Peppers and two tomato seedlings are making great progress. We’ll likely be hardening them off in a few weeks and plant by April.🌱
Photos
More Point Reyes National Seashore photos from last Monday: bumble hovering near a flower, elk, and another coyote.
Yesterday, at Point Reyes National Seashore on the Tomales Point Trail, this hunting coyote could have been showing off. The coyote didn’t catch anything.
The freeze we got a few weeks ago, down to 28°F, did no clear harm to our plants. Mandarin, Valencia, Meyer lemon, & avocado flowers fine. Our nectarine is setting fruit as shown by this cute little green ovary. And ladybugs are all over our California wild roses 🌱🌳
Front yard is looking really nice. I’ve been trying to rein it in with lots of pruning. I know our annual wildflowers super appreciated the 0.38” of rain last week. 🌱
After weeks of warmer than normal weather, weather swung the other way and we had freezing temps for a few days. Had to cover up the weaker & less freeze tolerant trees. I don’t see damage to my earlier than normal blooming trees yet: all citrus, all stone fruit, one avocado 🌱🤞
We’re slowly preparing the backyard crop rows for planting. We just pulled all the weeds & bolting cilantro out to the compost pile. Saturday we enjoyed a fresh fennel salad. Next weekend we’ll test the drip tape, make any repairs, remove cat poop 🙄, and then add compost. 🌱
Harvested our first homegrown Valencia orange this year. So very sweet. Even the pith isn’t bitter. We may want to harvest the rest early if there’s a freeze later this week. Fortunately there’s only a dozen-ish. ~243 mandarins harvested so far — makes great juice 🌱🌳
The Annie Cat.
Veggie sushi for dinner tonight.
Gilias were the first annual flowers to bloom in our yard. Can you believe these are just as or more aggressive at spreading compared to poppies? 🌱
First bloom for our Valencia orange tree. About three weeks early compared to 2020 & 2021. 🌱🌳
Ladybug larva gorging on aphids gorging on sage. And nearby, a bright orange ladybug pupa. 🐞 🌱
Honey bee approaching a nectarine flower. 🌳🌱
Our New Century Asian Pear tree, seeing as it’s already showy as heck, will be glorious in a few years. 🌱🌳
Wednesday, February 16, 2022 →
Our cultivated native grapes are leaking water from pruning cuts, and that is normal. But unexpected. 🌱
Here’s three more flowering cultivated native plants from the front yard: sage, then manzanita, then western red bud.
… and here’s a lovely jumping spider hanging out on a manzanita leaf that’s surrounded by a creeping sage bush. Some white manzanita flowers show through the leaves.
Sure feels & looks like spring in our front yard. I think this is an assassin bug on a newly blooming Ceanothus. 🌱
…. and here is our new (this year) New Century Asian Pear about ready to burst. 🌱🌳
Our Nectarine is very close to blooming. This is its second year in the ground here. 🌱🌳
California Towhee from this morning. First sighting ever in the backyard but have seen these around the neighborhood. They don’t seem to care much for the white crowns & house sparrows. This is my kind of bird.
Almond bloom season is already upon us 😒. You can’t avoid it in most of California.
Okay, for once in my life I managed to replace a key home feature without any frigg’n drama. Kitchen faucet replaced & why didn’t we do this sooner? The last faucet not only started leaking last night but years ago had seized into place - no swivel. Local Ace hardware was ace
Thanks to a Honeywell leak detector, at 22:30 we woke to an extraordinarily loud beeping from under the sink & found there a fresh leak. Could have got worse fast. It’s leaking at the braided hose & coupling. That hose is integrated -not replaceable without a new faucet.
Took a walk around a small lake today and saw: 1) turtles sunning on a log; 2) a western meadow lark; 3) redwing blackbirds; 4) long billed curlews; and 5) a duck with a cool hairdo (hopefully).
Audio calls where I have to talk are literally bad for my health hah. The two heart rate peaks after 9am were Teams calls. If not for my anxiety med, my peak heart rate would have likely been higher and sustained longer after a call.
I looked out into the backyard just in time to see a Nuttall’s Woodpecker investigating our cultivated elderberry and Ceanothus bushes. So cool!
We started our peppers today: ancho, jalapeño, serrano, shishito, santa fe, and two tomatoes. Trying for variety this year. 🌱
Did a bit of pruning of the apricot today. Doesn’t look like much but I removed lots of suckers and interior branches. I’ve quit trying to top it. Dang tree barely produces so it is not worth the extra effort. 🌱
