Storms, Woodchips and Blossoms.

Our bad weather continued: hail, high winds and sheets of water. Very exciting. And even more exciting a forecast of snow for last Friday night. Sadly, by then, the storms had passed and we had a hard freeze but no snow. I had very disappointed children on my hands. Snow in sacramento... what is the world coming to?

                                                                                                                  The View From My Office.

The hard freeze though... we have those regularly and it is a big threat to farmers in the valley. Almond trees are very sensitive to frost and so are plum trees. Unfortunately, our plum tree was in full bloom when the cold weather hit. Hopefully we will still get a few plums. Usually we harvest more than 40 lbs of plums so it would be a great loss.

                                                                                                                           Plum Blossoms.

 

                                                                                         Plum Blossoms

Luckily most of the apricot blossoms were still shut tight. Last year was not good for apricots, maybe this year I can make apricot jam again.

                                                                                                                                Apricot Blossoms.

It was most definitely not hammock weather.

                                                                                                              The Hammock Over The Swamp.

And the yard was a swamp so nothing got done in the garden.
Well, almost nothing... Mark put wheelbarrows full of wood chips on the new-future-vegetable garden and the chickens went to work: in 2 days they had spread all the wood chips around.

I love team work.

Lamb's Lettuce, Rain, Sun and Hail.

We had a whole week of sun and then 3 days of rain and to my surprise one day among the spinach, Mache (aka Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad) appeared. I had planted it last year when it had done moderatly well. I always let a few vegetables go to seeds. I like surprises! But I had forgotten the Mache completely.
That morning I thought it would make a great lunch for the next day with a few soft boiled eggs.
Alas, later that day we had hail several time and well, the mache was just not looking so perky anymore. Ah well. Such is the life of a gardener. Luckily some of them were protected by the spinach and we ate those. Others went to very happy chickens. And of course some will go to seed. To be reborn in late fall for another surprise meal or two.

                                                                                                           Lamb's Lettuce, February 2011.

Inspired by Down To Earth. 

Busy But No Bees?

We have had lovely busy days around here. Spring decided to come early it seems. With temperatures in the 65-70F range and beautiful sunny days nature around us is literally exploding. I've been outside from sun up to sun down: trimming roses ( I hesitate to call what I do pruning because it sounds like I know what I'm doing and I'm not. But it works so that's ok, my roses are full of blooms by April), digging up the old strawberry patch: the plants were too old and not producing well anymore. Laying down more cardboard, manure and bone meal in the new potager. And taking care of some of the weeds because boy, they exploded too. And the mosquitoes too. A lot less fun those.
But that's too much talking when really we just tried to soak up as much "spring" as we could. Because of course bad weather will surely come back before May arrives. But in the meantime maybe you'd like a tour of the garden on this beautiful February days?

                                                                                      Brussels Sprouts.

                                                                                         Red Russian Kale.

                                                                                             Red Russian Kale.

                                                                                     Chinese Cabbage Flowers.

                                                                                          Calendula.

                                                                                          Buds In The Sunset.

                                                                                      Moonlight.               

Unfortunately, by Sunday, my eldest daughter was coming down with the flu. So I've put back on my doctor's suit for a few days and I'm making this several times a day. Hopefully nobody else will get it... we have 2 birthdays to celebrate this week... Now I need a cake plan.
And there is something worrisome: in spite of 3 days of these temperatures, I haven't seen any bees. None. Usually at 65-70F I see a few. I always let some plants go to seed for them so that they have food in early spring and I have a lot of them visiting on the years before... but this year nothing. 

On My Mind.

The sun has been out for two days... time to start seed planting! Hopefully our garden this year will be as successful as last year.

                                                                                The garden in July 2010.

The Fog and The Quince Tree.

While the week-end was beautiful, sunny and dry, today started with a thick blanket of fog.

Droplets on the Fig tree branches.

Foggy Morning.

 

                                                       Water collects on Laurel leaves from the Fog.

We spent most of the week-end finishing digging in the future vegetable garden and going to nurseries to find a Quince Tree.  This was not easy. But it's easier than trying to find the fruit for sale at the markets in the fall. I can't really explain this actually. Quinces are a very very popular fruit in so many cultures ( from Asia to Mexico...to Spain... Membrillo anyone?), are so incredibly easy to grow and taste so heavenly that I can't quite explain why they are not more popular in the States. Maybe because for most varieties it has to be cooked before you can eat it?

 The Quince, Cydonia oblonga, is related to Pears and Apples and when ripe is yellow with a white-gray fuzz all over that needs to be wiped before cooking. The trees are extremely beautiful in any season: superb blossoms in Spring, the leaves in Summer are a medium green with fine white-gray hairs or depending on the variety, a dark smooth green, making a great contrast with the multitude of yellow pear shaped fruits hanging heavily from the branches. In winter the gnarly silhouette of the tree makes for an interesting focal point in the garden.
The quince probably originated in Iran thousands of years ago. It is now widely cultivated in all the Mediterranean basin and in Asia as well as South America. There are many varieties of Quince Fruit Trees ( not to be confused with the flowering quince tree Chaenomeles); mine is the "Smyrna', is self fruiting (and heavily at that) and could be as high as 20 feet if we let it. But we won't... we'll pruning at a height of 10 to 12 feet so that the fruit is easy to pick and , considering its location, does not put too much shade in the vegetable garden.
Growing a Quince tree is very easy: they have shallow roots and will grow in almost any soil, including clay like mine.

                                                 The Shallow Roots of a Smyrna Quince tree.

They thrive in moist soil and a warm site and benefit from fertilizing from Spring to Summer with a Seaweed solution. Few pests and diseases bother them except maybe fireblight ( they are related to Apples and Pears ). If your tree is affected, cut off the branches at least 12 inches below the signs of disease. And plant them where they'll get plenty of air circulation.

I'll post pictures of our tree as the months go by... and I'll also write of the many many recipes using quinces.

Did you know that you can even use the seeds as a remedy for coughs, including pneumonia?

What's not to love? Maybe I should dedicate my tree to the Goddess of Love like the Ancients did.