Why I Love Spring

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:19:02 -0700

I love Spring! Those first warm days when you can work outside in the garden without a jacket and everything starts to bloom. The air is warm and sweet with the smell of lilacs. You can hear the sound of cicadas and the crows calling to each other. I love buying seeds and trying new varieties of melons or beans. It’s the anticipation of things to come.

I love the first spring flowers, primroses are the first flowers to bloom in my garden.

...and then the bulbs. I’m not sure what these are called, Mr. RK bought a package of years ago and they spread like crazy so they’re now showing up all over the yard.

Then there are the volunteer Johnny Jump-ups (or violas). I planted some in a pot about four years ago but now these show up every spring in odd little places, often between the cracks of my walkway

and the wisteria that hangs over the fence...so beautiful...

I love decorating with flowers. This year we bought some little ceramic pots to line the edge of the raised garden beds and filled them with pansies. (you can just make out the transplanted tomatoes behind them.

I love watching the fruit trees bloom and checking each day to see how many actually turn into timy fruit. These are pear blossoms.

and apple blossoms. That’s my neighbor’s bee helping to pollinate.

I love watching the tiny nuts and fruits grow on the trees, thinking about the recipes I can try with them when they’re ripe. These are almonds, we have lots of almonds this year.

and the apricots, they’re my favorite.

This year we have our first artichoke.

and our first truly large cauliflower. We’re going to eat this bad boy for dinner!

So, it’s time (here in Northern California anyway) to transplant tomatoes into the ground and plant the rest of the summer vegetables. Today we planted three kinds of squash, 2 varieties of melons, green onions, green beans, pumpkins, basil and lots and lots of flowers. Happy Earth Day!

Start your Tomatoes

Tue, 6 Mar 2012 12:17:49 -0800

After I wrote that heading I realized that it sounded like “Start Your Engines” which is what they say at the beginning of a car race. Can you tell that Mr RK is a race fan? I guess I’ve been influenced by the sounds of cars racing around a track as background noise more than I thought. It does apply to gardening though. Growing a garden is somewhat of a race, with nature. You have to start your seeds at the right time, and strategize about when to plant them in the ground in order to take full advantage of the summer weather. it’s a race to grow as much as you can before the cold weather starts again.

To get a jump on the season we started our tomatoes plants in our house about two weeks ago. We started the seeds in small pots on our kitchen window sill. ( I used compostable peat pots) I like to start about three seeds per pot and then if they all sprout, I keep the strongest one and remove the others.

This year we’re growing five varieties of tomatoes: Cherry, Slicing, Plum & two Black Heirloom.

I like to grow cherry tomatoes for my salads. No slicing required, you just pull off the stem and throw a handful on your salad. I think they have a sweeter, more intense flavor than a slicing tomato.

The second variety that we planted is the Burbank Slicing tomatoes. This variety was developed by Luther Burbank, a local botanist, in 1915. He used this variety for canning which is what I plan to do with them. I like to can my own tomatoes so I don’t have to worry about the BPA they use to line the metal cans.

The third variety we planted this year is the San Marzano. These classic Italian paste tomatoes are considered to be the world’s best. They’re a low sugar, low acid variety with a thick flesh and few seeds which makes them perfect for making sauce. That’s what I plan to do with them.

The fourth and fifth varieties that we planted this year are considered Russian heirlooms. Black Krim and Black Lula, They both have a rich dark color and a hearty flavor. We had seeds for both so we started one of each to determine which one we liked better.

So go out and buy some seeds and start a tomato plant. Tomatoes need lots of sun so when the danger of frost is past, plant them in the sunniest part of your yard. If you don’t have a garden space to plant them in, you can grow tomatoes in large pots. I usually grow my cherry tomatoes in a 14” wide by 16” high square container. Let the race begin.

First Signs of Spring

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:56 -0800

The first signs of spring come in February in Northern California. It starts with the asparagus. They begin to pop their tender little heads out of the ground, teasing you with the promise of grilled garlic spears. I also keep an eye on the blueberry plants, watching for the first blooms.

My most favorite sign is the almond tree. Almond blossoms are the most beautiful shade of pale pink. When I lived up north in Butte County, were they grow lots of almonds, we would take bike rides in the almond orchards in the spring and the petals would fall like pink snow. You can just make out the pink petals in the buds of my tree.

A few other signs that spring is on the way....the primroses are blooming...

and I found this random grape hyacinth growing in a cactus pot. I’m not sure now it got there.

It’s also time to plant lettuce, spinach, beets and peas. I put seeds in the ground today for all of these. It’s also our last chance to plant bear root trees and to prune trees we have so Mr. RK has been busy in the garden this week, trimming back the grape and planting a new peach tree. Our other peach tree died last summer for an unknown reason.

We Finally Have Rain

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:36:17 -0800

California has had, so far, the driest winter since 1883. Yesterday, we finally got some rain. A lot of rain in fact. So today, when the sun came out after a particularly heavy downpour, I went out to the garden to check on things. Of course, my Director of Pest Management followed me. She goes stir crazy when she has to stay in the house because of the weather. She immediately climbed to the top of the apricot tree to get a better view of things.

We planted some peas in the fall and they’ve been producing a few peas even though we’ve had some very frosty weather. We planted some more seed today. It’s not too late to get some pea seeds in the ground. These are snow peas but you can plant shelling or English peas as well.

My bok choy is starting to go to seed and needs to be picked ASAP. I’m thinking bok choy with ginger, garlic and cashews.

The cauliflower and broccoli plants we set last fall are starting to grow more rapidly now. There is something about a good rain that just makes the plants jump up and grow. The spinach and chard are starting to grow as well.

My blueberry plants actually have started to produce flowers.

The almond tree has buds. It’s usually the first tree to bloom in the spring.

Happy Holidays

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 23:32:10 -0800

In the spirit of saving trees, we hung our ornaments in the front window. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season with family and friends!