Feels Like Spring

It has been getting more and more like spring. It's still cold, but it's been sunny and almost warm in the daytime. The daffodils are just amazing

The glen is pretty, although the forsythia hasn't bloomed yet.

And the irises are starting to show a little color.

The apricot and plum trees are in bloom now. Look at the progress from this picture taken last Thursday (2-21)...

... And compare to the blooms as of yesterday (2-26). That one new plum branch is determined to set fruit! It's absolutely covered with blossoms.

The apricot bit of that tree is blooming well also. The peach tree is just showing some color around the buds, the lilac is leafing out, and the cherry is still just in bud phase.

This is a welcome sight! We're seeing the first signs of aphids, but the ladybugs are on the job!

We are STILL getting broccoli. This is row 8, which I planted in late August. This row didn't flower until now, but that's perfect because the others, while still putting out a few small shoots, are really finally almost done. I know I've been saying that for months now... What a great crop. This summer, I'm planting twice as many! I need fully 6 flats of starts.

I also harvested this lovely bunch of radishes. We left them in a little long, so they got a bit woody, but they are still tasty.

The boys hang out with the chickens while Amber looks on.

Catherine found this cute chicken ceramic, and gave it to Buddy as an award for all his hard work with the chickens.

Buddy was appropriately honored...

Over at 9th Stree, the camillias are in full bloom. Sarah and Nathan had to move out. Chico is such a hard town to get a job in. So we need to find another tenant. I hope we get someone nice...

The favas went from showing a suggestion of bloom on 2-22.

To being fully in bloom by 2-24.

We're going to have a lot of favas!

This shows the rest of the garden space, and is part of my sun/shade data gathering: taken 2-24 at 3 pm.

We have a new fun thing to do! Lori, Buddy, and I have been walking in the park for exercise. We walk for about an hour and a half, and usually do about 7,000 steps. It's not too strenuous; we just stroll along, stopping to look around and enjoy the park. Here we're exploring the cork forest.

The corky bark is weird and pretty.

We also saw a hawk. Buddy spotted him. He's one of our sharpshinned/Cooper's hawks, and he was completely unconcerned that we were walking around below him.