Zone 5b Fig Tree, Year 2

Two year old Chicago Fig.

It's now well into year two for the little Chicago Hardy Fig Tree I planted in my backyard last spring, and it seems to be quite healthy despite dying back almost to the ground during the winter.

I am located on the border of USDA zones 5b and 6a, much north of where figs are usually grown. I was a little worried that this variety of fig wouldn't be as hardy as it's name suggested, but those fears seem to be unfounded. However, I cannot evaluate the claims that the roots can survive down to minus 30 Fahrenheit, my climate just doesn't get that cold. 

The top of the trunk received frost damage during the winter, so I cut it back to a foot tall and it's sent out lots of growth over the summer. I suspect the protection I gave it over the winter wasn't enough to fully insulate it from the weather (I separated a bale of hay and wrapped it aound the trunk).

I know some gardeners around here that say they bury theirs in a trench and others who say they don't protect them at all and let them grow back every year. After seeing how well this one has rebounded, I suspect the later strategy might be a viable option. Still, this fall I plan on protecting it again, but with more mass to insulate it.

I did get one fig develop towards the end of June. Then, I left it to ripen on the tree while I left on vacation for a week, expecting to be able to harvest it on my return...

Yeah, that was a bad idea. I don't know what ate it while I was gone, but I'm sure it enjoyed eating a fresh ripe fig. Still, I might just get a harvest from it sometime in the fall, before the first harvest.

Spring Gardening Update, 2015

 The sage I planted last year is in bloom with pretty purple flowers. I've spent much of the last month planting: lettuce, radishes, spinach, dill, cilantro, massve amounts of chillies, and equally massive amounts of tomatoes, zuzucchini, melons, an squash. With luck, it'll be all-I-can-eat salsa in my kitchen this summer. 

Fall Garden Update.

September is almost over and in a few weeks it'll be time to clean up the garden for winter. But for now, my peppers are still producing, in particular my habeneros which finally started ripening this month.

Yes, they are quite spicy but they also have a wonderful flavor too.

Also, I've been freezing my garden herbs for the winter, and I have bags of mint, sage, and basil filling my freezer.

Finally, I planted a bag of crocus bulbs in the back yard. I can hardly wait until next spring for them to bloom!  

Chilies!

Freshly picked Anaheim chilies straight from my backyard. Of the chilies I planted this year, they have been the most productive by far.

These are destined to be roasted and added to a batch of queso fundido.

Zucchinni Gone Insane + Lunchtime = Tasty Squash Blossom Soup

My garden has been loving the frequent rains we've been getting so far this summer with my peppers, tomatoes, and sunflowers getting visibly bigger every day. And the creeping thyme in my front yard has aspirations of becoming the next kudzu (which surprises me, as it's in partial shade). But no plant in my garden has done quite as well as my zucchini. My zucchini has grown to gigantic proportions and currently has enormous dinner plate sized leaves. And I planted four of them this year.

Zucchini, like any other squash, have separate male and female flowers. Both types of flowers are edible, but the female flowers will grow into squash while the male will just wilt and drop off after a few days. So it makes sense to pinch off most (but not all) of the male flowers and cook with them. There are lots of ways to cook them; I've stuffed them with cheese and garlic and I've heard they make good quesadillas. But today, I wanted to eat a bowl of squash blossom soup.

The recipe I used was adapted from this article:
Caldo Xochitl con Flor de Calabaza

I halved the recipe and adapted it for what I had lying around.

4 cups Chicken Broth.
2 cans Chicken Breast.
1/2 cup cooked rice.
4 chilies en adobo, minced.
2 serrano peppers seeded and sliced.
1 sweet pepper.
About 1 cup roughly chopped squash blossoms.
Shredded Cheese for garnish.

I still cooked as directed in the recipe. It makes a nice brothy soup wish just the right amount of spiciness and the squash blossoms give it a wonderful freshness. I'll definitely make it again, but next batch of squash blossoms I pick I'm turning into quesodillas...

Spring 2014 Gardening Update  

Spring 2014 Gardening Update

It's May now and my week straight of rain has come to an end! I've been dying to get my vegetables in...

This is a Chicago Hardy Fig that I bought from Stark Brothers. It arrived at the end of March and as you can see, it's out of it's dormancy and putting up new growth.

I'm in Kansas City, zone 5b/6a and my climate is a bit cold for figs. However, local Italian-American gardeners universally said that they have grown figs here successfully.  The key is to wrap them in winter, making especially sure that the roots are well protected from the cold.

This is the hardiest variety of fig that I found while reading up on figs. It is supposed to be hardy to -30 degrees (and able to survive cold Chicago winters). It'll grow back from the roots if the above ground parts freeze, if what I read is true.

Despite that I will wrap in the winters (until it gets too big to do so), as I was instructed. I already have a carpet remnant (again, as was instructioned) in the basement to wrap it with.

  The next picture is a raspberry bush. I hadn't actually planned on planting raspberries, but I had to make a trip to the hardware store for another purchase and I saw it right there in the nursery.

The little raspberry bush said to me, "Come on and buy me. You know you wanna have fresh raspberries. And I only get four foot tall by four foot wide, so you have room for me."

I found the cute little raspberry bush's arguments compelling and now I have a raspberry bush planted behind my house.

While I am happy I planted the little raspberry bush, every time I look at it, I am reminded that my mother doesn't let my father shop at the hardware store alone for the exact same reason!

I didn't plant these pretty purple flowers, in fact they've been there since before I moved in. I've never seen them look so happy before and they are so pretty I thought I'd post pictures of them.

I have a list of other plants that I have in my garden this year but don't have pictured:

• Dill
• English Thyme
• Roman Chamomile
• Mint (I might regret planting mint)
• Habeñeros
• Anaheim Peppers
• Jalapeños
• Italian Stuffer Peppers
• Poblanos (I LOVE peppers, Okay)
• Rosa Bianca Eggplant
• Zucchini (I don't remember the variety)
• Old German Tomatoes
• Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
• Black Brandywine Tomatoes
• Lots and Lots and Lots of Sunflowers (assorted varieties)
• Lots and Lots and Lots of Marigolds (I'm experimenting with using them as a living mulch in some spots)

Once my sunflowers start to take off in a week or two, I might plant some cucumbers along side them. I'm thinking I can get the cucumbers to trellis on the sunflowers.

Gardening Fun Time!

It's the middle of July now and my garden is in full swing. (Though I did get started later than I wanted to since we had a snowstorm once a week from mid-March to the end of April. That's not typical of my climate.)

The first of my sunflowers are starting to bloom and I like the deep orange color of the petals. I seeded a number of different varieties of sunflower in that bed, along with marigolds for a ground cover. I hope to end up with a wall of sunflowers of a variety of different heights and colors.  As a nice plus, the ground cover of marigolds I planted are not only very pretty, but they give this corner of the yard a very nice smell.

Watched tomatoes never ripen. Apparently.

The San Marzano seedlings I started last winter all died (I think they didn't get enough light), so I'm growing the Big Boy tomatoes that I bought from the grocery store instead. 

I planted three vines, and have plenty of tomatoes growing, but nothing ripe yet. I have a feeling that in a couple of weeks, I'll have more tomatoes than I know what to do with.

In the bed...

Out of the bed...

... and in the yard. And still growing.

And squash ate my yard! This monster vine is a volunteer. I've got a few little squashes (squish?) growing on it so far, but I've gotten lots of squash blossoms off of it; they are very tasty stuffed with cream cheese and fried.

Other than some chilies in pots and some basil, that's pretty much it for this year. I've discovered from all of this that I really like gardening. Next year, I think I'll be nice to my friendly neighbourhood pollinators and plant a lot more flowers (and between my vegetables).  Also planting climbing plants such as peas or cucumbers would be a good way to get more use out of my available space. Finally I'm not ready to give up on starting heirlooms from seeds and next year I want to try growing Cherokee Purple tomatoes and more San Marzanoes.