Some early morning photos from this morning. Nothing fancy or revolutionary - just a nice little walk around the garden before the blazing sun warms everything up. The rule of thumb is, 60*F by 6 am, 70*F by 7 am, 80*F by 8 am, and 90*F by noon. Remember, you can click on the photo for a larger version.
Just a few years ago this apple tree was a mere stick, barely bigger in diameter than my thumb. It now sports a trunk bigger around than my wrist. Fickle Desert Spring froze all the buds this year, so no apples. Still, it is nice and green - and I harvest the suckers (some call them water sprouts) for the ducks and chickens to dine on.
This is a purple bush bean called Velour. The flowers and stems are purple, and some of the leaves have purple flecks in them. The tiny beans (the one in the photo is about an inch long) turn purple as they mature, and turn deep green when blanched or cooked. The plants are not as vigorous as say, Kentucky Wonder; however, they are cute, and the purple beans are easy to find among the green foliage.
Early morning view of sweet corn in the foreground, the root stock of a peach tree (redish leaves), all overlooking sunlit weeds in the distance. Fill flash was a little too heavy, giving it a very contrasty, almost artificial look compared to what I saw - but it still picked up the glow of the weeds, and that was one of my main objectives.
Detail of a garlic scape. I let about 50 of these form bubils. Not sure that they will make new garlic plants, and even if they do, it could take 5 years before they are big enough to harvest. Chickens really do eat anything, however, so I have been giving some to them. Garlic is supposed to act as a natural de-wormer. I don't think they have worms, but I'm feeding them the bubils just in case. Besides, they love chasing down the little balls of garlic when I throw them in their pen.
Nodding garlic scapes with their hundreds of tiny bubils. The early morning golden light really brings out the pink colors in them. During the flat light of the day, they look more brown.
My girl on patrol. Her web is in bed one and is strung between Sweet Marjoram, Rosemary, and Lemon Balm (although I like it's official name better: Melissa Officinalis.). I know she is a girl because most male spiders have hooks on their front legs to hold the female with during mating. She has been hanging out for a few weeks, now. Eat and be merry, Garden Friend!
More weeds and morning sunshine. This time the weeds are inside the garden. I left them there because I want them to spread their 900,000,000,000 seeds all over my garden. Actually, I left them up because the ducks rest on the other side of the fence in the shade of these weeds in the late afternoon. Makes a decent wind break for them.
Although the apple trees survived our extra brutal winter this year, only the two Fuji's bloomed with any vigor. The Gala had less than one dozen flowers. Since the Gala is the cross-pollinator for the Fuji's, and visa versa, there chances are pretty slim that we will have apples this year. Add to the fact that they bloomed during a cold, windy week at the beginning of May when the bees were still sleepy means the chances are really about none. Inspection of the trees confirm this. At least the three young trees seem to have survived the winter. The old tree of unknown parentage that my husband saved from the house-builder's bulldozer, however, does not look like it will survive this brutal spring season. I continue to water her as if she were going to live - but if not, then this summer she will become something else. I recently saw a book on wooden buttons. Maybe some of her branches will be reincarnated that way. And her gnarled trunk might warm our house as firewood. And, of course, I have my photos of her. But for now, I encourage her with water, food and words.
