Spring May Have Sprung!

I am cautiously happy to say that the weather seems to be turning warm and sunny and I can finally work in my garden.  Cautious because we've had several false starts this year.  Below is my "before" photo. Yes, it looks like this every spring -- my compost pile is 6 x 10 x 4 feet.  Every year.  It will be bigger this year, because I haven't been as good about tending the garden in the last two years with all the country hopping and haven't grown vegetables in 4 years.

One afternoon in mid-March, I cleared about 500 square feet of weeds for vegetables with the help of a rake, a mattock and a quart of lemonade my housemate made from the meyer lemons in the front garden.  I also started seeds for tomatoes, basil and cucumbers.  That night, the cold and rain returned with a vengeance and continued for the rest of the month, with a day or so let-up here and there. In the meantime, the cherry and paste tomato seeds sprouted unwillingly, angry that I'd forced them out into the cold.  The Siberian tomatoes, which are supposed to do well in cooler climes never bothered to sprout at all! The cucumbers were decimated by snails the minute they sprouted. And apparently, the basil pot had coriander seeds in it!

See the seedlings above? This photo was taken 13 days ago. They still look like this, except there are fewer of them, because they hate me for drenching them in torrential rain and freezing them in polar winds. Luckily, I bought seedlings ready to plant from the nursery as insurance and plunked them into the ground, along with various bean, chile and corn seeds, on the first of April, one of the nice days.  Below is Piglet standing next to the little chicken wire fence we put up to keep her and other miscellaneous critters from trampling and digging. In the foreground are beets and garlic my housemate planted last fall, and swiss chard that has volunteered itself for the last 15 years. I only bought swiss chard seeds once, but it's reseeded itself every year since then.

We have had four straight days of clear, warm weather and among the new weeds that sprouted during the last rain onslaught, I saw little bean sprouts!  I am so glad that bean seeds are fairly hardy. These pole beans are an Italian variety that have a red pod when they go to seed.  The bush beans have sprouted, but don't look quite as vigorous.  No sign of the corn or chile, I think they might require another insurance run to the nursery for seedlings.

It feels good to be grubbing around the garden again. I seem to feel more "connected" with the food I eat when I've had a hand in being responsible for at least part of it. And I have to say although I enjoy the sorbet I made from strawberries I got from the farmer's market (red), I prefer the one I made from my oranges and meyer lemons (yellow).

Speaking of having a hand in growing food, my housemate is talking about chickens for fresh eggs. He got the idea because the neighbors have hens. I think that's too much like work! Has anyone here raised chickens?

Waiting for Spring to Arrive in Full Force

Usually by now, the rainy season is over and the temperatures have begun to rise, but this year, the skies have remained grey and the rain (here, and snow in the mountains) continues to fall.  I can't complain too much, since California is in perpetual drought.  A certain resident of Germany also reminded me that it never gets truly cold where I am, although I challenge him to come to San Francisco on a foggy night.  The air temperature is not as cold as Germany in winter, but the moisture in the air drives the chill into your body

All this said, we have had a few beautiful days so far, and being unemployed, I was able to be outside to take a few photos, when I haven't been toiling in the vegetable garden, in the house with spring cleaning, or at my father's reupholstering his sofa.  Since I've been completely uninspired with regard to blogging, I thought I'd share a few of these photos.

Ranunculus in a border in front of a house along Palm Avenue. 

This street has a lot of arts & crafts style homes, mostly California bungalows and Mission Revival.

A good example of one of the Bungalows on Palm Avenue.

It seems like any remodeling done has stayed pretty true to form.
Craftsman Perspective has information on the Arts & Crafts Movement
About.Com has some examples of common Arts & Crafts styles

Landscaping at the local public golf course. 

 

Left, a pond facing a fairway. 

Right, a nandina plant outside the restaurant.

I hope to have photos of my gardens and my father's sofa project up soon.  Maybe I will feel inspired to write something in connection with those photos...

Transitional Season

The San Francisco Bay Area is in the midst of deciding whether spring should arrive or not.  Bone chilling storms during which I huddle by the fire cursing my leaky windows have been alternating with seductively mild days that entice me to leave my house without a jacket.

Last Monday was one of the pleasant days and by luck, a holiday here.  I hiked Mount Tamalpais wearing just a t-shirt over my hiking pants.  It is still early enough in the season to see waterfalls throughout the state's green spaces and the day was beautiful.  See the blue sky in the photo at left?

On Saturday I hiked at Castle Rock and the weather had turned again.  Drizzly, cold, low visibility.  I was chilled to the bone and wet to boot!  But I have to admit the mist does look quite dramatic.

After Castle Rock, we headed out to the coast to try to catch a glimpse of an elephant seal at Año Nuevo and almost ran into one sleeping on the beach (left).  I didn't notice the scratches on her back until I looked at the photos.  I hope she wasn't hurt!  Elephant seals may seem awkward, but they are fast and can be aggressive.  I admit I was too chicken to walk around to take a photo of her from the front.  Now that we got to see one seal, though, we hope to return to the preserve in the next few weeks before they return to sea.

And I hope to see the signs of spring popping out at me more frequently in the coming weeks.  I plan to take a little stroll to the nursery around the corner to ogle vegetable seeds and seedlings.  I cooked beets and chard and had radishes from the garden yesterday and I'm inspired to be more attentive to the garden this year.