Updates
Old peach tree in glorious bloom.
Plum and apple trees thinking about it.
Old peach scions grafted on young peach looking good.
Artichoke and rhubarb, here they are:

Old peach tree in full blossom.

This is what the old peach tree (that produced delicious white flesh fruit) looked like a couple of days ago. I peaked in the hooded grafts. I won's say what I saw.
Yesterday I planted some red chard, some spinach and some snow peas. Today I planted more spinach. Garden season is in progress.
The blossoms on the apricot tree are spent. I fear the worst.

Adventure in grafting.
Today I did what long ago I had resolved to do. The apricot tree is in full bloom; the peach trees are ready to burst. I cannot wait for the Extension Division Master Gardner to come show me how to graft. So I went to the web and searched. I found an excellent tutorial by Tom Spellman on "Bark Grafts."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtXmBVsolY&ebc=ANyPxKo3OptscLd_3uHmsVVSL25PpWYH0-L-cjFqa95EuaaMiEr_G2SihaCwh_eCalW-Lxf9BOi9-l5REyFqZ6wcUa-Pg6Rdjg
It's 9:20 long and good. I am not sure that my six grafts will be successful because I had not until now researched how to collect the scion sticks. I know my established peach produces delicious fruit, but I didn't know how to collect the scions. So I fudged, and therefore I fear failure. We will see.
Here is a closeup of two of the grafts on a single branch:

and here is the tree with its six grafts (protectd by paper bags with air vents)

And here is a better picture of the apricot in full bloom:

So today marks the official beginning of my 2016 gardening season.

Today is the last day of February and the apricot tree is in full bloom!

Here is a sort of close-up of a branch:

Today I sprayed my fruit trees with All Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil. I have two peach trees, only one of which has produced excellent white flesh fruit (three seasons ago--the other has not yet produced). I have one apple tree, a faithful producer. We have consumed its delicious fruit in many forms: raw, in crisps and pies, in sauce form. I have an Italian plum tree, which produced a miserable six plums three years ago and hasn't produced any fruit since. I have an apricot tree that has never produced. And I have a baby cherry tree, too young to produce. This tree grew in my compost bin and I transplanted it this past summer. It is now maybe thirty inches high. Each spring all these trees have beautiful flower, which then fall off, and the leaves appear distressed, badly curled. We'll see if this treatment will cure whatever problem these trees (except the apple tree) have.
My house plants are doing well. Here are two pots with basil and two pots with amaryllis. What doesn't show in the picture is that a persimmon is growing out of the higher basil pot. I regularly put pits or seeds in the soil, with decent results. Also growing there a second persimmon, and a citrus--I think it's a tangerine. I have also put in the soil some comice pear seeds. We'll see.

Here is a favorite of mine, whose name I can't come up with at this time:

Life goes on.

The last vegetable Hurrah!
Near-freezing temperatures are in the forecast, and I decided to collect what's left in the garden, except for a few squashes. Here it is! Miniature cantaloupe, miniature zucchini, weak-sauce beans (a disappointing performer this summer), tomatoes, huge specimens of zucchina lunga. I made practically no use of zucchina lunga this summer: one dish of tenerumi pasta, and one ratatouille dish. Both good, I must say.

The picture confirms the success of the tomato crop. The largest of the heirloom tomatoes pictured weighs in at 1 pound. I hope they all ripen. The green tomatoes are in front of the shop window.
The apple crop has also been excellent, and we have made apple sauce, apple crisp, apple pie, and eaten the fruit. Don't have a picture of the apples, but I have one of some of our grapes:

Tomatoes
This year my most successful crop was tomatoes. My two largest heirloom tomatoes, so far, grew to weigh 567 g (1.4 oz) and 449 g (15.8 oz) respectively.

The other tomatoes aren't too shabby, either, and I have made several batches of tomato sauce, already in the freezer. More fruit is still on the vine.

Now it's time to start harvesting apples and grapes.