Garden Update

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a whirlwind every year. The garden is often left to fend for itself. Too much shopping, decorating and partying to be done to leave much time to play in the dirt. Today, I took a tour of the yard, surveying the gardens after the 5” of rain we got yesterday. One thing to mention is that I was wearing a t-shirt and I got a couple of mosquito bites while on my tour.
The cool-season weeds are starting their march forward into the yard and gardens. This is their time of year, they love the cool, wet weather (although today was warm, the high was 76 degrees F with 94% humidity).
Looks like the tomato plants finally succumbed to the cold weather we had earlier this week. I’m grateful for how long they lasted, they were my first successful crop of fall tomatoes.
I harvested more uju kitsus today. I’m up to 32 so far with about as many still on the tree. This was the first fruit tree I planted, it’s so exciting to be able to harvest citrus from your backyard.
The most striking thing I noticed while wandering around was how green the grass is. It is rather startling to see it this green, I mean, it’s December!

The garlic and onions I planted last month are doing well. Although, only about half of the onions survived, it was too dry and I didn’t keep them well-watered. Next up are plantings of lettuce, spinach, radishes, more onions if I can find them, & carrots.
And, we had another hawk sighting. Our second in the last few months and our second in the 7 years we have lived in this house. I think this one is a Cooper’s Hawk.

It is exciting to see these large birds from our living room window, but a little sad that nature is playing out in my backyard, as the hawks (so I hear) are often looking for lunch at backyard birdfeeders.Click here to see our other Cooper's Hawk sighting.