What's going in in BACK of your house today?

[rp2813]

I find that the granulated snail & slug bait that comes in a round shaker can works better than anything else and it lasts longer after getting wet. My partner came home with a box of Corry's pellets and that stuff is useless. The snails blew right past it and chowed down on a 1-gallon heliotrope that was new from the nursery and completely defoliated it. They also made short work of an amarylis that I think is now a lost cause since they apparently ate part of the bulb as well.

Our cat doesn't go near anything but her own food so pellets have never been a problem, but granules are even less of an attraction to domestic pets. I'm going to have to get out and buy reinforcements soon as the snails are going to be out of control otherwise.

 

[gyrafoam]

Oh, the drought has wrecked my garden this summer. Can barely keep the tomatoes, and herbs going. The poor fig trees are just putting out a few pitiful examples. I had hoped to can some figs this summer as it has been a few years. Oh well----

I do find the bird-netting I get at Lowes does help with the bird problem. Takes two nets to cover a good size tree.

The best thing is once the figs get to the ripe stage start going out early every morning and collecting the ones that are ready to pick. You will notice the birds like to peck at them later in the day-----and you won't want to use them then!
No telling where that bird's pecker has been, anyway.

 

[sudsmaster]

It generally doesn't rain here in any appreciable quantity from May to at least October. All the veggies in the garden are irrigated with drip hoses - usually the perforated 1/4" type. I use well water but could use tap water as well. The fig tree doesn't seem to need any irrigation beyond the water it gets from the winter rains, but I did direct the discharge from flushing the fish pond filter in its direction a couple months ago. There is no way to grow veggies in the summer in this mediterranean climate without some sort of irrigation.

 

[mickeyd]

"a few pounds of fresh figs in the fridge"

MAKE FIG NEWTONS.

Never had a fresh one off the tree. Heard they're orgasmic. Can you describe the taste, or likenesses?

At first blush, the first pic looks like a marijuana garden; better watch out for Cheney cams.

The figs look incredible.

PS. The thread is now gone, but I've been keeping a vintage metal hand grater in the laundry room (GARAGE) to grate Ivory, Dial, or Irish into the machines. Quicker and easier than processing or water-mushing. Try it. Got my eye out for a bar of Fels. Now THAT will be a smell !

Happy Beautiful Sunday, All

 

[sudsmaster]

Well, these figs are Desert King variety, so my description would be for them only. When fully ripe (when they get soft on the tree and with a yellowish tinge) they are very sweet, almost like honey. They have a bit of a crunch from the immature seeds inside (this variety doesn't need pollination to put out fruit). There is only one crop, in the late spring/early summer. Other fig types generally have two crops, spring and fall, but I like having the main crop in the spring when other fruits still haven't matured.

The recipes I've seen for fig newtons use dried figs. I haven't tried drying these, but I suspect since they are so juicy they might be difficult to dry.

Re: grating soap. I use a KA stand mixer with a fine shredding attachment. Works very well. Glad you're getting good results with yours.