Close Call

It is a little hard to see in this blurry picture but the lighter sections on the mulch on the ground is frost. It wasn't supposed to be that cold. Spring is here and everything is growing new tender growth including frost damaged plants like avocado and citruses. Fortunately the rain must have protected the plants and there was no damage.  In case you don't live here, the coldest winter night time temperatures are in the low to mid twenties. Daytime temps never stay below freezing beyond the early morning. More rain tonight and 46 degrees right now, so I am crossing my fingers and not covering trees out there.

It's not un-Yuzu-al

This Yuzu tree has survived a few winters and a move from our last place to here.  Now that it is in the ground, it is much happier than it was in a container. Finally we have a decent number of ripening fruits. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus and you don't eat it, but you can yuze it to make ponzu, which we have with nabe, a hot pot dinner which is great during winter.

I have my eye on our cocktail grapefruit which has a bunch of nice sized green fruits on it.

It is hanging out under plastic sheeting to keep it safe from frost.  The chickens are also under there, next to an orange tree, to keep out of the rain.  Sometime we will build a more permanent structure for rain and frost because I don't like using the plastic (I am re-using it though).