. Still learning things on my new Canon PowerShot SX60 HS.

Here's a small selection. What do you think? Comments below :-)

{click on images to enlarge}

Asilomar State Beach looking toward Del Monte Forest

Just some of the wild echium growing around the peninsula.
One of my favorite plants.

Coastal honey bee gathering nectar on young echium.

Male sparrow feeding on echium nectar.

Pink coastal iceplant blanketing the shore along Oceanview Blvd
near Lover's Point in Pacific Grove.

Monterey Harbor Seals basking on a small rock near
China Cover in Pacific Grove.

Woman kayaking near China Cove, PG. What else do you do in a kayak but
smoke a cigar and check your messages. Love the blue nail polish.

The Nephew
What's not to love about this cheeky little monkey?!

You say tomayto, I say tomahto

Last year I grew tomatoes in my office window. I had so much fun and learned a lot so I figured I'd try it again this year. Below are my results.

Back in May I posted Fresh Starts, which included the planting of new tomato seedlings: Roma tomatoes and Golden Sunrise tomatoes. Taking lessons learned last year, I've been making sure to pick out the suckers, which forces the plant's energy to concentrate on growing fruit. After a time, I also started cutting back leaf stems, as they were shadowing the fruit clusters too much. Even still, this is what the vine currently looks like --
Yeah, the plant is so crazy it's tilting in the pot and forcing the supports to go cattywampus. But check out the fruit! Below are just three clusters of ripe tomatoes.
Here's a close up. They've all turned yellow now and have been picked for tonight's dinner. Thinking of making my famous stewed vegetables and use yellow tomatoes this time instead of yellow. Stay tuned for results!
Hmm . . . maybe I should be thinking Fried Green Tomatoes here -- Here's one of the Roma's. Unfortunately, they're not as prolific as the Golden Sunrises, but at least they're now starting to turn red. I'll have two Romas unless the other flowers fruit. What to do, what to do . . .
Last year when I grew my first tomatoes, I didn't realize the flowers had to be polinated. Never occured to me, but being in the office window with the window open on nice days probably encouraged a few flying critters to come in and walk around on the flowers, inadvertantly polinating them. Or it's possible the breeze carried pollen from flower to flower. I have no idea, but we did get a few small tomatoes that were very tasty.

This year I mead a point of using a little (clean) paint brush and touched it to each flower as if it were a bee, and it seems to have worked. That and picking off suckers. Currently, there are some 40-50 green tomatoes left on the vines. I've picked off the first 10 ripe ones for tonight. They're not huge . . . maybe a little bigger than a golf ball . . . but it's the flavor I'm after. I don't eat raw tomatoes so I'm very hopeful for the cooked ones.

Having said that, Peter had one in a sandwhich last weekend and said it was one of the tastiest tomatoes he's ever had, so they must be good!

Other than that, not a lot to report, but I hope you enjoyed seeing the *fruits* of my summer labor.

Visit my post Farm to Fork to see what I did with the tomatoes last year.

Money Makers, Bougs and Testicle Fruit

Never mind me. I'm just going to blather on about my plants again. Seems I do this every summer. Usually because I have something growing somewhere. This year it's Money Maker Tomatoes.

There are actually two tomato plants growing in the one pot. Having never grown tomatoes before I had no idea they'd take over the place. It's barely noticeable, but there is a central stake with two rings attached to hold the plant upright. But the pot is very shallow so we had to anchor that with a few bamboo stakes to keep the thing from falling over.

Currently, this pair are sucking down about a liter of water a day. Saturday I poured in two liters because we were away over the weekend. But sure enough, this morning I had to soak them again because the dirt was looking dry and cracked. I can tell when I've over-watered when excess water drains into the catch tray. I've never once seen water in the catch tray of these greedy water mongers!

At least they're healthy. I've been feeding them about every other watering, mostly because I forget every time, but there are loads of yellow flowers coming out, and as you can see, the first batch of tomatoes has started. They're about golf ball size at the moment, but I'm hoping if I can remember to feed every watering that they'll grow big and plump.

Anyone who knows me knows I can't stand raw tomatoes, so it's funny that I'm growing them. But that doesn't mean I have to leave them raw. Ratatouille here I come!

It seems our office just loves the light. The living room and office both are in the front of the house, but it's funny how just a few feet make all the difference. The living room gets sun, but not like the office. The office is usually a couple degrees warmer than the living room, and miles warmer than the back of the house. In here I'm growing not just my tomatoes, but also my avocado tree, which I thought I'd killed last October when we moved. The first weekend we were here we had a nasty frost and the tree dropped all it's leaves and the trunk died half way down. But I brought it in, watered it well and put it in front of the window, which is also where the radiator is. It's also a water monger, but at least I didn't kill it. That would be a shame after growing it from a pit from the fruit about 13 years ago! At one time it was up to the ceiling, but it's a tidy little bonsai wannabe now.

I don't know why I've done it, but I've started a couple more avocado trees on my kitchen window sill. Well, I might know why. Peter got a bonsai tree for Xmas and I thought it might be fun to see what a bonsai avocado would look like. I'll need to get new pots though because the one we had when Peter repotted his tree is now growing a bonsai sycamore...as pulled out of the gravel from our driveway!

I know I'll never get avocado trees from the pits. It's just not hot enough in Ireland. They also require a second plant to cross pollinate. Maybe the new pair will give us some results!

Did you know that the word avocado comes from the Nahuatl Aztec word ahuacatl which means testicle, a reference to the shape of the fruit, and because they grow in pairs. The word can be compounded with other words, as in ahuacamolli, meaning 'avocado soup or sauce', from which the Mexican Spanish word guacamole derives. Did you also know that the English language includes many Nahuatl words? I bet you didn't know the words chili, chocolate, coyote and tomato are also originally Nahuatl words. Cool or what?!

My real pride and joy at the moment is my bougainvillea. Bougs are sun worshipers, and well, Ireland doesn't really get much sun. This summer though has turned out really bright and warm and my boug is loving it.

When I bought my boug it was literally the pot and a flowered head at the top of a bare stalk. The first week I had it, it dropped all the flowers and I almost thought I'd killed it because I know how fussy they can be. But the leaves were still green and healthy and once it saw the sun it exploded with hundreds of flowers and just keeps blooming and growing.

There's a great garden center we love to go to on the weekends called Johnstown Garden Centre. It's a huge place that includes a big wing full of house and hot house plants. In it they have a few bougs that have been bonsaied. They're in big shallow pots, but the trunks on them are huge and the overall plant isn't more than four feet high.

If I stretch out my arms to either side of me, these bougs are easily that wide, and them some. Not ideal for just any home, and especially not at the price they're asking. But I pretend they're mine, but that they live in the shop! Every now and again, the staff move them and they drop their flowers, but the next week we go back and their flourishing again.

Meanwhile, I just keep watering mine and feeding it occasionally. I know they really like to be left alone and watered occasionally.

I remember the bougs growing up the side of our garage when I was younger. They'd only get watered when it rained (not often on the Central Coast though they also seemed to like the early morning and late evening fog) or when I washed my car. They grew up the south facing wall so they were in sunlight all day, and the white stucco house reflected back the heat onto them. The plants must have loved it because they were huge. If they hadn't been so thorny, I could have thrown myself into them. I don't actually like the color pink, but I make an exception for bougs! They're not really pink at all but a wilder version of purple!

And did I mention my watering can is purple? Yeah, baby!!

Leighlinbridge Castle, aka Black Castle

It's been a long time since I posted anything, but there really hasn't been much to talk about. Not unless you want to read about snow and ice, and the fact that Spring is really late in coming to Ireland. Over the last week or so though, it seems to have exploded. Or at least, the daffodils are out finally.
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With the better weather--notice I didn't say brilliant weather--we're able to get out at least one day on the weekend and take a spin around to see the area around where we moved October last year. Sunday, that journey took us south of Monasterevin for a change to a place called Leighlinbridge, pronounced as lough-linbridge, not lee. Very strange, but what do I know?!
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Our main reason for the journey, which is about an hour drive, was for the Arboretum Lifestyle & Garden Centre, which is an interesting place. They're on about twenty-two acres of ground overlooking the River Barrow, which flows out of County Kildare and eventually out to sea near Waterford. The center is a mix of homewares, garden and pets. They have a restaurant on site, an aquatic shop, manicured gardens with interesting sculpture overlooking the river, a chocolate shop, woollen mills, and the plants, of course. The place immediately reminded us of a similar place in Welshpool, Wales called Coed-y-Dinas, though on a much smaller scale.
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The food in the center was actually very good. It's obviously a popular place for the traditional Sunday lunch! For those not there to eat, there was plenty to do. I was particularly taken with the dog toys, rabbits (they sell angora's!), and kitchenware. Overall, it was an interesting couple of hours.
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Afterwards, we took a spin around the locale. Leighlinbridge is a small village on the river. It was founded in Normal times, but was inhabited long before that, as Kings of Leinster had their seat nearby. The town gets its name from the Irish Leithghlinn an Droichid, which means Bridge of the Half-Glen. The bridge in the village spans the Barrow with five large arches and it said to be one of the oldest continual functioning stone arch bridges in not just Ireland, but Europe. It was built in stone in the 14th century.
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The castle beside the bridge is known as Black Castle and dates back to about 1180 when the original timber keep was most probably built by Hugh de Lacy, though it's also been credited to John de Clahull in 1181. de Lacy has the stronger history though. The current stone keep was built by Sir Edward Bellingham in 1547 who named the keep Black Castle. Bellingham was Lord Deputy of Ireland, as he was a reputed man of war, and kept his finest horses here. His career was short-lived though, as he passed away in 1549 just as the castle was completed.
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The castle was sacked in 1650 and eventually fell in the Cromwellian war, 1649-1653, and today the keep looks much as it did after it's destruction, which includes the 50 foot tower and partial bawn walls. I'd love to return the next time we're in the area and take a stroll through it, if it's open to the public. Nothing like castle trolling!

Baby's got a new pair of shoes

OK, don't get all excited. They're not Manola Blahnik's, but I like them.

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Purple Crocs!!

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What's not to like?

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They're PURPLE!!

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We were in Killarney on Saturday, doing our duty by donating a bunch of stuff to St Vincent de Paul's, and we stopped in at the outlet center for coffee...well, coffee for Peter. In the outlet center is a Low Alpine store. These stores sell a lot of hiking, biking and camping gear. And they just got in a new shipment of Crocs. I saw the purple ones from outside the shop, halfway across the center! They've always sold lavender, but this is the first time I've ever seen the dark purple ones. I already have a pair of orange Crocs, and dad sent a pair of chefs Crocs in black a while back. So, now I have THREE pairs of Crocs. One day I'll have a rainbow collection of the bloody things! ;-)

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I'm feeling very girly at the moment. This time last year, I had three pairs of shoes...Reeboks, dress shoes and mountain boots. Now, I practically need a separate room for my shoes!

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Speaking of shoes...my husband travels a few times of year for work. He's recently traveled into Germany, France and England, but most recently he went to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, I never get to go with him, but he's a real sweetheart and always brings me something to make up for me having to stay home alone.

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I made a joke when he was leaving this time that I wanted a pair of clogs, since he was going to Holland...technically North Holland. And when he came back he brought me a clog alright!

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In Holland, souvenir shops sell ceramic clog planting pots that are filled with seasonal bulbs. They're health

certified for taking back to the United States and Canada, too. Obviously, there's no way all of the ten bulbs will fit in this planter, but the overall item is a great way to remember your trip to Holland!

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In my case, tulips are out of season now, but my clog was full of Gladiolus's. I wish our shed was in now so I could plant the glad's around it. They grow up to about four feet in height and would make a great statement against the side of the shed. What I'll end up doing it putting them into a big pot, then next season I'll transfer the bulbs into the ground.

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And since I'm talking about plants...again...I have to share this picture.

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This time last year dad and his lady friend visited us again. When they went home, I sent them with a couple clippings from our blackcurrant bushes.

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When we bought our house in 2001 we took a walk around our property. I found a great tree with these amazing leaves on it. I thought they'd look very pretty in a vase of water in the house so I snipped a few. About a week later, the cuttings had sprouted roots. I eventually planted them in pots, the into the ground. Then they started to bloom and fruit. I took a clipping to our favorite garden center, Griffin's Garden Centre, and was told it was indeed a blackcurrant and not a tree. Cool!

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Getting back to "the folks," last year they took a couple clippings home. They were literally just a couple sticks wrapped in damp papertowels and protected in a ZipLock bag. Once home, they put the clippings into a vase of water and waited for them to sprout. Tah-dah! They now have a plant that's about four feet tall, as you can see here.

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And I'm embarrassed to admit that their plant looks healthier than ours do! But we have more fruit :-) BUT, their bush is only a year old, so it has time to mature and really get its fruit on!

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"The folks" love the stories they bring back with them from Ireland. After their first trip, when they brought back a few rocks and some daffodil bulbs, and now this trip with their blackcurrants, they have loads to talk about with their friends. Each rock and the daffodils have their own stories, and now the blackcurrants with theirs.

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In the case with the blackcurrants, the original bush at the back of our property was actually part of an old garden! Our property from was originally part of a much larger piece of land owned by a local family and dates back many, many decades. The blackcurrant was the last of the plants in the original garden. Between the blackcurrants in the garden and the wild blackberries, the family had gallons of berries for preserves. We collected twelve pounds of blackberries two years ago and made jam and we're STILL going through it.

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Watch for a post on making blackberry jam at the end of September!

Result!

In my last post I said we were hoping for three out of three with our three artichoke plants. We've been really happy to see two of them sending up chokes. It's official now though. The third plant is sending up a choke, too! And the bonus, the first plant now also has two chokes coming up from the sides.

The first photo is the first chokes that came up. The first set of leaves below the globe have secondary chokes coming in now. Whoo hoo!!

The second picture is the second choke to procude.

And the third picture is, obviously, the third plant sending up a choke.

Result! Now we're back to suffering the anticipation until they're ready to harvest and EAT!

While I was out taking pictures I was also looking at the crabapple blossom. The buds are starting to open, but I'll hold off posting a photo until the tree is really impressive.

However, while I was looking at the flowers, I happened to notice some fluttering in the trees. There were about a dozen young goldfinches hoping from branch to branch.

They're SO cute. And the tiniest birds I've ever seen in the garden. When these birds are mature, their breast will be totally gold. At the moment, they just have a little gold patch, as you can see. And the red over the beak will eventually turn bright tomato read and completely encircle the beak.

The weather is not looking good for the next week. A storm is brewing in the North Atlantic and it's supposed to hit the hardest on Wednesday this next week. But we'll see how the weather really is. It's not like the weather service hasn't been wrong before.

Anticipation Pt 2, aka No Place Like Home

Yesterday I talked about the wildflowers coming up around our property, but I love gardening too. We're still sorting out our landscaping so nothing is in the ground yet, so there are pots all around the house. Mostly roses, lavender, a couple fig trees, a few saplings (sycamore, beech, oak, maple), hibiscus, and the ones I'm most proud of...artichokes.

I come from a part of Northern California where 99% of America's globe artichokes are grown in a small rural town called Castroville. I was raised about 15 minutes south of Castroville, but the artichoke fields spread for miles and miles. Castroville is home to the famous Artichoke Festival. And a little known fact outside of the community is that Marilyn Monroe was crowned the festivals first Artichoke Queen in 1948, back when she was known as Norma Jeane Mortenson!

Castroville is also famed for having the world's largest artichoke. OK, so it's made from concrete, rebar and a little paint, but it's damn big! And it marks where the door is into the Giant Artichoke Restaurant where they sell the world's best deep fried artichoke hearts...and just about everything else made with artichokes. When I was living back home, it was not uncommon for me to drive to Castroville on my lunch hour to get some artichoke hearts then drive back to work. 15 minutes there, 15 minutes back and still have 30 minutes to spare!

I love artichokes. It's not uncommon for me to steam up as many will fit into a giant pot and live off them for a few days. I love, love, love 'em!

Needless to say, moving to Ireland was a huge shock to my culinary system. Artichokes, while a common find in French supermarkets, are virtually unheard of in Ireland. They're a rare find. I've found them occasionally at farmer's markets where the vendor imports their organic vegetables from France, but in the supermarkets? Not a hope. And again, needless to say, I buy as many as I can afford! At an average of €5 each, it's hard to justify paying €20 for four chokes. They're a treat though, and people pay up to €10 for a dessert in an average restaurant here. So... (mangia, mangia...as the Italians say...eat, eat!) You only live once, right? And it's only money!

Last year when my father and his lady friend of 20+ years visited us again, we took them to a great farmer's market in Bantry, Co Cork. It's the biggest farmer's market in Ireland that I've been to. They have stalls for just about everything. One day I'll blog about it, but on this particular visit, one of the stall owners had starter plants for globe artichokes! I bought three and immediately brought them home and babied the hell out of them until I could get them into some big pots. I was really worried that the winter was going to kill them off. It's much colder and icy and occasionally snowy here than in Castroville. But they survived! And now they want to spread out in the worst way. I know they need to go into the ground so I need to get my act together and get the ground prepared.

But lo and behold. One of the three little beauties sent up a bud. Really, artichokes are just prickly flowers, but it's hard to call them a flower when we eat them before they have a change to blossom. I don't care though. They're wonderful to eat. Steamed. With a little Gilroy garlic. And masses of home made mayo!

This one here has grown to the size of a small peach, but it's still very young.

And then...then...a second plant is sending up a bud! I'm so excited. And this newfound anticipation is about to kill me.

From what I understand, these first chokes, which grow up right from the top center, are the globes. These are the biggest on the plant. Once these are harvested, the plant continues to grow and sends out several smaller chokes from around the edges. I never realized before, but artichokes have two harvests...the globe and then the rest.

So now, as we watch and baby these two little wonders, we're keeping our eyes on the third plant and hoping for three out of three.

And they'll be all mine when they're harvested, as my husband doesn't care for them! ;-)

There may be no place like home, but it's quite possible to get a taste of home occasionally.

PS...Last weekend at a local garden center I found French artichoke starter plants and picked up three of those too. This variety sends up purple chokes. Not as big, but hey, they're PURPLE!