Spring Is Here!

Now we get the rain, sopping wet since the middle of March and now well into April after a bone-dry winter. It's even threatened the respective home openers of the A's and Giants, fairly an untypical situation to be sure. This is the third year in a row that we've had rain extend well into the Spring months. It's all good as we really needed the rain, not only for the drinking water from the mountains but also for local gardens as watering can never substitute for the real thing from the sky.

 Arugula seedlings - seeds planted on April 7

 Mint growing - replanted last month in the rain

 The Greek oregano is looking healthy indeed

Greek bay laurel re-potted into a large wine barrel. Tag says it can grow to 40 feet!

I was finally able to get some seeds in the ground last weekend. Sown beets, chard, salad greens and lettuce, and radishes. Although it's very sunny today, we've had a cold front come in last night, accompanied with thunderstorms, and it's only in the mid-50's at best. It's looking like it will climb up to the 70's by Sunday and will remain dry and mild all next week so hopefully I can get the tomato seedlings into the ground this weekend with the hope that by the time we travel back East in a couple of weeks, they'll be well on their way. I also started some parsley seedlings in a flat on the porch.

Hoping to add a pot for continuous cilantro seedlings, some fennel and a few more things shortly.

Spring Is Near!

Getting to the be that time of year with the vernal equinox just around the corner. Since my last day at work in January, it's been bone-chilling cold, hot and very dry and just the past several days, tons of rain so a bit awkward to get started in the garden. I finally got underway yesterday repotting the 3 mints (spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint), the sage and the lemon verbena.

Here's a view as things looked yesterday as it kept raining continuously from last Monday night until late last (Friday) night. There were no real gully washers, just steady moderate rain every day and every night. A big boon, since otherwise it's been a pretty bone-dry winter this year - we really needed some considerable precipitation.

Next up, completion of preparation for the new raised beds, bay leaf tree transplanting, hedge cutback, vegetable seeds, and yard cleanup.

Brussels sprouts update

Now we're talking. Here are some photos taken last week of the plants just prior to the rain we had over the past few days.

And here is a harvest that we'll use for dinner tonight.

Meanwhile here's a photo of the Satsuma with some of its flowers.

And peeking through the foliage is - voila - an actual fruit. And unlike the couple we picked last winter, this one was quite sweet and tasty. With all of the flowers we're seeing this year, we should start having decent harvests starting next winter.

Why No Rain?

I found this article on the Scientific American web site to be of some interest regarding the lack of rain we've had here in the Bay Area. Apparently the entire nation has been affected this year.

Garden at New Year's 2012

The Brussels sprouts are getting close to picking. I took off the fencing, pulled off some of the bottom leaves, and did some weeding today to clean up the box a bit.

The sprouts start developing from the bottom up. I've read that they should be picked from the bottom if they are not coming out full in order to allow the ones further up to grow to harvest size.

Looks like there will be enough for a dish later this week.

The garlic is still growing and the ones I planted in the inner alternate rows later are starting to come up.

And here's the bay laurel really starting to take off. I'll be transplanting this to a larger pot next month.

Meanwhile, other than a couple of damp days, there has still been no rain for several weeks now and, according to the weather reports, none in sight for the next 7-10 days yet. As I've seen a few winters with no appreciable rains after Jan 1, it's completely possible we may not see any for the remainder of the season. But then I've also seen other winters where we've received over 75% of a year's precipitation between February and April, so who knows at this point. Undoubtedly this will be a below normal year but it'd be nice to get at least 10 inches before the season is over.

Early Winter 2011-2012

Feh, hardly any rain this month and, save for perhaps a few sprinkles later this week, there doesn't seem to be any on the horizon at all, certainly nothing like the storms we depend on here to get us through the year water-wise.
This is a real departure from the past several years in that rains have tended to last well into spring. Even though we can water our gardens through a dry winter, I've noticed from other dry years, especially back in the 80's, that no matter how much one waters, there is no substitute for several inches of real rain.
Hopefully things will turn and the second part of winter turns the tap on from the Pacific.

Late Fall 2011 Update

Checking in with a snapshot of the garden as we get closer to Winter. The garlic has been in the ground for a while and doesn't seem to be doing as well as it has in previous years. I've also planted them in rows 18" apart which now that's it's sprouted seems to be too large a width. Of the 3 varieties planted, one is hardly doing anything; I think that I may have planted them too deeply. I may go out tomorrow, look at those rows and then consider planting a few more between the rows as I've only planted so far half of what I have.

The parsley is still holding up well in the pots. It seems to help that I've been keeping them watered when it hasn't been raining (the past few weeks have been cold and dry - not a drop of rain for a while now and not much on the immediate horizon).

I may have left too many of the Brussels sprouts plants when thinning them after planting. I'll leave these as they are to see how they do and adjust spacing next time if I think it's warranted.

Sprouts are starting, we'll see how they develop.

This is the first I've seen of flowering on the satsuma since we planted it in March 2009. Hopefully a good harbinger as we had no fruiting at all in 2011.

We've gotten quite a few limes coming out now. I'd been unaware that Bearss limes tend to turn yellow and look something like lemons when they mature. They certainly taste like limes! Very nice flavor.