Then Summer Came...

Post date: Aug 20, 2014 2:10:37 AM

Summer hit full force and so did the weeds. Last years weed mats and mulch did an admiral job of slowing theweeds down, but they still came. After pulling weed after weed Michelle decided she had had enough and decided to take off leaving Mike and family to do the dirty work. Boy did that pay off BIG! Upon her return the garden had bloomed into a wonderland, Cala Lily's and Dallia's abounded. The veggies weren't far behind and soon we were swimming in radishes, beans, peas and bok choi. While we were enjoying those we got to watch the artichokes grow, grow and grow some more. Starting the seeds very early indoors and then moving to the greenhouse really paid off! Finally a week ago we were able to harvest two amazing artichokes with several more soon to be ready. These are really turning into the highlight of our garden each year even though they don't come back. Having all of these exotic plants wasn't enough for Mike he wanted one more, just one more he swears! Any guesses as what to what was missing this time? FIGS! We are now the proud owners of two new fig trees. While they don't seem as finicky as the citrus... well who are we kidding it's probably closer to a weed than an exotic. Check out some stories of "dead" fig branches coming back to life! With all this rain we've gotten the first two figs EXPLODED!!! They went from not ripe to kapow overnight. The rain has also been a problem for several other plants from molds & mildews to blights and rust. Which means we've been spraying whenever possible to keep the bugs down and clay to keep things as dry as possible.