lettuce is growing strong

The new lettuce is doing well. We've had much more rain than usual for December, but the little raised bed garden doesn't seem to mind.

winter garden is waking up

Since I pulled up the tomatoes, the raised bed has looked so empty. Just recently, though, the winter crops I planted are starting to sprout. From afar you see only the lettuce, but when you look more closely, the ground is thick with tiny carrots and onions too.

lettuce

onions

onions

onions

carrots

carrots

new lettuce is sprouting!

It's been 15 days since I planted the lettuce and now the seeds are sprouting. It warms my heart to see a little sea of lettuce sprouts spread out over the raised bed.

 I spread the seeds a little close to one another. I imagine I should thin soon.

 

a few ripe figs

The two fig trees I planted on Halloween 2009 are producing a few figs this year.

We didn't have much room on the south side of the house, but I squeezed in a few fig trees anyway. I feel fortunate that the trees seem to have thrived, and we are happy to still have tasty fruit, even in December.

Our neighbor's house is quite close by, so the figs are shaded from the sun in the winter months. Figs often produce two crops, but December does seem a bit late. I wonder if the shade is contributing to the very late crop?

The fruit of the fig tree is interesting inside. Technically, a the fig fruit is a "synconium" - a hollow fruit with multiple tiny ovaries on the inside surface.

 The tiny seeds inside are what give figs their delightful subtly crunchy texture.

interesting grape leaves

 The grape leaves continue through their color changes. There's a certain quiet dignity in these cycles of growth and recession.

Autumn Royal leaves

Autumn Royal leaves

Autumn Royal leaves

It's interesting to see that the Autumn Royal leaves are quite different from the Thompson Seedless leaves.

Thompson Seedless leaves

Thompson Seedless leaves

valencia oranges still hanging on

I planted the Valencia orange tree in August 2009. We didn't have any fruit last year, but this year we might have a small harvest.

Here are a few hopeful candidates that are still hanging on.

no new seedlings yet

I planted carrots, lettuce, and onions eight days ago. The next few days, though, we were hit by a sudden frosty snap. There was thick frost over the garden bed and water was frozen in the hose. I hope the seeds sprout, but it doesn't look good so far.