Winter vegetables

It's a blessing to live in SoCal and grow vegetables year-round. In contrast to tomatoes and basil--these are warm-weather vegetable and herbs, you would choose to grow cool-weather vegetables. They are carrots, lettuce, peas, etc. 

As No. 1 rule of my gardening, and since I am a beginner, I have chosen the following as-said "easy-to-grow" vegetables:

1)Lettuce 

2)Kale

3)Garlic

4)Ginger

5)Peas

1, 2, 5 were from seeds. They all germinated quickly, but crickets had eaten most of the lettuce and kale seedlings. I had to plant another round of seeds immediately. Just the same time I read that a home gardener should not hope to plant one round of seeds, and then sit and wait for them to grow in a synchronized manner. A home garden is an open environment, and you constantly invite birds, insects, and little mammals whether you like it or not. So you should constantly replace the growth, particularly when you are some sort of organic grower. 

Here are the pictures:

Upper: Kale, Sage, Ginger, strawberries, garlics.Lower: Lettuce

Three peppers (Sweet pepper, Serrano, Jalapeno) and peas

This is the flower bed. Now it has lavenders, rosemary, catmint, thyme, and a Christmas Poinsettia.

Chimichurri Sauce

I have tried three Chimichurri Sauce recipes from the Internet. This is the best one so far. 

1 cup Chopped parsley leaves and tender stems;
3~4 Garlic cloves, minced;
2 tsp Oregano (I used dried herbs);
1/2 cup olive oil;
2 tbsp red wine vinegar;
(I tried rice vinegar once, it was good too)
1 tsp sea salt;
1/4 tsp pepper;
1/4 tsp red pepper flake.

All mix together and sit at room temperature for one hour before serve. 

Zucchini Shrimp Potstickers

• 1 large zucchini, ~ 3 lb
• 15 uncooked peeled deveined shrimps, ~100 g
• 1 pkg gyoza/dumpling wraps
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 4 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp corn starch
• Salt
• Vinegar (as dipping sauce)

1. Peel the zucchini squash, remove the seeds, shred into small pieces.
2. Squeeze the juice out with a cheesecloth.
3. (Thaw the shrimps if frozen) 
4. Mix cooking wine, 1/2 tsp salt, corn starch with the shrimps, let sit for 1/2 hr.
5. Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a pan, ~1 min.
6. Cook the shrimps until not raw, ~3 min.
7. Chop the shrimps into small pieces.
8. Mix well zucchini, shrimp, green onion, 2 tsp vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Sprinkle salt to taste.
9. Put 1 spoon of 8 in the center of a wrap, wet the edge of the wrap with water, stick the opposite sides to make the dumpling.
10. In the same way, make more dumplings.
11. Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large sauce pan, ~ 1 min.
12. Place the dumplings in the saucepan.
13. Add 1 cup water
14. Cover the pan, bring to boil and then medium power, totally 8 min.
15. Uncover, cook 1 min more.
16. Serve with dipping sauce. 

Midsummer garden

At this time of a year, the garden gives a steady harvest everyday: tomatoes,zucchinis, peppers, and strawberries. The herbs are not good these hot days: the cilantro quickly turns into flowers and the basil grows slowly underneath the tomatoes.  

Everyday I make a salad with tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, rice vinegar, and some sesame oil. I am not a fan of "organic" food, but the naturally ripened tomatoes really taste better than those I buy in the grocery store. They are sweet, soft, juicy, and meaty as the same time. They remind me of growing up when we ate only seasonal and locally grown vegetables and the memories of summer. 

Steady harvest

The zucchinis in the photo were giant because I forgot to pick them up for a few days. Using three of them and some shrimps, for the first time I made gyoza. It was super delicious and "creamy". 

Last is a big green worm on the tomato plant.  

Epiphyllum flower

Epiphyllum

My boss gave me several epiphyllum leaves of two kinds: red and white. I have had them for two years and propagated them into 4 and 1/2 plants. I assume 3 and 1/2 of them are the red or pink epiphyllum, but they haven't bloomed yet, and thus I am not sure. When I moved them one day, I broke one healthy leaf, so I left it on the fern tree in the yard. Guess what happened? It survived and it now has new growth. I count it as 1/2. My explanation is that the epiphyllum can be grown as an air-plant (the kind of plant growing in the air, Florida has a lot).


The last one is white. I know it for sure because it has bloomed several times. It bears the little buds that get longer and longer in a few days. The next morning it suddenly withers and falls. It happened several times, leaving me so much regret. 


One morning I was watering the plants as usual. All of a sudden I saw this large, spectacular flower with numerous petals hanging from a leaf. It was so white, a little milky. It was so beautiful that I even forgot to smell its fragrance. 


To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

Pictures or words?

It was said that one picture is worth one thousand words. It is true, particularly when you don't have time. Here are some recent pictures of the garden:

Early June snapshot

This is a picture I took this morning. 

What it looks like in early June

Compare it with earlier post:

What it looked like in April

Here is a meek harvest:

Two cherry tomatoes, one Jalapeno pepper, and one Serrano pepper

Here is a baby praying mantis resting on the fig tree:

A baby praying mantis

The first zucchini

I chose to plant zucchini because it was said to be the easiest vegetable grown in the backyard. It is absolutely true. The first zucchini came out a few days ago. I wasn't sure how it grows: Did I need a trellis? Otherwise would they lie on the ground? A colleague of mine told me unlike Japanese cucumbers, the zucchini doesn't need the support. So far the little zucchini grows upright. Let's see. 

The first zucchini

Close-up 

Now all 5 tomatoes have cages; I thinned out the cilantro and dills; The seeds of lettuce and basil haven't germinated, and I guess they probably won't. I planted lettuce seeds because I bought these seeds in the winter but didn't find time to plant them. I knew they are winter vegetables and it is getting warmer now, but at least they should germinate and give the show, right? It's strange that the basil seeds haven't germinated either. To me they are the easiest. I have a basil plant in a container from last year and it gave tons of seeds. I will try them again.    

Lake Arrowhead

In the past couple days I stayed at the north side of Lake Arrowhead. Every morning and at free time in the afternoon I took a walk along the lake. There are two ALA trails along the lake shore at opposite directions. ALA means Arrowhead Lake Association. ALA trails are open to the public. Both trails are under the shade of big cedar trees. One is longer, around 1.6 miles. The other is much shorter. They both end when you reach those private big houses. I walked more times on the longer one. I have seen more manzanitas here than anywhere else. They are even close to the water, in contrast to my impression about them being California native plants. They must be very adaptive. This has also lent me confidence to have them in my harsh backyard. I like their red peeled trunk. They are definitely my favorite small-sized tree (California native oak trees are my favorite big ones). So bad I forgot to take photos.


I saw a lot of animals along the trail, too. Blue jays, squirrels, and gophers.

Blue jay

Gray squirrel

Gopher

Interestingly, they are much quieter than their urban-dwelling cousins. Remember how loud the squirrels, parrots, and peacocks can be in the city? Even the sounds of blue jay are more tolerable here. I haven't seen gophers in my backyard. Hopefully I won't see them ever. 

The first sign!

Here is a photo of the first sign of Japanese cucumber I planted 1.5 weeks ago.

The first sign of Japanese cucumber

This is what happened: I dug 3 holes, in each I planted two seeds. One week after, 4 seeds germinated. A couple days later, one of them withered. This morning I thinned one out from one hole which had two left. Now there are two seedlings in two holes (one each). 

Here is the Jalapeno pepper I transplanted from a container into the bed. It came last year but didn't give many peppers. I hope transferring to the bed will boost its vigor and productivity.

Jalapeno pepper

Other activities in the garden include that the cilantro and the dill are germinating, the chamomile is growing tiny, the zucchini is flowering. I didn't take pictures though. 

The most splendid thing right now is all the lilies are blooming like crazy. Earlier this year I bought a bag of bulbs called "assorted lilies" and put them all in one big plastic planter. They all came out. 12 of them! Now they are blooming with all different colors. So far I have seen white, red, yellow, and pink. Here is the yellow one:

Yellow lilies

Here are lilies of other kind: 

Two lilies blooming every spring. They have different tones of red.

I also went on a hike last Saturday. The trail was short, steep, and close to where I live. I found many unknown native flowers. One of them is this one:

Native blooming along the hiking trail

Around last year I had a crush on California native plants and once even considered to rid the lawn and convert it into a native garden. But after trial and error, I found some native plants were not as hardy as they appeared to be, and they are unlikely to do well in the urban clay soil. Moreover, I am a hiker. Whenever I want to see them, I can just go for a hike. They are everywhere. They are like a garden in nature. Why would I need to have another one?

But I did keep some common ones in the garden under the oak tree - manzanita, ceanothus, coffee berry, etc. This spring I spread California poppy seeds around them. Now the blooming is gorgeous.

Blooming California poppy

  

Photos from container garden

While waiting for the vegetables to grow, I captured some photos from my container garden. 

Lily

More lilies

Begonia

Container Herb Garden (from upper left clockwise, geranium, scented pelargonium, an oak tree seedling in a small container, parsley, and thyme)

Lemon thyme

Mint

Peppermint

Basil