Spring Garden 2014

It seems like a very long time since I've done a gardening post.  There usually isn't much to post about in the winter months except for rain drops on leaves, however, this year things are different.  Since Mother Nature decided to skip winter altogether in California and go directly to spring, so I've decided to start my spring planting as well.  

Apple Harvest

Our apple harvest came early this year, due to the exceptionally warm and dry spring and early summer weather.  It's a record crop, we've harvested over 50 gala apples from our small espaliered tree.  All organically grown.

Raspberries and the Spring Garden

I realize that I haven't done a gardening post in quite some time, and I apologize for that.   We have, in fact, been working in the garden non stop, but I haven't taken the time to take pictures.  

Almond Blossoms - First Sign of Spring

Every year around this time we experience some exceptionally warm weather, that causes the primroses to bloom and then this happens.  Almond blossoms!  It's the first tree to bloom in my garden and it's a signal that spring is just around the corner.  I just hope that it doesn't start raining again before the tree has time to fully bloom and the bees can pollinate it.  

Almond blooms also tell me that it's time to plant peas.  The next sign to watch for is asparagus shoots.

Winter Garden Harvest

Yesterday I harvested some broccoli, carrots and beets from my garden  for  dinner.  I love that, even in the winter months, I can walk out into my yard and pick food for dinner.  I have to say that the broccoli was amazing.  It was so fresh and tender that I only needed to steam it for a few minutes.  My beets and carrots don't get that large, I'm working on loosening up the soil a bit this year with some sand.  

We're also eating green onions, cilantro, parsley, kale and spinach from our winter garden.

Rainy Winter Days

On rainy winter days, my Garden Supervisor likes to spend the day in bed purring to Nora Jones on her iphone.

Planting Bulbs

The sun was out this weekend after a lot of rain and flooding.  We decided it was time to do a little garden clean up and plant some bulbs.  We bought this big box of crocus bulbs some time ago and never got around to planting them. After raking up all of the fallen leaves and acorns and composting the dead flowers, cucumber, bean and squash plants, we  planted the bulbs. 

First Hard Frost

We had our first hard frost this week.  The kind of frost that burns the leaves of the summer crops like squashes, cucumbers and beans and puts an end to their harvest.  It came late this year, but we've had all the tell tail signs that it was coming.  

The Fall Garden

We went on a late summer vacation to a warm climate with palm lined beaches to take some much needed time off.  Right before we left, I harvested the last of the Burbank tomatoes and most of the heirlooms.  I did cook a big pot of pasta sauce, which I canned, but I ran out of time so I went the quick and easy route which was to dice and freeze the remaining tomatoes.

First Tomatoes of the Season

I picked our first ripe tomatoes of the season.  Just a handful of cherry tomatoes and one little Roma, but still it's exciting, at least for a gardening geek like me.  The first tomatoes always taste amazing, probably because you've been waiting so long for them to ripen...but more likely it's that they ripen on the vine.  Last year was such a disaster, most of our plants died from some sort of mold.  

Thieving Squirrels

This is a thieving squirrel.  He wasn't always bad.  Two years ago he lived across the street in an oak tree with his friends and relatives eating acorns.  Then, the oak tree died and my neighbors cut it down.  That's when this squirrel and his friends and relatives moved into my back yard to live in my oak tree.  That's when he discovered my almond tree.  That's when he decided he liked almonds better than acorns.  The thieving squirrel started to eat my almonds before they were ripe.  Apparently, he doesn't really like unripe almonds, so he threw them on the ground and tried another and another and another.  Isn't that the definition of insanity?  Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results?  So, what I really have is an insane thieving squirrel.

Today's Harvest

The very warm weather we've been experiencing over the last week is wonderful for the berries.  This is what I harvested today along with a few blueberries.  The raspberries and blackberries are producing more than we can eat in a day so I may start freezing the excess.  Berries will be expensive this winter, if you can find them, and love knowing I will have fruit in my freezer for cobblers and tarts.  

Growing Artichokes

Last year we planted a perennial artichoke plant and this year we harvested 9 tender delicious artichokes.  Annual plants will produce the first year but you'll need to plant them each year.  I think it's worth the wait.

For those of you not familiar with the artichoke, it's actually the flower bud of a perennial thistle in the sunflower family, native to the Mediterranean and Canary Islands.  They were first written about by greek philosophers around 300 B.C.  They were brought to Louisiana by the French immigrants in the early 1800's and to California by the Spanish immigrants.  Today, 100% of the commercial crop in the United States is produced in California.

Why I Love Spring

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.

Start Your Tomatoes

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.

First Signs of Spring

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.

We Finally Have Rain

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.

Growing Pomegranates

Two years ago we bought a pomegranate tree.  We chose the “Wonderful” variety because of it’s size, soft seeds, high water content and excellent flavor.  It thrives in a variety of well drained soils and grows best in full sun.  It will tolerate cold temperatures during winter down to 20° F.  Pomegranates are self-pollinating and typically ripen in the late fall in California.

The End of the Summer Garden

Frost has been teasing me for days with small snow flake like crystals of ice on the windshield of my car in the morning.  There have also been some very cold nights.  So cold in fact, I was forced to put away the summer bedspread and get out the down blanket.  But this morning, the ice on my windshield was no longer teasing me.  It was one of those mornings when you just have to wait until your defroster can melt the ice so you can see to pull out of your driveway.  Summer is definitely over, even here in northern California.

Fall Garden Update

The thing I love about living in Northern California is that we are still able to harvest a lot of food from our garden in October.  Typically, we have very warm weather in September and October and this year is no exception, except for that freak rain storm we had last week.  It usually doesn’t start raining here until the end of October.