There is a secret spreading across the hills and valleys of this city. It started with the cherry trees. The plums are next. Apples are soon to follow. I get the feeling of great potential this time of year. My mind wonders from one excitement to the next as I thumb pages of seed catalogs.
It feels a bit discouraging to scan the garden. Most of our crops are perennial and thus are still in the midst of a long winter’s nap! With the little rain we got this week oxalis and a wild lily have flushed the garden with an unwanted green and yellow. Echinacea is entirely under ground — easily mistaken as dead to the untrained eye. Mullein appears to have frozen in time, no noticeable growth. Vitex has lost most of her leaves and looks more like a couple of sticks in the ground than a bush. Yet Self-Heal keeps the faith alive, she slowly spreads green runners and leaves across the dark earth. I’m surprised at the array of yellows and oranges from a calendula patch I planted late last summer. I saw a bee today!
It smells like January in the morning when the morning fog sits low and the wind starts to pick up. But where is the rain? The garden tasks are fewer but with a greater impact. I pruned the fruit trees, grape vine and extended the garden beds a bit. The sun makes a low sweep across the sky, leaving much of the garden in full shade.
Slowly the days grow longer but for now I use the sun moving west as a reminder to wrap up work in the garden. I spend a few hours a day on the computer; I am working on a plan to sustain the work I do at Guerrero Street.
Guerrero Street Garden 