Cherries, Raspberries and Blues

The timing of the fruit this year is a bit later than before.


The cherries really came on last weekend. The crop is miniscule compared to 2009 when the tree was laden. But, the cherries are still delicious. I think the birds have gone for other cherries in the neighborhood, and are letting me harvest mine.

The raspberries started getting ripe on Sunday, July 10. They seem huge this year! The crop seems less, but each berry seems bigger.

The blue berries are on their way. One of the new berry bushes has delivered about 5 berries. The other bushes are more full of berries than before, just not ripe yet.

New Blossom

I didn't realize that Hens and Chicks blossomed. But here is the start of a blossom stalk. Very interesting.

Siberian Iris

Some photos of a new addition.

I am pretty sure this is a siberian iris. Got two clumps from a woman at work, last year. After transplanting in my garden the clumps did nothing except look like big grass. The gift was becoming suspect. But this year, I got blossoms. After looking them up on the web, I read that they are pretty hardy. The flower blooms on a tall spike that stands about 3 ft tall. It took about two weeks to go from the hint of a blossom to the bloom.

Honeysuckle

I bought the Honeysuckle about 2 years ago at the February Yard and Garden Show. This is the first bloom. If you get up close, it does have a nice scent. I was hoping for a bunch of blossoms of which I could catch the scent from as far away as my porch. I think will need to wait another couple years for it to do this.

Fresh Kale Pear Simple Salad

I have a few kale recipes saved up to share, but had quite a bit going on to prevent their being posted. Here is the most recent from a couple days ago. I found that the kale I planted in the fall (yes, the fall!) finally did something. I harvested leaves and got about 3/4 cup.

Build salad as follows:

3/4 cup Kale, ripped into bite size pieces

1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped up, sprinkle the pieces on the kale bed

1 red pear, cored, chopped up. Place the pieces on top of the kale and tomato

1-2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil dressing (Safeway Select)

2 tsp of toasted sesame seeds on top

Rated a 4.5 on the kale scale.

Finally, Roses!

This spring has been hard on the roses all over. This week is the first appearance my roses - usually they are all a blossom around Mother's Day. So this is a month late!

Today, a bit of rain. Topped out at 60 F.

Newport Tulips

I bought some special bulbs in September when we went camping at Beverly Beach, and came upon the Newport Farmer's Market. The local gardening group had a special sale on various tulip and daffodil bulbs. I bought these, but don't remember their name.

Winter Survivors

It's spring. Really. The weather has been wet, cold, and at long last a day of sunshine. In the dead of winter, I was tempted to clean out the pots. But, thought maybe something would pull through. These winter survivors have been struggling to blossom, and once they do, slugs devour them. At long last, I think they are making headway.

Tulips

Tulips have been around for about 3 weeks now. They've had a tough start with all the rain and cold. They are looking kind of ragged. But they like it when the sun shines.

Some of them have "fat lips" - they curl funny.

Weather yesterday was upper 60s for the first time this year. Today mid-50s and showery again.

A moment of sunshine between the April showers.

Before

It's getting about time to pick up some plants at garden centers and begin the process of developing 2011 container garden. So, I thought I'd show what "before" looks like. Pretty rough, end of winter, rain continues to get in the way. Today, more rain, and about 55 F.

Here are some of the daffodils that have finally appeared.

It is Spring, Finally, Really

It really is spring, finally! Out of all the bulbs I planted, I've only got 1 that is an alternate to the regular old daffodils, but one is enough. And the regulars are holding up really well to the constant rain and wind of the last few days.

Today was in the 50s, rain. We broke a 107 yr old record for the number of rainy days in March! And so far this year, we haven't made it to 60 yet.

The experiment worked!

In November, I bought several bags of bulbs. The plan was to plant them and increase the garden bulbs planted in ground. By the time I got around to it, it was New Year's Day. After planting what I could in the ground, I had some left over. I pulled out my containers and threw them in. I tried using the layers concept - planted 2-3 layers per container.


The weather turned frigid by the end of the day, and I was concerned the freshly planted bulbs would freeze, so I put a cap of straw on all of the containers.


As winter waned, we continued to have ultra wet weather.

And then it snowed at the end of February.

The bulbs had already peeked out of the hay mulch.

But, by the first day of spring, the containers are blossoming and all is well!

March 10 - Daffodils finally come out!

Finally, the long wait is over! Daffodils finally blossomed yesterday, March 10. A blustery, rainy day that ended up with a windy, clearing and sunny aroun 5pm when I snapped this photo. High around 50, but there was a wind chill that took that way down.

It was so windy March 10, that branches fell off the walnut tree, onto the daffodils. Lost a couple as a result of that.

By the end of the day, an 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

Weather ups and downs

It snowed at the end of February. And then we've had about 2 inches of rain in the last week. Today, the Camillea and Crocus showed up for first time. Still no daffodils blooming in my yard yet.

Winter Wanes

"No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow." ~ Proverb

This time last year the daffodils were blooming. The weather has been more colder, definitely wetter, this year. Long stretches of rainy days. This day, however, is sunny, but only 49 F.

Seeing Violets Now

In kindly showers and sunshine bud
The branches of the dull gray wood;
Out from its sunned and sheltered nooks
The blue eye of the violet looks.
- John Greenleaf Whittier

First Blossom of 2011

The first paperwhite appeared January 16. Looking for a poem on paperwhites, couldn't find one short enough, but I found this quote attirubted to Georgia O'Keefe.

“Still, in a way
nobody sees a flower
really
it is so small
we haven’t the time
and to see takes time
like to have a friend
takes time.”