Thursday, March 3, 2011

Around The House And Gardens

I woke up and it was Spring!  It seemed like overnight everything started budding and turning green...70 degree weather and warm breezes, swamp flies or mosquito hawks or whatever they are that people call them...hundreds...thousands...maybe millions of them started bumbling around the lawn and into the house...scaring Talia...and announcing...HEY!!!  It's getting warmer!!!........AND YOU BETTER GET BUSY!!!!......


I harvested the last of my cabbage.  There are still plenty of carrots.  This is my first try at purple cabbage.  They got off to a slow start at first.  My chickens attacked them.  I've come to the conclusion that chickens prefer purple cabbage.  They left my green cabbage alone and only attacked the purple ornamental and edible cabbages.  The cabbages over all were truly beautiful this year and very very very Sweet.
....Close up....see the tiny Thumbelina carrots....
....This is my very most favorite hand tool....luv luv luv...I bought it on vacation last year when I visited Baker's Creek Heirloom seed...it is a piece from a cultivator plow that has been welded to a handle..chops up anything....I use it to dig out grass clumps.  It's the best for our stubborn deep grasses.  Also it makes short work of chopping through the thick cabbage stems to harvest them....but be careful...I've cut myself pretty bad with it...
...Josie checking out all the flowering winter veggies....
....peach tree blossom....

....pear tree blossoms.....
....Mulberry tree blossoms...so Yum!...The berries, not sure about the blossoms...but anticipating those berries....



...The still mostly bare trees reveal all the multitude of bird and squirrel nests in the trees....
....New fig leaves....
...new citrus leaves....
....another view of the flowering winter veggies....gonna save some seed......
....rusty Fleur Di Lis tucked in the clouds of flowers....
....first bachelor button blossom of the year.....
.....onions.....Kale in the back....oh yes it's flowering too....
....the artichokes re-emerging...collards in the back...purple Japanese mustard in the front....
....this is so delightful....my windmill palm is putting out flower stalks...Tropicals are so vibrant...the pink is a lorapetalum blooming in the back, it makes a fringe shaped flower and turns the purple bush to glowing pink in the spring...it's also called plum delight...very easy to find in garden centers....
....traditionally planted potatoes....beautiful.....
....enjoy the warm breezes...and run from the  mosquitoes!

5 comments:

JeanSkirtGirl said...

Dear sister kristi I had a great time watching u take pic's and pick out the best one to post I love your garden I can't wait in till spring to pant some seeds love carmecita

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

Dear Kristi, I'm so jealous of those cabbages :o), they look beautiful and tasty.. I shouldn't be jealous, I had a good year with my first crop too! Only reason I'm jealous now is because I want to make some sauerkrut and those would fit the bill :o)

Texan said...

ok I have cabbage envy... my cabbages were doing so good, then the single digit temps hit us several times over the winter (we had such a hard winter :O(.)... not to mention the minus digit wind chills. Just like my Brussels sprouts my cabbages when I cut into them had a some rotten layers... I am guessing it was the temps we had that caused this?. Those layers froze I assume. I have some cabbages left in the garden that had not formed heads yet. I am holding out hope that they might form heads now?

Faith, Folklore, and Friends said...

Love all your garden pictures. I am a fan of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, too. I planted some Sungold Tomato and Red Zebra Tomato seeds this week inside. Thanks for sharing.

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