Thank You God, For Such a Wonderful Weekend.

No rain, so no grass to mow.   Cool temps, breezy, and sunny.   Could not ask for better weather.   The plants are thirsty, but irrigation will have to do.

I planted the Moonflowers on Paw Joe's Grate Arbor on Sunday.   Can't wait for the smell of their sweet blossoms in a month or two.  And speaking of sweet blossums, the Jasmine has been blooming for over a week now.  The scent fills the entire front yards and is as heavenly as any perfume. 

I got my seeds in from Kumar in India on Friday, and potted them today.  I love plants with a story, and these to have a story.  

Kumar's description was "dates of the 'Maktoum' variety (From the holy city of Medina). These are quite large, brown rather than black, with a crusty peel and a dry interior that requires a bit of chewing - not one of those melt-in-your-mouth candy varieties. The taste is very agreeable though and it does not become sticky inside the mouth." 

According to Kumar, the second seeds were from the "stalk of our solitary Caryota urens begins ripening - and that means an unending litter of fruit all day everywhere and plenty of curses and grumbles as the inevitable cleanup is ordered - not to mention a freeze in our relations with the neighbours."

Also, today, my new hens started laying.  Well apparently she started laying yesterday, but I found the egg this morning, and another this afternoon.  It is great to have the fresh yard egg train moving again. 

I also harvested the first Cucumbers or the vegetable garden today.   Got some tomatoes starting to get on, a couple nearing 3 inches across.  Probably more cucumbers and melons coming along, but the weeds are atrocious this year. 

The Mulberries are doing well in spite of the drought.  Certainly they would be bigger and juicier had we gotten some rain, but I did some supplemental irrigation to help a bit.     Our newest Mulberry on the east sid eof the driveway also fruited for the first time this year.  And its berries do seem a bit sweeter than out large tree, which was a cutting from Mr. Picard.

Most of the Citrus trees have flowered and are making fruit.  Again, the drought has had an impact on fruit retention, and again, I have used some supplemental irrigation to help.  It looks like we will have a respectable Citrus crop, and certainly more Limes than we can use.

Same comments as above, but with the Avocado.   Its flowered insanely this year.  Although most flowers dropped without fruiting, there is still tons of fruit left on the tree.  This year, for sure, it looks like we will have an Avocado crop.

Too early to tell on the Olive Tree.  It too has lots and lots of small fruit, and this tree should not be bothered at all by the lack of rain, as it comes from a Mediterannean climate.   Its challenge will come later as the summer rains arrive.   We'll see if this year, we might actually ripens some Olives.

Lots more to talk about this spring, but not all in one post.  Tomorrow will come another.