My Earth Hour 2009

Like many people, we participated in Earth Hour this evening.

We played Scrabble, and apparently I haven't been keeping score accurately all these years. Whoops!
















Like last year, we lit a candle and placed it on the front windowsill to advertise our participation. Two candles this year to represent the second year of Earth Hour in our home.

What did you do for Earth Hour?

And the gift certificate goes to...

Mrs. B of Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom!

Oh, man, am I jealous of all your trees! We have such a small lot, we are lucky to have the two maples that we do. We also have a large lilac, but really, it's just an over grown bush, lol.

My favorite tree...a magnolia, probably. I love their huge, beautiful flowers when they bloom. Or maybe a lemon tree. Such a great fruit!

Shoot me an email with your contact info, katie |@| gardenpunks.com, and the $50 gift card to Fast-Growing-Trees.com is all yours!

And don't worry - they have more than trees!

Thanks to everyone who participated. Happy Spring!

Earth Hour 2009

Last year we participated in Earth Hour by turning off the lights for a specified hour and enjoying the candlelight.

Won't you join us this year?

Bloom Day - March 2009

I participate in Garden Blogger's Bloom Day a couple times per year, and always love to read about what is in bloom in others' gardens. Started by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, anyone can participate!

I'll keep this brief.

Cast of Characters: Trees (Giveaway!)

I want to introduce you to the cast of characters on my property: my beloved trees.

Two face

A 4-in-1 peach tree that has two distinct personalities when it comes to bloom time. This tree is now 2 years old (it was planted on my property last year when it was a 1 year old bareroot tree). It was the first fruit tree to bloom also.

Naked Cherry

This tree always seems to look like it needs more scaffold branches with leaves.

Split Personalities

The Japanese Maple was here when we moved in, and unfortunately wasn’t in the greatest shape upon our inheritance. The rootstock was allowed to grow and now we have a multi-trunked, multi-colored, multi-specied Japanese Maple! It’s kind of cool, I must admit. I have pruned this tree judiciously over the last couple years, and it keeps getting better – it’s no longer a tangled mess!

The Birches

I love how these trees look year-round – they are always interesting. Their dappled shade in the summer is wonderful and filtered, not blanketing like some large-leaf trees. I especially like how these are multi-trunked, but it will stand to be seen if they don’t topple in a windstorm sometime in the future. They already have a discernable lean because of the prevailing south winds.
Interesting compost note: The leaves from the birch trees were raked back into the beds under the trees for a compost-in-place attempt. The leaves are rather small, giving the mulch the ability to break down quickly. I hope to plant a shade garden under them next fall, if water and finances allow.

The Citrus

The 3 mandarins are doing well and putting on more foliage. We planted the Seedless Kishu last year and it proceeded to drop almost all of its leaves! Note to self: Don’t transplant trees in late Spring. The 2 smaller Clementines are starting to put on lateral as well as vertical growth. I can’t wait to have Cuties from my own yard.



The Mexican lime is doing very well this winter, even though it has been rather cold. Thankfully, we haven’t had too many nights below freezing, because this tree looks haggard when you have to cover and uncover it all the time.

The Meyer Lemon is putting on quite the display of flowers. Hopefully that means lots of fruit later this year. What to do with all the Meyer lemons…? Hmm. LA Times has some recommendations.

The Kumquat produced a whole 8.3 ounces of fruit this year. I think it must be an alternate bearer – last year we had plenty of kumquats and then some to make marmalade. No such luck this year. But they taste fantastic and I’ve been using them in rice, salads, and anything else I can imagine.

The California Sycamores
While I have never seen a native one of these trees in person (only in books), I really like these trees for their shade and bark beauty. They aren’t much to look at in the fall – their leaves simply dry up, turn brown, and fall off. They do however grow quickly and don’t need much water – in fact the ones planted in lawns are far less healthy than those not planted in lawns (Anthracnose, anyone?)

South Fruit Trees

We sheet mulched the south front of our yard (it was previously grass, 1200ft²+ some), our intent was to create another growing area for fruit trees as well as sprawling vines like pumpkins, melons, and squash. We planted a slough of fruit trees including my favorite apple, ‘Pink Lady’. There’s 2 plums, a pluot, an apricot, and a nectarine (because that is one fruit I cannot get enough of!). I cut down the apricot and nectarine to see if I can get them to branch really low and form a fruit bush. Chris thinks I killed them. Just wait, I keep telling him. One sprouted a bud the other day! Yeah, I know what I’m doing…..yes, that’s it. We planted an Almond in the lawn that will be torn out sometime later this year (hopefully).

Not pictured:

Birch tree in front yard between us and the neighbors
This tree was hacked by the previous owners and even with my shrewd thinning and careful cuts, still looks terrible. It needs quite a bit more cleanup before I would picture it on my blog!

The Maple
Although this tree was not sited properly and is less than 4’ from the fence and encroaches on our neighbor’s bamboo, its fall color is so spectacular that I wouldn’t cut it down unless it was causing major problems.

The Callery Pears
I have an ambivalent relationship with these trees. In the winter their bare branches make me want to grab a saw and prune them vigorously – were they over fertilized and that’s why there is so much branch growth? Were they never pruned? Gah! It drives me mad. The birds wait until February to gorge themselves on the small, fermented fruits, so I like them as a source of food for the critters. In the spring when they blossom they smell like … (I won’t even say it), as pretty as the white blossoms are. Their fall color is amazing. So even though people consider them “trashy” trees and there is concern that their sterility is questionable, they provide food and shelter for wildlife and are pleasing to look at. They can stay, for now. Interesting cultural note: The callery pears all over our neighborhood planted by the builders in front yards are blooming right now, whereas ours always bloom a few weeks later and are just barely beginning to bloom.

Wishlist:
Some day I would like a Western Redbud. The Redbud is my favorite tree, and I can’t wait to see them bloom here in the next month or so. Their blossoms are the most beautiful, and it’s fun to see these trees “light” up the hillsides with pink!

Giveaway!
Because I love trees so much, I have partnered with Fast-Growing-Trees.com to offer commenters a chance to win a $50 gift certificate! They have a large selection of fruit trees (including apple trees), shade trees, and fast growing screening trees.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Friday March 20 at 9pm Pacific Time and answer this question:

What is your favorite tree, and why?

I will pick a winner at random to receive the $50 gift certificate from Fast-Growing-Trees.com.

Good luck!

Because it's awesome

This made me laugh.

Enjoy.

Soil Porn

This is what soil looks like when you compost in place. It makes the soil friable, moisture-retentive, worm-attracting, and just plain gorgeous. Soil like this didn't happen overnight - it took some effort on our part, but the results are well worth it.

Having raised beds has definitely worked out in our favor.


Beautiful Soil from Katie Hobson on Vimeo.

Is Organic Safer? The NYT doesn’t think so

The NYT ran an article today regarding the safety of organic food. “It’s organic, but does that mean it’s safer?”, carried with a picture of the ubiquitous USDA Organic label next to it, references the peanut butter contamination of late and that the processing plant in which all the trouble has occurred is certified organic. (Don’t get me started about the USDA…)

The article highlights the issue – processed food will always be processed food, and even processed organic food is subject to the same ills as non-organic processed food. As is pointed out by Jane Baker, director for sales and marketing of California Certified Organic Farmers, a nonprofit certifying organization in Santa Cruz, Calif., and one of the largest and oldest in the country.

“…let’s not confuse food safety controls with the organic side of things.”

People who truly eat organic aren’t necessarily looking for the certified organic label. Just because a pack of cookies says certified organic doesn’t mean I’m going to eat them. Eating organic is not just about how the ingredients were grown or prepared - it’s also about trying to eat food that is not overly processed or a progeny of science and chemicals in a lab.

Propylene glycol in your blueberry muffins, anyone?

We talk to our farmers at the farmer’s market to see what is in season and what they are growing. We talk to them about how they grow their food. We make decisions on what to buy at the grocery store based on brand research – just because it says certified organic doesn’t mean they treat their milking cows well, for example.

Organic is more than a little green and white sticker giving you the government’s stamp of approval. It’s a lifestyle deeply entrenched in connecting with the earth, leaving a lighter footprint, and eating damn good food.

Extra points if it’s grown in your own backyard.