"Garden: One of a vast number of free outdoor restaurants operated by charity-minded amateurs in an effort to provide healthful, balanced meals for insects, birds and animals."
— Henry Beard and Roy McKie, Gardener's Dictionary
3/24/16:
I've recently returned from a week's vacation in Sonoma and Marin. It was great to see the beautifully landscaped grounds of Ferrari-Carano winery, and Truett-Hurst's big vegetable plots, and to hike around the headlands of the San Francisco bay. But I did look forward to getting back to my own plants.
The second batch of oyster mushrooms sprouted while I was away, and they were fully grown today. I fried them lightly in a bit of butter, lemon and pepper and ate this on rye toast. So tasty! I'd used the first batch in a recipe experiment that also came out pretty well: Vegetable & Cheese Oven Omelet.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
Cherry tree at Ferrari-Carano.
Wildflowers on Mt. Tamalpais.
Mushrooms forming, and fully grown.
I went out into the garden over the weekend (in breaks between rainstorms) and noticed little sprouts of morning glories, basil and lettuces coming up. I planted a few more seeds: tomatoes, fennel, and cayenne peppers. The copper tape applied to some of my planter boxes may be working; I didn't notice any significant snail damage.
My bright purple caribbean lilies are flowering, providing an ideal color contrast to a nearby plant with yellow blooms (none of my online research has identified this one yet). The narcissus are done for the season; wild leeks and crocuses are starting to fade. But other later-spring bulbs have green shoots appearing. One of the violas from last summer has suprisingly come back after I'd moved fuchsias into a seemingly empty planter. I'm happy that I decided a few weeks ago that it might not be a weed, and planted it in its own pot, because it's now growing and blooming nicely.
Copper tape on planters.
Yellow flowers, caribbean lily.
Voila! Violas.
