flavor supremes start to show

pluots - specifically - flavor supreme is now being harvested in the back-forty.

an interspecific - engineered by zaiger.  no its not gmo.  this guy actually used mother natures way of cross pollination to get a plum/apricot

cross.

it is a green skinned, purple centered fruit.  very juicy, no tartness - but also not overly sweet.

balanced is an apt description.

 this is the first year we got these.  the tree has a good loading of them, so we should see more of these over the next few weeks.

#2 and #3

this year just might be a good year for fruit in my orchard.  pictured to your right are the second and third nectarines i picked.

#1 was eaten the other day - with no thought of taking a picture to show you.

plums, apricots, apriums, pluots, pears and apples are all on tap too.  cherries, however, are a bust. 

as i am a disciple of the ed laivo backyard orchard culture method of pruning, and i do cut them back pretty hard every year - it has been a long haul to get into fruit production.  i will give the cherries a couple more years.  if no production - they will be pulled and other tree varieties be planted.

1 month into it

well - post #2 for 2013 is in the books.  i just doubled last years production.  how's that for setting a low bar?

all is well in the garden - no failures.  tomatoes are finally seeing some sets.  we have had quite a range of weather over the last month - from 37 degree morning temps to 105 this weekend; the fact that all is well, is indeed a miracle.

this years menu is a bit more limited than in previous years.  only ten tomato plants.

yep - thats right only ten.  and that is from the guy who planted 41 plants 4 years ago.  i also did away with beans, radish, corn, melons.  its not that i didnt enjoy them, but rarely got to the garden to pick them when ready.

so this year i decided to be a better judge of what i could do, save some water and effort and hopefully still have a good year.

here she is 1 month into the growing season.

well, well, well - he decides to show up

yup - i have been a bad blogger....  bad, bad, bad.

but what really gets me going on this blog is when the new growing season starts.  and start, it has.

all of the beds have been planted and seven yards of bark has been spread in the walking areas around the beds.  the 2012/2013 winter was a dry one for us in northern california - so my reduction to only 10 tomatoes is a good thing.  over all things are looking up for the garden, i seem to have a pretty good population of ladybugs and their larvae roaming around.

some of last years challenges were cukes and squash which were being devoured by sowbugs/pillbugs as they seedlings emerged from the soil.  i am preemptively spreading OMRI certified iron phosphate and hopefully that will solve the problem.

so heres essentially day one for the 2013 garden.  i do have hopes of keeping things updated here. 

heres hoping you have a green year too!