Spring in the California Garden

Thank you Mother Nature for a winter of rain.  Plants and shrubs are blooming prolifically this spring.

The garden called this weekend and it was time to put some tomatoes into the garden.  Two beefsteaks (one an heirloom) and San Francisco Fog. 

In doing some prep work, I discovered a very large beet!  Here it is root and all.  Look at those beautiful greens.

Beautiful beet from the garden atop a planting of thyme.

Lovely Lettuce from the Winter Garden

Upside Down Hanging Basket Protects Tender Young Plants from Rabbits.  Chives are growing nearby.

I've been enjoying lettuce for the garden for six or seven weeks.  I like buying cell-pack plants with a variety of lettuces.  It gives me a wonderful selection of lettuces for salads.  I've planted twice after the original planting to continue to be able to enjoy lettuce through this season.  It's a good thing as I have already seen two of the lettuce plants getting ready to bolt.

The last planting is only butter lettuce.  Always a favorite.

Artichokes

I have two artichoke plants in the garden. They don't seem to mind the cold weather. The nursery tag indicated it was great for cool, short-seasoned climates. I am very excited to see the blossom and the acutal artichoke when it starts to grow. I'll post photos!

Tomato Ripens In January

The tomato has one spot of green to ripen and then it's mine, all mine. I am hungering for a summer style BLT. I can use the romaine lettuce in the garden which makes the sandwich all the tastier. The vine is looking a little weather worn but as I was taking this photo, I saw three small green tomatoes hidden in the foliage so I won't be removing this plant...yet.

Red Peppers in January

The peppers keep on coming. We have been away for about a week. Upon returning home, I found the garden had been very busy while we were gone. I did not remove several summer plants at the end of the season because they had set some late vegetables. Here is the yummy result--probably some of the best peppers I have ever grown. They are extremely heavy and have turned bright red. I have some small new peppers on the plant. I will probably leave them to mature as long as we are having such warm and inviting weather.

Funny Perspective on the Sweet Edible Pea Pod

Really, until the cypress trees came down this fall, I had stopped planting much in my winter garden. The trees blocked much of the sun light needed to have success in a winter garden. Sunlight now drenches the garden again and the result is a bounty of sweet pea pods. I tried to have the sun back light the pod so you could experience the translucency of this delicate vegetable. You can see there are eight peas in this pod.

New Year's Lettuce

I planted a six-pack of both romaine and red lettuce in November. Thanks to our sunny, warm weather, these plants have grown to beautiful lettuce to pick for dinner salads.
One reason I have had such luck this year with my winter crops is the loss of two cypress trees on my neighbor's property. Both trees developed problems this past year and were removed from the southern hillside below my garden. Now I am getting sun in the garden which normally would be shaded by the trees. Sorry trees but happy sunny garden!