The guys over at Gizmodo say this is a demonstration of the principle that lets cameras stabilize images and keeps missile guidance systems going. Hmm. . .

I think I’ll just see about this for myself…

via Gizmodo

From Tom’s cactus collection, here’s a Turkish temple.

The weather’s definitely changing and what we get to eat from our garden is changing as well. Here’s the first pomegranate that we’ve picked this fall.

Over the past few days, both a weeping cherry and some Chinese wisteria have been coming into full bloom. It’s really something:

So much for an in-like-a-lion,-out-like-a-lamb March this year. For the first time I can remember in many years, the vernal equinox or first day of spring was actually greeted by flowers in the garden. Actually, some of the fruit trees had started their late-winter flowering, but here’s a few of the spring flowers:

New flowers are seem to be making their appearances hourly. It’s going to be a lovely spring.

Back from our sunny and warm vacation, deep in the doldrums of a dreary, dreary rainy winter, my thoughts have been turning to planning the summer garden. In 2000, I built three four-sided tomato towers like this:

Ever since we’ve planted twelve kinds of tomatoes. Some are constants from year to year, but we’ve really liked the adventure of trying something unfamiliar. Last year we planted these twelve varieties:

I’ve been leafing through all the seed catalogs that came while we were gone and two have really caught my attention.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, near Branson, Missouri, was started 10 years by a 17 year-old guy who had decided to be a seedsman. Since then, his company has amassed a fascinating collection of vegetables from around the world that I haven’t seen at any other seed company. A lot of vegetables we enjoyed on our trips to Southeast Asia aren’t grown for market here and this company is one of the very few I’ve found that carry them. To the subject at hand, I was amazed to count 175 kinds of tomatoes in their catalog this year.

Another really interesting seed company, new to me this year, is TomatoFest, located near here in Carmel, California. I haven’t hand counted myself, but they claim to have 600 varieties on offer! I found them as I was locating a source for the Julia Child Tomato. It turns out that they named this open-pollinated tomato in 2001 for the estimable teacher/chef. This company, which is certified organic, takes heirloom (open-pollinated) varieties, tests them, and introduces a great many.

Their websites:

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: rareseeds.com
• TomatoFest.com

There are some fruit trees that have always been a challenge where we live. After three trees and twenty years of determination, Tom finally gathered his first blood orange today. Thick-skinned probably because we need to water the tree more during the summer, nevertheless it’s a true blood orange, with the mottled-red skin, wine-red pulp and that blood-orange perfume. A bright occasion during this dreary January, for sure:

Of our 3-dozen or so fruit trees, this has the most unusual looking fruit. It’s the third tree we’ve had, having lost the first two in the killer frosts we get around here occasionally. It’s bearing well now, so I hope it lasts a long time.

If you’d like to read a little more about this plant, here’s its Wikipedia entry.