Springtime Blossoms

Signs of spring have been building for some time now, and if the young couple attempting to get frisky in the car parked outside our house yesterday afternoon wasn't one of them (our neighbor did a double take as he walked by, and the amorous couple sped off almost immediately - a literal case of coitus interruptus), the rapidly advancing state of our garden projects is a clear indication of change in the seasonal air. Our "green room" leading out towards the backyard (nominally the laundry room) is heating up during the lengthening afternoons, thanks to the extra hours of direct sunlight, and the rosemary and mint have responded in turn. Smaller shoots wait only for a transplant to the garden.


The garden itself is coming along promisingly. While our tomato plant struggles on, having never completely died during our brief winter, the telltale signs of beet greens have popped above the soil, and green bean shoots [ed. sorry, pea shoots] are well on the way towards requiring some pole support. Our mystery plants are the large green leaves in the foreground, which we've decided look like squash or zucchini. These weren't planted by us, but we suspect entered clandestinely when we used a large amount of my compost for soil. We'll have to keep an eye on these.

It will be some time before our grape vine begins producing any fruit, but the vine has turned green and thick, after months of hanging brown and bare. Our seasonal grape harvest has yielded delicious grape juice for two years now, and hopefully this summer will be no different.

And the lemon tree has once again started to hang low from the weight of accumulating citrus. The neighborhood we live in (and the flightplan we live under) means we can't use these lemons for zesting purposes, but the juice inside is perfect. There are few benefits to living in Southern California more persuasive than the ability to walk outside any time one needs fresh lemons.