Perspectives of a Canadian in the Old/Deep/New/Geographic South: This is where I ramble on about nothing in particular and post a few nice pictures.
In addition to a bounty of blueberries this year, the two fig trees have been pretty productive.
A few of them got munched on by some critters (birds or insects maybe), but I still managed to get a bunch (maybe a bit more than 0.5kg or so of figs). These were really good and super sweet, like eating candy.
After a last bout of below 0°C weather a few weeks ago, most of the plants in the raised beds are coming back to life. The blueberries started popping out a bunch of flowers a couple weeks ago and now they’re sprouting a bunch of leaves.
I planted a few more butternut squash seeds I had left over from last year in a few spots. Not sure if any of them will germinate, but I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks.
The little nectarine tree popped out a bunch of nice little pink and white flowers, and leaves have started to grow in.
Even the ornamental cherry tree in the front yard is coming back to life (parts of it anyway).
The raspberries and blackberries seem to be a little slower to get going, but I’m seeing a few new leaves and some new shoots popping out of the ground. The fig plants don’t seem to be doing anything yet, but hopefully they’ll come back to life as the weather continues to warm up.
I’m excited to see what I can get to grow in the garden this year.
It’s Thanksgiving day, the days are considerably shorter than they were a month ago, leaves are falling off some of the plants, but the jalapeno plants are still going strong.
A couple weeks ago I harvested almost 2kg of jalapenos, and there are still lots more left on the plants. I’ll wait a few more weeks to harvest those. Flowers keep popping up, and I’m finding new jalapenos growing just about every day.
It’s been a good year for jalapenos.
The fig plants have become quite tall, and are still continuing to fruit even though a lot of the leaves have fallen off. I’ve observed that if I lop off a branch near where a leaf had grown, more leaves start sprouting from that leaf bud. Seems like this will be helpful for managing the height of the fig trees.
The last remaining butternut squash plant keeps producing squashes. Most of them ended up failing, but there’s one small one that’s hung on and may be ready to pick in a month or two if the cold doesn’t get it first.
Weather is supposed to be turning cold for the next few days, with lows just below 0°C and freeze watches.
The larger and older leaves on the fig plants have started to dry up and fall off, which to me is a sign of fall. The plants are also sprouting new leaves at the same time. Figs are slowly ripening, and I’ve picked a few of them already.
The jalapeno plants continue to do pretty well, and I’ve already harvested several pounds of jalapenos. Looks like there’s easily several more pounds waiting to be harvested. I’m trying to resist the temptation to pick a bunch of them and letting them stay on the plant to turn red.
I thought the butternut squashes were done for, but there’s one plant that still seems to be hanging on, and has produced a few more butternut squashes that might get me a small late fall crop.
A bunch of these grass/weed plants in the two empty beds that I’ve been letting grow wild put out a bunch of little flowers that have been attracting a lot of bees, butterflies and moths. It’s fun and relaxing watching them buzz and flit from flower to flower.
The little sweetgum sapling that sprouted up next to the jalapenos made me wonder what other tree-type thing I could get to grow in the garden. It’s the time of year when the live oaks around work drop acorns, so I picked up a few, buried some in one of the raised beds, and put a few more into an empty pot.
No idea if any of them will sprout, but we’ll see. It will be a nice surprise if any of them grow.
Picked a few jalapenos today. There are a bunch of them on the jalapeno plants in various stages of growth. These were a pretty decent size and colour and looked ready for picking.
Also spotted a new butternut squash starting to grow. Hopefully this one sticks around.
