Another Big Haul of Plums - Second Part of Harvest

I thought that since we picked two days ago our first big batch of Japanese plums, that it may be harder to find as many ripe today.  But that extreme sun and heat that we've been having lately in Vancouver resulted in quick ripening.  So I hauled about the same amount again today :

Standing on the bathroom scales, it looks like we got about 37 pounds of plums today.  So about 70+ pounds so far.  Surprisingly, there are still a lot of plums left in the tree.  We've probably picked 2 / 3 of it now.  So the total may be about 100+ pounds of plums this year.

Wow!  What a little over-achiever this plum tree is.  I hope to treat it well, and this happy relationship can continue for many years.  Soon I'll need to start learning some plum recipes.  :-)

Big Haul of Japanese Plums - First Part of Harvest

One of the fruit trees which has overwhelmed me with its success is our young Methley Japanese plum tree.  Here is last year's harvest (below), and here are my comments from last year, as well as photos of the inside of the plum, which is sweet and juicy and very blood red.  With that rich colour, I'm sure they would make amazing juice.

This year, I've been munching plums for a couple weeks now, and finally, with my 14-year-old's help, climbed the ladder and picked about half the plums, which were ripe.  I don't mind letting the birds and wasps have many of the plums (there were many pecked / partly eaten ones), but it would be a shame to let too many of them drop to the ground.  So here we are, with about half of this year's harvest :

Not a bad haul, for a tree we've only had for about 4 years now.  Here is the poor tree about 2 weeks ago, with the plums weighing down the branches so they form a weeping shape :

It might be hard to see, but here is a typical branch, from a couple weeks ago :

The branches were loaded like that from trunk to tip.  Pretty amazing.

As far as my other fruit trees, not so much success.  My italian plum which bore a lot of fruit last year, but had come down with some disease, put out flowers and even had some miniature plums forming in the Spring, but I don't see any now.  None!

My young peach tree gave me so much joy over the past few years.  Here is last year's harvest (below), and see my blog post for more details.

Well, this year it put out a LOT of pink flowers, but then didn't follow up with any leaves.  At all.  It looked like it had finally given in to a disease which left many of its tender branches broken and oozing.  It looked really quite painful.  So I continued to water it, and hope, but finally a couple of weeks ago I realized it was not coming back, so chopped it back.  I hope to replace it next Spring.  So sad.

My little Morello sour cherry tree was purchased in 2008.  Here he is, the following year, showing good potential for fruit production :

Funny thing is that he never really grew very much.  And he continued to have the same weird pattern, fruit along the branches, and leaves at the tips.  Except the branches grew longer, so it looked even weirder.  Then last year, something (I suspect a raccoon) broke off the top half of the tree one night, leaving only 1 long branches and a few tiny side branches.  I decided to keep him, and see what would happen this year.

So this year, something again broke the main branch (perhaps crows this time), leaving it pretty much a skinny trunk and some tiny side branches.  I don't think he's worth saving now. he looks pretty pathetic, I will probably replace him next Spring also.  And will try to dig out the hole and add a lot more good soil, while we're at it.

But all is not lost.  My Bartlett pear, which was suffering for many years with a disgusting fungus infection, is doing much better this year, and looks like it may even bear a crop of pears.  Over this past year, the trees behind us were taken down, opening up more sun, and I spent some while removing the moss and lichens from the branches, and even sprayed it before leaf-out this Spring with a homemade mixture of dishsoap and vegetable oil and water.  Any or all of those things seemed to help.

The espaliers are also doing very well, all 3 of them.  And my dear "David" (Davidii involucrata) tree is forming a nice shape :

Here he is flanked by two garden totems, made from my ceramic pieces.  If you want an amusing story of how the first totem became an apartment, read this post from May 2015.  When I went out there a couple of weeks ago to install the second totem, the ants and soil had made it all the way up to the top piece.  Pretty weird and amazing.  I wonder how long it take for them to full inhabit the second garden totem?

The Last of the Espalier Apples

I thought I took a photo of the last basket of apples I picked from the espalier apple tree, about a week ago now.  They were more ripe than when I picked the previous basket, since the seeds inside are now brown, not white.  However, they are still a bit more tart than I like.  Fortunately, I discovered that if I slice and dry them, the dried apple slices turn out sweeter, and quite delicious.  So my counter has been full of apple slices, air drying, every since :

As they shrink and we keep eating the dried ones, I keep adding more.  Perhaps I should have spent the time to dry them in the oven on low heat, but since I haven't been in a rush, this method has been working for us.  I think this is now the last of my fruit, other than a few more Autumn Gold raspberries, which will probably be turning moldy now that the weather has turned to light rain.  I will miss this steady harvest coming from the garden this past month or two.

After I visited my Mom Wednesday, and saw her sunflower buds, I came home and noticed that one of mine was already in flower.  I had not noticed from the kitchen window, since the flower was facing in the other direction.  I should have taken a photo then, so I didn't need to step out into the rain this morning, to take a photo for the benefit of (bragging to) my Mom.  The two taller ones on the left of the photo are also in bud :

Another one is much shorter, but has a large bud also:

I have a fall crocus (which I didn't intentionally plant originally, but it has been popping up for a number of years now).  It looked better before the rain hit it :

My dahlias weren't impressive this year.  Again, they got off too a slow start due to slugs, and perhaps are a big crowded out now with my other plants.  My banana did re-grow since it was cut down, but didn't get very big.  But at least I was able to create some ceramic leaf platters from it :

The Harvest of Apples and Grapes Continues

For someone who doesn't even cook dinners more than once or twice per week, I have been doing a LOT of home canning lately.  First was the apple juice from the "mystery" apple tree.  Then a few batches of mint syrup from the chocolate mint in my garden.  Then I did that batch of grape juice from the grapes I needed to pick a bit prematurely last week.  Funny how such green grapes can turn into such pink juice:

Anyhow, today I picked some of the apples from the espalier tree, mostly to thin the top-most apples, since I have been a bit neglectful recently, and to pick the bottom-most apples which are ripe.  I also picked some of the asian pears, to lighten up the branches.  This is what I brought in today, and I have much more on the two espalier trees :

Since some of the apple (top-most ones) were too tart, I decided to make juice from some of the apples, and from some of the grapes left over from last week which we didn't end up eating.   (I picked some grapes today, and they were much sweeter and easier to eat.)  I ended up with a large juice jar, and small individual size juice jar.  The apple-grape blend is particularly tasty but ends up pretty drinkable, without adding much water (although quite a bit of sugar).

The bottom-most apple was ripe, but many of them appeared to be bruised, even though I know they didn't fall.  That must be some sort of disease, which shows up as brown spots inside the apple.  I don't remember it last year.  Does anyone recognize this condition?

Anyhow, I still have more fruit coming, in addition to the apples and asian pears.  The italian plums produced a very light crop this year, not a heavy one like last year, but when I sampled one today, it was sweet.  I would have asked my husband to help climb a ladder to pick them today, but we'll be mostly away the next couple of days, so won't likely have a chance to eat them.  Better we wait and pick and eat them fresh.

The fall gold raspberries are absolutely amazing, with large and sweet fruit.  I ate quite a few handfuls today, when I was out cleaning up the garden.  I put in about 3 hours today, and had my 13 year old join me also, and managed to haul out 8 wheelbarrows of weeds and cuttings!!  Mostly blackberry vines and morning glory vines, which were quite out of control this year.  The few areas I tackled look MUCH better now.

On a totally unrelated topic, I stumbled upon these adorable bear-hugging-a-nut cookies at this site, and had to share them.  Wouldn't that be awesome for a kids' party (except for a nut-free one!) ? :

Premature Portion of the Grape Harvest

I have a crew coming tomorrow to repaint the white trim on my house and my shed, so tonight my son and I cut down the grape vines which were climbing through the railings of the shed.  The grapes probably need a few more weeks to be fully ripe, but I decided to harvest this section early, and at least I can make juice from them, it will just need a bit more sugar added.

We were out for dinner and visiting my parents briefly, so only had half an hour before it became dark, so we had to work quickly.  By the end, the mosquitoes were already biting.  But I was amazed at how many grapes we harvested.  The basket I usually pick into, was full and spilling over, and this is only about half of the grapes!  I look forward to harvesting the remainder when they are riper.

One of the varieties is softer and sweeter, and almost pleasant to eat.  The other one is only good for juice, in my opinion.  But I've been impressed by the vigour of the vines, and the good crops over the years.

Looking back in my blog, I've been too lazy to posting my grape harvest photos consistently (although I'm sure I take photos of them every year), but here is the grape harvest in 2009, and the grape harvest in 2011.  The grapes are definitely plumper in those photos, but there were MUCH more of them this year.  Yay!  I must be doing something right.

Oh, and the Fall Gold raspberries are bearing their second crop now.  This is the crop where they are super large and juicy.  Yummy.  I didn't have time to pick them tonight, it was too late when I was finished with the grapes.  I also needed to come inside to finish making the mint syrup I had started a couple of nights ago.  I finished three batches.  This is two of them :

The syrup "recipe" is extremely simple.  One part mint leaves and stems, cut into sections (with the flowers removed), to two parts water.  Bring to a boil, turn off, and let steep for about 10 minutes.  Mmmm, the house smells absolutely wonderful at this point.  Remove/strain out the mint, and you have a very strong mint infusion (tea).  Then mix one part infusion with one part sugar, and bring to a rolling boil.  At that point, the frothy water will become clear and dark, and the bubbles, if any, will disappear.  Add a few drops of green food coloring, to your preference.   Then I keep this syrup at or near boiling temperature while I boil jars and lids, and then scoop / pour the syrup into jars.  One day I should buy some nice jars, so I can be proud to give them away to friends.  I save so many, I haven't needed to buy any.

The mint syrup is wonderful on ice cream, in milk, in steamed milk, in hot chocolate...  Or this summer, I tried making mojitos with it.  Yumm.  One part lime (or lemon) juice (I use the "Realimon/Realemon" stuff, and it works fine), about 2 parts mint syrup (or to taste), and maybe 5 parts cold water.  Very refreshing for summer.  Rum optional.  I don't like rum.

Tomorrow night I will run the grapes through the juicer.  I love this time of year, even though it can be quite busy, making the best of the harvest.

"Mystery Apple" Harvest

While we were away last week, my mom emailed me that apples were falling off my "mystery apple" tree at the back, and she picked up a few and made some applesauce with them.  So today, after recovering from my cold, and waiting for the rain (yay - that was welcomed after such a stretch of dry weather) to stop, I went out, and sure enough, there were quite a few apples on the ground.  So I picked those up, and picked any in the tree I could reach or pull into reach.  This was the best harvest yet from my "mystery" apple tree (when I bought it, it was unlabelled, so I'm not really sure what variety it is) :

Unfortunately, since my fruit trees are 100% organic and untreated, they are a bit scrappy :

...so I decided to make apple juice.  After 2 hours in the juicer, and a bit of sugar, I had a couple of liters of fresh apple juice in the fridge :

...and from the mushy apples left behind in the juicer, I pressed those through a sieve, and got a similar quantity of applesauce :

All that's left of the apple harvest is one apple who looked too nice to juice, so will be eaten raw :

I still have lots of apples and asian pears coming on my espalier trees.  I look forward to harvesting those soon, too.

Peach Harvest

When we planted our little Frost Peach tree a few years ago (in 2010), we didn't know how much fruit, if any, to expect.  I don't think I've ever had more than one to taste, and when I did, I picked it a bit early, so the squirrels wouldn't get to it first.  This year, the tree produced nine peaches!  Here is 7 of them:

I picked one earlier today, to sample it.  Wow!  It was really amazing, and I don't usually even like peaches, I prefer nectarines.  Very sweet and just juicy enough.  It separated nicely from the pit, as I like them.  Here are a few photos of that sample :

I'm really impressed.  The tree is still young, and very small.  It really doesn't look like it could bear so much fruit successfully :

I took photos of the peaches before picking them, since they look so beautiful on the tree:

Ha ha, this one is hiding next to our Black Veil Brides / Blood on the Dance Floor themed bird house.  That is a painting of Andy Biersack from BVB :

Japanese Plum Harvest

Considering we bought our Japanese plum (Methley) tree only three years ago, it provided a good harvest this year.  Yesterday, I noticed the plums started disappearing (squirrels!), and falling (squirrels?) to the ground, so I picked most of them, leaving only a half dozen which were not fully ripe (which were already gone today - squirrels!).  Here is my harvest :

As the description promised, the plums have "dark red juicy flesh" with "mild and sweet flavour" and it is an "attractive and vigorous tree".  It is a truly beautiful tree, and I think I've done a reasonable job of pruning it so far, so it is growing in nicely.

Since the forecast yesterday was for rain, we had postponed our big BBQ for the following week, and then it didn't end up raining at all, so I spent a few good solid hours in the garden.  One of my projects was to fight through a solid mat of ornamental grass, which is growing all around my red Japanese maple, so that I can get to a nasty blackberry vine which is growing up from under the tree, and pushing through it for the last few years.  After more than an hour of chopping through the grass, I had cleared a path which is close to the blackberry, but removing it, and the grass directly under the tree, will be a job for another day.  The path I cleared was more than one wheelbarrow's worth :

Japanese Plum

We bought a Japanese Plum tree only a couple of years ago, and it is doing very well.  This time, we dug an extra large hole to plant into.  Last year I got one plum, to sample, which was a nice surprise.  This year, it is fairly loaded with fruits, although many of them look scarred, so I don't know if that is some insect damage, or ...?  Anyhow, today I thought one of the plums looked dark enough to sample.  When polished, it looked like this:

The flesh is VERY red, mild (I'd prefer it a bit more punchy) but sweet, and the fruit clings to the stone, so the best way to eat these little sweeties will be to pop them into your mouth, then spit back the stone.  This little tree was definitely a good investment.

Garden Treats and Treasures

One of the many things I love about my garden is how it surprises me with treats - such as the few remaining Fall Gold raspberries which I enjoyed today.  And the wild strawberries which are still bearing fruit.  And then this cheerful Michaelmas Daisy which sprung out of our outdoor chess board :

It was perfect gardening weather today, so I spent about 2 hours in the garden, cutting down old flower stalks, and pulling weeds.  I was surprised to find a persimmon (the larger one in the photo below) lying face down in the lawn.  The lawn was cut a few weeks ago, so it had been dropped there since.  I suspect it is from the neighbour's persimmon tree, since although I also have one, it is not doing well, and has not borne any fruit yet.  I'm sure it was carried into my yard by a squirrel, and dropped on its way to find a hiding place for its little treasure.

The second persimmon was even more of a surprise.  I was flattening some mounds left by the mole in the lower yard.  It has been making a complete mess of the yard all summer, and I've been shoveling and carrying away the mounds of dirt and rocks (wondering how it could possibly push up SO much material, and what will happen to our yard when those tunnels and holes collapse).  Today, I decided just to flatten them, and scatter some grass seed on the soil.  One of the mounds contained the persimmon, nicely buried inside, like buried treasure.  Squirrels, for sure.  This time, it reached its hiding place.

Fall Gold Indeed

My Fall Gold raspberries started ripening just before we left on vacation a week ago.  I'm glad my Mom, who faithfully looked after our house and garden while we were away, had a chance to enjoy some of them this past week.  They are nice raspberries in the summer, with a surprisingly mild flavor.  But during their second crop this time of year, words don't express enough the amazing sweetness of these raspberries - truly gold, in both color and flavor!

PS. The raspberries in the photo are surrounded by some of our Asian pears from our delightful espalier tree, which are also nice and crisp and sweet.

More Raspberries

Since the raspberry season started about a week ago, it has been raining on and off, and I haven't been out much to pick more.  So today when it cleared and I went out, I was sad to see many berries have already gone mouldy.  But the ones which hadn't sure made it worth my while :

It's interesting that this year, the red berries seem to have overtaken the golden ones.  I'm pretty sure last year, the golden berries were a higher proportion than they are this year.  But then again, maybe I'm thinking of the fall crop, in which the golden berries are very large and sweet (see this post from Sept 2011).

I had a little adventure in the raspberry patch last week, a couple days after my first raspberry post.  I was going to pick some berries, and discovered a wasp nest in the branches.  It was already a couple inches across.  I am a "live and let live" person as much as possible, but that would not end well for everyone involved.  

At first, I tried just cutting the 3 branches which it was suspended from, in hope that it would fall to the ground, and the wasps would abandon it.  But when I clipped the branches (3 black wasps flew out as I was clipping it!), it fell a bit and got suspended in some other branches.  Then I decided to shower it with water, to discourage the wasps, but that didn't seem to work.  They seemed a bit agitated, but continued to fly in and out of the nest.  So finally I realized that I could blast it hard with the water, and break the nest apart.  Hopefully that is the end of that, and the wasps pick a much more suitable location for their next nest.  I will need to be vigilant, in case they try to rebuild there.

Grape Harvest

This year's grape harvest was a pretty good one.  For some reason, last year's was a big disappointment.  But I was pleased with the harvest this year.  I asked my daughter to take a photo of me, with my basket of grapes :

These are wonderful grapes of an unknown variety, but they have seeds and are a bit too sour for easy eating.  So I only reserved two clumps (for now - I may yet juice them), and promptly converted the batch into 5 jars of grape/apple juice (I added in the remaining apples from my espalier tree, the ones not already snatched by the squirrels).

I didn't take too many photos, since I already have photos & posts from 2 years ago...

... about my grape harvest then, which appears was even larger than this year's : 2009 Grape Harvest.

... about the 3 varieties of grapes : 2009 Photos of Grape Varieties

... and about my new juicer, which is like a reliable friend to me (I've made 3 different batches of juice in the past 3 weeks) : My Stainless Steel Juicer

Based on my experience these past 3 years, that the red variety of grape bears only a couple of bunches (this year, only 1 pitiful bunch smaller than my fist), which rot on the vine, I think I will cut down this vine entirely, and make room for another variety of table grape.  My mother-in-law has a table grape which bore fruit for the first time this year, and if I like the flavour (I haven't tasted it yet), I will ask her for a cutting.  I have a neighbour also who has wonderful sweet table grapes, who could provide a cutting.

The other variety of green grape which I do have, that is seedless and quite delicious (although a bit tart) also bears very few bunches.  This year, only 3.  But I will give it another chance.

My espalier apple tree bore a large abundance of apples again this year, at least the top and bottom varieties.  Again, the middle row didn't bear any apples.  The apple tree in the yard didn't bear any apples.  Nor did the pear tree, for that matter.  Disappointing.  But perhaps since I pruned the apple tree back a bit, it may respond with fruit again next year.

My espalier asian pear bore wonderful fruit on all 3 rows, and if it weren't supported, I'm sure the branches would have broken under the weight of the fruit.  See photos from 2009 of my espaliered apple and asian pear fruits.

My relatively new espalier european pear tree bore 2 fruits, which I believe were the red bartlett pears.  The first one, I picked while still a bit firm, let it ripen inside, and enjoyed with the family.  The second one I left to ripen a bit longer on the tree, but I see that the squirrels must have enjoyed that one.

PS. Oct 11 - It's funny how taste is so subjective.  My mother-in-law brought me a sample of her wonderful, sweet green table grapes to try, and they tasted almost identical to mine!  Hers are labelled Niagara Table grapes, and bear the description "Large bunches of tasty, green fruit used for wine, desserts and juices".  So I guess I may have one of the sweeter varieties available.  Likely the best I will get, for our cool wet climate on the west coast.  I dream of the yellow-with-pink-blush Muscat grapes I only once ever found in a grocery store, and the tiny green (almost yellow) Champagne grapes which I found in a local produce store for the first time this year.  But I'm sure neither of these would ripen here.  I remember when I was a kid, my mom had grapes growing on the side of the garage, but they never ripened enough to be edible.  So I guess I should be happy with mine which make great juice, and are edible for those who like a real zippy flavour.  I will, however, remove the red one which is taking space and sunshine and not successful at all.

Garden Treats

This is a wonderful time of year, when the golden "Fall Gold" raspberries produce their second crop, with even larger and sweeter berries than the summer's crop.  The espalier apples and asian pears are starting to become ripe, and even some grapes are ready to pick.  Today I was able to bring in this harvest :

I washed and prepared them, and called the family to sample:

Look at the size of those raspberries :

My absence of posts this summer have not been indicative of the time spent in the garden.  I have been fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time in the garden this year, although never as much as I would like.  During the week I work, and even with taking Fridays off this year, I have spent most of my Fridays doing laundry, tidying and cleaning, attending to various errands and medical appointments and such.  So most of my gardening has been in the evenings (while the days were longer) or weekends.

Today I spent 3 hours tackling my hillside, which is difficult terrain, and full of challenges :  

This summer I started to climb the hillside to remove some blackberry vines which were shooting up from above my Gunnera (top right), very high on that hill.  On my first attempt, I discovered that the wasps had a nest in the ground, and was fortunate to escape (I didn't know I could run that fast!) with only one sting.  I have tried 3 times to eliminate them with wasp killer, and this last time, I finally was successful.  (I probably would have left them alone if I had any other way to approach that hillside, but it is getting too difficult to come from above.)  So today I climbed up, but after removing about 4 wheelbarrows full of weeds and plant material, I still hadn't climbed all the way up to remove all the blackberry vines.  So that will need to be another day.

This year was the first year I planted my giant sunflowers in the small "kitchen" / herb garden outside my kitchen window.  So it has been fun to watch them grow.  Although all their bright cheery faces are pointed in the other direction, I only see their backs from the window.

I think I will do that again.  There is good sun in that location, and I like the result.

I hope you are all enjoying your gardens, the fruits and veggies and flowers, the fall colours, the tidying up and preparing for winter.  It never ends, but that is what makes gardening such a wonderful pastime.

Garden Mosaic and "David" Tree

I love this time of year in the garden.  Every couple of days there seems to be a new type of flower blooming.  There are early signs of fruit emerging.  Here is a mosaic from photos from a stroll through the garden this evening (after weeding for about an hour, and just before it got too dark for photos):

What do you think of the white irises in the bottom right of the mosaic?  I was pleased to find them blooming today.  They were buds last time I looked.  They look so delicate and pure.  I received them as a gift from my mom's friend Irene a number of years ago, and they have grown into a beautiful patch.  It was a precious gift, which I hope to in turn share with many people over the years to come.

I am absolutely smitten with my new "David" tree (Davidia involucrata, commonly know as "Dove tree" or "Hankerchief tree", but fondly named "David tree" for my son, David).  Since I planted it just under 3 weeks ago, I have been playing around with an underplanting of sedums and other succulents, and watering it every evening since.  What do you think of it?  Although I read that the Dove tree may take some 15 years to bloom, I am already so pleased with the gorgeous bronze-tinged and deeply textured foliage, that I think I will be quite okay with the wait.  Already the small twig which I bought at the Van Dusen Garden Plant Sale has developed noticeable branches:

Oh, I forgot to include in my mosaic my tiny Frost peaches (most of which will prune themselves long before they ripen):

Last year, I managed to pick and taste our single peach before the squirrel got to it.  Perhaps I'll be able to taste another one or two this year.  The tree is still young, so I don't expect much.

Fruit Tree Blossoms

The fruit tree are one month behind compared to last year, but at last they are bursting into blossoms.  Here is the asian pear espalier:

The european pear espalier, being younger, is off to a good start (although it looks overwhelmed by the massive honesuckle vine behind it, which I keep trimmed back from the pear tree):

The following shows my Frost peach tree (left) and Rainier cherry, with closeups of the blossoms.

In the mosaic below...

Top: Ribes odoratum (Missouri currant), which is loaded with more fragrant blooms every year, but disappointingly bears almost no currants.  I am sure I have seen pollinators in previous years (although this year will be pretty challenging, with every second day raining - today it rained very hard).

Bottom left : Lapin (dark) cherry blossoms, with yellow ribes blossoms behind.

Bottom right : One of my rhubarb plants looks like it will flower this year.  I am reading that this should be discouraged, by removing the flower.  So I'll keep my eye on it.  Perhaps capture a few more photos, before I take such drastic action.

My new garden path is looking pretty nice, with the peonies and hostas just starting to shoot up on both sides.

The weeping cherry (Prunus "Snofozam" or "Snow fountains") in the center is barely visible.  A couple of weeks ago, it was the only tree in full bloom:

The Alchemilla mollis (Lady's mantle) is not a showy plant, but I love the way it holds beads of rain:

Finally, since I tackle various parts of my garden at random, so often forgot to capture "before" and "after" photos, these are kinda "mid" photos - I've done some cleanup (as evidenced by soil being visible, which it would not have been in the "before" scene), but still have much to do, so it is not really "after".  I am clearing out sections of rampant bluebells, removing (and finding good homes for) daylilies which have spread too far, and removing chunks of fall asters which are too widespread, leaving instead tidier "clumps" of them.  It feels good to finally make some progress on this section of garden: