This afternoon I went out to cut basil in the greenhouse and get eggs. It’s not yet spring but it’s definitely not far off. The fruit trees are budding and I hate seeing that in February. It’s nice for them to make fruit early and we can get it harvested before the bugs and grasshoppers are trying to ruin it all but there’s such a high risk of a hard freeze ruining everything this early.
We’ve been getting asparagus for several days but last night we had a freeze that ruined all the asparagus that hadn’t been picked. It was supposed to be 31 so I didn’t worry about it but it was 25 when I got up. I’ve really about decided to not fight Mother Nature. Last year we were out at 1 a.m. trying to spray water on fruit trees to form ice but it didn’t help. We lost everything to a late freeze last year – no pomegranates, apples, peaches, plums, very few figs.
The pictures are all blurry because the wind was blowing and I’d try to snap pictures as the trees weren’t blowing in the wind but obviously wasn’t very successful. The tree shown above is a Pluerry that we planted last year or maybe the year before that so who knows if it will make fruit this year.
The apricots are budding. Those darned apricot trees have been here 7 years and between three trees, we’ve had ONE apricot. I’ve heard they like consistently cold winters – not the hot/cold/hot/cold winters we have here but there’s a tree I see not far from here and twice during the 8 years we’ve been here, that tree was so loaded that the ground beneath it was totally orange from apricots. One of those years was last year! They’re probably different varieties, and I have no idea how long they’ve been planted. There were two trees when we first moved here but one died so now there’s only one.
That’s the apple tree. If you look hard, you can see a little pink where the blooms are starting to open. Probably in a couple of days, it will be gorgeous.
Now I look at the weather and see 23 degrees on the 26th. Of course! 🙁
Rebecca in SoCal says
I know someone in Orange County who drives up north often (ultimately, the Monterey Bay area, especially during the Empty Spools seminars). She posts pictures of the almond groves on the way. Three weeks ago, the trees were bare; this week, they have their lovely pale clouds of blossoms. It is spring in the Central Valley!
Judy Laquidara says
I would love to see the almond trees blooming!
Susan Nixon says
Well, darn. I was hoping things would hold off for you. We’ve had that same thing here. Some redbuds already bloomed, and now two nights of well below freezing. They aren’t going to fruit, of course, but neither will I enjoy the beautiful blooms for a couple of weeks. My amaryllis have been up a couple of weeks and I don’t actually expect to see blooms from them.
Tracy says
I got this list yesterday from a friend, although its about California weather, it could easily be Texas.
The twelve seasons of CA
Winter
Fools Spring
2nd Winter
Spring of Deception
3rd Winter
Road Construction
Actual Spring
Summer
Fire
False Fall
2nd Summer
Actual Fall
Tracy
Judy Laquidara says
So true.
Liz says
Here’s another list from “It’s a Southern Thing” – the south’s 20 seasons:
Hunting
Winter
Pollen
Winter
Tornado
So much pollen
One more winter
Tornado
Attack of the mosquitoes
Summer
More summer
Even more summer
Please Lord, make this summer end!
Football
Tornado
Fall
Just,kidding, here’s some more summer
Winter
Christmas
Maybe one more summer
Laura H says
I can relate to the Southern, California, and migraine headaches and sneezing from almond pollen. So glad to no longer live in the Central Valley. Although the Bradford pear trees’ pollen seems to get me no matter if in VA or CA.