RAIN!

Holy COW! That was some rainstorm... I've lived here almost ten years, and I've only seen a couple like it in FLA. Flash flood worthy. I probably lost a bunch of flower seedlings. Oh, well. Peach tree and established plants are fine.

It never rains, it pours.

My last remaining fruit tree space...

I've decide to plant plum trees, Gulfbeauty and Gulfblaze in the last remaining sunny spot of my garden. I'll have to plant them close, but que sera. I'll have to wait until next winter, when Just Fruits ships them.

A quick update in slides...

An inch of rain...

We need several more to make up for the low rainfall this winter, but the inch we got came slow and steady from 4am until around noon. 

Rain's a'comin'...

Oh, yeah.

Have raised probability of precipitation across the north to 80-90% with convective line
reaching North Lake and Volusia after midnight...probably closer
to 2-3 am. Storm Prediction Center has North Lake and Volusia in slight risk for
severe so there is a chance some portions of central Florida may
be placed in a watch later tonight.


Sunday...ongoing convective line will sweep rapidly southeast across the
forecast area with severe threat decreasing with time. Total rainfall
amounts look impressive across much of the forecast area with one half to one
inch rains expected...but this will decrease to around one quarter
inch across Martin/Saint Lucie counties.

I'm a bit worried about heavy winds damaging my peach tree... but we really need the rain, and an inch of rain would make a real difference.

Well, do you know it?

Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn,
Im dunkeln Laub die Gold-Orangen glühn,
Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht,
Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht?
Kennst du es wohl?

I do.

Spring flowers...

Cherokee Rose.

Straw Flowers. Don't they look like fried eggs?

Pretty flowers... wish I could remember what they're called.

I love this red yarrow. Took forever (well, more than a year) to get established, but now it's blooming like mad.

Another fruit census...

I did this last year in March. Some stuff died, some stuff I ripped out... Here's my fruit census for 2009:

• Citrus: Honeybell Tangelo, Hamlin Orange, Owari Satsuma (these all on Flying Dragon), Sambokan Lemon, a Kumquat in a pot, and a kaffir lime in a pot
• Figs: 'Alma,' 'Brown Turkey,'Celeste.' (I planted these in the ground after a year in pots.)
  
• Brambles: Bababerry, unidentified blackberry, unidentified raspberry (from tony_k), and a 'Brazos' blackberry
• Blueberries: Climax, Primadonna, Gulf Coast x2, Marimba, Emerald
• Grapes: Nesbitt, Black Spanish
• Pomegranate (Grenada)
• Pommes: Anna Apple, Dorsett Golden Apple, Hood Pear, Pineapple Pear
• Various pineapples
• Mulberry (Black Beauty Mulberry Tree, unidentified weeping dwarf)
• Carambola ('Sri Kambangum')
• Bananas (four kinds, mostly dwarf, including Oronico & Ice Cream)
• Mango (Cogshall)
• Two peaches (Flordabell, FlordaPrince)
• Fuyu Persimmon

Not bad for a tiny urban yard... Most of these plants are too young to produce, though the peach tree looks to bear heavily this year, and I have tons of blueberries on my bushes. The figs might give me a good crop this year, depending on how they take the transplanting. The Carambola made it through its first winter (a tough one) in the ground, so given the right season, it too might produce this year. My persimmon produced a few fruits last year. The mulberry is the right size to fruit well this summer. Bananas fruit every year, though sometimes too late or early to ripen.

Response to comments: I strongly recommend "Just Fruits and Exotics" for all fruit tree purchases. Many of the things I have bought from Willis have died, and they have very poor customer service (never answered my questions about reimbursement).

Lea--my vegetable and fruit garden is thirty feet by fifty. That sounds small, but I have been very thoughtful about the plants and the organization, use a lot of trellises and pots. You'd be surprised what you can do in a small space.

A quick update in pictures....

It's such a beautiful time of the year. It got into the mid- and upper-eighties last week for a couple of days, but now it's turned cool again, with the low seventies for the next week. That gives my salad crops and especially my peas a reprieve. Been busy transplanting early-season tomatoes into my beds, sowing McCaslan beans (to join the Rattlesnakes, Violettas and Willow-Leaf limas already out there). Dug my first carrots of the spring earlier this week. Started some Red Sails lettuce to get me through May. Culled the peaches from my tree. Mulching things in preparation for a dry spring... It's even better full-screen.

This slide show is worth watching...

Twitter...

I've started a Twitter feed (on the right). It seems like a good, low-expectation, easy way to post updates on the garden. The formatting is a bit ugly and hard to read, but if you tweet, you can always subscribe directly to my Twitter feed... I already appreciate the ability to quickly check when/what was planted, when things sprout, etc. Sometimes that information seems too unimportant to post on the blog, but just right for a quick tweet.

Garden Princess

Scattered...

The girl-child and I (along with my brother) planted spring and summer flower and veg seeds--Coreopsis, Thunbergia, Cosmos, Torenia, New Zealand spinach, cilantro... three kinds of tomatoes (Nepal, Southern Night, and a cherry tomato--forgotten which).

Super Sugar Snap peas

They've finally started producing.

A quick update in pictures...

Cold Front...

Hopefully this is the last of the season:
Check that out--while I was working in the garden this morning, it dropped from 70 to 50... in an hour flat.