tomato flowers (2014 edition)

jade plant

hops, may 2011

cayenne

Some cayenne peppers I grew a few months ago. I never cease to be amazed when I manage to keep a plant alive, and it somehow produces something edible. That part always seems like magic.

Those of you out there who farm for a living, or routinely garden successfully, you can stop laughing at me now, please. Thanks.

banana: resurrection

My banana tree died during the big cold snap in January. I was absolutely sure it was dead. It froze solid, and basically liquefied when it thawed. Its planter then sat, ignored, in a corner on the balcony, empty but for a small brown forlorn stump.



So imagine my surprise last week when green shoots began popping up out of the stump. At first, I assumed they were weeds, but on closer inspection they're unmistakably banana leaves. Tiny, delicate little banana leaves.



Some would argue it's bad luck to blog about this yet, when this tiny plant could still up and die on me tomorrow. But I don't really believe in jinxes, even with garden plants. And I have a feeling that posting photos of it may increase the odds that I'll remember to water the thing.



Since it "came back to life" when I thought it was a goner, I'm kind of thinking I really ought to start a cult around it. My banana tree, after all, froze and went all gelatinous for your sins. Presumably. It never really said anything specific to that effect, so I'm making some convenient assumptions here. Regardless, now it's back. So really, everyone ought to give me all their money and obey me without question. I mean, we'd hate to anger the banana plant, wouldn't we? If it's capable of reviving after eight months, it's capable of anything.

domiplants

A few test shots of cherry tomato & cayenne pepper plants, taken with a 70's-era Domiplan lens I got recently. Conventional wisdom is that Domiplans are pretty much bottom of the barrel, but mine seems rather decent so far. Reviews on MFLenses and Lens Bubbles come to essentially the same conclusion. So it's not just my puny eyes smoking crack here.



The latter review mentions, as one of its pluses, that it has the Meyer-Optik "look", and I'd agree that's a good thing. I have a couple of other Meyer lenses, and the Oreston (their more expensive, faster, closer focusing offering) is one of my all-time favorites (check out this Flickr slideshow for a few of my examples). Also have an ancient Primoplan, which gives a rather zany retro effect (see slideshow).

palm fronds

kumquats, july 2010

Lens: Asahi Takumar 100/3.5 (M37), made circa 1952-57.

black pearl pepper

Office Tomatoes!

I grew these in the window next to my desk at work. If this whole software thing doesn't work out, I just might have a future in subsistence agriculture...

tomatoflower

orangeleaf