Pinepig's Virtual Garden

One of the things I look forward to in autumn is persimmons. These are nature's candy! They are a beautiful fruit, yellowish orange going to red-orange when they are ripe.

I remember tasting my first persimmon. There was a tree at the park I worked at (it used to be a ranch/orchard). One of the visitors said they were delicious and edible, so I tried it. Unfortunately, it wasn't very ripe. It was an astringent type of persimmon, which meant it was high in tannins because it wasn't ripe. Ich! Pucker mouth!!!!

I can't remember how I learned that you need to let them ripen, but I am glad I did. I really like them.

And apparently, so do the silver eyes! I put some skin out the other day with a few bits of flesh still on it and they went after it. They've only recently started coming through the garden again and love their banana. They've also started taking to the suet & fruit treat we got at a local petstore. But the persimmon draws them with the bright colour and they scarf it down. I put a partly unripe one out today (is it a helping hand into heaven if you share your favourite fruit with native birds????) & they went after that with lots of chattering and chasing.

I've learned today that the persimmon variety we get in the stores is a non-astrigent variety, so I can eat them partly unripe. I don't know if I want to chance it, besides I like it when they are really soft and messy and sweet. I cut them in quarters from the bottom and devour them. Yummmm!

And they are good for me. They've got the below vitamins and minerals (based on US daily recommendations) but also are supposed to be good for your heart, regular consumption may help "educe the risk of atherosclerosis heart attacks". Granted, if I ate too many unripe ones I could develop a phytobezoar so all things in moderation!

Persimmons Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 293 kJ (70 kcal)
Carbohydrates 18.59 g
- Sugars 12.53 g
- Dietary fiber 3.6 g
Fat .19 g
- saturated .02 g
Protein .58 g
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 2.5 mg (167%)
Folate (Vit. B9) 8 μg (2%)
Vitamin C 7.5 mg (13%)
Calcium 8 mg (1%)
Iron .15 mg (1%)
Sodium 1 mg (0%)

And while my favourite way to eat these is raw straight out of the skin, I've also made these cookies and they are delicious, particularly at this time of year. Those of you in the Northern Hemisphere going into summer, book mark this for autumn. You can freeze the persimmon pulp for the cookie recipe, then make them for Christmas gifts.

Another great recipe from AllRecipes

Moist Persimmon Cookie
By: ANGELZ
"This is a soft moist spicy cookie. The persimmon fruit lends its sweetness and color to this simple cookie. Any type if nuts may be used for this and you may prefer to leave out the raisins."

Prep Time:
10 Min
Cook Time:
12 Min
Ready In:
30 Min

Servings 36

Ingredients
1-2 persimmons (approx 1 cup pulp)
1/2 cup shortening butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ to ½ cup sliced almonds (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

Peel and de-stem the persimmons and process them in a food processor or blender. You will want enough pulp to equal 1 cup. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Beat in the egg and persimmon pulp. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, stir into the persimmon mixture. Finally, stir in the chopped nuts and raisins. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I've gone through some of my garden shots backlog. I want to make sure those of you in the cold north have something to inspire you and get you thinking about spring! This is going to be a pict-heavy post so I'll put some under the cut.

Before I do, spare a thought for the flood victims in Australia. The floods are devastating right now and that country is going to suffer a lot more in the next week or so as the "missing" become "found deceased". It's a disaster that affects the people, the crops, the native critters and pets and livestock. It's hitting main centers as well as suburban. Lots of pictures here, starting in the middle with one that gives you a staggering sense of scale of the floods. Say a prayer, send them thoughts, hug your loved ones.

Back to your garden update.

Now, remember these little tomato plants? This was on the 11/12:



Here's what they looked like at 28/12:



And here's what they look like today, after I tied them up better:



They've shot up heaps haven't they! Still not a lot of fruit on them but definitely more flowers and I did see more little green things that had been hiding when I tied them back.

More picts under the cut.

Here are some harvest picts from 28/12 I think:







And I think I'll call this my Hidden Treasure Tree. It's my dwarf peach. Looks pretty unsupposing in this shot. What's that, one lonely little peach?



Well....until you get under it and take a peek! This is the first season for it so colour me impressed. Hopefully the nectarine does better next year, it didn't fair as well this season.



Here's my older peach tree, this one I've had for a few years. The peaches seem to not be as far along as the dwarf ones and there are still greener ones on this tree so I'm hoping it means I get a nice long peach season between the two trees! I haven't had any yet, I've got my fingers crossed.



My 2nd potato harvest yesterday:






And here is what the Urenikas look like when you cut them open:


And what they look like cooked (tossed in butter, salt and a touch of mint actually....)



Hungry yet??? I've got some pictures of the salmon I made to go along with it but that's another post.........

I also have some picts of the mushroom bags/processes to upload. They are doing ok, I think I've finally managed to get the last bag to do something. I've decided to not keep growing them. Too much hassle and I'd rather put the time/energy into the other plants and rest of the garden.

I hope you've enjoyed the picts!

Hey, welcome to my little virtual garden in this corner of the internet. Grab an old stump, a piece of turf or a chair and make yourself comfortable. I will pop in and out so be patient and feel free to grab a rake and pitch in. I'm putting this post at the top so people can drop in and read a bit about me. You're welcome to use the comments in this post as a free-posting area, a place you can put questions or whatever. If you're friending me I'd like to know where you've come from, how you've found me. I'm a curious old bug.

So about me. I'm "middle aged" (wow, when did that happen?!), American living in New Zealand. I've got a personal Live Journal and Dreamwidth journals and I have a photo journal at Live Journal under the username pinepig (where I also put info about my stores). I've got a couple stores. Pinepig Studio is where you can find things like cards, calendars, ornaments, mugs and a bunch of other stuff with my photos on them. I've got NZ images, flowers, critters and a bunch of other stuff there and it's worth checking out! As I Wander: New Zealand's North Island is my photo book of the North Island and As I Wander: New Zealand's South Island is my photo book of the South Island. You can preview the picts in the book.

I've got a small garden, it isn't much, and most of these are in pots because we're renting and I don't want to spend $20 to $50NZ per plant to one day move and have to buy them all again and start from scratch while they mature. I spray occasionally but do try to use sprays that are less harsh where possible, try to use more 'natural' sprays if I can. I've got a worm farm, it's been going since about Oct 2008 or so and is doing well. I'd compost but we don't have room for it.

Well, in light of the Large storm the size of Australia getting ready to hit the country tomorrow, I'm glad I got a few things done in the garden earlier this week.

I want to make a new sticky to let people know what's growing in my garden. Not just at this time of year but for the next year (updating from the 2009 list).

A quick list of "permanent" plants I'm growing at Sept 2010
- "blush babe" dwarf apple (purchased Sept 09)
- dwarf Pixzee peach (purchased Aug/Sept 09)
- dwarf Nectar Babe nectarine (purchased Aug/Sept 09)
- ? possibly dwarf Weeping peach approx 4 years old
- 2 guavas (I had 4 but have given 2 to a neighbor as I've been running low on room and he wanted some)
- feijoa (in the ground, approx 2 to 3 years old as at Oct 09)
- lime (approx 3 to 4 years old)
- lemon (in ground, unknown age as came with house, mature)
- navel or valencia orange (approx 4 years old)
- citrus acid free orange (approx 4 years old)
- various roses (will list these eventually: approx 17 or 18 all in pots and various ages from approx 1 yr to 4 yrs)
- various camelias (will list these eventually: approx 6 or 7 all but 1 are in pots and various ages from approx 3 to 9 yrs)
- various dahlias (won't list these individually! at least 24 or 26 plants, mostly individual varieties)
- boysenberry, loganberry, 2 thornless blackberries (in the ground, blackberries going on their 2nd year, boysenberry & loganberry new as at Sept/Oct 09)
- 3 tea tree (manuka/kanuka, I can't remember which! in ground)
- 1 native clematis, Clematis Peniculata (in ground)
- approx 3 native irises (libertia ixioides, in ground)
- various vegetable plants which will change seasonally, noted below.
- various herbs, currently I have a small rosemary, thyme and mint, as well as some corriander, oregano and basil seeds just down and starting to sprout
- 1 red trillium
- 2 Japanese maples (in ground)
- Masdevallia "Violetta" orchid & Oncidium "Longipipes" in terrariums
- several Dendrobium orchids of different varieties in the house (some in terrariums)
- 3 Zygopetalum orchids in the house
- 4 bromeliads (1 in terrarium, 1 planted in a bottle)

Of the above, what's sprouting and/or blooming right now
- 4 dahlias sprouting
- 5 roses have buds (all have sprouted and have new leaves)
- citric acid free in flower buds
- 2 oaks have leaves
- 2 peaches have flowers
- 1 nectarine has flowers
- all berries have leaf buds
- 1 rogue tulip or daffodil coming up (no flowers yet)
- lime still has fruit
- Valencia orange has flowers
- 2 guavas have flower buds starting to emerge
- 5 camelias flowering
- 1 native iris is flowering
- trillium has leafed out and flower has emerged


Veggie plants, either planted and sprouted or just planted and waiting to sprout
sprouting
- 1 Big Rainbow heirloom tomato
- 1 Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato
- 3 Great White heirloom tomatoes
- 3 Mortgage Lifter heirloom tomatoes (2 for a friend)
- 2 jicama
- 1 (2?) Scarlett Runner beans
- 4 Red Rascal potatoes
- approximately 3 parmex carrots
- approximately 3 perpetual spinach, heirloom variety
*I'm also starting to grow mushrooms. I started a kit for button/portabello mushrooms approx 3 Sept 2010. This is in it's 2nd innoculation phase, just before putting the topping mix in and actually having them grown into mushrooms. I've been updating along the way, see the "mushroom" tag.

seeds planted and waiting to sprout
- 1 jicama
- 1 White Cherry heirloom tomato
- 3 Big Rainbow heirloom tomatoes (2 for a friend)
- 2 Mortgage Lifter heirloom tomatoes (1 for a neighbor)
- 1 Cherokee Purple heirloom tomato
- 2 Garden Peach heirloom tomatoes
- 4 Red Rooster dry beans 3 of these sprouting 18/9/10
- 4 Dwarf Burgundy beans these are sprouting 18/9/10
- 5 Scarlet Runner beans 3 of these sprouting 18/9/10
- 4 silverbeet (? Margaret Dale?)
- 6 Odell's lettuce some of these might be sprouting but there is bird seed sprouting in this pot too so don't know how many are lettuces yet & planted another 12 or so on 18/9/10
- 6 winter lettuce not sprouted and it's been awhile so have planted the above 12 Odell's in their place
- approx 11 Parmex carrot
- 14 Rainbow carrot
- 4 10 Red Rascal potatoes (4 planted 28/4/10, 4 planted 5/9/10, 2 planted 18/9/10)
- 7 Urenika (Maori) potatoes (planted 10/9/10)

Things I still want to plant a bit later in the season
- approx 8 or 9 beans (Burgandy and/or Red Rooster)
- 2 Red Rascal potatoes (seeds chiting) last ones have been planted 18/9/10!
- 3 Urenika (Maori) potatoes (seeds chiting)
- more spinach or lettuce with the Scarlet Runners
- later/staggared plantings of carrots and lettuce

Here are pictures of my garden earlier this week, typical early spring pictures.

It's been awhile. I've been busy & autumn is here. We've done our time change, days are shorter and cooler. I need to get out and do a bunch of weeding but we're going through a drought here so trying to pull weeds out of dry soil is tough going. I've gotten accustomed to the rainier weather here than Calif and haven't watered quite as much as I should have this season. Although saying that, I did better this year than I did last year so I haven't lost anything yet. Close on 2 camelias though, I didn't realise they weren't getting any of the spray from the irrigation I put in and haven't been looking good.

But hey, feijoa harvest picts! C loves this time of year, she's big on her feijoas. We've gotten 2 decent-sized harvests already and there's still some on the tree (which is maybe 6 to 7 feet high and about 3 to 4 years old). It's one of the few fruit trees (along with the lemon) that is in the ground & not in pots.

First photo of feijoas. Rest of feijoa spam & other picts & update below the cut.



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