The weather has cooled, thankfully. Seasons are now changing. The local birds have moved on, and sweet, flitting finches are visiting. The horse's and dog's coats are getting thicker. Yes, the winterizing has begun. Most of the garden beds are cleared, and a layer of compost is added for the winter rains to help the nutrients percolate into the soil. Trees are trimmed up, and branches are carted to the burn pile on the far end of the property. The horse's favorite snack is the green leaves off the branches when they are out in the yard.

photos by Michelle Schlegel

I have heard the geese and their faint honking for a few weeks now as they are flying south. They're flying well over a thousand feet high, and surely there must have been hundreds flying in that telltale “V” pattern. The local geese have also been restless and fly daily from one pond/lake to another. I've noticed that they also signify the coming change in the weather. A welcome change it will be!

With temperatures cooling and the rains imminent, it's a perfect time to put in new trees and other landscaping plants. We had to remove some largeEuphorbias by the pool for repairs. We will be getting those planted in the next few days as well. The most difficult thing is to dig holes in the concrete-like ground! The compost bins are billowing with all the new leaves falling. This lizard was waiting for me to leave so that he could grab some of the bugs in the compost. I think the cats were watching and waiting to grab him!

I went to the back garden and picked some vegetables for dinner. I can't believe we are a few days from November and this is still happily growing. But pretty soon, I will be hearing the sound of the rain on the barn roof—such a nice sound, too!

Enjoy the season, everyone.

photo by Paula Pashby

Strawberry Fairies - P. Pashby

Recently, I have been enjoying strawberries mixed into my oatmeal, a cozy meal for bringing in the current fall season. I thought about how tasty fresh home-grown strawberries could be instead of the store-bought strawberries I was using, so I set out to buy strawberry plants to eventually harvest my own to enjoy with breakfast.

I was hoping to find strawberry plants that would provide a yield soon (in October) in my local USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9, so I did some research on which plants to purchase. I discovered that there are three main categories of strawberry plants: June-bearing, Everbearing, and Day-neutral. These distinct types of strawberry plants produce their fruit at different times of the year, depending on weather conditions.

The June-bearing strawberry plant tends to produce the largest strawberries of the three main categories and are usually quite sweet. This plant produces fruit only once per year for only a brief period, typically two to three weeks from late spring to early summer, depending on weather conditions.

Next is the Everbearing strawberry plant. Its strawberries are not as large or sweet as the June-bearing strawberries, however it has a longer growing season and can offer a consistent supply of fresh strawberries. It usually produces strawberries two to three times per year;once in summer, another in midsummer in colder climates, and then once again in late summer to early fall.

The third main type is the Day-neutral strawberry plant. It is known to produce sweet strawberries, like the June-bearing plants, but produces a smaller fruit.  What is exciting about this type of strawberry plant is that it can produce from spring until the first frost!

I set out to buy some strawberry plants at the local nurseries closest to my home and happily found three varieties of the Everbearing strawberry plants – Quinault (Fragaria x ananasa 'Quinault'), Eversweet (Fragaria x ananassa 'Eversweet'), and Albion (Fragaria x ananassa 'Albion').

One of the plants I purchased already had a few strawberries growing. I read that most strawberry plants can produce in their first year, so I am looking forward to planting them asap and enjoying some tasty, homegrown strawberries with my morning oatmeal routine.

I have recently been slowly reading The Japanese Art of Living, An Invitation to Celebrate Every Day, by Natalie Leon (Watkins Publishing, 2024). The Japanese have 72 micro seasons and pay much closer attention to nature. In fall, they look for the changing color of tree leaves, a custom called momijigari, translating to red maple leaf hunting but actually incorporating all trees' colors. They even put out a fall foliage forecast for the country so people can get out into nature and observe the changing colors.

I am not Japanese, but I have been looking at autumn's leaves changing for years. Pre-pandemic my husband and I would travel to Hope Valley and the Eastern Sierra in the fall to hike and look at the leaves. These days, we travel closer to home, and I walk around Vacaville and the arboretum at UC Davis, searching for the changing colors. I also follow the color changes online, and I know that Hope Valley had its peak in early October. I have noticed that the first tree color to appear near me in autumn seems to be orange.  Maybe it's because there are so many crape myrtles near me. The second color is red – Chinese Pistache and maples. These are prevalent now, but finally, the yellows are just starting to appear: cottonwoods, boxelders. My favorite, the gingko, needs some cooler weather and shorter daylight hours, and typically, their leaves change to yellow later than other trees around here.  As the tree's chlorophyll, nature's UV radiation protector, starts to decrease, the leaves' original pigment emerges. This process, plant senescence, is how the tree recycles nitrogen and other nutrients. Momijigari's dates are listed as November 2^nd through the 6^th in the book, in case you want to catch a quick flight to Japan. Or you can enjoy the leaf changes right at home.

Filipino-American History Month (FAHM) is a yearly event in October to commemorate the arrival of the first Filipinos in the continental United States at what is now Morro Bay, California on October 18, 1587.

On October 15, we celebrated Fil-Am History Month at the Vallejo Peoples Garden (VPG) by doing a presentation on Filipino cultural vegetables. A group of Filipino-American students and faculty from Solano Community College attended the event.

I presented two vegetables extensively cultivated in the Philippines and grown at VPG on Mare Island:

CHAYOTE

Chayote is a perennial vegetable vine that grows abundantly in the Philippines. Here in Solano County, chayote is a perennial vegetable and often grown as an annual.

The chayote fruit comes mostly in green or yellow green smooth skin; or dark green color with sharp spines on the skin. (Ouch on the latter so be careful when handling)! We planted our first organic chayote vine at VPG with the green/yellow skin three years ago and are now growing the dark green spiney chayote since last year.

The chayote fruit is irregularly oval-shaped and grooved. The large edible seed is surrounded by meaty flesh. A prolific vine grower, one plant can produce 60-80 palm-sized fruits. Our harvest last year yielded more than that I believe.

HOW TO GROW CHAYOTE
 
• Look for an older fruit with tough skin. Buy organic chayote if available at your local grocery.
• Leave the fruit on the kitchen counter until the sprout emerges.  Chayote seed sprout will germinate only inside the fruit.
• Plant the whole fruit in a pot with the tip of new growth just peeping out of the soil.
• Leave the chayote in the pot until the last frost danger is past (late March/early April).
• Set the fruit in the ground edgewise and slanted.
• Plant the vine in rich, well-drained soil next to a sturdy fence or trellis where it will climb by tendrils.
• Some literature says two plants are required for cross-fertilization. Others say, “Bury lone fruit, produce an epic plant.” At VPG, we only planted one fruit.
• Chayote requires full sun and deep watering at least once a week.  Mulch around the vine for moisture retention.
• Chayote is a long-season growing plant; the vine can grow 30 ft. or more before it starts blooming.
• Sprays of green blossoms will appear when the days begin to shorten.
• Chayote fruiting can begin in October until the earliest frost.
• At the Vallejo Peoples Garden we cut back the vine close to the ground after fruiting leaving only a few good stalks. We mulch heavily around the plant to conserve moisture. Where the ground freezes, the root tubers can be dug up and stored for replanting in the springtime.

CULINARY USES OF CHAYOTE

All parts of the chayote vine are edible: from the root tubers to the tender tips of the vines.
. Chayote has a subtle taste; it is adaptable to the flavor of other ingredients like tofu.
• It is used in Indian chutneys, Asian stir-fries, French quiches and New Orleans pies.
• Chayote can be used as a substitute for squash, cucumbers and potatoes.
• It can be pickled or eaten raw in salads.
• Mexicans steam the fruit, dip it in salsa, or use it in stews.
• I stir-fry chayote with shrimp, tomatoes, and mushrooms.
I also use it as an ingredient for making pancit (noodles) and chicken soups.

Truly, chayote is a versatile vegetable and you can expect a bumper harvest from only one plant!

I will cover the next cultural vegetable on my next blog.

Meanwhile, happy chayote planting!