Here are the crazy snap peas. I got these planted on time in October, and it shows. They've outgrown the four-foot-tall tomato cages and are draping down to the ground. Yes, the vines are at least eight feet long, and covered in peas.
We've had fresh snap peas for dinner at least once a week for the past month. So sweet!
There's nothing left of the broccoli but stems, leaves and side shoots. I didn't catch this head soon enough and it went to seed. I like its pretty yellow flowers.
I'm growing kohlrabi for the first time. This is a gorgeous organic purple kohlrabi from Peaceful Valley. The seeds came in a Seattle Garden Bloggers' Fling swag bag. I'm planning to eat the bulb raw, like jicama, and saute the greens. This one's just about ready to eat.
A peek inside the pop-up greenhouse reveals a seven-foot lime tree, fully recovered from last year's freezes, covered in blossoms, bees and baby limes.
The blossoms smell so good. The greenhouse is filled with a jasmine-like fragrance.
This is how warm it's been -- the crazy cosmos are already coming up. Cardboard and compost have successfully kept them out of the veggie beds where they lived last year, but the ones outside the bed frame are allowed to stay (for now).
The 'Erlicheer' daffodils are in bloom. None of my other bulbs have bloomed - no crocus, no irises, no muscari, no freesia, no alliums, no hardy tulips, no lilies! Guess it's too warm for the cold weather bulbs and too cool for the warm weather bulbs.
And look! My baby Texas mountain laurel is blooming for the first time. The blossoms smell like purple Pixy-Stix candy or grape Kool-Aid.
The aroma takes me straight back to my childhood in south Houston, waiting for the snow cone man on the corner of Glenwyck Drive and Regency. I can still remember the combined scent of coconut-flavored snow cone syrup, truck exhaust and Texas mountain laurel blossoms. Funny what sticks with you decades later.
Next up -- roses in bloom (I tell ya, the groundhog was wrong, dead wrong), and more on the snap peas! In the meantime, I'd love to hear about what's blooming early in your garden.
Words and photos © 2009-2012 Caroline Homer for "The Shovel-Ready Garden". Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
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