Spring Fever--Too Busy to Garden!

I have been busily preparing to speak at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at 11:15 tomorrow on How to Choose a Plant: Avoiding the Heartbreak of Falling in Love with the Wrong Plant. Finally wrapped it up and off I go in the morning.

It will be nice to be done and have a little time to get into my gardens, though now I think we are due for a big storm. When the days were warm, I was writing columns and lectures! Our one sheared hedge needs shearing, the back yard needs weeding, my windowsill is full of seedlings for the college garden and the community garden, some of which still need to be potted up.

A sad discovery this year is that my favorite cucumber, 'Burpless Tasty Green' isn't available to the seed sources I usually use. I bought 'Sweeter Yet', which I am told is similar. Well, maybe it will be better! My seedlings look healthy, and I have my fingers crossed.

My apple tree is starting to bloom, and I am hoping that some bees turn up to pollinate it. There are plenty of bumblebees in the honeywort (Cerinthe) in the front garden, and there are many fruit trees in backyards on my block, so I hope the bees have been tending to the plums and pear and then stick around for the apples.

I still have a very few of my apples in the fridge from last year. They smell a little refrigeratery when you take them out, but after you wash them thoroughly with soap and water, they smell fine and taste fine too. About half of the ones I kept this long are kind of rubbery and need to be tossed, but the good ones are really good. I call that a good keeper. We harvest in mid-October. And no, I don't know what kind they are, and neither did two apple experts who examined the fruit and leaves.

Happy spring!

Comments

[Peggy Datz]

Hi,
I wonder if this is the appropriate place to send a question, and if not, forgive me. About 3 years ago I planted 2 feijoas, (different types, for better pollination) They're now about 4 feet high, and they bloom beautifully, but before the fruit get to be, say, almond-sized, they drop off. Any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Peggy Datz