Frost Tender is Gone

The weekend marks the beginning of the gardening season.

It is the end of the period of time that plants and flowers grown in the area can be damaged by overnight frost. If a frost occurs after this date, it would a a totally unpredictable frost. This doesn't mean that it is time to set out the tomatoes and the summer garden. The tomatoes would just sit and shiver in the evening and would work all the daylight ours to overcome the cold of the night. The real start of their growth occurs when the night time temperatures are over 50 degrees. Right now our overnight temperatures swing around 40 degrees. This is why it is good time to start tomatoes in the little peat pellets that expand in water to protect the seed. It takes a while for tomatoes to get past the seed time and develop their root structure. Maybe I will have some planting boxes made by then to allow them to grow and produce the one thing that Sue likes from the garden... fresh tomatoes. I am planting both early girl and a beefsteak hybrid from seeds this week. They will occupy the window sill as they grow. Later they will be transferred to small peat bots with planting soil and then to bigger containers before being tempered outdoors and eventually nurtured in the soil.

This is the perfect time for the fruit trees to blossom. The pluot trees have been blooming for about a week and a half. The peach trees in the front are just starting to bloom. It is interesting in that it looks like the peaches will not have much of a crop if you looked at their bloom at this stage. These trees start off with just a bloom here and there and eventually become a tree of pink.

The pluot trees take the side of the plum trees and have very white blooms with dark red centers. Nectarines take the side of the peach and have hot pink blooms. The pluots, half plum and half apricot take after the plum in fruit. They vary in color and taste depending on the parents of their linage.

The pomegranate will not bloom until it has green leaves throughout the plant. The kumquat has maintained its crop throughout the winter and provides a nice display of grape sized fruit right near the sidewalk.  The lemon tree was hammered pretty solidly early this year and is just now recovering. Most of the top leaves and the fruit on the top were damaged by the heavy frost.  I am interested in seeing if my artichoke plant will produce flowers and thus fruit this year. It looks like a division might be in order as a whole new plant seems to be growing up on the side of the old plant. The older plant seems to be in perfect shape for its third year. The Western Garden book says that artichokes can grow perfectly well in this climate zone but may require some shade and more water than than ordinary if in the heat. We certainly have the heat here in the summer.

The three new trees have been planted this winter. A moorpark apricot has been planted near the 34 year old Tilton apricot. A Fairtime late peach was planted in January near the new apricot. A Fantastic peach, a version of the classic Fay Elberta was planted on the east side of the yard. I am hoping that the Washington navel will survive the devastation of the early frost. Right now it looks pretty gone. All of its leaves are dried out from the cold.

So... onward and upward we would like some more rain... its been really dry this year... but realistically we are almost to the end of the rainy season with less than 3 inches of rain. Our average is usually around 9.

As this is President's day weekend, 2014, lots of kids were at my Starbucks having a coffee or hot chocolate beverage with their parents. It made for and interesting group. Most of the kids have been to Starbucks many times before so they pretty well understand the procedure and and very well behaved.
: ) Pat