Watching Leaves and Eating Apples

Season 4, Episode 52, November 2, 2022

In this week’s episode, we started off by answering a listener’s question about how we keep track of everything in our gardens. Journals, diaries, calendars? Carol keeps some information on Trello; here’s her YouTube video about using Trello to keep track of a garden. I take photos of empty spots in the garden and put them in a notes program. I use Bear App’s professional note program, but any note program will do. I actually wrote a lot of my book by dictating it into my Bear app and then later editing it.

Plus, I ask Siri to remind me when to order bulbs and what color amaryllis I want to flower during Christmas or afterward.

In other news, Carol cut back her figs for winter. In her climate, figs come back from the roots and bloom and fruit on new wood. Her figs formed a mini fig forest before the frost, as she showed in this YouTube video. She also took soft stem cuttings, which we discussed the week before.

I spread more seeds in the upper pasture and reflected on my stewardship of our land. I also took care of my very neglected houseplants. I am not a good houseplant person, especially in summer. By the way, does anybody know how to rehab a jade plant?

We also discussed colorful fall shrubs like the oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’ in the photo above. If you’re interested in oakleaf or other hydrangeas, Proven Winners has a lot of them.

Carol and I found that we grow some of the same shrubs and trees, but I can’t grow some of what she can and vice versa.

For our vegetable topic, we encouraged you to grow onions from seeds. As with everything else, if you want to grow something unique, you should probably get seeds. Last year, I grew the purple onions, ‘Monastrell’ and ‘Apache,’ from seed. Carol bought seeds for a bunching onion, ‘Tokyo Long,’ from Botanical Interests to try next spring. She also wrote a Family Handyman article about onions earlier this year if you want more info: Bunching vs. bulbing onions.

On our bookshelf, I was sent a new cookbook for review called Orchard by James Rich (Amazon link).  Carol reminded me that I had his earlier book, Apple: Recipes from the Orchard (Amazon link), that I bought last year. He also posted his All-American apple pie recipe in a video on his blog.

We’re so excited about fall and eating apples that we found quite a bit of timely dirt this week, starting with How About Them Apples? Research Orchards Chart a Fruit’s Future.

I also found Rains trigger fall foliage burst, by the Conservation Coalition of Oklahoma, and it referenced Travel Oklahoma’s Fall Foliage in Oklahoma article and map. I’m trying to get Bill to go on a foliage excursion. We’ll see next week if that worked.

Our bookshelf this week sent me down a rabbit hole of good eating. Apples are by far my favorite fruit for eating out of hand, and I love apple pie. Although we didn’t discuss it on this week’s episode, my favorite recipe is an apple galette created by Alison Roman. She calls it an apple tart in her YouTube video. Oh, and I make her pie crust with Cup4Cup gluten-free flour, and I use a food processor. It works better for GF piecrust; mine isn’t as shaggy as hers. This apple tart is super easy to make and very different. Another apple pie/tart/galette-making secret is to use a variety of apples. But don’t use ‘Red Delicious’ apples for anything, even eating. They taste like sweet cardboard.

Before long, I was way down the tunnel researching the restoration of English Orchards on Gardeners World Episode 28 and a previous episode about Heritage Apples. They’re both very fall and very good.

Carol’s rabbit hole was all about her new books from The Folio Society of London, written by Charles van Sandwyk. I kinda covet them. These books are all about fairies and little animals like mice and squirrels. One has tiny letters written by fairies. Carol may get herself another present from The Folio Society.

Now, we want to ask you a couple of things. Do any of you grow Egyptian walking onions? Also, what is your favorite fruit dessert? I told you mine. Listen to the podcast to hear Carol’s.

OK, that’s it for this week. If you’re still with us, here’s the weekly stuff.

Affiliate link to Botanical Interest Seeds.  Book links and Amazon links are also affiliated links.

Email us anytime at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com 

For more info on Carol and her books, visit her website.  Visit her blog, May Dreams Gardens.
For more info on Dee and her book, visit her website.  Visit her blog, Red Dirt Ramblings.

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