Re: It's spring now

Definitely spring here, too. Had to commit a major harvest of basil today; it was starting to flower. So I made a pasty tomato-basil-garlic spread for pizza bases. May have to try that for dinner tonight.
Jalapeno and poblano peppers are loaded with blooms and baby fruits. Tomatoes all have baby fruits. Collards are 6-inches high and robust looking. I transplanted about a dozen choi sum seedlings a couple of days ago--I had to thin the rows I had planted--and all the transplants seem to have survived except one that succumbed to clumsy farmer syndrome.
All the begonias are still blooming like crazy--they're such a treat; they start blooming in early winter and the blooms hold for months and months, sprays ranging in color from pure white to bright red with every imaginable shade of pink in-between. Also have one orchid blooming and another with a bloom spike and a few nascent buds.
The standbys--Turk's cap, jatropha, and hibiscus--are blooming, but they are always blooming, sometimes more, sometimes less. I noticed yesterday that the gardenias are forming flower buds and, in an unrelated observation, the Surinam cherry is both blooming like crazy and loaded with green fruit in various degrees of maturity. 

Spring is definitely here and may, in fact, be on its way out.


On Mar 12, 2007, at 12:14 PM, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT wrote:


Well it's definitely spring here. In fact, it was practically summer
this weekend, we had highs in the 80s and it's supposed to be more of
the same all this week. On the news they are talking about the two brush 
fires currently burning...sigh.
But all the fruit trees are in blossom and many other trees are just
starting to show that haze of green. My bulbs are in full bloom now, the roses are almost all in leaf (some slower than others). The Joshua trees have some blossoms despite the dry winter. We'll not get any wildflowers 
this year though, there is nothing growing in the unirrigated areas.
Husband and I spent a good part of Saturday working in the teahouse
garden pruning out the rosemary killed by the Big Freeze and general
cleanup. There are a lot of bare spots now and we are not done yet, but
I can buy new to fill in or just let the other stuff grow, it will catch 
up eventually. Or...I've been thinking I might want to change that
area...but no, I don't have the time to tackle another project, it will
have to wait.  I noticed in the cottage garden area I've lost all the
lavenders, I thought they would be tougher than that, but only the
Spanish lavender in the dry garden has survived. Maybe because it's
drier?
I gave myself a really nice blister on the hand wielding the clippers, I 
must be getting soft. We also decided to pull out an arbor half covered
with honeysuckle; the honeysuckle hasn't looked good for a long time and 
the whole thing never really went with the teahouse anyway. It looks
better without it now.  The arbor is still nice though, I'll have to
find another place for it.
I started seeds for the hot peppers and some basil, the tomato seedlings 
look very nice and all the sweet pepper seedlings are up. My lemon tree
is blooming again so I've been after the blossoms with my little
paintbrush, but it's been warm enough that I can leave the door to the
greenhouse open, so perhaps we'll get some pollinators in there.
Actually it's been warm enough I could move all that stuff outside but
we are still a month away from average last frost, so I'm being
cautious.  I meant to get the lettuce and spinach planted, but didn't,
perhaps after work one day this week I can do that.
I started cleaning the pond, I thought the filter was clogged but no,
something else is wrong. Now I have to pull the whole thing out to see,
there's a pleasant job - at least it's small. I turned on the watering
for the plants along my back fence but apparently my dogs have once
again chewed off the top of a bubbler, so that has to be fixed. We
really have to protect the bubblers somehow, PVC is no match for those
guys.
No new lambs, the one ewe is still holding onto her unborn, she's
getting awfully big. I've been telling her "Can't be long now" for two
weeks but she is unimpressed. The other four lambs are growing like
weeds, they are so cute to see racing around the yard. Good thing they
turn into sheep or we'd never be able to eat lamb chops.
We rode the horses just around the neighborhood for a couple hours
Sunday, not very exciting but at least we're out. Gets us a look at
what's going on anyway - we notice there are only a couple vacant lots
left, and the houses being built are enormous. One of them must be for
someone into baseball, they've built what looks like the training
facility for an entire team in their backyard. At least it isn't quads
or dirt bikes! The equestrian arena down the street had a big event
going on but we couldn't get close enough to watch, and didn't have time 
to go back later.
I saw the zauschneria coming up in the dry garden, funny it was so late
last year I thought I had lost it and this year it's one of the first to 
show. The penstemons are showing signs of growth too, and the buckwheat
looks good. I have been desperately holding out hopes for the salvias
but every time I look at them my hope dies a little more. Very
disappointing since they were the biggest shrubs in the dry garden, they 
were close to five feet across, now there is maybe one branch on each
that shows a little green. Still I don't want to let go but... On the
plus side, my opuntia - while it looks really horrible - doesn't look as horrible as my friend's cactus, now that one is most definitely dead. So 
we'll see.

Cyndi

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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.1 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Sunset Zone 25
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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