My Winter Garden

My Winter Garden

This is the first year I’ve planted a true winter garden – I mean, planting in November and December is not something I usually do. But the bug bit, and the beds had been dug in with soil from the mulch pit. The weather was beautiful and showery, so I planted.

Some early lettuces got eaten. Broccoli is holding up well. The cherry tomatoes that hubby has nurtured and trimmed back are still providing us with yummy fruit, though the skin is thicker than in the summer.

Cherry Tomatoes in December!

We worked in the garden on the 29th, and worked hard. Planted onion sets and cabbage and lettuce. Pulled out the insidious morning glory. Weeded. Ooohed and aaahed over the bell peppers, which are still flourishing.

Maui onions. They barely had roots to them – had to plant them in bunches. Will thin later.

Bell Peppers planted in April or May, 2012

Rescued lime trees from opportunistic plants. Spent hours (or so it seemed) in the chilly sunshine as a family, working to make the yard even more gardentastic.

When we woke up the next morning, it looked like it had snowed over night. Whaaa??? Not something that I’m used to in So Cal. We’d been hit with a HARD frost. Not just frosted car windows and rooftops and bare patches on the front yard; oh no. This hit us right in the Maui onions. The Sequoia strawberries. The – gasp! – year-round basil! Even the pansies were flattened by frost. My heart almost stopped.

My onion bed – frosted!

Frosted strawberries!

The parsley has a smattering of frost, too…

After the sun came out fully and warmed everything up, the garden looked – to this San Diego girl – happy. The rose bushes gleamed, their foliage dark and shiny. Even the pansies seemed to relish the cold, waving their bright little heads and standing up straight and tall. Only the basil had black spots that needed cutting away. The onions survived, as did the strawberries and the lettuce (which totally shocked me) and the cabbage and the broccoli.

Today we bought more onions (red onions, this time). Two types of lettuce. More broccoli, and cauliflower. The hubs even bought a tomato plant, though I told him it was far too early to plant tomatoes.

Red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, two types of onions, and an Early Girl tomato in a Red Flyer wagon.

Two new beds. Hubby says they’re for tomatoes. We shall see!

There have been ups and downs, but so far? I’m loving the drama of my winter garden.

I love hearing from you! Do you garden (when you can)? What is your favorite vegetable or fruit to grow? I’m always looking for something new to plant!

~ Until the next time, cheers – and remember to drink responsibly! ~

Demon Soul, Blood Dreams and Demon Hunt are all available for the Kindle! Have you fallen into the Caine Brothers’ world yet?


 

The Garden in May

The Garden in May

I didn’t have photos the last time I talked about the garden, but now I do. So here, first off, is the genius door in my garden. On the left is a pink jasmine, which blooms once a year, briefly. On the right is a star jasmine, which pretty much blooms in spring and all summer.

Photo of garden gate with jasmine growing on it.

Tom's genius idea in place. Gorgeous!

Right behind the gate, on the other side, is the beginning of my basil dynasty. On the left, sweet basil. In the middle, Thai basil. And on the right (which you can’t see in this photo) varigated perennial basil. I’ll believe it when I see it – the perennial part, I mean.

Here’s my beets and bell peppers bed.

photo of beets & bell peppers bed

To the right is a pot of mint; in the bed behind this one is a blackberry (marion) climbing up the wire fencing, and strawberries planted in front of it.

The next photo is taken from an extreme corner of my back yard, trying to get as much of the scope of the garden as possible.

Photo of the back yard from one corner.

To the left is one of the Meyer lemon trees. Straight in front are four small artichoke plants and three bigger ones. Moving to the right is a Bearss Lime tree – and beyond that, more artichokes. (The gate gets lost in this photo.) The beet and bell pepper bed, shown above, is to the right of the trash can. Behind me is another lemon tree and some squash seedlings.

Photo of the onion bed

Onion bed, with bee balm (small) in each front corner. Mint is to the left, Johnny Jump Ups and Buddha to the right, more strawberries and a boysenberry behind, with white sage in the pot behind the pot with the Johnny Jump Ups.

Below: My (unweeded) rose garden, showcasing the new bedroom window…

Window and the Roses

and…the rose garden, tamed through Tom’s diligent weeding work. With some brilliant shadows on the wall, thanks to the annular eclipse today.

weeded rose garden and shadows...

Hope you enjoyed the trip through the garden. Thanks for stopping by. I’ll post more as things develop!

~~~

DEMON SOUL is out now…BLOOD DREAMS, a Caine Brothers Short Story available June 1st. DEMON HUNT coming this summer!