The temperature reached into the mid 60 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. The bees were very active, some of the fruit trees have been in bloom for a few days now. I took a stroll through the garden and took some photos of some of the overwintered plants and some new arrivals.
Blenheim apricots are considered the best in the world. Sadly, it is a very fragile fruit, so those living outside of California, where most of the Blenheims are grown, have two options -- buy them as dried fruit, or grow them for yourself. I'd recommend the latter.
Below is my Baby Crawford peach in bloom. Last year it suffered from peach leaf curl and then the squirrels nipped in and got all the peaches just as they were ripening. I'm hoping for a better year in 2012.
The tiny bell shaped flowers of this Chandler blueberry are a pleasure to look at. The blueberries taste rather nice as well.
I planted several varieties of potatoes in grow bags in October of last year with the hope that the Winter would warm enough that I could get an early batch of potatoes. No such luck, we had a killing frost in January that destroyed all the plants but this one Yukon Gold potato. I replanted two weeks ago but the new potatoes have not yet poked through the soil. One variety that I'm particlarly excited about is called "Reba." It is said to be an excellent potato for potato chips. Oh the anticipation....
It's taken a while for them to germinate, but the Thomas Laxton English peas are the first vegetables that I planted in this calendar year (versus overwintered from last year). With any luck, we'll get a good crop for fresh eating. Below is a photo of one of the peas just emerging from the ground.
We use lots of garlic in our cooking. One of my favorites is a variety called Purple Glazer. It's considered "mild" as garlics go, but packs plenty of punch for us. The bulbs planted last year are well on their way to making nice heads. We'll probably harvest these and the onions (not shown) in June.
Small varieites of carrots can be grown in pots. I planted these a while ago and now can't remember the variety. They are likely Romeo but I'm not sure. My kids love carrots and we plan to grow a new variety called Mokum in the spring.
As an experiment, I planted a rare variety of wheat called Frassineto in the Fall of last year. This variety of wheat is supposed to make excellent flour for pasta. This is my first time growing wheat so I don't know if this is good or bad, but it does appear that some of the plants are creating heads already. This seems a bit early to me, but we'll see.
When the weather warms and plants go into bloom, the bees spring to action. At one point yesterday, here was so much activity that it created a bit of a traffic jam at the entrance to the hive. I still have my entrance reducer installed, but will likely remove it in the next few weeks. This will give the bees some more room to get in and out. With any luck will have a bumper crop of honey in 2012 and this will allow us to make lots of Mead or honey wine. Love them bees.
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