Gabriel's Garden Notes

A visit to Kauai

A trip to the Garden Isle of Kauai is a must for those who love plants.  The botanic gardens of Kauai hold great collections of tropical plants from around the world as well as plants native to the islands of Hawaii.  Pictured above is a view from the visitor center at the Allerton Garden.

Visitors may enjoy the gardens around the visitor center for free or take a tour of the Allerton or McBride Gardens.  Among the collection of plants you will find Palms, the wonderfully fragrant Plummeria (used for making lei's), Lotus Flower, and pictured below Torch Ginger.
  

To sample some of the plethora of fruits and vegetables grown on the island visit one of the many Farmers Markets where you will no doubt find locally produced ripe pineapple, mango, papaya, bread fruit, and bananas. 

Waimea Canyon is another must see if you visit the island of Kauai.  Plenty of gorgeous views and scenic trails for plantsmen, hikers, bird-watchers and amature geologists alike.  Stop by the Kokee State Park Historical Museum for all the information you will need to explore this national treasure.

How's your harvest?

This year has been a challenge for vegetable gardeners in the Northwest.  We had a very cool wet spring and the first half of summer was also fairly cool.  I hear many friends and neighbors grumbling with dissappointment about their piddly harvest thus far.  Luckily we still have some time yet to go.

I have had a fairly successful year.  I had plenty of lettuce for fresh salads and I had a good harvest of spinach as well.  I was most excited this year by the amount of cauliflower, brocoli and cabbage I have been able to harvest.  I chose a 4 varieties of broccoli, 2 varieties of cauliflower and 3 types of cabbage.  By far my favorite was Cheddar Cauliflower pictured above.  It keeps that yellow color after cooking and has an extremely delicate flavor.

Each variety I chose to grow had a different number of days to harvest ranging from 65 to 90.  I hoped that would prevent me from having everything ready to pick at once, with nothing left for harvest the rest of the summer.  My plan worked well.  I have been harvesting broccoli since the end of June.  And my fridge and garden is still full of brassica's.

Tomato's are just now starting to ripen, I don't know though that I will get any cucumbers this year though.  Beans and squash are on finally looking like they may bring me some bounty as well.  Garlic should soon be ready to harvest and hang to dry, and good thing as I my harvest from last year is nearly gone.  That will make room for my new set of fall/winter veggies that I planted in flats last week.  I will be planting more broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and chard so I can keep that harvest going as long as possible.

My 'Early Jersey' Cabbage was delicious.  Nothing pleases a crowd more than a batch of coleslaw made from a just picked cabbage.  
 I planted some blueberry bushes this year but they won't yield much for at least 3 years.  I really enjoy blueberries on oatmeal in the morning so that means a trip to a u-pick blueberry farm sometime in the next few weeks.  If you are interested in picking your own berries look up information on u-pick farms in the Puget Sound Fresh guide.  Last year I went to Mountain View Blueberry Farm in Snohomish and at just $1.80 a pound for delicious blueberries I plan to go back again very soon.