The next generation of tomato: Super Bush (hehehehe)

Yeah, it looks small now, but this meager little seedling will grow up to be a big tomato. It's a Super Bush, a determinate tomato plant, supposedly good for container gardening. Because, it's determinate, all of the tomatoes will ripen at once, and the plant won't produce any more tomatoes, so I plan on starting one of these suckers once a month for the next couple of months, so that we have a a few bursts of tomatoes. The fruit on the Super Bush variety is supposed to grow to up to 6 ounces, which is far larger than the Cherries, but not nearly as big as a tomato can get. I guess it would be considered a small tomato. I'm really excited to start the next generation, since I've been practicing on the poor Cherries (who turned purple several times due to low Phosphorous levels). Hopefully this time I have it figured out. Isn't it cute?

Tarragon - Curse you!

Today, I bought a French Tarragon plant (pictured on the right). I tasted it this morning, and my tongue is still numb. So yeah, it's safe to say that it was labeled properly. I still have my mystery Tarragon plant (pictured on the left). The mystery Tarragon, is just starting to grow, so it's hard to tell if it's French or Russian. What do you think it is?

My Balcony Garden

Okay... Here's an update on the actual garden. Currently growing the following:

Basils
-Lettuce Leaf
-Cinnamon
-Thai Queen
Oregano - Hot and Spicy
Marjoram
Chives
Thyme
-English
-Varigated Lemon
Sage
Mint
-Apple
-Spearmint
-Mojito
Tarragon - One is French, the other ???
Garlic
Peppers
-Jalepeno
-New Mex
-Ancho
Cherry Tomatoes
-Sungold
-Supersweet 100
-Sweet Gold
Tomato - Super Bush
Alpine Strawberries
Impatiens - Super Elfin
Fuschia - Upright
Sweetpea
Cape Honeysuckle


So, yeah. That's sort of a lot of plants for a little balcony. The Cherry Tomatoes are doing wonderfully and already have some green tomatoes growing on them. I'm especially looking forward to the Sungolds, since they have such a wonderful reputation. The Bush Tomato will replace one of the Cherries after John and I decide who gets voted off the island. When I started this project last year, I was sure that I would kill everything. Now, it's awesome to look out on the balcony and see the garden, and the urban habitat that it's creating.

I would love to see pictures of your gardens! Post a link or an image in the comments!

St. John Community Fair

St. John, Washington is a small wheat farming community in Eastern Washington State. The area is fondly referred to as the Paloose. St. John is akin to Silvertown in the movie Meet Joe Dirt. It's America's best small country town, and where everyone should want to live. My mom grew up in St. John and my Grandma, Eileen, still lives there. We make the annual stock show our reunion. Last week, I was there with my family. For the first time, I had an entry in the fair! I chose a photo of my Arabian colt, Klay...



I won a blue ribbon (on a Dutch system), but failed to achieve a higher award, like my sister Jennifer, who won Best in Class for her photo of the US Capitol Building. My sister, Erica, was also robbed from a division ribbon with her beautiful photo of the Cle Elum River. Although, I live in the city, these are my country roots. I am thankful to my grandparents for teaching me about gardening and hard work from a very young age (I picked A LOT of Raspberries). Next year... BEST IN SHOW!

Gossip Garden is on furlough

Sorry guys, my camera had an accident. Once I get it fixed/replaced, I will start taking pictures again. The camera phone just doesn't get good enough pictures for the little hummers. I will have you know, however, that there are several new characters in the garden. The Black Chinned hummingbirds moved in! I believe that one of them (Nate OMG!!!) chased Chuck out of the garden. I haven't seen him in quite awhile. It looks like Nate is scamming on all of Chuck's hotties! The two pictures were taken about a month ago, when my camera wasn't broken. Lily Bass (above) and Chuck and Serena (Below).

Gossip Garden: Lilly Bass

Lilly Bass, mother of Serena. Step mother of Chuck. Well, Serena and Chuck are usually telling Lilly what to do, not the other way around. So, our beautiful little Anna's female of Gossip Garden is named Lilly. I love this little bird. She will fly by me while I'm out there to check me out. She just has to be involved with everything going on. She is the only bird that drinks from all three feeders and she is always buzzing around the flowers. I can only guess that she's been around a few blocks. Maybe she dated Trent Reznor in the 90's. Garden Dan and her seem to be about equals, but Lilly always holds her own with the other birds. She just smart enough not to get into a lot of fights.

Lilly likes a drink from time to time. Don't we all?

Lilly was one of the first birds to show up. Thanks Lilly!

That's all for our Gossip Garden character development for now. As soon as I see another regular, I'll add it to the show. Stay tuned for more Gossip Garden updates!

Gossip Garden: Dan

Dan is sort of a tool. I don't have a lot of pictures of him, and the reason why is that he's a tool. He's always in the wrong place at the right time. He's not afraid of people, but it looks like someone kicked his ass. Maybe it was Chuck. I wouldn't blame him. In reality, I think he's molting, which gives him an awkward appearance. Dan was one of the first birds to show up, and he was definitely the first male Anna's. So, I have to give him some props for loyalty. Every time another bird kicks his ass, he's back again for more. It's paying off too, because the high society birds are starting to tolerate him a little more. Chuck hates him, but hasn't killed him yet, so that's good. Every time Dan and Serena date, they realize that two birds of different species just can't make it work. Stupid birds, they just keep trying. 

 

Dan's cute enough, but he's no Chuck Bass.

Next Blog: Lilly Bass

Gossip Garden: Serena

Ahhh Serena...  So beautiful, so misunderstood.  Serena is somewhat of a mystery.  Is she a good girl or bad girl???  Is our Serena a Rufus or an Allen's???  I don't think we'll every know, but she is pretty.  Chuck has decided that if she's around, she's sort of okay.  She doesn't have Chuck's bulk and tenacity, but she asserts herself well enough.  She's also pretty sneaky, and can sometimes get to a feeder without another bird seeing her.  

Serena is my favorite character of Gossip Garden. Blair is officially my favorite character on Gossip Girl, but I haven't seen the hummingbird version of her yet, so her name remains reserved. Garden Serena has learned to chase everyone else (but Chuck) away from the feeders. Being a smaller species than the larger Anna's hummingbirds (Chuck and Dan included), she has a size disadvantage. However, she makes up for it in speed and agility. She is by far the #2 in social hierarchy and can pull her Black AmEx out of her purse anytime she wants, and lay down the law.  But everytime she's sad or needs a snack, you can see her here at the bar.

Next Blog: Dan

Gossip Garden: Chuck

As I create my balcony garden, I try to select plants that will attract hummingbirds.  Several months ago I set out my first feeder.  It took about two weeks to attract the first, but once that first bird came, many more followed.  The best part of my balcony now is the birds that come and go all day long.  Inevitably, you end up recognizing regulars.  I like to think of it as the Gossip Girl of the balcony garden, and so I've named each bird accordingly.  

First, we have Chuck.  He comes and goes as he pleases and takes whatever he can get.  He's beautiful and poised.  His feathers are always perfect.  These are Chuck's feeders and he reminds everyone that they're his every chance he can get.  

Chuck showed up one day and raised hell.  We had a nice balance of 3 beautiful female Annas and one male (Dan), but chuck showed us who was who.  He deserves the feeders, because he is the king of the social hierarchy.  As it is with hummingbirds, he's completely antisocial, but has climbed and fought his way to the top.  So he sits on the trellis and keeps guard over his territory.  For a long while, he made sure that he was the ONLY bird that could access the three feeders I put out.  Now adays, he's a little more relaxed.  I think he wants to find a good female or 8 and have some baby Chucks.  

Chuck keeping guard...

He keeps guard rather well.  He's quite proud of himself.  

A shot of Chuck at the bottle.  He definitely has a drinking problem.  

Next Blog: Serena

Thank You Aunt Kathy!

My wonderful aunt Kathy in Scappoose, Oregon sent me some great books to help me with my garden and culinary inclinations. She sent the Food Lover's Companion from Barron's. I highly recommend it for all you foodies and people like me that are learning little by little. So... from time to time, I'm going to quote from the book. I will randomly select (close my eyes and open a page and point a finger) an entry for all of us to share and comment on. If you have a recipe or suggestions that we can all enjoy, please pipe in!

Here we go! (Eyes closed) And the winner is... Cherry

Cherry Said to date as far back as 300 B.C., cherries were named after the Turkish town of Cerasus. Throughout the centuries, cherry trees have been lauded for their deliciously succulent fruit as well as for their beauty. Tourists flock to Washington D.C., ever year to see the cherry blossoms on the ornamental cherry trees that were originally presented to America's capital in 1912 by Tokyo's governor. There are two main groups of cherries -- sweet and sour. The larger of the two are the firm, heart-shaped sweet cherries. They're delicious for eating out of hand and can also be cooked. The most popular varieties range from the dark red to purplish BING, LAMBERT and TARTARIAN to the golden, red-blushed ROYAL ANN. MARASCHINO CHERRIES are usually made from the Royal Ann cherries. Sour cherries are smaller, softer and more globular than the sweet varieties. Most are too tart to eat raw, but make excellent pies, preserves and the like. The bestselling sour cherry varieties are the bright red EARLY RICHMOND (the first cherry are available in the late spring) and MONTMORENCY, and the dark mahogany red MORELLO. Most fresh cherries are available from May (June for sour cherries) through August. Choose brightly colored, shiny, plump fruit. Sweet cherries should be quite firm, but not hard; sour varieties should be medium-firm. Stemmed cherries are a better buy, but those with stems last longer. Store unwashed cherries in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Dried cherries-both sweet and sour-are available in many markets today. They can be eaten as a snack, or used in baked goods or desserts as one would use raisins. Cherries contain minor amounts of vitamins and minerals. See also CHOKECHERRY.

The New Food Lover's Companion: Fourth Edition

Now, I'm hungry for some cherries, specifically Chukar Cherries - a lovely chocolatier that resales out of Pike Place Market in Seattle, but also has a great website akin to Harry and David. They have wonderful chocolate covered cherries. For more information about Washington cherries, check out www.nwcherries.com. My favorite cherry is the Ranier - huge and luscious. Just one more reason to visit the Pacific Northwest! Does anyone have any cherry favorites (recipes or otherwise) that they want to share??????

My Balcony Herb Garden

This all started one day while I was at Trader Joe's. There were pots of herbs for sale in bunches of four herbs. I grabbed Oregano, Rosemary, Mint and Thyme. I needed a little bit of the country in my life. I just moved from Lexington, Kentucky to Los Angeles. Yeah, it's been tough. I work with horses, but alas, there aren't that many in my immediate area of LA. The tracks and farms here are a long drive away. Not in distance - only in time. The traffic here is obnoxious. Not only is it busy, a lot of the time I am afraid to walk on my own, so I stay here at the apartment. Grabbing those herbs at Trader Joe's opened a whole new world for me.

Here is a list of the herbs I'm growing now:

Apple Mint
Spearmint
Mojito Mint
Rosemary***
BBQ Rasemary
Thyme***
Lemon Thyme
Tarragon***
Chives
Oregano/Majoram***

*** not sure of the exact cultivar/species

I don't have a lot of sun. I have a North facing balcony, with an ugly view of the neighboring building. One great thing about this building though, is the amount of reflected light it bestows on the balcony. Hopefully, this and being on the third story (I may get some direct light in the summer) will help my plants grow.

Now, some of you gardeners out there will probably tell me that this can't be done in the shade. Hell, you might be right. Will it also shock you that I've been growing tomatoes and peppers too? The plants are green and growing. I'm not sure if they are going to get any fruit, but I am certainly trying.

In the process of this, I am attempting to make the balcony beautiful. This may or may not be possible considering the ungly surroundings. But one thing is certain... It's not going to be boring!

Here is a picture of my tarragon. Can you identify it as French, Russian or Mexican? I've tasted it and it has the anise taste and a little bit of a tongue numbing effect. I bought this in another bunch from a nursery in January. This is the new plant...

Coming Soon: Not Another Boring Vista

A blog about gardening, attracting hummingbirds, exercising and healthy eating. In the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, I found myself with an ugly view of the building next door and feeling trapped in the urban environment. Well... I'm not going to take it anymore!!! I found myself buying a pot of herbs at Trader Joe's one day, and it ignited my green thumb. I've since started tomatoes, peppers, various herbs, etc on my balcony. As soon as I started that, I moved on to attracting hummingbirds. Who knows where this is going, but this is my journey to bring nature to my urban environment.

Talk to you soon!

Sarah Fitz