Cardiff Garden Blog

I've never grown purple cauliflower but sure glad I decided to. I really can't get over the vivid color in nature. I don't know how much success I'll have getting this to grow to maturity. I've tried Cauliflower and Broccoli in the past but I've had trouble with mold/disease. Here's hoping I get to taste some purple Cauliflower

I always look for new things to plant. Things I haven't grown before or sometimes even haven't eaten before. I can't honestly say that a turnip hasn't found its way somewhere in a meal I've once had but I can't remember knowingly eating a turnip.  I guess that's why I decided to plant them as well as the fact that they are a good winter crop that can grow easily. So I am looking for recipes to find a way to utilize this new garden prize. I have a bunch more growing as you can see in the background of the above photo.

Finally getting to reap the rewards of my watermelon growing. This was the first of a few good watermelons that I had grow this year. There wasn't a whole lot of meat on the fruit in the middle but was really tasty. Shared with friends while watching football.  Also got to give away a few to friends so that they may enjoy them as well. Encouragement for next year to try again with more success.

 So this is my first time growing Turnips. I try to plant something new every season that I haven't grown before or even sometimes I haven't even ate before. I'm sure turnips were somewhere in my diet at some point in my life but I don't remember them. Hopefully having fresh grown turnips will inspire me to use them in my diet somehow. I will say I'm rather excited with the speed in which they grow. I feel like I've only planted these from seed just a few weeks ago.  Excited to see how they taste and look. Will update more soon.

It's been a minute since I've posted something on the blog. It's that time between growing seasons where summer crops start to die off to make room for fall/winter crops. Here's a shot of afternoon picking I did the other day. There's a beautiful Habanero, serranos, fresno, chili, cayenne, and tomatoes pictured.  I used a bunch in some pasta we made recently and was delicious. Also have a bountiful crop of large leaf basil growing.  Working on getting some of the winter crops in the ground. Already have some garlic growing along with either beets or turnips. Won't know until I see more of the plant later. Also have plenty of strawberries growing. Soon enough it will be time to see more snow and sugar peas.  Will post more pictures in the coming weeks as the crops get growing. Stay tuned

So I made my attempt to make salsa again. Only this time I didn't have the tomatillos to make salsa verde. They just weren't ready yet. The one tomatillo plant I had that produced the early harvest has died off so I am waiting for the other plants to start producing. So I ventured into the territory of red hearty roasted salsas.  Below you will see my ingredients. I did have to buy a few things mainly because my garden didn't readily have these items available. This includes; the onion, four roma tomatoes, and a can of corn.  Everything else you see on the counter below was grown in my back yard. Those ingredients include; fresno peppers, anaheim peppers,  cayenne peppers, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers, a few tomatillos, a few chili peppers, cherry tomatoes, and garlic. I chopped all the peppers and tomatoes in half and gutted most of the seeds and insides and put them on a baking sheet with foil. Chopped half of the onion for the baking sheet an...

As you can see in the pics I've had to add another trellis pole to my grapevine. It's slowly extending it's reach across the alley to our neighbro's fence. Again I'm using old sunflower stalks which seem to be rather sturdy. As the vine grows across each pole it works to sure up the rigidity of the trellis itself. My goal is to have an archway of grapes growing. As of yet I haven't reaped any grapes from the vine. I started the vine about 3 1/2 years ago from a very small plant. I'm amazed at it's growth in the last year considering it really didn't take off in its early years.

I dunno if you like the spicy like I do. But in case you do here's a few of my Habanero peppers growing rather nicely. I've had limited success in the past with this type of pepper. This time I grew them in my alley box and they have been growing quite well.  I am going to wait a bit longer to harvest. Atleast until the color changes from a green to vibrant orange. Can't wait to add some to my own salsa for that kick that you need in any salsa. You know the sweats that come from eating spicy peppers.

And boy it's got some spice. Just the way I wanted it to be.  First off gotta thank a friend for hooking me up with a blender without it I wouldn't be make any salsa. So here's my list of ingredients. Tomatillos Onion (white) Tomatoes (Cherry) Cilantro leaves (about a half cup) Lime (one squeezed for juice) Garlic (3 cloves) Yellow Pepper Habenero Peppers (2) Serrano Peppers (2) Banana Chili Peppers (2) Fresno Peppers (2) Jalepeno Peppers (3) After chopping the peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos and onions in half I placed them on a foil lined pan cut side down.  I made sure to remove the seeds and meaty cores of all the peppers. I also only chopped half the onion to roast. I will add the other half later after roasting. Once all the veggies are chopped and on the baking sheet it is into the broiler for almost 10 minutes or so. I left them in there until they blackened a bit. After removing them I left them to cool for a few mins before putting int...

I decided it was time to pick him. See this particular pumpkin is an "Atlantic Giant" and because he has the potential to grow up to 500lbs, only one pumpkin really grows at a time. So I've decided that he's about perfect size now. And just maybe I might be able to get a few more of these guys if I plucked him up.  I've noticed other little pumpkins growing on the vine but they usually just die off after a few days. See this guy here was sucking all the water and nutrients while still connected. I think he's pretty heavy. Close to 50lbs. Biggest pumpkin I've ever grown.  Something to try and best for next year.

I've been picking strawberries for about 3 years now. Not trying to brag but this one came out pretty well. Looks like a perfect strawberry to me. Deserving of a pic. And I will say it tasted just as good. Blurry in the back ground you can see one of my strawberry patches. I have about 4 or 5 scattered amongst the boxes.  Also noticed some blueberries coming up on my blueberry bush. I have two bushes at the moment and only one seems to be producing berries. I've learned along the way that they require acidic soil and I have added certain organic mixes to help ammend the soil.  This particular bush was really looking like it was on it's last limbs before I started nurturing it back to health.

Little update on how the pepper plants are coming along. Below is my cayenne pepper plant growing nicely. This guy is almost ready to pick. I've found these to be spicy. And spicy is just what I am looking for. I'm assembling all my ingredients to make some "spicy" Salsa Verde. I just need a few more peppers to ripen. My Jalapenos are also growing quite well. Plenty to pick for the salsa.

So a little while back a posted about my grapevine extending out from my fence into the alley. It needed some support for it to continue its growth. So I brainstormed and thought what better way than to re-use the stalks from the sunflowers as a natural trellis. So I found a few tall stalks that were great for the task. I literally had to hatchet the stalks down. My clippers weren't strong enough to cut through their thickness. I already broke one set of pruners trying. I stripped the leaves off and dug them into the ground. Then used a smaller stalk as a cross beam for the vine to travel down. I think they really work out well. They similar color to the vine itself and add a natural touch to what would probably be an artificial structure. I have no idea how long they will hold up but I'm hoping a long time.  Especially once the vine become entangled. I've also used some of the smaller sunflower stalks to create support sticks for leaning plants. I reccommend trying to...

Saw these little guys on the vine yesterday. Was surprised to see them actually. I didn't think that my watermelon vines were that healthy. The leaves usually tend to be larger.   Either way I'll take what I can get. This poor guy was growing under the corner of the skateboard bed box and I guess a little too close. As you can see it has a nice dent in it. And growing a little deformed.  Either way it still should be good to eat. The Japanese have come up with square watermelons by having them grow into square boxes or molds.  I would like to try some more interesting shapes. Any ideas?

 So my grapevine is reaching out for support. I've tried to weave this vine into my fence but there are places where its just reached beyond for more. So i think I might try to build somekind of support structure into the alley. Maybe a simple pole or piece of wood to create a natural grapevine arch.  My strategy has been to weave each independent vine into others to create a super vine that can still reach out and support itself. Sort of looks like an elephant.

My garlic harvest, while not gigantic, very aromatic. I think I am going to save a few cloves to re-plant in the ground. These were no longer green from part of the plant sticking out above the ground so I decided to uproot. These will definately get used in some upcoming dinners.

I put my hand in the shot to give you a perspective on how large my pumpkin is growing. I'd assume it probably over 30+ pounds. It's starting to turn orange so I suspect it growth might be coming to an end. Either way it's gonna give me more pumpkin than I know what to do with. Here's hoping my girlfriend will make me some pumpkin roll and pumpkin pies.  There are other pumpkins growing from this particular vine so I might have more coming. I've also already started to see the new vines sprouting up that I planted two weeks ago.

These are some Tomatillos and peppers I picked yesterday. Brought them into to work for a coworker. I've also given them garlic and tomatoes in addition to the jalapeno and anaheim peppers seen here. It's sorta my Salsa Verde kit. Obviously I'm missing some ingredients but pretty close. I have cilantro growing in the garden but it isn't quite ready yet.     

Now these aren't as big as the one that I posted originally but they are close in size. I brought them inside to dry because if I left them outside the birds would go to town on them. The one to the left is closest in size to the super sized flower I got a few weeks ago.  I've placed them in a window that gets sun so that they can completely dry out. I think I am going to save some for next year and they harvest the rest for edibile seeds.  Maybe even try some different spices on them.

The best part of a garden and giving aways fruits and vegetables is when the person makes something with those fruit/vegetables and brings it for you to enjoy.  In this case I gave a bag of Tomatillos to a co-worker and they made some amazing Salsa Verde. 

So the peppers are finally here. Not exactly ripe yet but coming in nicely. Below is a shot of Serrano peppers. Below that Cayenne peppers which are nice and spicy. And below that is Jalapeno peppers. Also I have Anaheim, chile, habanero, and green peppers growing throughout the garden.

 I felt like my squash plants weren't producing enough vegetables so I planted a bunch of seeds two weeks ago hoping that it wasn't too late. Also planted some pumpkin seeds. I guess I wasn't too late. These guys popped up rather quickly. I guess the great summer weather helps as well. Sometimes the "June Gloom" here in San Diego isn't kind to young plants.   I will continue to update you on how these plants are doing.

Snapped this shot this morning after watering. The sunflowers add a great splash of color to the garden. Off to the right you can see my pumpkins are still turning orange.

The time had come to chop Sal's head off. If you don't know that's the name I have given to my giant sunflower. Anything this large deserves a name. Anyway this is by far my biggest sunflower I've ever grown and or harvested. I excited to have a friend that will be roasting the seeds and hopefully giving me a sample.  The aroma coming off this flower now is amazing. Rich nutty smell. I placed it on the scale and it weighs in at 7.2 lbs. Quite a hefty flower if you ask me.  I had to chop it down with a hatchet.  And you can see in the picture that the stalk is just behind me a bit to the left. It's still well over 7ft tall even without its head and a foot of stalk that I chopped with it. I figured I'd show a few younger pictures of Sal to give you some perspective to his growth.