Unfortunately, many of you have been privy to my incessant complaining of this bizarre Northern California weather. But in between this miserable gloom and doom, we’ve clearly had our sunny days. Just not enough to satisfy me.
Oh yeah, the clouds part for a day or two, but is it enough to keep me from whining about the fact that we might as well be carving pumpkins? No. I’m a California girl and I want my sun, dammit. (Call me childish or call me determined – it is what it is.)
Yesterday, I decided to shed my Grinch attitude and look for positive signs of the warm growing season to come. Embarrassingly enough, the signs were everywhere. I’ve now decided that things are moving along, if not a a rapid pace, they are moving along and I’m going to be okay with that – yes, I am. Because I’m saving up the rest of my complaining for July, when you know it’ll be too damned hot for me.
This is a ‘Black Krim’ tomato that’s clearly an over-achiever. While I was tickled to see this tiny fruit make its appearance, I thought it was little bit show off-ish if you ask me. This is May 17th.
And because I’m just smitten with the way this turned out; here’s the top of my hanging basket out front. The heirloom lettuces ‘Mervielle des Quatre’, ‘May Queen’, and ‘Petit Rouge’ are practically frolicking in this ——>
There’s even some baby apples on my columnar apple trees out front. The things that happen when you’re walking around bitching, right?
That is one of the things I love most about gardening, they keep growing while you are away!
I know how you feel. I usually walk around my garden this time of year muttering, “nothing’s growing, nothing’s growing, nothing’s growing”, under my breathe.
I absolutely love the hanging basket with the heirloom lettuces – truly gorgeous!
And yes, I’m jealous you have a baby ‘Black Krim’ before I do. Totally not fair! *pouts with bottom lip poked out*
Ha, Tee! You’re killing me. I saw that little dude and actually looked around to see if anyone noticed my crappy attitude before I saw that…
This rainy weather has been a huge problem for me. This is the first time my garden has ever suffered from seedcorn maggots (which apparently like wet soil). They completely wiped out my corn and bean seeds. I hadn’t even heard of them before this year. At least we’re no longer in a drought though!
Oh I love the hanging basket!
Rachel ~ Ohhhh yuck! For me this year my tormentors have been the birds (raising my lettuce) and the raccoons digging the worms out of my beautiful beds (therefore, up-rooting my veggies). *sigh*
Oh, my usual tormentors are the red fox squirrels – evil little boogers they are. The neighbor behind me feeds them, much to my chagrin, and they dig up all my seedlings to bury their bounty.
It can be SO frustrating, right? The only reason I hang in there is because in the end, I do end up with quite a bit of goodies. Oh no. Now that I said that….:p
Us gardeners just need something to complain about — that’s all. As a fellow Northern Californian — I “feel your pain.” The weather has been worse than atrocious — and today’s little rain and cold weather event was not welcomed by all. I hope this is the last of it. The Black Krim is looking pretty good though! I noticed that I have a small Marianna’s Peace on one of my starter plants — so not all is bad…
“Northern California Gardeners for a Brighter Tomorrow” – untie…er…unite!
(Hey, that sounds like a bonafide coalition, right there)
Bill ~ Forgot to add…was it bad in Sac, too? You guys are usually a bit milder than us.
I love the basket with the lettuce. I will have to try it next year… it’s too hot to start lettuce now.
If you live in a fairly mild area, you could so this in the fall. The overhang of the house acts as a cold frame and there are still plenty of flowers blooming (here in Nor Cal, at least).
Ah yes- feeling the pain here in the SF Bay Area. And forecast for today: rain possible in the afternoon and tomorrow with temps in the 60s- akkk! Ok, but at least it’s good for the young plants I keep setting out, and yes the tomato starts are growing. On the brighter side we’ve continued to enjoy our cool weather crop of delicious fava beans, lettuce, and the strawberries are coming in too. Another bonus is the prolific native flowers-
pictures at: http://urbanartichoke.blogspot.com/
The optimist in me says enjoy the moisture ’cause we’ll be complaining about drought just around the corner…
I thought I was the only one with tomatoes already, well, it looks like there are two of us. I have two plants with toms, a black prince and a brandwine. I have mine in containers and I live in Michiana, so, it’s way early for me too!
Hi Daniel ~ Actually technically it shouldn’t be too early where I am, but the weather has been NUTS, LOL! Mine aren’t any worse for the wear and I’ve actually had to stake and prune them at this point. Slow but steady progress. How are your doing?
All of mine are well, generally. I had a couple of eggplants that didn’t take real well at first, and none of my scotch bonnet peppers sprouted. But, my main tomatoes are doing awesome, and my eggplant has grown much faster than I anticipated once it figured out growing is best.
My tomatoes look great, but my eggplant is just stunted from this cold weather, LOL. C’mon 80 degrees!
Like Martin I have also fallen in love with that hanging basket. What a gorgeous look! May I download the pic and use as my desktop background, please?
Gardening ~ Absolutely! I’m glad you like it!
You know what it is, don’t you? We’re so immersed in our gardens that we don’t know what the normal world is anymore. That’s okay with me, though. I like it there.
Kylee ~ You are correct. Well, at least I know you’ll recognize me there! (Ohh…we’ll probably be joined by a few others..hehe)
Your hanging basket is just beautiful. I think I will try and recreate somthing like it! We are in the depths of Winter in Sydney Australia so I can start planning for Spring. Love your blog I pasted a link to my blog. http://www.theurbanpotager.blogspot.com. keep up the posts!:-)
Sarah ~ How kind of you! When you plant your baskets – please post images – I’m heading to your site now….
Surbabia farming wow! I live in the city and my small garden is nothing compared to your beautiful garden-Keep up the good work helping understand the goodness of an organic tomato-Bravo!
Gladys ~ I’m so glad you have the same thoughts on organic gardening that I do. It’s time to be healthy & time to take control of what goes into our families bodies!
Yep time stands still for no-one thank goodness
, look at what you achieved whilst waiting … that called growth… ha ha ha
Enjoy and remember to breathe