The rain is here at last, long awaited and very welcome. In fact it has been difficult to find a nice day to take some pictures. I’m happy to take a break from the necessity of watering. This will be a brief post as there hasn’t been much going on and plant growth has slowed or stopped altogether. We don’t get a lot of frosty days and snow is almost unknown so plants just go dormant.
The work this month has been to prune back the roses and other perennials, and seed sweet peas for next spring. Now is the time to put seeds in the ground so they can develop strong root systems by May and June.
Last month I also seeded snap/snow peas, two varieties. One is a wavy purple podded strain and the other green, they should be beautiful intertwined on the trellis. They just started coming up in the last week. I ordered the seeds from ROW, they are a trial experimental snow pea mix.
Snap Peas
Baby kale and purple mizuma are a couple of inches tall.
Baby Kale and Purple Mizuma December 2019
The winter greens will grow slowly in the cooler temperatures but I should have greens for salads and stir fries by next month.
Fort Bragg raised bed garden December 2019
There are only a few flowers still blooming, with the exception of the cupheas.
You can see why they call this variety candy corn. The hummingbirds like it; which is good since the rain has knocked off the flowers of most of their favorite plants.
Here’s a quick look around the other flower beds.
Newly planted perennials
Another bed with another cuphea, this time pink and lavender
More established bed #2
The potted lemon tree continues to product, although the lemons are smaller than normal. I pruned it back and trimmed some of the lemons off the tree in hopes they would grow in size. Maybe I see a little difference but not much.
Potted Meyer Lemon
The big surprise is the strawberry plant growing in the pot. I know no idea where it came from, most likely the birds.
Strawberries in the lemon tree container
So far there are no strawberries but the plant is very healthy. Our cat likes to nibble on the leaves.
And that’s all right now. Have a wonderful holiday everyone.
2019 Christmas Tree
My girlfriend has a Meyer lemon tree, and she brings me gifts of lemons. Better than any other present i can think of!!! Yours looks incredible! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you as well Mimi. They are amazing lemons!
It’s always so fascinating to see the differences between your garden and ours over here. Our garden is all asleep except for a lonely winter rose.
What a treat that winter rose must be. I think my enjoyment of the garden is always sharpest in late winter or early spring. That first daffodil or crocus is a celebration after several months of no flowers. Summer by comparison sometimes seems full on excess (and exhausting).