Fruit
Pineapple Guava Popsicle
This is the first year in the ten years we have had the pineapple guava tree that the squirrels have left the guavas alone, and I have been able to gather a handful of fallen guavas every day. I also have guavas on one of the bushes planted in pots. I’m not a fancy cook, [...]
Confused Watermelons
My baby watermelon plants are confused. Do they not know it’s nearly Halloween? I think they think they are pumpkins! I photographed four baby watermelons, on separate vines this morning at 8AM. After a long summer of low production, my neighbor, C.L., remarked he thought I should be watering more. Because I hand-water everything, I [...]
Green, Good Morn!
Just as the sun was making it’s appearance, I observed what’s new in the garden. Everything’s green! I barely spotted this 3/4″ cabbage worm resting on a baby arugula leaf. Kale’s a’ comin’! My baby kale is sprouting in a pushed up hill in the middle of my white pot. It was planted 10 days [...]
Vegetables
Winter Garden Part 3 – New Episode!
Winter garden fun and maintenance continue as Kaye weeds nasturtium, harvests carrots and radishes and plants more radish seeds in her front yard vegetable garden, with neighbor Sophia’s help. Kaye plants berry vines in the tubs where the carrots were. Kaye offers a method for fighting against cutworm! Check out this simple tip, sink rings [...]
Kaye’s Tomato Story – Episode 18
My tomato episode is online, and I would love for you to watch it and share with friends. It was a long time coming, because, I kept waiting for my tomatoes to finish for this season, but, it’s November 3, and I’ve still got tomatoes growing! Click here, or for better quality, watch on YouTube. [...]
Monarch Butterfly
The Mystery is Revealed!
The sun came out today and it warmed up in the afternoon, so I was keeping an hourly watch on this caterpillar, as another curled up cat, that had been curled up for two days, formed a chrysalis in a couple of hours and I missed it. This one looked pretty much the same as it [...]
Wet Cats! (Monarch Caterpillars)
It’s been gently raining, on and off, for the better part of three days. The ground is soaked, and so are my cats. I go out several times a day to check on them, and count them. This AM, I found 13 caterpillars, five chrysalises, and one forming a chrysalis. About nine, like this one, are [...]
Critters
If Bees Are Imperiled, So Are Humans
If bees are imperiled, so are humans. There exists an exhaustive amount of press and scientific articles about the bee crisis, but, in case this is the first time you are getting this information, I want to enlighten you. And scare you. This little, hard-working bee’s – and millions of others like it – days [...]
Late Bloomer – Harvesting Winter Garden Vegetables
Late Bloomer - Harvesting Winter Garden Vegetables is online! In this fun episode, I harvest snow peas and Swiss Chard (and show a neighbor how to cook it!), Mei Qing Bok Choi (and give it away to neighbors), and an armload of celery for juicing. As if I haven’t said enough about aphids already , I commissioned regular [...]
Winter Garden Part 3 – New Episode!
Winter garden fun and maintenance continue as Kaye weeds nasturtium, harvests carrots and radishes and plants more radish seeds in her front yard vegetable garden, with neighbor Sophia’s help. Kaye plants berry vines in the tubs where the carrots were. Kaye offers a method for fighting against cutworm! Check out this simple tip, sink rings [...]
California Natives
On Monarchs, Blueberries and Birthdays
Today, October 22nd, is the 22nd birthday of my son, Walker. He’s a senior at Stanford, and I’d hoped to be up there, but the life of a college athlete is very busy, and he didn’t think he would even have time to dine with me. So, I am not going to see him in [...]
Gardens of Woodside – Episode 14
Kaye gets out of her front yard garden for a little inspiration, and visits beautiful Woodside, California. In this episode, she checks out the Woodside Library California Native Plant Garden and the Woodside Elementary School garden. With guest, teacher Brian Myrtetus. Watch here or higher resolution on YouTube.
Insectiary!
In “Wild Farm,” next week’s episode of “Late Bloomer,” http://wildfarm.biz/, we meet Lisa Putnam and her sister Kathleen, who are master gardeners and they take us on a tour of Lisa’s family farm in Woodside, CA. Lisa explained that her insectiary brings in beneficial insects which eat the bad insects, like aphids! Insectiaries are areas staffed with [...]
Other Recent Posts
Fabulous Funky Fungi, of the California Kind
Fabulous funky fungi have been popping up in the Late Bloomer garden! Water a little too much, and some mind-bending creation appears overnight. Pink-spored Pluteus atromarginatus. When I look at this photo.I think of Captain Jack Sparrow (from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” for those of you who have been on a deserted island for the past [...]
Kiwi, Strawberry and Pineapple Guava Blossom Salad
Kiwi, Strawberry and Pineapple Guava Blossom Salad was lunch today. Grilling, stir-fry, salads and soups are about all I manage to make these days, with an occasional batch of homemade biscuits or cornbread. Today, I thought, what do I have that I can make to go with my dwindling pineapple guava blossoms? This is what [...]
Late Bloomer’s New Look!
After much ado, the new “Late Bloomer” website premieres! With the expertise of WordPress Training & Online Marketing Consultant Lucy Beer and the graphics artistry of “Late Bloomer’s” motion graphics artist Mika Tanisaki, “Late Bloomer” unveils whole new look! While they were busy at work making the site look good, and function, I was busy writing my [...]
Recent Comments