garden friday | week of winter edition

It seems Winter finally came. Let's hope it's just about done. The week before, we ate dinner in the garden on a gorgeous, warm evening, and it's really hard to go back to umbrellas, thermals and Christmas-y tea after all that loveliness.

Due to all the rain, this was almost a post with one, pathetic little kitty photo. He loves being out in the rain. Me, not exactly. Well, maybe Pablo just likes it better than all the 3 yr old attention he gets inside. Anyway, it stormed all week, and brave Mr Pabs sat it out and soaked it all in, just like the thankful plants. I was pretty thankful, too. I always love an excuse to leave the garden hoses alone.

As for those plants. There was a break in the rain today and I dashed out with the camera to capture the happy, soaked garden.

The peas are reaching.

The chives are doing their back-bend sprouting routine.

The blue borage and arugula volunteers are popping up EVERYWHERE. Especially the arugula, which I let go to seed then ignored for months. Millions of seeds all over my gravel and beds, all popping up. And they, like borage, will grow anywhere. One nice thing is that when you walk on all the arugula sprouts, the air smells peppery and delicious. 

Nasturtiums pop up everywhere too. I gleefully pop them up and out. Sometimes, I might actually say NO! as I pull them up. No, no, no.

A plant I do want. The kumquats are coloring up nicely.

And, now... my pretties. The apple espaliers are blossoming. Last year, there was one of these clusters on the Gravenstein, but this must be the year of maturity, as the top and middle tiers are covered in blossom clusters. It's been so interesting watching these trees do vastly different things each Spring, these past 3 years.

The blossoms start out hot pink, then fade to a light shell pink, then white. Sadly, this year, I'll have to pinch off any fruit again, as we have one more tier of branches to grow. One more year! For those keeping track, it also looks like I'll be able to keep that half-broken branch on the Gravenstein. It may have knitted itself back together -- fingers crossed!

Hope you have beautiful gardening weather this weekend. Spring is almost here!