Bee Surprised plus Lavendar/Honey Recipe

Bee news today -- not about my bees but my beekeepers association. Last week I volunteered to help the association with some tasks that had been neglected. I was quickly put into a membership management position where basically I'd keep track of the membership list. Piece of cake! Today, I find out that the president needs to move the positions around to fill some holes...OK I'm listening and willing to help... I'm then told that he (the president) would like to move me into the recently vacated vice president position. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to do that and I understand that it is more of an administrative role rather than a beekeeper knowledge role but still. I'm very new to beekeeping and even more green to the association. In short, I think I'm going to be "beezy."

In celebration for my new role (sigh) I created a new recipe. Well, at least I think I did so if you know about a recipe like this, don't burst my bubble. As far as I know, I've made it up.

There is this excellent chocolatier in my city and I must say that I visit her shop a few times a week to get a truffle or two. One of her candies is a lavender caramel covered in dark chocolate. It is so luxurious. I used this idea as my inspiration but I wanted to make a honey caramel instead of a karo syrup or sugar caramel. I did it on my first try and it is delicious. While they are cooling, I'm happy to share this recipe with you.

Lavender Infused Honey Caramel Chews

1 cup organic heavy cream
5-6 sprigs fresh English lavender, stems trimmed to just leave the flower cone intact
2 cups organic raw honey (I used a local wildflower honey that was pretty mild in flavor)
3 tablespoons organic butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
Course sea salt

1) Butter an 8x8 inch pan.

2) Heat cream and lavender in a heavy pot until fragrant. I'm sure this will be different for each time you make this depending on how intense the lavender is. I think in my case it took about 10-15 minutes starting with medium heat and then lowering it to low for the majority of the time.

3) Once you are satisfied with the intensity of the infusion, remove the sprigs and then strain out the remaining lavender flowers that have fallen from the sprigs.

4) Return the cream to the pot and add the honey. Cook this mixture until it reaches firm ball on your candy thermometer (about 245 degrees). The mixture will get foamy and rise so make sure you use an ample sized pot.

5) Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt. Once the butter has completely melted and you've stirred in all of the air bubbles until the molten caramel is smooth.

6) Pour the caramel into your buttered dish.

Let the caramel cool, cut into cubes or scoop out pieces and wrap in individual wax papers or cellophane like taffies. If you'd like, garnish with a pinch of coarse sea salt on each piece.

I hope you like it!

Daphne

The story of THE seed…

Since I don’t have daily access to my garden (or at least it’s not realistic to), I’ve taken to caring for a young seedling at my desk at work. It some strange way it’s keeping me focused on my goals for my garden as it is a daily reminder that my seedlings are growing and will have ever changing needs.

The story of the seed…

I was eating dinner in a outdoor café on May 10 when I looked down and saw a dried tomato seed lying down on the table. I had to take it with me. I carefully placed it in my wallet and then forgot about it for a few days. When I remembered, I was at work. Why not have a little sprouting project at my desk?

One coworker scoffed at the idea and said that it was probably a Monsanto seed and wouldn’t grow. I figured that she was probably wrong and even if it was a Monsanto seed, it would definitely grow even if I sprayed Round-Up on it – right? I might go to jail but at least I would prove her wrong.

I placed the single seed in a damp paper towel inside an opened sandwich bag and let it sit there. I checked everyday until I saw a tiny white and succulent root shoot out of the brown capsule. I waited and waited and checked everyday, loosening the roots grip of the paper towel. After a few days, it was time to plant. I planted the germinated seed last Thursday, May 20. Since then, I’ve managed to rip the outer reaches of the cotyledons off – this is because I just wanted that seed sheath off of the leaves – I wanted to see green!! I tugged and pulled until the sheath came off and part of the leaves came off with it.

Thankfully, it’s still alive and seems to be getting stronger. I leave the watering dish and peat pot under my task light because our windows in the office block out the sun pretty well.

Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to plant this guy in my garden. We’ll see what weird thing comes of it. I’m sure it’s from a hybrid and will most likely produce odd or inferior fruit.

I just couldn't resist the temptation. And in the meantime, it’s a fun exercise.

Daphne

Wanted: Sunshine

This week was a strange and disappointing one. When I at the garden I noticed that some of my tomatoes that I planted the prior week didn’t make it through their “shock” phase. I think I lost about three varieties and I’m all out of seed. I’m pretty sad about that but I’m willing to understand that these things happen.

The goal for Saturday was to check the status on all of the new transplants and give everyone a nice soak of fish emulsion. I did that and reseeded some of the things that weren’t looking too hot. The buttercup squash has seen better days, all of the lemon cucumbers died and it looks like some of the parsley has started melting into the ground. I am happy about most the progress of things in general but it is very disappointing when you see the things that you’ve started from seed looking like they are on their last leg and some pest has taken chunks out of their leaves.

The weather in Northern California is setting record lows. I’m worried. This weekend we had partly cloudy weather and scattered rain showers. I have never experienced a May like this one. At night it’s been getting into the 40’s and the days have been in the 60’s to low 70’s. The plants are just not growing as fast as they should without the warmth of the sun to heat the soil. I’m trying to be patient and see the bright side of things. Cooler temperatures mean that lettuce, turnips and other cold weather crops have an extended growing season.

Instead of fretting over my transplants’ unhappiness I started working on my fence project. The things that I have to worry about disturbing my garden are chickens, cats, peacocks, ducks, the occasional rabbit and gophers. But for now, I’m just making a decorative fence (which will keep out only a few of these critters). I’ll put wire fencing to the inside of my decorative fence and I’m planting my beets, turnips and carrots in green plastic strawberry baskets to keep gophers from snaking on them under the soil.

I found a plan for a found wood fence and arbor in a gardening project book I purchased. Luckily, I have a lot of wood to “find.” The property has a lot of volunteer trees that need to be cut down and I’ll put them to good use! I spent a good portion of Saturday using a hand saw to cut down sucker trees and misplaced volunteers. It was a good workout for my arms. At this point we’ve, cleared some of the wood out but I know we’ll need more for the size garden we have. I had just started working on the arbor at the entrance of the garden when it began to rain.

The fence will have to wait for another day – it’s forecasted to rain all the way up until Friday this week. Either the fence will be waiting or I will get used to working in the rain. I just don’t like being in it but maybe it will grow on me.

I’m interested to look back on this post next year at this time to see what progress I would have made but as for now, I feel like a lot is out of my control. I have faith in my plants’ desire to live and I have faith in me and that’s all that I can do.

P.S. I got stung three times by my bees this weekend. It hurt but I didn’t react to the venom at all. No swollenness, no itchiness and practically pain free after the first day. I have a lot of honey right now! And I got to see an orientation flight for the first time – this is when the newly hatched brood come out of the hive all at the same time to learn to fly. Hundreds if not thousands fly around the outside of the hive very slowly and it looks magical.
Daphne

It’s in and it’s on!

Somehow my peaceful gardening practices have turned into a competition. I love to see everyone succeed in their gardening because I think it’s an overall healthy thing for both the gardener and for their community. However, I don’t like snarky gardeners. After basically being called an amateur by the neighbor – it’s on!

I understand that everyone chooses to do their gardening in their own way -- that is precisely why I don’t question gardeners in their decisions. Everyone has their own vision, their own master plan and that is precisely why I don't assume that someone doesn't know what they are doing. I forget that some people don’t share the same restraint.

I was soaking the ground and raking it in to make sure the soil under the surface was damp when the neighbor said, “You need to get your plants in the ground! It will be October before you know it and you won’t have anything in the ground!” I just smiled and agreed. I cheerfully asked her how her garden was doing and she said it was great, her plants are “up to here,” as gestures waist high. And then she said, “My garden is much bigger than yours.”

Saturday was a big day and Sunday was even bigger. Saturday entailed all of the final soil prep work needed to make a happy new home for my soon to be shocked babes. By the way, Saturday was 86 degrees and it got darned hot out there. I decided to take the hottest part of the day to get the seed packets organized, label stakes, redraw the garden map and get a general game plan.

Sunday was all about getting the little guys in the ground – it was a perfect day for it. It was in the low 70’s and overcast but I was still a bit overwhelmed.

My mind was reeling with all of the plants that needed to go into the ground:

• 3 varieties of Potatoes: French Fingerling, Red and Pearl
• 3 varieties of Cucumber: Lemon, Pickling, Snack
• 2 varieties of Sunflowers
• Green Bush Beans
• Lima Beans
• 2 varieties of Corn (white and yellow)
• Tomatillo
• Sweet Potatoes
• Eggplant
• 21 varieties of Tomatoes (too many to list but they are all heirlooms)
• 2 varieties of Watermelon: Sweet Baby and Crimson
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew
• 13 varieties of Peppers: Sweet Banana, 3 Bells, Big Jim, Poblano, Anaheim, Jalapeno, Habanero, Cayenne, Martin’s Carrot, Sweet Stuffing, Little Nubian
• Okra
• 12 different herbs: Rosemary, Lavender, Dill, Fennel, Salad Burnet, Summer Savory, Lemon Basil, Sweet Basil, Shiso, Flat Leaf and Curly Leaf Parsley, Caraway
• Flowers: Zinnia, Marigold, Hollyhock, Lupine, Nasturtiums

I also want to do an experiment, I know it might be a long shot but there is no hurt in trying. These are usually cool weathered friends but I’m planting them in a filtered shade area (by the corn and sunflowers and interplanting them with okra).

Soon to be planted:

• Lettuces
• Beets
• Turnips
• Chard
• Carrots

I’m not going to get into my reasoning behind planting my garden in “October” because if you’ve followed my blog you already know the reasoning behind it. Just so you know, I peeked through the fence and saw that her soil is only turned up clay and her plants, as I’m pointing to my ankle, her plants are only “up to there.”

I think she was surprised by my progress by Sunday evening. I want to prove that I know what I'm doing. I hope that I do. Enough said about that.

Daphne

Let's try this again!

Tomorrow is the big planting day and I'm both excited and nervous. This week has been dramatically diverse weather-wise. Monday it was snowing in the hills and close to freezing at night in the valley and today it's in the 80's. My poor seedlings. I've heard they are doing well though. I called my mom on Tuesday to ask her if they made it through the night - she poked her head out the door and said in an excited voice, "Yeah, it looks like most everyone is ok!!" I screamed, "What! What do you mean, MOST?" She said, "Well there could be somebody out there that died. But I can't tell from here." Agonizing! She didn't understand that these are my new pets...

It's been so strange not having them at home with me. I was so used to moving them around each day and watering them with my water bottle...chasing Charlee away from them so that she wouldn't stomp or chew on them. On the bright side, I suppose it's been very freeing not having them at home with me.
Tomorrow I'm setting my plan into action. I'll have a new garden map drawn up and some more pictures.

I hope it's bright and sunny where you are and all of your garden plants are eating it up!

Daphne

"First Day of School" Delay

I don't know how I'm feeling right now. I'm not a mother but I suppose what I could be feeling is that hundreds of my children just went off to their first day of school. In the garden they are so little, so pure, so sweet. How am I supposed to know that they'll even make it through the night? I don't, and that's why I think I've just become an irrational gardener...or am I?

After transforming the plot from this:

To this (11 yards of organic compost later):

I carefully set out my plants in their containers according to my plans. They looked so small in the large plot, they looked almost as if I would lose them in the vast darkness of compost. I saw the wind tousling them around and I felt the chill on my arms. NO! I can't do this! I snatched up all of the trays (I had to make several snatching trips) and took them to the patio. What was I thinking I wondered. I can't move my seedlings directly from the warmth of my apartment and my tender care just like that.

That's one of the first things you learn in a propagation class. You must harden them off first. Technically, you should move them to a lath house for at least 7-10 days and you should only harden them off for a few hours and build up their tolerance until they are ready to be on their own. I won't wait the full time just because I'm just not that way nor that thorough. Ideally, I'll plant them mid next week.

This is giving me a bit of time to review my garden plans and reorganize if need be. I've already decided on a new plan but I'm sure I'll adjust it again by the time I plant.

Today's accomplishments include, moving all of my trays of seedlings about 20 miles and not killing any of them, completing soil preparation, adding a new super to my bee hive and cleaning the frames, and moving my plants around for no reason. But most importantly, I have honey!!! I took my first taste today. I think they are making honey out of the sugar water that I've supplied to get my newly caught swarm started. I'm cutting them off now. They are doing marvelously - I'm such a proud bee mom right now. I just realized today that the bees I'm seeing today don't even know that they were ever a swarm. The original bees that I caught have most likely expired (except for the queen). It's just so amazing to me that there is constant coming and going of little bee souls and they all work seamlessly together. Once again, they are such amazing little creatures.

Here are some pictures from today's hive opening:

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and per my mom's request, I'm working with her in the yard tomorrow. No wonder why gardening is engrained in me. I think we'll be planting corn and okra and trimming back the dreaded Vinca major.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies out there!

Daphne

Blue, coral, green and salubrious light

The coastal winds furiously blew into the valley for the last few days. The fresh breeze went sour after I noticed the dust and pollens wafting through the air. I don’t have allergies but even I was affected. Last night the wind slowed, slowed and finally slithered away.
While walking to work today I realized that today is just one of those special gifts you get every once in a while. Granted, I have a very nice walk to work but the large and beautifully landscaped park doesn’t always seem this glorious.

The air was perfectly still but clean and fresh, the sky so clear that your eyes have a hard time seeing how deep the blue goes, the new spring leaves and blades of grass had perfect little dew drops placed on each one, the rose garden full of fragrance and the light hit each bloom transforming each blossom into a glowing globe. The park was quite this morning; everyone seemed to be taking their time meandering through today.

What we do does make a difference in not only the way that we feel but through our gardens we can create that fresh and peaceful space that positively affects others in our community.

I’m feeling inspired to start my garden tomorrow.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Daphne

Companion Planting

The picture above is absolutely not my garden but I hope that it will resemble it in a month or two. My post from a couple of days ago prompted a question that I think would be beneficial to address in an official blog post. In my previous post I mentioned that marigolds would have an added value to my garden besides a simple splash of color, they can actually help keep pests out! This is one example of companion planting but there are other reasons to interplant different plants like to enhance the flavor of a particular fruit or vegetable or to attract beneficials (insects, birds, etc.) to your garden. The list of companion plants goes on and on but I will address the most common vegetables found in gardens and then you can do your own research for specific plants.


Tomatoes are one of the most common plants in the garden and luckily for us, there are quite a few plants that can help them succeed. My favorites to grow between tomato plants are basil and marigolds. Basil is said to improve the flavor of tomatoes and it also repels mosquitoes and thrips. Scented marigolds keep bad nematodes away and also discourage whiteflies and many other pests (except slugs and spider mites). I'm going to plant a tomato then marigold then basil then marigold and repeat the pattern (at least this is the plan).

Beans are great for plants that deplete the soil of nitrogen such as corn. You can plant your corn and then plant the beans right next to them and train the beans to climb up the corn as if it were a trellis. This will save you precious space in the garden and they will carry on a helpful symbiotic relationship. If you like the herb Summer Savory, you can plant this along side of this pair to enhance the flavor of the beans and keep bean beetles away.

Since I've mentioned corn above I'll keep going with it. You can plant the beans, corn, summer savory and pumpkins/cucumbers all together. They all work in harmony and will help you reduce water usage because the pumpkin/cucumber plants create a living mulch in a way. You should take any help you can get with corn in this way - it drinks a lot of water.

Cucumbers not only like growing next to corn but they are happy with sunflowers and will grow up the sturdy stems. I think a pretty and beneficial planting is sunflowers, cucumbers and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums are a spicy, edible and beautiful flower that comes in reds, yellows and orange colors. They are great in salads to add a little spice, color and elegance. Imagine your eye moving around the garden. You see the tall and sturdy sunflower and then your eye moves down to the flowering vines of the cucumber and the lush ground covered in colorful nasturtiums. Not only is it beautiful but nasturtiums improve the flavor and growth of the cucumbers.

Eggplants like to live along side a variety of common garden plants such as peppers, beans, peas, okra and spinach.

Pepper plants like to be by tomatoes, onions, okra, cucumbers and eggplants. They also like basil, parsley, rosemary and oregano.

Oregano, basil, nasturtiums and marigolds offer general pest protection so plant them around the edges of your garden. I think they would make a lovely boarder that you and beneficials can enjoy and pests dread.

For more information on companion planting, you can visit one of the many websites dedicated to this practice. A very good one that I can recommend is Golden Harvest.

Daphne

One garden down & My garden line-up

My trip to Southern California was fun as always. This was a very special trip because I had two very special occasions to celebrate. One being my nephew's first birthday party and the other being his baptism. While I was there I had the opportunity to layout and plant my sister's garden. She has six raised beds in a fenced in area draped with grape vines.
She was so busy with the baby and party planning that she just let me go to town all by my lonesome. I think it took about two hours to finish but after I was done she was surprised to find all of her seedlings that she started from seed thoughtfully organized in her new garden.

The first raised bed is full of cucumbers. I chose the location based on the fencing. This particular raised bed is next to a section of chain link fence that is not covered with grapes. The cucumbers will be trained to climb the fence so this will alleviate her from having to put in a trellis.

The second bed has an assortment of tomato and tomatillo plants with cages around them. It is important to think about watering needs when placing plants in the same raised bed. For example, you wouldn't want corn (a water lover) and tomatoes in the same bed.

The third bed has bell and jalapeno peppers in the majority and then at one end she has onions. The onions and peppers have similar water needs (believe it or not).

The fourth bed has only artichokes. I believe she had 6 seedlings and plugged them all in.

The fifth bed has butter lettuce, rainbow chard, carrots and beets. The butter lettuce was placed at one end of the bed where it will be mostly shaded. I did this because I wanted to prevent it from bolting - like lettuce tends to do in the heat. We'll see how that goes.

The sixth bed will soon have corn growing in it!

After planting we worked on the irrigation of the garden and decided that "spider" sprinkler heads would work best in her situation. A week or so ago she had her gardener put in a simple irrigation system into her beds. She started out with a bubbler and that just didn't do the trick. I would always recommend a soaker or drip system so that water doesn't get onto the leaves of the plants and cause fungus and disease but this can be something we look into for next year. She's off to a great start and I know her garden will produce a ton of tasty organic vegetables for her family.

I had the opportunity to snag some Kaffir Lime leaves. They're in my refrigerator waiting for me to come up with a recipe.

As for me and my garden, I have a tremendous amount of work to do. When I got home a found that my seedlings are even crazier than when I left them. One of my tomato plants has two fully opened blooms and one of my zucchini plants has nine flower buds. This weekend MUST be garden time because I'm starting to feel a bit cramped with these guys in my apartment. Here's what I have so far (pictures to come):

97 tomato plants
38 pepper plants
35 lemon cucumbers
32 turnips
24 lemon basil
20 marigolds (used to help control pests)
16 salad bernet
15 zucchinis
14 parsley
12 eggplants
10 lima beans
10 sunflowers
6 crookneck squash
6 watermelons
5 cantaloupe

I have more seeds like corn, a few more herbs and a couple more squash varieties but they all prefer to be sewn directly into their permanent home so I'll have to plant those on-site.

I'm starting to get the plants prepared/hardened-off by placing next to my open window at night. Luckily the weather is glorious this week.

I'm going to be a busy bee trying to get prepared for the big planting this weekend. Saturday will be a long hard day of digging, turning and planting.

How is YOUR garden moving along?
Daphne