Category Archives: Gardening
A what? Our Kumquat Tree
One of my favorite things about our backyard is our little kumquat tree. Kumquats are small, oval citrus fruit that have a sour sweet flavor. You eat the fruit whole – rind and all – minus the seeds. I think they are wonderful, but you have to enjoy tangy fruits to eat them raw.
To expand my knowledge about this little fruit, I have been researching on the old internet for some good kumquat recipes. It seems the most popular ways to use kumquats is in a marmalade, cocktails or in a glaze for a protein like chicken.
I’ve printed out a bunch of recipes that sounded the most intriguing to try including a vinaigrette, a hot tea, fresh juice, scones, grilled chicken, slaw, cookies, daal, a cocktail and liqueur.
I plan on starting with fresh juice and vinaigrette then moving to the main dishes. This weekend will be a perfect time to set up my liqueur.
Dreaming of Mondo Grass
The last two weeks have been a blur. I had a nasty flu that turned into a equally nasty cold. Thank god for Netflix and Hulu so I could spend countless hours with these guys in my Sudafed haze.
I have also been dreaming about my gardens. Nate and I are so ready to finishing painting the exterior trim around the windows now that the weather is getting warmer. I can’t wait to plant our empty flower beds in the front yard.
What do you think of black mondo grass, green forest grass and some cascading pink and purple flowers?
Over the weekend
This weekend was a whole lot of little projects between lots of grading (Nate), dancing and relaxing. Nate and I attended a surprise birthday on Saturday night that wiped us out! I was glad to get the little bit done that I did!
I spent some time organizing my kitchen and giving it a good scrubbing.
I bought the Bissell Spotbot
Finding seed catalogs in my mailbox made me start thinking about this year’s vegetable garden. I plan on starting seeds soon in my handy growing kit.
And I began working on some silly Valentine’s Day decorations. More on this to come!
A week later
Blooming good.
It’s Saturday night and I am watching the Packers vs. Falcons playoff game with Nate. I am working on the laptop while Nate grades papers. We just filled our bellies with a homemade pizza and spinach salad. I am finishing a nice glass of red wine.
This is one of those simple moments you think to yourself. Life is pretty darn good.
One of my hyacinth bulbs bloomed today. It is sitting on the table behind me. It’s fragrance is just divine. Divine, I tell you. Gives me all the incentive I need to plant more bulbs this weekend.
Hope everyone is have a wonderful three day weekend. Stay safe and warm.
Easy Decorating: Spring Bulbs
One of my New Year’s Resolutions for our home is to keep my decorating simple this year. One of the ways I am accomplishing this is adding flowering plants around my house all year long. For me this is much easier than having fresh cut flowers all the time. I can save the flowers for special occasions.
With Spring a few months away, I decided to start with forcing spring bulbs. I planted hyacinths bulbs mid December in Liberty of London for Target nesting bowls I bought last year with a little potting soil. I like using objects like the nesting bowls that I already have on hand. It makes it more personal and then there is one less thing I have to buy.
One tip – If you use a bowl or object without a drainage hole, make sure to add pebbles, broken crockery, or something similar at the bottom of the bowl to allow for drainage.
The hyacinths are just starting to push out of the bulbs. I plan on planting more varieties of spring bulbs this coming weekend to keep the blooms coming. Bulbs can be bought at your local gardening center. Prices range from $2-8 depending on variety and quantity.
Maintenance is easy. Just keep the soil moist and deadhead flowers, but here’s a link to some great info about forcing bulbs.
When my hyacinths bloom they will hopefully look like this. I can’t wait.
King of Fruits? Things I learned about the Avocado Tree.
One of the best surprises about our house was learning that our neighbors have a giant avocado tree that hangs over our property. Like most California natives, I grew up on avocados. I thing they are one of the best fruits full of good fats and nutrients.
Last year was a bummer. The trees didn’t produce very much fruit. Guess the weather wasn’t good for it. It was a major let down, but I hoped the harvest would be better this year.
So you can imagine my excitement now that our tree is now covered with fruit.
So are the squirrels who have been dropping the fruit like mad after eating one bite. (Don’t worry – I try to save as many as I can that they bite into. I just cut that part off the fruit before using.)
I did learn an interesting fact though – avocados do not ripen until they fall or are picked from the tree, so the squirrels are actually doing me a favor by dropping the fruit.
California produces about 90 percent of the nation’s avocado crop, but most are grown in Southern California because avocado trees are very susceptible to severe cold. How this particular tree survives the winter frost is a mystery. From what I can tell, it must be a Mexican variety that has the greatest tolerance to cold.
Speaking of the actual avocados. Our avocados are not your typical Hass variety you find in the grocery store. They have a smooth black skin and are smaller than the Hass avocado with little tiny seeds. The skin is very thin and a little difficult to peel, but I am working on my technique.
At first I was going to try and pick as many as I could at once, but now I am just using what drops which is plenty.
I see a fruitful month ahead of me. 
A single California Avocado tree can produce about 500 avocados (or 200 pounds of fruit) a year so I am just taking it one avocado at a time.
