A quiet morning.

 

I woke up this morning to the most wonderful feeling: it was chilly out.

 

 

It's been so long since I've felt the chilly fall air, that I had almost forgotten what an amazing sensation it really is. 

 

 

It also meant I could take my coffee outside in the Duggan Terrace Orchard, something I haven't been able to do in months.

 

 

There really is no more of a relaxing start to the day for me...

 

 

...then feeling the crispness of cool mountain breezes and the light fall winds, warm coffee, and surrounded by my fig trees.

 

 

Being serenaded by cowbells from the pretties in the pastures and hearing the call of the neighborhood rooster didn't hurt much either...

 

 

And although it's not quite fall yet (by official standards), it's enough to get me through. Just knowing that my favorite season is right around the corner is enough for me.

 

How about you? What's the perfect start to your morning?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Fig drop.

 

 

As you guys know, my gardening skills have been earned trial-by-fire-like here in SwitzerFrance. Having no prior gardening experience prior to 3.5 years ago, I've learned everything by doing. That means that for all of the victories there are also some inevitable setbacks.

 

 

This is our second season getting figs with our potted fig trees, though the first year for all but one of the trees.

 

 

Of our seven fig trees in large pots that are currently producing figs, all look healthy and happy, except for one...

 

 

...hello sad little yellow figs.

 

I did a bit of research on why the figs on this tree are turning yellow, and I can pretty safely say that the cause has been lack of consistent/enough watering.

 

I've definitely been a little lazier this year when it's come to watering the plants, being pregnant and all, but coming into this season I was also wrong in assuming that being somewhat established trees (over 2 years old for all but one of them) would mean that they would not only need, but want, less water.

 

I was wrong. Apparently this is only true for established trees that have been planted in the ground. Why is this? Because their roots can search deep in the ground for the appropriate amount of water, where potted figs are slaves to their pots (and those caring for them).

 

I guess I should feel lucky that only one fig tree is having this problem. It's definitely gotten me to step up my consistency with watering all of the trees though, as I'd love to be able to have a nice harvest in the next month or so.

 

How do you recognize this problem before it's too late? These figs started looking a little dried out, and felt a little soft and spongy to the touch. Since I obviously didn't correct the problem, they then continued to turn from green to yellow. None have fallen off on their own, however I have knocked into two of the attached yellow figs and knocked them off that way (not on purpose). I'm pretty sure that falling off on their own would be the final step in this tree's 2013 fig harvest demise.

 

So how do you fix this problem? According to what I've researched, if the problem is lack of watering or consistency in watering, well, change that. If you catch the problem soon enough you shouldn't lose your whole harvest. I noticed that with my French Brown Turkey tree I was able to correct this problem when they were at the spongy and dry looking phase by giving the tree some extra water. That tree has looked great ever since, and has 20 medium sized figs on it that I hope will continue to ripen. It may be too late for this little Italian cutting however, as we're at the yellow fig phase, but hey, you live and you learn.  

 

If for some reason the changes I've made make a difference I'll be sure to let you guys know.

 

 

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my other six trees continue looking healthy and give us some treats in September!

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



A (very) small bounty.

 

Yesterday I had a tasty little treat to go with my breakfast - our first fig of the 2013 season!

 

 

This delicious little guy came from a winter fig embryo on our French Brown Turkey tree, (ie a fig that didn't ripen last fall, but didn't shrivel up and fall off the tree over the winter, and matured early summer), which I propagated from a cutting 2 years and 7 months ago.

 

 

This guy was tiny, but sweet and delicious.

 

 

This looks like it's all of the breba crop we'll be getting this year, thanks to the lack of sunshine here in SwitzerFrance from April - May, but we've got 10-15 little figs growing on each of 5 of our other trees. Fingers crossed for a fig filled fall in the Duggan Terrace Orchard!

 

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

 

P.S. Want to grow your own little fig tree? Here's one of my past postings on how to propagate your own tree from a fig cutting! Good luck!



Garage compost and a bee hotel.

 

 

Remember my last post when I said that I'm lucky to have a husband who listens to my crazy ideas? Well, this past weekend was a doozy in terms of getting merde done, and that was not limited to Doc refinishing the second-hand dresser/changing table we bought for the nursery.

 

For the last 2 years, somewhat to Doc's chagrin, I've been making compost in our garage from our crazy amount of coffee/espresso grounds, fall leaves and the occasional food scraps.

 

 

It definitely took some trial and error, with a fair amount of error, but we've finally gotten a method down that not only works, but that we can both be (mostly) happy with.

 

So don't let anyone tell you can't make compost indoors, it just sometimes takes a little patience and understanding. Here's how we do it: Whenever we finish a bag of soil, that becomes our new compost receptacle. We start out with a thick layer of just coffee grounds and dead plants/leaves in the bag, and then once a good solid layer has been made, we begin adding in occasional egg shells, avocado skins, apple cores, etc.

 

It is definitely a delicate balance however, so we try not to overdo it with the kitchen leftovers. If you're not careful the compost can (and will) burn through the bag and leave a smelly mess on your garage floor. So waiting until a third of the bag is full of coffee grounds and leaves/dead plants is a good point to start adding other kitchen leftovers. We then turn it with a little spade or shake the bag once a week, and about 8 months later - compost!

 

And not gonna lie, it's a really cool feeling to use compost you've made on your plants. Now that we've successfully made compost two years in a row, we're going to upgrade our system by using small trash cans or paint buckets. I'll keep you updated on how that goes! 

 

So that was one thing we did this weekend.

 

 

Also, in an attempt to try to stop our friendly bees from making little holes in our terrace table and chairs, Doc made a little bee hotel this weekend.

 

 

We've noticed the bees literally chomping and gnawing away at the wood this summer, and we think they want to make little holes in which to let their little larvae grow. So we made them a bee hotel to try to save our furniture. We're not sure if it's going to work, but we saw similar bee hotels in the Geneva Botanical Gardens, and figured we'd give it a shot.

 

 

Doc used our crappy little IKEA drill to make some starter holes for the bees, and then placed it in a corner of the terrace. I'll keep you updated on whether or not the bees take to the hotel...

 

Have you ever made a bee hotel? Did it work?

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey    

First gratuitous garden post of 2013.

 

{Mexican Lime blossom}

 

Before getting into our weekend trip to Toulon, I'd like to take this opportunity for a long awaited gratuitous garden post.

 

{Newly propagated fig tree}

 

And this time we're making it a jet-setting multi-national one.

 

{Little Mandarin oranges}

 

Due to a death in the family we spent five weeks in the US in April/May, and while Doc helped his side of the family through the rough time in Nebraska, I in my sick and nauseated state bummed around my parent's house near Atlantic City, NJ.

 

{Negronne fig tree}

 

So what do you do when you're 4+ months pregnant and too sick and light-headed to trust yourself to go for a walk?

 

{Elberta peach leaves}

 

You garden. You garden like you've never gardened before because otherwise you would go out of your mind thanks to Homekid stealing all of your potential life force. You plot and you scheme and you convince your mother to let you plant a ridiculous amount of bulb flowers. You make up charts like when you were a kid and convince your dad to let you plant an Elberta peach tree. And then a Bing Cherry Tree. And then there was that Peter's Honey fig...the list goes on and on. In the end I planted 70 gladiolus bulbs, 3 dahlia bulbs, 24 pink tulips, made 5 flower beds to house those bulbs, planted 2 hydrangea bushes, and the aforementioned 3 fruit trees (you know, to keep the other 4 fig trees company, obviously). And those were just the in-ground plantings. We can't forget about the newly potted and purchased Mexican Lime tree (dwarf), Improved Meyer Lemon tree (dwarf), Mandarin orange tree (dwarf), 4 tomato plants, 2 newly sprouted grapefruit saplings, and newly propagated fig branches.

 

 {Mandarin orange flower blossoms}

 

I was pretty proud of myself by the end.

 

 

And I think my parents were both pretty happy with the results as well.

 

 

And as it turns out, despite Hurricane Sandy's efforts last fall, I can officially now say that all 4 of the fig trees that were planted between last May and September survived...though they took their sweet 'ole time showing it.

 

{Elberta peach tree}

 

As much fun as I had playing in the dirt in The Beach Orchard back in New Jersey (with gloves on of course), I worried the entire time for my Duggan Terrace Orchard plants and tree back in good 'ole SwitzerFrance. My fears were assuaged when upon arriving home I found that mother nature took care of them very well, and the plants were more lush and green than I had ever seen them before. Maybe I should go away more often!

 

 {Some of our Fig trees in the Duggan Terrace Orchard in SwitzerFrance}

 

{One of five Apricot Trees grown from seed in the Duggan Terrace Orchard in SwitzerFrance}

 

With that being said, I don't believe we'll get a late June crop on any trees (like we did last year) because from what I've read the sun didn't make an appearance much over that 5 week period. I'm ok with that. But now that the sun has been out in full force as of late I'm really hoping to get a fall crop on a few of the trees since many of them are over 2 years old. Fingers crossed.  

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey



Impatience.

{Fig trees tips waking up.}

I've learned a lot of things from practicing Bikram yoga, and probably the biggest thing that I've learned is that life, like yoga, is constantly evolving. You're a different person in your practice (be it yoga practice or the practice of living) everyday - physically, mentally, emotionally. I've not only come to accept that, but to look forward to and trust the process. However something that has been consuming me of late is impatience.

 

Impatience with what persay? As much as I'm enjoying the barrage of snow we've been getting off and on here in the eastern part of France, I'm impatient for spring. I'm beyond excited for this new growing season in the Duggan Terrace Orchard, small as it may be.

{A closeup of our Brown Turkey fig tree. This is most likely a fig that will mature as part of a breba crop, if last year's breba crop is any indication.}

Maybe it's because I was in the US for the end of the growing season, or maybe because we actually got figs last year (about 20 - 10 breba and 10 main crop), but I can't stop planning and daydreaming about what this year's orchard will bring.

Assuming that everything comes back after being dormant this winter, we will have 9 fig trees in large pots, and 7 fig trees in small pots, ranging in age from almost a year old to almost 3 years old, and ranging in origin from down the street to Italy and Switzerland.

Also of note is that although one of my two lemon trees (both grown from seed) has passed on, the other is thriving and has even grown over the winter, about a foot to be somewhat precise.

It appears that most of my mirabelle saplings have survived as well, and are even beginning to wake up from their dormancy in the garage, proven by the green tips that are beginning to show.

I didn't plant any new fruit tree seeds this winter, because just about every seed I planted last winter grew, rooted and survived, and we just don't have any room for any more at the moment.

{Apple blossom buds beginning to get fuzzy.}

So my goal for this growing season for the orchard? Work to make each tree that we have as happy and healthy as possible. This means re-potting some trees into larger pots, such as the lemon tree and one of my five avocado trees.

 

Here's hoping for some patience in the meantime...

 

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

PS: Wanting to try to propagate your own fig trees this year? Well in case you missed it, here's a tutorial! Happy fig tree growing! 

A Tutorial Follow-Up, Trebek: Propagating Fig Trees DIY

Remember a ways back when I wrote a post about the way in which you can propagate a fig tree from an existing one? Yeah neither do I, but luckily a few of our readers do, and have asked me for an update on the state of those fig branches that I used in the post. Well, voila!

{They're ALIVE!}

All 6 branches were successful in rooting and growing leaves. Hooray! Within 3 - 5 weeks each showed signs of life, at which point I moved them from the garage to the terrace orchard. No figs yet, but since we seem to have skipped summer and gone straight to November, that's kind of to be expected for such wee little arbres. (At least that's what google tells me...)

Have any of you tried to propagate fig trees yet in your neck of the woods? Tell me all about it!

A la prochaine friends...

 

Honey

Gratuitous garden post

Tis the season, am I right? This morning I woke up to find 4 framboise ripe for the picking, with a few more getting close to it. We were lucky in that Pee-wee (that's his name...obviously) produced fruit in his first year last year, and this year it looks like he's doubled his production. Good work Pee-Wee.


It's important to note that Pee-Wee's arch-nemesis, Clarence (our blueberry bush), did not produce any myrtilles last year, so I'm hoping he gets his act together for 2011. [Cue brandishing of fist towards Clarence.]


The orchard is doing well too. I'll give an update on my figue trees soon, but for now here's proof that we will have apples this year (barring any lapses in human judgement or PMS-ing by maman-nature).


Our menthe is growing like crazy (chocolate-menthe shown)...


Our strawberry patch is doing well (strawberries not shown because we ate them)...



And we've got rosiers...

All in all, things are coming together up in the Duggan Orchard and Terrace Garden. This weather is definitely throwing me for a loop though - is it really June 7th? I wore a hoodie on my morning bike ride. If last year was any indication though the mosquitos are looming just around the corner...duh duh DUHHH!!!

A la prochain friends...