April Garden四月花園

April Garden四月花園

Yellow Zucchini黃色夏南瓜

Yellow Zucchini黃色夏南瓜

Fast growing, those tiny flower buds are visible now…
夏南瓜長很快, 小小花苞已然可見…

巴西耐寒的大花西番蓮Brazilian Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora caerulea) -update

巴西耐寒的大花西番蓮Brazilian Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora caerulea) -update

They are about 7″ tall now and keep growing… 小苗現在約有7吋高,努力長高中…

Fruit tea for good vision. 護眼的龍眼紅棗枸杞茶

Fruit tea for good vision. 護眼的龍眼紅棗枸杞茶

This is a common Chinese Herbal Tea, tastes good and good for your eyes! We have this drink about once or twice a month only and according to our eye doctor, compared with 12 years ago our vision is about same.
It is very simply to make. Only 3 different ingredients: dried go-ji berries, dried longan, dried red dates. The ratio is 1:1:1 — put one handful each in a pot of water, bring to boil and then simmer until red dates center is soft. All these dried fruit have a natural sweetness, so no sugar is needed. Serve warm, like tea.
All ingredients can be purchased in any Asian grocery store/supermarket or a Chinese traditional pharmacy. It is not expensive.
最近去眼科醫生那裡作例行的檢查,12年了視力還是和以前一樣. 我覺得要多推薦這種我們常喝的護眼飲料–龍眼紅棗枸杞茶. 材料容易購得也不貴,容易做又好喝–1比1比1加一鍋水煮到紅棗軟熟,1個月喝個1-2次.
最好年輕時就常喝護眼,因為這個再好也只能延緩視力的老化,對於已有深度近視或眼疾的人而言是無法有療效的. 對我們而言12年了視力都未有改變,已經相當難能可貴.

Here we go again! 又下雪了!

Here we go again! 又下雪了!

It snowed today…the spring weather in April is still unpredictable. Crocuses do not mind.

今天又下雪了…四月的春天就是這樣的天氣,這些小小番紅花倒是一副無所謂的樣子.

Blooming Crocuses 番紅花開花了!

Blooming Crocuses 番紅花開花了!

I think they are cute and pretty to look at and their blooms really telling us ‘it is spring!’.

容易栽種又小巧可愛的番紅花盛開了–春天到來了!

Taste comparison of strawberry spinach and spinach 草莓菠菜和菠菜的試吃比較

Taste comparison of strawberry spinach and spinach 草莓菠菜和菠菜的試吃比較

L: Strawberry Spinach leaves草莓菠菜葉
R: Spinach leaves菠菜葉

1.Result of Eating Raw 生食
L:mild taste, little after taste; thin foliage, red color under leaf無強烈口味,葉片較薄. 葉背紅褐色.
R:mild taste, no after taste; thicker foliage, lighter green under leaf無強烈口味,葉片較厚有肉. 葉背淺綠色.

2.Result of stir-fry cooking 快炒熟食
L:tender, taste very similar with spinach, a little bit like Gynura bicolor, the soup juice is red.
葉薄易煮熟,口感非常像菠菜,有一點點偏向嫩葉的紅鳳菜. 煮後因葉片薄感覺量縮水. 也像紅鳳菜（Gynura bicolor）煮後有紅湯汁產生.
R:meatier tender taste, more volume, the soup juice is light green.
葉厚,煮熟時間稍晚一點點. 量減少較少. 煮後湯汁呈淺綠.
Later on when the strawberry spinach fruit, I will let everyone knows its taste. If you have planted these plants before, please let me know how you like them.
等草莓菠菜結果後會分享我的試吃心得. 若你種過這種植物,也請分享你吃過的心得.

Building Cedar Planters For Edibles 釘建蔬果種植區

Building Cedar Planters For Edibles 釘建蔬果種植區

Going to build four cedar planters in total. Due to the weather and time we so far only built two.

The trick of these planters is to seperate the original ground from the planter soil because the tree roots are everywhere in the garden.

Construction was as follows:
– the two 4’x 8′ sized planters were framed with 4×4 lumber as a rectangle
– then 6 short 7″ height 4″ X 4″ feet were added for each planter (connected with angles)
– covered with cedar planks on sides and top
– laid down and stapled the pond liner on inside the planter to seperate the ground then layer
– stapled the landscape fabric

The next steps will be to fill with good clean soil and then plant the seedlings that I have been growing indoors.

The price is not cheap for the materials but they look good and will last many years!

If you are lucky and able to plant in the ground, that is great and cheap! If not, plan it out for the cost and size you want. The most important thing is protect your crop from animal damage.