I heart Hinoki

I love Hinoki.  I do.  I get weak in the knees over a good Slender Hinoki. Once someone told me that they thought Hinoki look just like Arborvitae.  I can't remember who said that because, in all honesty, I probably wrote them off as soon as the words left their lips.

Hinoki are a false cypress, native to Japan. They have sprayed vegetation that is somewhat twisted and cupped, which gives it really interesting contrast and depth. And they are evergreen, and low maintenance.  What is not to love?

Above is a courtyard garden I designed at NW 11th & Kearney in Portland.  

Look at the beautiful Hinoki!

Getting Down To It

I just took our last gallon of diced tomatoes out of the freezer to make Penne all'Arrabiata.
The tomato purchasing fate that awaits us for the next five months is a little sad.  On the other hand, getting to mid-February on home grown tomatoes is pretty darn good.  Especially if you are Italian.  And you make a lot of tomato sauce.
Last year was very successful for our tomato harvest, but there were things that we'll do differently this year.  For starters, we planted about 14 tomato plants in the garden, and they were fairly close together. The result was that some tomatoes went bad because we simply didn't see them in the tomato jungle.  We also experimented with leaving some plants in 5 gallon containers in the greenhouse, and on our deck.  That was pretty much a bust.  Each plant only gave us a few tomatoes.
This year the plan is to have about 16 tomatoes in the garden, with more space in between.  We'll see how far that crop gets us into 2011.
What else is left from the 2009 backyard bounty? One frozen pureed butternut squash, garlic, elephant garlic, and chili flakes. And a box of purple potatoes that are full of shoots and trying to grow right out of my basement.  We also have spinach and mache that was seeded in November.  And I seeded some lettuce in the greenhouse a few days ago.
Can we make it a whole year and have something home grown on hand to eat at all times?  I think so.

When Life Hands You Meyer Lemons...

Yesterday a friend bestowed two home grown 'Improved Meyer' lemons upon me, which reminded me that they are on the 2010 list of things I must grow! I haven't tasted the lemons yet, but they smell unbelievably good.

'Improved Meyer' is the hardiest of dwarf lemons and does well in containers, so it is not terribly difficult to grow here in the Northwest.  You can grow the lemon as an indoor plant, or keep outdoors and either protect it during a cold snap or bring inside during colder months.  I have read that they will survive brief cold snaps dipping as low as 18 degrees.

'Improved Meyer' lemons are evergreen and prolific.  They can produce fruit year round, although the majority is produced in the winter.  They are also, in fact, a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange, so the flavor is more sweet than other lemons.  That sweet flavor apparently lends itself well to lemonade.  I can't wait to try some!

Blueberry

Blueberries are fantastic shrubs to grow.  Not only do blueberry bushes produce fruits that are delicious and high in antioxidants, but they are also very nice as ornamental plants. Blueberries have nice fall color, and there are a few varieties that are evergreen as well.  On top of this, blueberries are  happiest in the acid soils of the Pacific Northwest, which makes them even more of a must have for any Northwest garden.      In addition to having acid soil, to properly grow blueberries you need to plant at least two varieties for pollination.  For a long harvest plant early, mid and late season varieties.       (We're having a warm January in Portland - above is a photo taken today of a Legacy variety of blueberry, planted with daffodils that are already blooming!)

                                                                        

Edgeworthia

I went to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden last week just in time to see the blooming Edgeworthia.  Edgeworthia, a relative of Daphne,  has fragrant flowers that bloom in winter and early spring from unusual looking buds.  It is a very interesting shrub that is not very widely used here, so it is always a treat to see. 


Here's the dirt on Edgeworthia:  

Botanical Name: Edgeworthia chrysantha
Origin: China
Plant Type: Deciduous Shrub
Hardiness: Sunset 5-9; 14-24; USDA to zone 7
Size: 6' high & wide. 
Light Requirements: Full Sun to Light Shade

2010 Garden Planning

Oooh the seed cataloges are rolling in! That means it is time to start planning this year's garden.

There are, of course, many different approaches to the vegetable garden plant selection.
Most people will plant what they eat the most frequently.  Which makes perfect sense.  Others plant not what they eat the most, but instead grow the foods that would cost the most to purchase - in this area things like artichokes, sweet peppers and herbs come to mind. This makes sense, too. Especially if you have a very limited space to work with.
Another aspect of selecting kitchen garden plants, one that I have never heard mentioned (maybe for good reason?!), is to plant things that weigh the most. For example, last year I grew potatoes, among other things.  Potatoes are generally inexpensive and readily available, but they weigh a lot! It requires more fuel to haul those suckers around than it does for, say, sprigs of sage or swiss chard.

This year's garden will be another combination of these three philosophies and will include tomatoes, which we probably eat the most. It will also include herbs like basil, that we eat occasionally, but that are relatively expensive to purchase.  And, it will include those heavy potatoes.  The purple potatoes we grew last year were a hit, but they did take up a lot of space in the garden.  This year I have my unused, full sun parking strip slated for potato production.

Re-Using a Christmas Tree

Yesterday I took down our Christmas tree.  It was a Grand Fir, which we always get, because they smell so wonderful.                          It always makes me a bit sad to dispose of the tree.  Setting it out at the curb, next to the trash, is not a dignified funeral for any tree, let alone a Grand Fir. I usually use some of the tree (a few limbs that I can't manage to cram into our yard debris bin) for mulch.  But this year I am using it all.  I cut off all of the branches and laid them out flat on my shrub beds for mulch. I will use the trunk in a few months as the center for a cucumber trellis.