Here is our potted jalapeño plant. I'm really looking forward to the taste and heat it will add to our late summer dishes.
Notice anything unusual about it?
I didn't either for a long time but there is.
There are two plants in the pot. Even when you look at the surface of the soil, it looks like it's all coming from a common root but, as you can see above, there are two different leaves. It helps that one of the plants foliage is turning purple.
My wife tells me this is a volunteer from an epazote plant (Dysphania ambrosioides) that she planted last year. Some of the seeds must have blown over into this pot.
Epazote, my Mexican wife told me after 26 years of marriage, is used in Mexico to add with beans as a carminative...that is, mixed with the beans, it cuts down on the intestinal gas much like a natural version of Beano.
After all these years, now she tells me...
Another difference is the flowers. Here are the flowers from the jalapeño.
Here are the flowers from the epazote.
It'll be nice to mix this with the jalapeño, the chiles, and the beans we're sure to cook later on.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
We're on the cusp of starting the harvest season here at the Cheapskate's garden. Looks like we might have a slightly paltry first crop but with overseeding and warm weather, summer should be producing something more like a bumper crop.
In the meantime, I'm spending time working with the plants that REALLY do well here, the weeds. As I pull them up, let's see what's clogging up my garden this week.
The Scourge of Spurge...this little guy is a bit on the nasty side. Not too bad if you get it early but let it ride for a week...
...and you get these mats along with deep, hard-to-pull-up roots. Not to mention, it has a sticky sap that gets all over your hands and resists efforts to pull up with a glove.
Grass sprouts up here and there. Pull as soon as possible to avoid deep rooted clumps.
Oxalis (pictured at the top of the page) have spring-loaded exploding seed pods (really!) and are impossible to eradicate completely.
Oak trees are native in my area. Squirrels, jays, and woodpeckers stash the acorns everywhere, leading to this unique weed...the oak tree seedling.
Finally, palm trees. Enough already. I spend more time pulling up these free-sprouting seedlings than anything else.
Here, you can see the little seed too. That's one more palm tree that won't be growing in Southern California.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Quick...what's that blooming tree in the picture above?
It's nice to be able to indentify plants on the go. It's not only helpful when you see something that would go great in your garden but is also a nifty parlor trick.
Sometimes, Nature likes to play it's own party trick on us by making plants very similar but different at the same time. That is the case with the Orchid Tree and the Trumpet Tree.From a distance, these two trees are basically identical. I know I'd find myself saying "what a nice orchid tree that is," only to find out it was something else. Looking at the trees above, can you tell? They are different.Upon closer look, the blooms give it away. The orchid tree is not an actual orchid but the flowers look very similar. There is the 5-petal, fan shaped arrangement but is missing the usual lip of an orchid, which is actually a 6th petal that is modified as a pollinator attractor.If the orchid tree flower looks like an orchid, what do you think the trumpet tree's flower looks like? That's right, it's trumpet shaped and a close up look gives it away. It looks like a trumpet bell with a frilly fringe on it.When you see something you think you know, be sure to take a closer look. It just might be something else. Oh, the trees above? The orchid tree...or Bauhinia...is at the top. The trumpet tree...or Handroanthus...is the second one.
DarrylCopyright 2013 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
