{"id":2217,"date":"2015-05-13T21:02:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T04:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a-mountain.com\/?p=2217"},"modified":"2015-05-15T15:08:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T22:08:06","slug":"news-from-the-garden-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/?p=2217","title":{"rendered":"News from the garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who have sampled the product of my pink grapefruit tree, I am pleased as punch to report that this season all appears promising. The tree flowered with gusto this spring and incipient fruits are appearing. I estimate conservatively the tree last year produced between 60 and 70 grapefruits. I experimented with a new fertilizer. Its incredibly high nitrogen content reminds of the brains of some\u00a0newspaper publishers.<\/p>\n

Here is a picture of the venerable tree. Last year it suffered\u00a0severe sunburn on its trunk. I was told by experts that I should use something called tree wrap rather than use paint to protect its bark. It flaked off in about a month. Hence, the paint. The bale of alfalfa is to be used for mulch.<\/p>\n

\"DSC00719\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The roses also have prospered, indeed flourished, with this new fertilizer. At last count, I have 32 roses. Sometimes the count is 31, and sometimes it is 33. I am not entirely certain of the reason for the discrepancy. I suspect it has to do with all those dank and dark years being forced to rub elbows and balance sheets with knuckle-dragging corporate executives.<\/p>\n

\"DSC00721\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not all my vines are happy would-be grape producers. Strangely enough, I have one vine, a table grape variety called the dark putin, that grows a few inches a day.\u00a0Here is a shot of this putin \u2014 sometimes called the puta \u2014 engulfing a desert willow tree:<\/p>\n

\"DSC00717\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see, it an acquisitive vine, seeking to engulf, indeed steal, lots of territory.<\/p>\n

Here are a shot of a couple other vines:<\/p>\n

\"DSC00718\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In\u00a0contrast to the puta, these vines are timid. They lack vitality. This is, as Churchill might say, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.<\/p>\n

The kumquat tree was pruned in January, excessively so, I am afraid. I got carried away. But I had my reasons. I have accused it of having buckled my concrete patio with its engorged roots, causing consternation, hand wringing and a plethora of unnecessary expense.\u00a0Its response is to feign disinterest while sprouting brand-spanking new shoots all up and down its trunks. To wit:<\/p>\n

\"DSC00722\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To me, this is nothing short of hubris. It seems determined to cause further mayhem, kumquat may.<\/p>\n

Thanks for allowing me this rant, mulch obliged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you who have sampled the product of my pink grapefruit tree, I am pleased as punch to report that this season all appears promising. The tree flowered with gusto this spring and incipient fruits are appearing. I estimate conservatively the tree last year produced between 60 and 70 grapefruits. I experimented with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2217"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2227,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions\/2227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auslander.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}