West Coast

Don Kruger

Mirror contributing writer

Growing Your Own
   The AVOCADO does very well in Southern California. It likes the mild climate, slopes, well-drained soil and it needs a lot of space as avocado trees grow tall and wide. It’s an expensive fruit to buy, but you can grow your own and reduce costs tremendously. Most fruits get ripe and need to be picked, but avocados can be stored on the tree for several months, as they merely continue to gain oil content. They are beautiful trees with ornamental qualities so they are pleasing additions to your garden, too. Avocado trees flower in the fall and produce fruit in mid-winter to spring. Since no family can consume a tree’s entire crop, you can share your avocados with your friends and neighbors.
   Some people call MYERS LEMONS a sweet lemon, as they’re thin-skinned, edible right off the tree. It’s a hardy variety that can do well in more frosty locations and transitional zones. They are also very expensive to buy, but the trees produce prolifically so this is another valued addition to the garden.
   I like to grow those fruits and vegetables in my garden that are expensive to buy in the market and are best served fresh.
   MESCLUN, another expensive food in the market, can also be grown at home. It needs a small raised bed space, 3 x 12 feet, and can be grown on a continuous basis to produce all the salad a family would need. The key to growing a good salad mix is continuous successive planting. Every two weeks , a gardener should plant a three-foot section fresh. Do not plant in rows, but broadcast your seed, cover it with a little peat moss , some fertilizer and then water until the seeds begin to sprout. Within a week, the mix should begin to come up like a lawn. Begin picking and eating as soon as it needs to be thinned out. It’s best eaten in the early stages. Once it has gone to seed, pull it all up, cultivate the earth and start all over again.
   Such special salad varieties as Arugula go to seed quickly, so it’s very important to hold to a regular planting schedule.
   ARTICHOKES also do well in California. They can be grown in containers and make lovely ornamental plants. Plant the traditional thorned varieties, which like a lot of water and can also be put in the ground. If you choose not to eat any of the fruit, watch for its beautiful flower in the summer.
   BROCCOLI should be planted when the weather turns cooler and it’s a perfect fall and winter food. People often make the mistake with Broccoli of cutting the center stalk and giving up on the plant, not realizing that the side shoots will continue to produce all winter long. Nothing tastes better then home grown broccoli and it also has tremendous health benefits.

In the Market
   PEACHES and NECTARINES are still strong. Out of California, the season will last until mid-August. The northern latitudes will continue to produce good fruit until the end of September. Now might be the time to try out your favorite Peach cobbler recipe, as the fruit is at its best quality and lowest cost. I like to mix berries (raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries) in with my peaches. Stores often have peach pie quality fruit in the back. Ask for the number 2's; you can often buy them at a considerable discount.
   MELONS. The special varieties that we all look forward to every year continue to be late, mostly because our spring was so cool. Any day great CRENSHAWS, ORANGE FLESH, HONEYDEWS, GALIAS and SHARLYNS will be at the peak of quality. But, right now, buyer beware.
   MANGOES. The KENT variety we discussed last week is now beginning to show up. Don't miss this one—green skin with reddish blush. Our summer favorites—Corn, Cherries, Watermelon —all are in plentiful supply and at peak flavor and quality now.

Farmers Market Report

Santa Monica

Laura Avery

Mirror contributing writer

   BLENHEIM APRICOTS have finally arrived, and a small sensation is astir at the Markets. For those who know the Blenheim, there is no other apricot, and its flavor is unsurpassed—not only in the small field of apricot varieties (as compared to peaches and nectarines, which produce hundreds of commercial varieties), but in the entire constellation of stone fruits.
   According to Tom Hall of K.B. Hall Farm in Ojai, the Blenheim was the original field apricot in California and was extensively grown in what is now Silicon Valley. The Hall apricot orchard is dry farmed, which means it is never irrigated. Trees are spaced 20 feet apart and their roots grow deep. In dry years, there may be hardly a crop. Hall’s trees were planted in 1910 and they still produce fabulous fruit.
   Eric and Hilla Todd come down from Santa Paula with a ROYAL APRICOT, which is another old variety with indescribable flavor. Eric dubbed his fruit “dream realization” apricots before he realized that customers had heard of Blenheims and were seeking them out. At one point, the Royal and the Blenheim were commingled to produce a ROYAL BLENHEIM APRICOT. The terms are often erroneously used interchangeably, but the result when eating either of those revered varieties is the same—the best apricot you ever tasted.
   A few HEIRLOOM TOMATOES are appearing at the Markets now. The BRANDYWINE is a very large purple and red striped variety with an irregular shape. Its variegated colors run all the way through so it looks beautiful on the plate. Heirlooms are not prolific producers, which is why they have become history, but seed savers and small farmers still plant them.
   A nice newer tomato variety is the YELLOW PLUM, or “Papaya.” It is a lovely golden color with firm, but juicy flesh and low acid content, which makes it “sweet.” Acidity in tomatoes give them their flavor, when the acid gets too low, the fruit becomes bland, just like white peaches and nectarines, so be sure to taste before buying.
   SOILEIL BABY YELLOW BEANS are a new item at Coastal Organics’ stand. They are tiny thin beans, the size of “Haricots Verts,” but yellow like a wax bean. YELLOW ROMANO BEANS are also in. This is a large flat Italian bean that is surprisingly tender when cooked, with a very delicate flavor which is distinguishable from the green Romano bean. Both should be very lightly steamed or they become mushy.
   Extra large GLOBE ONIONS are amazingly sweet and can be grilled to an almost caramelized consistency. Also good on the grill are CHINESE or JAPANESE EGGPLANTS. The Chinese are a variegated purple and lavender color while the Japanese are dark purple. Both are long slim eggplants with a fine texture and smaller seeds so they do not require much oil when cooking. They can be sliced lengthwise and placed in halves on the grill.