This morning, I needed to give the garden some supplemental water, and while doing so, I saw some interesting things.
The peaches are going to be ripe before the end of June. We'll have quite a crop. I pruned this tree heavily several years ago, and it looks like it's finally recovered this year.
I don't like fuzzy peach skins. But I do like sweet juicy peaches! Can't wait for these to ripen. I plan to freeze a lot, for use in smoothies, and maybe pies later on in the summer.
The apple tree is also responding well to having more sunlight; the fruit is growing larger than it usually does. This is a small English variety (I think); the apples do turn to a faint red color when ripe, which won't be till late summer. They are tart and crisp, and put the old apples in the store to shame.
I noticed another dog vomit fungus. I've never seen these before, and this year I've had two. I wish I had caught this one in its bright yellow stage, but at least I got to see it in its pukey white glory. They don't last very long.
The bees are working over the Toyon and collecting its nectar. Toyon is a native plant in California, it is evergreen most of the year, but in late spring gets these delicate white blossoms. An interesting tidbit from Wiki: "Toyon is also known by common name California holly. Accordingly, the abundance of this species in the hill about LA gave rise to the name Hollywood."
The butterfly flowers are particularly beautiful this time of year. They do bloom again if I give them a vigorous pruning, but are prettiest in their first bloom. I rarely get butterflies in my garden, however. This makes me quite sad.
And a dahlia is blooming. I don't have many of these, they tend to attract aphids in my garden, but this one by the mailbox comes back reliably every spring.
And, this is a bad photograph, but I'm so excited about it, I'm going to show it to you anyway. In the raised beds - the nitrogen deprived raised beds - we have a PEPPER, ladies and gentlemen.
Hooray!
The peaches are going to be ripe before the end of June. We'll have quite a crop. I pruned this tree heavily several years ago, and it looks like it's finally recovered this year.
I don't like fuzzy peach skins. But I do like sweet juicy peaches! Can't wait for these to ripen. I plan to freeze a lot, for use in smoothies, and maybe pies later on in the summer.
The apple tree is also responding well to having more sunlight; the fruit is growing larger than it usually does. This is a small English variety (I think); the apples do turn to a faint red color when ripe, which won't be till late summer. They are tart and crisp, and put the old apples in the store to shame.
I noticed another dog vomit fungus. I've never seen these before, and this year I've had two. I wish I had caught this one in its bright yellow stage, but at least I got to see it in its pukey white glory. They don't last very long.
The bees are working over the Toyon and collecting its nectar. Toyon is a native plant in California, it is evergreen most of the year, but in late spring gets these delicate white blossoms. An interesting tidbit from Wiki: "Toyon is also known by common name California holly. Accordingly, the abundance of this species in the hill about LA gave rise to the name Hollywood."
The butterfly flowers are particularly beautiful this time of year. They do bloom again if I give them a vigorous pruning, but are prettiest in their first bloom. I rarely get butterflies in my garden, however. This makes me quite sad.
And a dahlia is blooming. I don't have many of these, they tend to attract aphids in my garden, but this one by the mailbox comes back reliably every spring.
And, this is a bad photograph, but I'm so excited about it, I'm going to show it to you anyway. In the raised beds - the nitrogen deprived raised beds - we have a PEPPER, ladies and gentlemen.
Hooray!