Leatherman Product Focus Suggestion – Never Enough Dirt

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Protected: Leatherman Product Focus Suggestion

By BrianT
on Sep 11, 2026
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Never Enough Dirt Seed Buying Guide

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Plants are the nexus between nature, people, culture, & history. San Gabriel Valley / California.
#authoritative. Earth System Science.

#nedfirsts 'Alano' #sapodilla. My buddy, Sean, gif

#nedfirsts 'Alano' #sapodilla. My buddy, Sean, gifted me this tree 9-10 years ago. I grew the tree haphazardly. The tree and clay soil developed pretty much on their own on the part of the property that grows as a food forest. The tree put out a few fruit over the last couple of years but they were small and they would disappear-- likely fell and eaten by composters (slugs/pill bugs) before I realized.

This year we got a good number of fruit to eat for the first time from this tree. I would estimate 15 fruit. Though I lost half of them due to not harvesting. We have a couple big ones while most were smaller.

My youngest felt like the fruit tasted like pumpkin pie. Yup. The fruit is spiced like that-- hints of cinnamon. Further, it is very sweet. Texture is custard like; what I am told is that 'Alano' is least grainy compared to other cultivators and sapote in general.

#sapote originated in Mesoamerica and is a popular fruit in other tropical climates of South America and Asia. In South Vietnam it is called, "sa po che." #sapoche

Naming convention-- within the sapote name, there are at least a handful of species.
Scientific: Alano (manilkara zapota) #manilkarazapota
Common names (in order of technical accuracy): sapodilla, sapote, mamey, and many more.

It is nice to have watermelons from the garden aga

It is nice to have watermelons from the garden again after a couple of years of starting them too early. Especially nice to have them as a #gardentocamp snack after a hike. If I was limited to growing one variety, I would grow 'Orangeglo' watermelon. It has a unique taste and one you won't find at the market.

My brother's camping trip is usually during peak tomato season. This year I brought slicers-- 'Beef steak,' 'Mortgage Lifter,' and 'Cherokee Purple.'

Tomatoes found their way into burgers and as pasta sauce.

'Wilson's Sweet' heirloom watermelon. I have had w

'Wilson's Sweet' heirloom watermelon. I have had watermelon crop failures the past couple of years. Sometimes my memory of when to sow fails me and I start too early. I need to remember to look at my notes. Which I need to add: when it comes to irrigation, cannot err on the side of wet.

This is a new to me variety. While I didn't grow it to its potential, I am happy for a watermelon harvest.

The texture is crisp but I will have to wait until next year to try growing this again to determine #wilsonssweetwatermelon true sweetness and flavor. Visually it is a beautiful watermelon. Colors and patterns remind me of 'Scaly Bark.'

We currently have room to grow up to four varieties. That meant that I had to rotate out 'Crimson Sweet' this year. I hope to find room to grow one more variety. Other varieties are 'Orangeglo', 'Klondike Striped Blue Ribbon', and 'Sugar Baby.'

#nedfirsts

#nedfirsts 'Joe E. Parker' NuMex (New Mexico State

#nedfirsts 'Joe E. Parker' NuMex (New Mexico State University) #greenchile . This is a mild and large variety. I probably could have done a slightly better job at growing larger ones-- to show a proper representation of the variety.

The flavor was mild. I will be tasting more later on to see if it gets a spot in our garden next year.

Blister green chile on the grill and they make a great addition to burgers and hotdogs.

I was behind on our tomato crop. We are just now getting our ripening slicers off the vine. This is 'Cherokee Purple.'

While we have yellow onions, the sweet onion is ready. I grilled an extra slice for the oldest and surprisingly he liked it.

Normally I slice the green chile into strips.

'Walla Walla' is also a city in the state of Washington. The variety is named where it is grown. Often regarded as a long day onion, it can be classified as an intermediate day onion when grown in middle latitudes.

I found that this sweet onion is capable of heading up in Southern California. Because it takes longer to head up, it also makes a good succession variety-- we enjoy the yellow variety while we wait for this one to grow.

Green Chile plants are productive. I plant two varieties; two plants of each variety. There is a lot of it to eat!

#gardentotable #bbq Corn, we grow in succession

#gardentotable #bbq

Corn, we grow in succession as well. This is our second harvest of sweet corn this year and trial to squeeze in a harvest before the 4th. 'Burpee Triple Crown XP' is my tried and true SS corn variety.

'Red Acre' cabbage salad.
Backyard egg / 'Huckleberry Gold' potato salad (with 'Granex PRR' ' yellow onion.

This is a Clearman's North Woods Inn inspired salad.
After slicing the cabbage, layer in a salad spinner with some salt. Let the cabbage sweat, then draw away as much liquid as possible before transferring it to a bowl with dressing made from scratch-- red wine vinegar, EVOO, sugar, Lawry's seasoning, coarse ground black pepper.

'Huckleberry Gold' potatoes produce reliable warm climate succession harvests. They are also hypoglycemic.

Mayo (Japanese)
Sweet relish
Stone ground mustard
Diced onions
Eggs
Potatoes
Salt to taste

'Triple Crown XP' was bred by Burpee. Comes in yellow or bicolor. This is a reliable sweet corn for us. As a modern corn it stores well. The sugars do not quickly turn into starch and this doesn't become mealy. We grow this in succession for fresh eating and freezing (cobs and kernels.)

Peach Ice Cream and Peach Crisp A La Mode. Will

Peach Ice Cream and Peach Crisp A La Mode.

Will break for the seasonal flavor of fresh peach-- peach iced tea, peach pie, peach cobbler, peach ice cream, peach crisp, etc.

My other favorite way to enjoy peaches is biting on the firm and crunchy ones.

Crisps are a simple way to bake up fresh fruits. This #gardentotable collaboration with Beth makes me happy. Oftentimes in the hustle and bustle of life creating something can feel like a chore. Yes, it is hard to start something new but sometimes something new can be energizing.

#peachicecream #peachcrisp

'Mid Pride' peach

Mothers' Day Blooms by Beth and Brian-- flowers an

Mothers' Day Blooms by Beth and Brian-- flowers and forals from our garden.

A1. Wild daylily, Gerber(a) daisy, yellow and red zinnias, mums, and fennel blossoms.

A2. 'Floristan' sunflowers, 'Unlock The Stars' daylily, Floribunda tree roses, and fern.

A3. Store bought yellow roses, gladiolus, fennel buds, 'Baby Blue' eucalyptus.

A4. Hydrangea, 'Kew Blue' salpiglossis.

A5. Hydrangea and Love-In-A-Mist.

A6. Hydrangea.

A7. 'Marianne Charlton' hibiscus.

A8. 'Salmon Rose' scabiosa and American pitcher plant (sarracenia)

#stackedwithkura for a chance at a VIP Las Vegas v

#stackedwithkura for a chance at a VIP Las Vegas vacation.

Kura Revolving Sushi Bar is one of our places to dine in.

#kurareserve

#nedfirsts 'Lion King' Dutch iris bloom was a plea

#nedfirsts 'Lion King' Dutch iris bloom was a pleasant surprise on the morning of the first day of Spring. Picture 2, the angle of the morning sun at around 8 am has a dramatic spotlight effect. Bulbs were planted last year but I do not recall seeing blooms. With the way the scenery was set, I had to be blind to miss this.

Picture 4, bud breaks are equally interesting. This one looks almost like a bee's butt sticking out; as if the bee was neck deep getting nectar from some flower.

P.s. let's record on this post the dead of summer weather that we have had. A large high pressure dome parking itself on the southwestern part of the USA for a week. After today, the 90F+ temperatures are moving down by 10 or so degrees.

All this connected to the recent weather event over Hawaii. The large rainfall means larger effects of hydrological phase changes (water changing from solid to gas and the latent heat exchanges that result...bada boom bada bing, heat dome.)

'GEM' avocado tree in 7x17-inch sleeve. It is the

'GEM' avocado tree in 7x17-inch sleeve. It is the final acquisition to our collection of Gray E. Martin avocados (Gwen, Reed, Lamb-Hass.)

Tree is roughly 3-feet tall with a thumb girth trunk; a standard 5-gallon transplant ready size. This is my first time working with a tree packaged in a sleeve. The experience feels very farm grade. The root ball medium is without perlite and on par with natural soil.

[Other plants acquired from Richardo's Nursery, Long Beach, Calif.: Apricot mallow (sphaeralcea ambigua) & (eriodictyon californium)]

#gemavocado

'Violetta Italia' cauliflower, seeds from Pinetree

'Violetta Italia' cauliflower, seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds. Since my first experience of this type of cauliflower is Toisan Sprouting and 'Fioretto 70,' I would regard Violetta Italia as a purple variant.

This is a very productive loose type of cauliflower. Which means that it has a nuttier flavor and will be happy with warm weather. Since it grows massively, we tend to harvest it before it reaches its later stage of spreading (or sprouting) its curds. The result is a more tender texture when compared with Fioretto 70.

This is a #nedfirsts post but we have been eating a few harvests already this year. #violettaitalia

Guatemalan A-Type 'Esther' avocado. This was a bit

Guatemalan A-Type 'Esther' avocado. This was a bit of an impulse buy. The nursery was clearing out avocados with a 30% discount. I looked through the inventory for GEM but found an intriguing one in Esther. A quick research job and I was sold on: green pebbly skin and round. I associate those traits with my preferred taste-- qualities of the modern avocado. Other noteworthy characteristics: "fruit slightly larger than Hass."

The tree has dwarf characteristics. The dominant lateral growth reminds me of Pinkerton. The girth of the trunk is slightly thicker than my thumb. Which is further in age than trees with pencil or pinky girth trunks.

Fruit of Esther matures July-November at the UCANR in Irvine, Calif. My climate is similar and I would expect our harvest window to be the same.

Speaking of the harvest window, the last image shows the varieties that we are currently growing. This collection (when established) will provide us with avocados for most of the year. I still need to find a healthy and affordable GEM or Kona Sharwil to cover the month of January 😉.

Purchased 10/24/2025. Armstrong Garden Center, Pasadena.
Grown by Otto & Sons Nursery, Fillmore, Calif.

#nedfirsts 'Mato Buntan' pummelo. Grafted 6 years

#nedfirsts 'Mato Buntan' pummelo. Grafted 6 years ago onto a homegrown rootstock. You can find that post under #matobuntan .

It has grown slowly. I am not sure if it is because of the rootstock or the nature of M.B. If I had to bet, I would say that the slow rate of growth is rootstock related.

In 2022 with 3 years of grown (which wasn't much) it stood about 2-feet tall in that very container. Sitting off to the side on the lawn for maximum sun exposure it snapped in half when the 6-year old jack knifed his bike on a sharp turn.

Three years later the tree is once again 2 almost 3 feet tall. It set quite a few fruit. I actually thinned the fruit early in the year hoping to only have 1 piece of fruit to try. But where the container sits, it is out of convenient reach. Off in the corner for south facing direct sun and behind multiple layers of coyote desuading fencing.

Today I broke its solitude and accepted its fruit. I rely on the University of Calif., Riverside Citrus Variety Collection website for information on when to expect to harvest. According to this source M.B. is one of the sought after pummelo in Japan; with origins from South China/Taiwan. It doesn't, however, provide information on the season of maturity.
From this observation, it looks like M.B. matures during late summer in my area.

Again, this particular tree is located in an inconvenient location. It is difficult to check if it has adequate water. This first taste test has a few variables that will have to wait until next year's sampling in order to hash out. During the harvest, I noticed that the soil was on the dry side. This may affect fruit qualities.

Picture 1 records the largest fruit we have. From what I can tell, it should be at least double or triple the size. Further, picture three shows that fruit is too dry to consume. This may indicate that the fruit is too mature, the soil is too dry, or both. More likely, it's too mature.
Picture 2 shows the flesh of a properly mature fruit. As far as taste, it is the sweetest pummelo I have ever had. The fragrant pommelo flavor is muted. Even with care peeling the membrane away, the flesh is "spicy" in a bitter way. ...in the comments:

'Skywalker' cauliflower. Seed sprouted on July 23,

'Skywalker' cauliflower. Seed sprouted on July 23, 2025; three days after sowing. 80 days to maturity. This is our harvest at 79 days.

Seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds (superspeeds.com)

This is a #nedfirst journal post but we have good harvests throughout the year. This is the best harvest yet because the plant was not disturbed by night digging critters.

While not literally a #nedfirsts harvest, this is

While not literally a #nedfirsts harvest, this is the first time our 'Fuji' apple is in this journal. This year we have decent sized apples because I thinned them to one or two per. It looks like I need to thin to one per.

Growing apples and other deciduous fruit in my mild climate can be challenging. Deciduous trees have evolved to survive freezing temperatures by shedding their leaves. They conserve energy by not attempting to push out new leaves and fruit until the warm months.

Without more sensors (like eyes) to gauge the environment, they rely on an internal calculator to determine the seasons. They determine the seasons by internally tracking the number of cold days. When those hours accumulate, they tell themselves that winter is over and it's time to invest energy in growing foliage and fruit.

In agriculture, "chill hours" is what these plants use to determine seasons. Each plant has its own characteristics and will have different the chill hour requirements.

Thus in our mild climate where we average under 200 chill hours, it can be a challenge to get fruit or sizable fruit.

In these categories of trees, the better tasting/ more interesting fruit tends to grow from varieties that require 800-1000 hours.

'Fuji' (200-400 hours) has long been my favorite apple. It is nice that a decent size fruit can be grown where I live-- even if it means having to heavily thin the fruit.

Another caveat of not having the proper climate is timing of fruiting. In a warm climate, fruiting occurs late. The result is a shorter sizing period. This leads to smaller fruit; hence the need to heavily thin so that the limited resources from photosynthesis can be concentrated into fewer fruit.

May 14, 2025. #nedfirsts 'Lamb-Hass' avocado. This

May 14, 2025. #nedfirsts 'Lamb-Hass' avocado. This variety's peak harvest season is between May to August. From my cultivation in the more temperate climate of Southern California's coastal interior, August to September harvests give typical LH characteristics. Nuttier and creamier. Early season harvests were more reminiscent of olden day avocado characteristics-- more watery; like a 'Fuerte.'

Another observed characteristic of LH is that it has a tendency to alternate bearing of fruit. In a commercial setting, this is not ideal. Even in backyard settings this may not be ideal. Why grow it? For me, to collect and experience a tasty piece of avocado development history.

LH is a 'Gwen' lineage.

The tree was purchased in late January of 2020. The trunk of just shy of the thickness of my thumb and stood 4 feet tall in a #5 container. Now it stands 7 feet tall (was topped off last year) and 7 feet wide.

Summer cauliflower harvest. Seed sprouted April 6t

Summer cauliflower harvest. Seed sprouted April 6th. 'Snow Crown' cauliflower has a 53 days to maturity; making May 29th the expected harvest date.
However, the crown didn't size up until almost a month later.

Seeds from @pinetree_garden_seeds

Note, cauliflower is conventionally grown during the cool months. If growing cauliflower for the first time, it is best to follow convention and available information on cultivation.

#nedfirsts

Happy Solstice. In past years summer arrived early

Happy Solstice. In past years summer arrived early and we would be harvesting sweet corn in May for Memorial Day. This year summer weather is on time. We can now plant the heat loving stuff like okra; which we tried to direct sow but it was too cool and had to sow them as transplants.

Today we harvested our early corn to be able to transplant orka in their place. We harvested 22 ears of 'Early Sunglow' yellow sweet corn.

This year we planted a #nedfirsts 'Fisher's Earliest' sweet corn. Grown as transplants, they sprouted in 5 days on March 24th. Sprouted at the same time, grew in the same manner as Early Sunglow. Both with maturity days of roughly 70. With that number in the calculations, they should have been ready roughly 18 days ago.

The seeds for this corn variety needed a garden to grow in and is grown by me and acknowledged as NED's Surrogate Garden 😉

Taste & Texture: Has the qualities of an heirloom sweet corn-- sweet but chewier. Note that the heirloom varieties tend to have a smaller harvest window. If left on the stalk for too long the sugars become starch and the texture is changed. The chewier texture I am experiencing might be the characteristics of this variety. More likely I may have waited a week too long.

Depending on what era you grew up eating corn, you may actually prefer heirloom qualities. For those who grew up outside of the United States where heirloom varieties were/are still grown, they will prefer and seek out chewy corn.

Lastly, between the two early varieties, 'Early Sunglow' is the better variety for me. The seeds are available for purchase locally and the harvest tends to lean on modern corn qualities at harvest

2025 Citrus Grafting Report. Weather: Unexpected

2025 Citrus Grafting Report.

Weather: Unexpected cooler temperatures and overcast followed by heatwave. Cooler temperatures may have stalled/interrupted healing.

Observed: budwood with greater girth had better results in terms of success rate and connectivity (leaf growth in layman's term.)

This was observed with the 'Santa Teresa' lemon and Fremont mandarin.

Image 1: 'Santa Teresa' lemon on Genoa. The budwood matched the graft wood almost exactly. As a result more cambium contact was made and enabled the greatest amount of connectivity.
Image 2 & 3: In contrast, most graft contacts were 50% at best. This results in a longer healing time and the buds remaining dormant (no leaf growth.)
Image 4: 'Variegated Cara Cara' budwood is very thin. Complete failure on 'Cam Sanh' on 'Pink Lemonade.' Still hopeful on 'Pink Lemonade.'
Image 5: 'Sudaci' mandarin is a novelty tree for me. It is being asked to be a pragmatic tree.
Image 6: One of many successful Fremont. This one is on the 'Sudaci.' Note the budwood girth.
Image 7: The last hopeful 'Gold Nugget' mandarin graft. Graft location is important but sometimes there isn't a better branch to work. The other graft on this 'Sudachi' and the only one on the 'Shasta Gold' were placed on a branch located next to a path; and they got bumped into by me or my kids.
Image 8: 'Parent Washington Navel' budwood were thin. Many were provided and many where grafted onto various trees. We are down to this hopeful graft on 'Robertson' navel.
Image 9: Another successful 'Fremont;' on 'Owari Satsuma.'
Image 10: 'Ellendale' tangor budwood was thin but we have a successful push from 'Algerian' clementine.

Final note: 'Murcott' mandarin growing on the slope is looking to be 2 for 2 with 'Fremont' and fail on 'Ellendale.'

Memorial Day 2025 #nedfirsts 'Dondo Blue' ageratu

Memorial Day 2025

#nedfirsts 'Dondo Blue' ageratum, @pinetree_garden_seeds
'Mahohany Splendor' hibiscus
Yarrow
'Blue Bedder' clary sage
Carnation/dianthus
Sweet Pea

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