How Tropical!

The local swap meet in SD is named Kobey's.  I have no idea why our swap meet has a proper name, but it does.  I used to go to Kobey's when I was a kid.  It contained loads of perfect finds for teenage girls.  Tons of cheap hair-thingies, bags, and backpacks.  I think I got a knock-off Esprit bag when I was in elementary school.  Ha. 

KD and I took a trip to Kobey's last weekend.  She had spotted these wrap dresses two weeks earlier when she was there.  We decided that we couldn't live without these dresses, so off we went to the swap meet.  It certainly hadn't changed much: still loads of hair-thingies.  There were some really cool booths with handmade purses and other handmade items, and there were some booths that looked like really bad yard sales- crap, crap, and crap. 

And, there were booths and booths of plants.  KD was not interested in strolling and shopping, so I could really only glance from afar.  But, I did manage to get one purchase in: a cutting from a dragon fruit for a buck.

It is likely that I will mess this up somehow.  The foot long spiny and prickly cutting is very handsome (as you can see in the pic).  But, I stuck the spine in some dirt and watered. 

Has anyone ever tasted a dragon fruit? After a terse search, I learned that these plants are quite tropical and grow in Hawaii, Thailand, and Vietnam.  Also, the flowers bloom at night so they are not pollinated by bees, but by other insects and moths.  Depending on how well my cutting does, I can expect fruit in 6-9 months. 

P.S. I also broke down and bought an Italian Oregano plant (not at Kobey's).  Planting from seed did not work out.  Has anyone had success growing oregano from seed?

Marigolds- My first attempt to grow flowers from seed!

*NEWSFLASH* I clearly posted this entry too soon! The seeds I planted last Thursday have indeed sprouted today, June 2; I shouldn't have doubted.  Only a 5 day germination period. I guess those bizarre rainy days were great for them.  

I bought some cheap seeds (20 cents) by American Seed. The package merely says Marigold, Crackerjack Mixed Colors. There is no reference to what type of marigold or the official name. The seeds look like mini sticks that are black and yellow colored. I bought them because I read somewhere that they are excellent companion plants because their pungent smell repels insects. So, I filled three pots with soil and these seeds. I am not convinced the seeds will sprout-- I mean, 20 cents is pretty cheap.

After some research, I have determined that the seeds I planted are the Common Marigold (Tagetes). Marigold is a member of the daisy family. Wikipedia says that the name marigold describes the calendula flower in some other areas. Apparently, the leave juice of this flower is used in wart removal. Anyone try this?

But Can You Eat Them?

Some marigolds are edible--very exciting. However, since my cheap ass seeds fail to tell me what freaking kind of marigold it is, I have no method of determining whether the ones I planted are edible! Time will tell (if they even sprout).

Dying For Marigolds

The lovely deep yellow color of the marigold flowers are used to make dye. One website said that farmers even feed chickens marigold petals so that the chicken skin is yellow. Wierd, I don't eat meat, but I am not certain if I did that I would want yellow chicken skin.

PS. Totally unrelated to gardening, as I write this post I am watching some random SciFi Channel show where Baltar (you know, from BSG) is playing Merlin (yes, the wizard) with the worst "voice" ever. It sounds like he is trying to sound like a mix of James Earl Jones, a dying person, a person with a speech disorder, and Darth Vader. It is AWFUL. so sad.

Dwarf Pomegranate

I love pomegranates. I'll never forget the day Samin threw a small dinner party and served a small bowl of pomegranate seeds for dessert. She took the pains of separating the seeds from the rind and presented them in a lovely bowl for each guest to easily sample without worry of getting red juice stains on their clothes. Naturally, I went in for some fruit, gently nibbled the fruit and juice from the seed and then spit out the hard nut-like interior. Well, that sure did put Samin in a tizzy. She refused to believe that anyone but my family and I would go to the trouble to spit out the seeds. Thus began the pomegranate seed controversy. If I remember correctly, it ended in a truce: some chew the nuts, some spit the nuts. Ah, but the sweet look on her face when she saw me spit out the seeds was priceless. Why anyone would ruin the sweet, tart smooth flavor of the pomegranate by chomping on the nasty seed, I don't know. Apparently, some people believe it is too much work to gently nibble the fruit from the seed.



I had a pomegranate tree in my back yard one year when my family lived in Spring Valley, CA. I tried intently to squeeze the seeds to release just the juice. I was rarely successful, but it was loads of fun. I remember that I always had to do my juicing experiments in the garage because the juice was so dark and stainy. The trick is to open the pomegranate under water, the rind floats and the seeds sink and no squirting, voila!



Pomegranates are a very old fruit. They are harvested in fall here in the Northern hemisphere and is grown over, particularly in Mediterranean climates. The fruit has long been recognized and documented. It makes an appearance in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible (hence its appearance in my Fruits of the Bible debacle), and in Greek Mythology (Poor Persephone!). Wikipedia has a fabulous entry on the pomegranate and discusses the many other cultures, ancient and present that use the pomegranate as a symbol.

Needless to say, about 6 months ago I sucked it up and bought a dwarf pomegranate tree from Gurneys. The picture here is the tree. It has a lot of growing to do and I don't expect to see any fruit growing for at least

another year or two. But I am excited for when it does. I seems to have adapted will to my front patio and the little leaves appear healthy. It is not growing quite as fast as the fig grew when

it got to San Diego, but I am patient. So stay tuned for more news on this young plant as the months go on.