Saturday, May 22, 2010

Random Snapshots

flowering snow peas
The snow peas are about 2 feet tall and loaded with flowers. Pictured is one of two patches I have growing. Hopefully we'll get a decent harvest this year.

chive flowers
Strange but one thing we have an over abundance of at the moment is chive blossoms. I never realized how beautiful the flowers are.


The other day, I started rooting some lemongrass that I had purchased from the Asian market. In the past, I've been able to grow and overwinter this herb in a pot. This year, I'm planting it out in my garden. If all goes well, new shoots will emerge from the base of these stalks.

As you can see, I'm also making some chive blossom infused vingar.

meyer lemons
Finally, my Meyer lemon tree is loaded with young fruit right now. My stash of marmalade is almost gone. Hopefully I'll be able to can even more of it this year.

17 comments:

  1. Hi, I am jealous of your Meyer Lemon. I recently purchased one and almost killed it within the first month! It is much better now that I mist it every day. Unfortunately, I was too late to save the original flowers/forming fruits, but new buds are starting to form. I currently still have it indoors because I didn't think it was warm enough at night yet for it to be outside (I am in Boston). Do you have any advice/tips? Nice blog!!

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  2. Funny that your peas are so far ahead of mine, but my chives blossoms have already faded.

    Ooooh, the Meyer lemon looks so healthy! I hope mine grows and bears fruit. I found if I pan broil pork chops or chicken, then deglaze the pan with a couple spoonfuls of the marmalade, then stir in a pat or two of butter and pour it over the meat...it makes the yummiest sauce! Sometimes I even add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the pan first.

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  3. The chive infused vinegar is going to be such a pretty color! Your Meyer lemons are absolutely stunning too. Everything is really looking healthy and productive.

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  4. my chives are in full bloom, too. i love your idea of infusing some vinegar.

    you peas are so beautiful. i love the the look of both the vines and the blossoms.

    and i am having a tenuous relationship with my new meyer lemon, too. i'm having trouble with leaf drop, but it is covered in flower buds and new leaf shoots, so i am still hoping for success.

    enjoy your weekend, thomas!

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  5. Wow! And the lemon tree is in a pot, right? Just amazing.

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  6. The lemongrass looks intriguing! I love those twigs in the pea patch!

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  7. You are quite the photographer! I especially like your photo of the chives.

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  8. Lovely lemons Thomas, I had blossom and leaf drop on my citrus, and attack of the dogs on the other. Any advice for us citrus newbies?

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  9. I admire your bravery. I lived in Arlington Mass for two years. We moved in mid May and on the 30th I was trying to wash the windows. The water froze on the glass.
    Here in Northern California one has to carefully place a Meyer in a sheltered spot to protect it from frost, even so, last year there were very few lemons on the trees in this neighborhood.

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  10. I keep thinking about lemon grass, but have yet to try it. Then again I've never used it in cooking so I'd have to learn to cook with it too.

    My chive blossoms are finally out. I hope to make vinegar too.

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  11. Snow peas look lovely, so you plan to freeze some of them? There will be a lot of peas to harvest. I will freeze most of mine.

    What does the chives vinegar taste like? Does it have that onion taste, or is only the color what makes it different?

    If I wouldn’t know better, I would say that this lemon picture was taken somewhere on the Mediterranean... lovely!

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  12. Oh my...your header made me think of my lovely Grandfather. We each had zucchini plants. I was fourteen... He bet me who could grow the largest zucchini! It was on! We weighed them, and I squeaked out a victory. A life time of gardening love was born from that contest.

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  13. You're so right about chive flowers being beautiful. I'm going to run right out in the morning and harvest some for vinegar. Great idea, especially to serve with a salad featuring chive flowers!

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  15. Alizardinthegarden and kelly - If you have time, out the citrus label on my sidebar. There should be plenty of additional advice there. In my opinion, the key to growing citrus is in the fertilizer. I use a slow release fertilizer specially made for growing citrus. The brand I use is Growmore. Second, it's important not to overwater. When inside, I water my citrus about once every 5 to 7 days (outside - every 2 to 3 days). Finally, it's not uncommon for newly purchased citrus plant to shed their older leaves...so don't dispair too quickly!

    Also, most citrus can tolerate outdoor temps down to 32 degrees. In the spring, I harden my plants off slowly and don't set them out until I'm relatively sure that nighttime temps won't drop below 40 degrees. I recommend setting them outside as my trees are much happier in full sun during the summer months.

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  16. The Chive blossoms look wonderful! I see this year you're having great results with your plants!

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  17. Lemon grass eh? I love starting tubers and random things I find in grocery stores. I'm going to google lemon grass.

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