Summer Previews at Cheapskate Farms

Our last post showed you what we picked this week, this post will show you what's coming soon.

The future is all about chiles. So is the present, as a matter of fact.  This one is a very hot one that I do not know the name of. We got the seeds from a batch of chiles my wife's uncle grew. I just know that it is delicious and the hottest chile in our garden.

These jalapenos will be ready soon too. We're growing them in a pot on the patio.

Way, way down on the heat scale...in fact, they have none...are the bell peppers who make up for the lack of heat with their great flavor. I love growing this and they make for a great, late harvest food.

While our heirloom tomatoes are still taking their sweet time setting fruit, this cherry tomato in a hanging basket will be ripe soon.

In other news, a branch of our plumeria broke off.

Here is a closer look. This is quite common, they are very brittle, but you can stick the broken stem in the ground and it will grow into a new plumeria tree.

 

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Cym City

Many orchid nurseries will tell you that cymbidiums are the easiest orchid to grow. Not really, many...like bletillas and dendrobiums...are easier. Others, like vandas and phalaenopsis, are harder. Cymbidiums are really more in the middle.

Cymbidiums are terrestrial orchids that are native to mid and southeast Asia. Terrestrial means that they grow naturally in the ground, as opposed to epiphytic orchids that cling to the sides of trees and rocks.

You can see in the header above which zone I live in. I'm in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles at an elevation of 600 feet. It gets extremely hot here in the summer and occasionally dips below freezing in the winter.

 

Thinking of their natural habitat, you can see that cymbidiums thrive on heat and humidity.  They can tolerate a couple of nights down to 28 degrees but more than that, you better move them inside until the thermometer rises again.

This is our cymbidium bench.  It's on the north side of our house which many orchid growers will tell you will not work but it seems to work for us. They tell you this because the prime motivator for orchids to bloom is sunlight. 

One of the few professional gardening jobs I had was at an orchid nursery. We told our customers that they needed 55% sunlight.  That is, if you put the plant in direct sun, you could cover them up with the shade cloth that blocked out 45% of the light...which we conveniently sold.

In reality, as you can see on our bench, you need good light but not necessarily 55%, or any direct sunlight at all.

They only really need water once a week in cooler months, maybe twice in the hot season. Our bench has an automatic sprinkler at each end to take care of this (see our Poor Man's Sprinkler System to see how I do this).

You might imagine that with big blooms and buds like these that the flower stems might get very heavy and break off.  You would imagine right.  A stiff gust of wind can easily snap them in two.

To prevent this, you need to stake the flower stems. I use a cheap bamboo stick and a twist-tie. I cross the twist-tie between the stake and stem to provide some cushion and separation from the stake.Being a Cheapskate, I naturally recycle these stakes year after year, until they literally fall apart and I can't use them any more.

Fertilize during the non-freezing months once a month to every couple of weeks with a fertilizer that has at least 10% potassium. I use a liquid 10-10-5 fertilizer that works good on my entire garden.

The blooms on cymbidiums are thick and waxy. They can easily last two months indoors. Theoretically, they can last longer outside but they are subject to pollinators out there. Once pollinated, they will fade and drop off quickly. 

You can tell when a cymbidium bloom is about done when the central lip turns red.

I repot ours about every three years.  The one above was repotted last summer. Notice the mix still looks fresh and there is a couple of inches for the plant to grow in each direction. Even the little weed seems to like it.

This plant is in need of repotting this year...you can't even tell it has any mix.  When you repot it, you can also put those dead-looking bulbs in their own small pots and new plants will grow from them.

I'll post another report on repotting a cymbidium later this year, you want to avoid repotting during the blooming season. Right after they're done is the best time.

Their pretty tough, hardy, don't take a lot of fawning over. That's the number one killer of orchids right there...treating them like their a delicate, fragile, little snowflake. Go ahead...let them show you what they're made of. The rewards are great when you let them go their own way.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Faking a Tropical Paradise

People in Southern California have been trying to delude themselves for over a century. Palm trees, sandy beaches, tropical flowers, lush lawns...the dirty truth is that we're not tropical, we're almost desert.

The area only looks a lush as it does because we import tons of water and splash it all over our yards in a desperate attempt to fool ourselves we're in Hawaii or some other island paradise.

In the summer, we get hot. Very hot. Our thermometer peaked at 117 last summer and regularly flirts, or goes steady, with 110. 

In the winter, we get cold and the temps can dip below freezing. 

One key factor in my garden plan is to keep plants that can tolerate a little cold so, other than our house plants and our lone phalaenopsis orchid, the tropical plants in my backyard can tolerate a day or two down to 28 degrees. Longer than that and they start dropping like flies.

It's not to say that they like it down there. Lately, the temps have been dipping into the low 30s. Our lowest temp so far is 32. I keep a thermometer in the backyard that I can see through our kitchen window. Each morning I check it to see how cold it god and then watch the weather forecast to see if its' supposed to get cooler.

The plants still react. At the top of the page is our plumeria at the height of its summer glory. The next picture down shows what it looks like during a cold spell (with a rogue Mr. Lincoln bloom poking fun at it). The leaves will all be off soon and the trees will go dormant for awhile.

Our bouganvillea looks a little ragged in the cold, as does some of the euphorbia and the guava tree leaves react with a purple hue.

The grape vine is just about to drop the last of its leaves.

If I see that we hit the magic number of 28, and it looks like colder weather will be coming, the potted plants (mostly cymbidium orchids) are moved to the garage until it's passed.

I'm watching those cymbidiums closely, there's too many buds waiting to open to ignore.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Changing of the Guard in Southern California

The last two plants to bloom for 2012... an orange begonia and our Christmas cactus which, of course, blooms at this time each year.

While Mrs. Cheapskate inspects the chile peppers, let's see what the garden has for us this weekend.

These chiles are almost black but should soon turn red.

The lavender makes an end-of-the-year stand.

And, finally, our phaleanopsis is showing signs of cold shock so we'll move it inside for the winter.

After our super short Southern California winter, we'll put it back outside, probably sometime in February.  Not much to do in the garden right now...I have a repair to make on our wooden berm that protects the front yard rose garden, then in about a month, it'll be time to prune the roses.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Thinking of Gardening on a Rainy Day

It never rains in Southern California, a big 70's rock song says, so I don't know what this wet stuff is falling on my head.  I kid...but we've got a 6-day stretch of rain this weekend that's keeping me from the garden.

In between squalls, I was able to go out and take a picture of our fabulous fall rose bloom in the front yard garden against the Christmas decorations at the top. Below is another, more rose centric, picture of the same spot.

In other news, I was able to start harvesting our winter fruit from our tiny little citrus grove (three trees).

Across the top of the bowl, from left to right, a cara cara navel orange, a tangelo, and a Meyer lemon. Cut open in front is another cara cara, displaying the very tasty red flesh it's famous for.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Recipes for a Cheapskate..Cream of Bell Pepper Soup

My favorite soup. I always look forward to cooler weather and my wife making this soup.  It's so good.

Let's start by harvesting some fresh, bell peppers off of the vine. Our little plot of bell peppers have been very productive this year.

Along with the bell peppers, we'll add a couple of serranos for taste. They come from the garden too.

Chop up the peppers and throw into the blender.

Saute some chopped peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil.

In a 5 quart pot, put some flour and water in as a thickener. Follow with some chicken broth.

Blend the peppers.

Add the peppers, temper in some heavy cream, and cook on low flame for 10-20 minutes. Serve with some tortilla chips and jack cheese.

For a more complete recipe, try this one at  the CD Kitchen

-Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Arctic Orchid...Bletilla

With my recent posts about phalaenopsis...or butterfly...orchids, which are not easy orchids to grow for beginners, people have been asking me what orchids they can grow.

To start, especially if you live in a colder climate than me (Southern California), I'd recommend something like you see on this page...the bletilla orchid.

It's a terrestrial orchid, meaning it grows in soil, not on the side of a tree. It works wonderfully in moist to soggy ground. Think of that faucet you have in the back yard that always spills a couple of drops. That's where I planted mine and I never had to do anything to it...it self watered, was next to the warm house, and built itself into a very thick, big, blooming clump.

It's hardy to 25 degrees. Lower if you cover the deciduous bulbs with mulch after the leaves have fallen off. If you have them planted in the ground, right next to the house, and you live in the lower 48, the heat from the house would probably be enough.

Shade lovers, they do quite well in the ground on the north wall of our house.

Got a moist patch of dirt on on the north, west, or east side of your house...fairly shady? This can go there and you're off to the races in the world of orchid growing. Just bury the bulbs about 2" deep, water in, and watch for results in the spring.

Available at many garden centers for a dollar a bulb, it's also a very cheap way to get into the hobby.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved