The Iris are coming, the Iris are coming.

In addition to the fruits and veggies I also have quite a selection of Iris, courtesy of the previous owners.  These are the first ones to open up, last year I counted 13 different colors.

Harvest Monday 4/22/13

 

 

And this years winner of the first tomato plant to kick out fruit goes to the Champion in the upside down pot.  Finished putting in tomato plants today, now have 15 plants in various spots around the garden.  Hope it's better this year, I think things just got to hot last year, however if yesterdays temp was any indication of things to come we are in trouble.  93 degrees yesterday.  Lots coming out of the garden: spinach, lettuce, last beets, snap peas, herbs, oranges, tangerines, avocado, chard, kale.  I think that's it?

 

 

 First figs on the new tree, we usually get 2 crops, the older tree has fruit on it as well.  Looks like the severe pruning I did last year is going to pay off.

 

Still giving away quite a bit of the leafy greens.

 
 
 

Now if I could teach the girls to lay avocado's.

 

From this...

 
to this...

 

to this.  The only thing better than fresh squeezed OJ, is popsicles made with fresh squeezed OJ!

Harvest Monday 4/8/13

Pound for pound potatoes are the best bang for your buck.  I gave these guys little if any attention over the past year, and they have consistently produced.  It's a bummer that TPW and I are the only ones that like them.  I just put more in, Yukon Gold and Reds.  I have been switching over to the summer stuff, but I am going to try to keep the cilantro, lettuce and spinach going as long as I can. Still getting lots of citrus, avocadoes, lettuce, spinach, herbs, and other assorted leafy greens.  Onions and strawberries should be ready in a few weeks. 

 

Gave away a cooler full of Chard, Kale, Cilantro, Spinach, Parsley and lettuce, feels good.

 This chard plant has stalks as wide as my hand, and just the other day the littlest farmer go lost in a patch of cilantro, had to send in his brother to get him out

 Lots of sugar snap peas, these guys are over six feet and growing.

Along with the veggies I have been planting cactus for the past few years.  My brother has a place down in Joshua Tree and I come home with boxes of assorted cactus every time we visit.  I have them all around the garden fence to keep the rabbits out.  A picture of some of the sweet peas that I have growing on the garden fence.

 

The latest addition to the coop.  I added a penthouse for the girls, made of recycled wood that I found around the yard.

 
 

I added the nesting boxes on the left of the original coop as well as the roosting area on top.  Kind of the Winchester house of chicken coops. 

Spring time!

Spring time on the farm and things are bursting.  As you can see below the littlest farmer's head  has been over taken by cilantro.  All of the greens are exploding, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, herbs, as well as beets, onions and snap peas.  We are also still getting oranges as well avocados.  My favorite citrus this year has to be the Tangelo.  They are so juicy that you have to eat them outside or you risk a puddle of orange juice at your feet. 

Dwarf Bearss lime tree.  Should have fruit on it by next year.

 

Rock rose, and a few shades of poppy.

 
 

 

Which one is not like the other?

 

 

Looking out at the Apricot tree on the left and Pomegranate on the right