Garden

We had weeks of “May Gray” and “June Gloom”. Some days the sun failed to show up at all. And on a couple it was so drippy from the fog that it registered as 0.01″ on our weather station. But just as I finished the task of getting the weed population down to a respectably low amount, summer came to our part of the central coast. And about that time some of the veggies in the garden and stone fruit trees started being ready to harvest.

Bush Beans, peas, blackberries and some early stone fruit were finally ready.

I realized that waiting for the fruit to be really ripe on the tree was a few days too long. It was ending up falling and getting bruised. So I came in with a basket of almost ready Peaches, nectarines and apricots.

Today’s harvest was more of the same. Only this time, a harvest of Flavorosa pluots

The early corn did not do so well. It was such a cool and rainy spring that even the corn that usually doesn’t mind the cool temperatures did not germinate well. So now we have tassels for the second attempt which was started indoors.

One of the apricot trees which has a nice amount of golden goodies ripening. In previous years we got only a handful or so of apricots. This year we have six or eight that are being generous.

One of the nectarine trees where I should have thinned fruit a lot more than I did.

One of the other apricot trees.

Apples here are always confused about when they should bloom and when the fruit will be ready. This tree is very productive and got an early start on the season.

The low chill pears are as usual full of fruit. I did not thin these, but I did prune back the tree so there is a lot less of it than there was last year.

The view down the orchard row

Marigolds are one of my favorites since childhood. This is a dwarf variety that I planted a number of years ago and has produced many volunteers each year since. This one is growing in a mix of mostly volunteer herbs – a couple of basil varieties, summer savory and parsley as well as some French tarragon.

The official start of spring is still a few days away. The orchard is getting dressed for the occasion now.

a clump of daffodils under the pear trees

Hollywood plum tree in bloom

plum blossoms

apple blossoms

5-in-1 peach tree

 

 

 

It is another gray day as another major rain storm is descending on the Central Coast. The cool, wet February has kept most of the orchard trees dormant. Only a couple of early varieties have bloomed. However, there are still plenty of blooms as the daffodils are putting on a show. Daffodils are among the few things that gophers ignore and they seem to do well in our moderate climate.

While most of the apples and stone fruit trees are still dormant, some of the citrus trees are ready to harvest and several are loaded with fruit. Brought in a few this morning. Tangerines, limes and Morro Blood Oranges. Not sure what to do with so many limes. I will juice the oranges to have with breakfast. The taste normal for orange juice, but it does seem odd to have “orange” juice that is red.

Pluots, pears, apples, tomatoes, melon, corn were the normal harvest. A bit early, but It turned out that a lot of the acorn squash and the pie pumpkins were also ready to bring in from the garden.