The Miracle Fruit that is the Loquat

In case you don't know what a loquat is...well.. you haven't lived. I just discovered them last year. They're AMAZING. They are a plum sized orange / yellow fruit that grows on trees.

Flavor
Their flavor varies throughout the season, but the "freshly ripe" ones are slightly tart with (to me) a green grape / apple / apricot type taste and grape-ish texture. The middle ripe ones are sweeter with a balance between the tart and sweet and the past-prime are just super sweet.

Important Note:
Loquats have large seeds inside - the number varies - I've seen one and up to three. They are like apricot seeds or very large apple seeds, but the main point is, like apricot seeds... DON'T EAT them - they're poisonous.


How to Eat:
Also, to eat a loquat properly, you peal the outer skin and nibble around the seed.

Loquat Season is Here!!!

Yay!!!! All last spring, I cajoled my (then) very strong willed 2 yr old into early evening walks with me by enticing her with the prospect of getting some delicious loquats from neighborhood trees (there are three fruiting, quasi-public domain trees on our block alone).

Today, we had our first loquats of the season. Perfection!

My toddler son had his first taste and is hooked and I have a new incentive for my (now) very strong willed 3 yr old to take after dinner strolls with me!

Another Stab at a Brandywine Tomato

At the farmer's market yesterday, I also picked up another tomato plant - a red brandywine. Last year, I had a pink brandywine in a 5 gallon nursery bucket. It did unbelievably poorly - was very sickly, losing what few leaves it developed. Ironically, this was one of the most important plants to me last year, since my husband spoke of how much he missed his favorite tomatoes from Jersey and I was guessing that Brandywines were his variety.

Somehow the pink brandywine managed to squeeze out three mealy tomatoes. In the end, though, it looked a bit like a dog hanging on a choke chain --- I'd slung its one super-long and spindly branch up high, tying it to a bamboo stake to keep the last developing tomato from capsizing the branch and falling ***SPLAT*** onto the driveway.

Needless to say, I'm hoping this year's will fair better. In order to give this one a fighting chance, I put it in a 10 gallon nursery pot with fertilizer-rich soil and some sand at the bottom for better drainage. I couldn't justify putting it in one of the final coveted spots in our northern bed, considering how badly its cousin performed last year.

I've put the brandywine pot next to another 10 gallon pot that has garlic thriving in it from last year (see - that which I've totally neglected thrives -- the garlic was a companion planting for tomatoes last year as a means of keeping aphids away). Both are on the eastern side of the big boxes, so when I hook up the automatic irrigation next weekend, they'll be easy to include.

This year's unsuspecting brandywine experiment... Mwa-ha-ha-ha!!! (front right. Left is garlic)

More Plants in the Garden - Bell Peppers

I decided to plant bell peppers with the tomatoes that are in the big boxes, so I picked up what I could find at the farmer's market yesterday. I ended up with two red bells and one chocolate. I hope to round out the pepper crop this year with a purple and an orange, possibly another chocolate too!

I got the peppers in the boxes today and they seem happy.

Brandywine in front, chocolate bell pepper in back.




Tiny red bell peppers in fore of box on right. Garlic and fava beans in front.

My Grow List

This is a brand spanking new site that a friend of mine (and very new food gardener!) hipped me to. I hope they add new features, like being able to post from this blog directly to my account there, but it's still fun and the questions forum is GREAT! Can't wait to see what kind of community develops.

Here I am at My Grow List.

Tomato Plant Update #3

We planted the tomatoes today, but beforehand I got some shots of them still in thier cups.

Here they are from the top:





And the side:

Tomatoes are Finally In!

It took longer than expected, but the little tomato starts I've been tending since Tammy gave them to me back on March 25. It's been on and off cold at night, and we're still getting some winter rains, but I decided to get them planted out. They're pretty hearty by now and have gotten really big in their little cups!

This is the Early Ssubakus Aliana, in one of the big planter boxes:



Here's the Black Cherry in the other big planter (I put them on opposite ends for maximum spread, and intend to put bell peppers on the empty sides tomorrow).



Here are the Cherokee Purple, Tomatillo and Isis Candy (left to right):