Nothing new so far

 Heat has come back up again so the roller coaster of cool/warm days is leveling out a bit. Breezy today which helps to an extent but not by much. It hit 91-93 depending on what app and time you check, we went out for about an hour or so for a local rally but closed up and started the AC  before we left. Let me tell you, that made all the difference in the world!

Meanwhile, back in the garden..... once again the photos aren't loading in the add/insert photo window so I have no clue what my photos are.

Pepper seedlings are doing swell, the tallest one even has a second set of actual leaves coming on. Still nothing from those other four and the three pods with the bean seeds, nothing. Those should have come up by now. I dug around with a toothpick and the seeds are soft, but don't seem to show any sign of actually cracking open. I will continue to water but it's getting awfully late for those. Besides, not a big fan of beans anyway but more on those later.

 In no particular order and possible repeats, leaving the flowers on the Roma tomato plant at that stage. There's two clusters and I suspect I won't have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year from the look of it. Not unless it gets a sudden burst of energy and completely goes F1 later on. The Romaine is doing okay, still awfully small to even pull the outside leaves for salad but is getting there. Might use them in salad once we get other groceries next week. I decided to pull (accidentally first) the small potato plant in the middle. It just was not looking good and only had two small (ping pong ball size and marble size) white potatoes. So those are going for seed planting next seasons. Big open space in the middle and behind the cauliflower ready for those pepper plants. Cauliflower is gaining some size, packing my patience on that one and keeping an eye on it opening up rather than keeping close. I used a green wire to close the leaves around it to shade during the heat of the day. 

Latest two carrots pulled, still short stubby things and the two potatoes. Need to figure out what to do with all those carrots and cauliflower. If I had been able to plant radishes I would have eaten them already. So I guess carrots are off the list because just not a fan really unless mixed in a salad or other dish. Right now I don't have the makings for anything that would need or benefit from carrots. I just did think of doing something else though. Dicing them up, parboiling and tossing them in the freezer for using later. Like I did with the cauliflower. Brilliant! 

Given the failure of the beans and peppers and a few others, I decided to start looking at the dates on the seed packs. Oldest ones are from 2022. That's four years old and real close to low viability for a lot of seeds. But beans... those things seemingly last forever. I haven't been keeping my collection in extreme heat, mostly low light but not in air tight containment. But beans... honestly.... beansI would rather grow pinto beans than green beans and I have plenty of pintos from the store. Not sure how viable they are though. As far as beans go, I'd love to grow some lima beans, I love those in a good succotash with squash and corn. I'm thinking though that tomatoes and peppers are the crops again this year. 

 A small anomaly that I will chalk up to worms, small holes in the soil in the rose garden area. I've seen them before but even though I'm sure there's worms it's unusual for the holes to stay behind even after the soil was wet when they pushed to the surface. Not ants for sure, no sign of ant activity so I guess will stick with worm sign.

Total side track but side garden related....plant identification when someone uses artificial intelligence.

I have a supposed 'relaxing' color by number app on my ipad, they have a weekly 4 image set to finish for whatever badges or bonuses. So one of these sets was botanicals that heal. Okay I'm into botanicals for sure... so the plants they chose were Chamomile for Relaxation, 'Peonies for Mood Regulation', Lavender for sleep and aloe for moisture. The picture above is what they used for Peonies. THOSE ARE NOT A PEONY!!!  THOSE ARE ROSES!!! I have forgiven some images of colorful flowers or butterflies for not being accurate, even some animals and chalked them up to being more 'fantastical' and 'artistic license' but this.... this is outright and completely WRONG. I can't write to the company, can't really put a review on the app store, not worth the energy. But I sent the picture to another plant geek like myself for her to facepalm.

Anyway... that's all for the garden today. Just opened my weather app and it says it's 94 outside. Not going to cool down below 80 until after sunset. It is a wonderful and comfortable 78 where I sit at my desk.
 

 

 

 

Just some flowers and stuff

 Still quite warm, trend says going to get warmer still but at least I watered yesterday. Decided to loosen up the soil in the west bed and it was rather dry so good thing I planned ahead and brought my gloves with me. Forgot my clippers to take care of the lemon bush and some roses, oh well. 

(and now blogger is being stupid again and not loading all the images to add)

It's been rather foggy in the morning, which is the coastal marine layer creeping in through the passes but then it clears off by about 10 or 11. That means it gets down to the 50's at night and that mitigates the higher 80's during the day. Still have to turn on the AC by around 4 because it turns into an oven until around 7 when the sun goes down.

Lavender Trumpet vine is blooming on the pergola, lovely little surprise when I was walking Rocky yesterday. I only got this one photo so far because only the bottom quarter inch line of photos shows on the preview window right now. So pictures will be random from  yesterday and only about half of what I actually took.

A different angle of the hawk tree. Very obvious that a lot of the branches have been stripped or have died above the nest. Wondering if this is a result of the nest or on purpose maybe stripping the bark to make the branches die. I know that was fully leafed out before they chose that for their nest a few years ago.

Tomato is filling out  bit more and is still putting out flowers. Going to let those grow because this is indeterminate it'll keep growing and producing for a while. Just don't want it having 'babies' when it's half that size. Can also see how some of the potato leaves are browning on the edges which 'typically' means it's getting mature. Not nearly big enough though for a good crop of spuds yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cauliflower is also gaining some size, I pulled the stalk and leaves out of the other plants a few days ago. Still have cauliflower chilling in the fridge and freezer..... need cheese sauce. Oh yeah and carrots too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hacked back the oregano seriously only using the small paring knife I keep in the garden when I forget my clippers. I rinsed off the clippings with the hose and left them on the crate like that. I have no need for it really and they still had some serious roots attached. No container to plant them in and not going to try and keep them alive for someone to pick up, it's not a really needful plant for the majority of people. I figured the oregano in the store was a different variety so bought some so now I have plenty.

Evening after watering, rather pathetic looking really compared to previous years. I saw one of my old pictures that had six romaine on the left, the trellis was full of tomato plants and a squash was in the front right corner. That was a fun year for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another after watering photo and the two transplanted tomatoes seem to be doing good still. Got a little knocked over when I watered but they seem to be thriving. Not going to have money for fertilizer any time soon so will have to muddle through with what they have in the bed.  The compost in the bucket is not a good 'complete' fertilizer and I would need to kind of dig it in around the plants to do any good. Oh well.

Oh and I'm still finding shards of egg shells in the west bed where I dumped compost two years ago. One of the reasons why my hackles go up when someone says to use eggshells for calcium in the soil. Grrrr. I'm sure there's other bits and pieces of things that haven't broken down yet, and they are releasing 'some' nutrients as they do break down, except for the eggshell. Fertilizer companies have developed methods and processes to create organic food for plants that's all ready and available for the plants to use right away. Yes it's big business and some are not 'organic' and not meant to be 'healthy' for long term. Like the difference between eating a good balanced steak dinner and taking supplements with the same vitamins and minerals. One feeds you, the other provides nutrients and that's all.

Okay off the soap box, that's all the photos for today. Not much else to say or do but do that voodoo you do so well. HA! 

 

 

 

 

Small things growing

Wasn't as hot today but still had to turn the AC on late afternoon because the kitchen got up to 90 by 3:30 or 4. Yeeesh! Was able to get out with Rocky and see what was happening in the garden, and snitch a few chives and pull the last scallion I needed for a baked potato.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost stepped on the ladybird in the lawn. 7 Spotted Ladybird, which is a good one rather than the Asian one that seems to be invading and gets confused for this one. The difference is the Asian variety tend to cling to walls and get inside homes. Other than that, left this little one alone and went to the garden with Rocky.

 Yesterday sitting at my desk I heard the hawks calling outside and then had to go clean the litter box on the porch and looked up at the tree where they are nesting. Sure enough, saw a head bobbing briefly but I didn't have my phone at the time so took a picture today in the evening. The branches closest to us are all mostly bare, I suspect they have stripped them for easy access. Or they just haven't grown back due to the nest being there. In any case they have a nice aerie now with cover and free flight in and out. Wonder what the ground looks like under the tree with what might fall from the nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 8 peppers are still going good, the four at the end have not shown any sign of growing so calling those a loss. The three separate ones, one of them was the squash seed and had not even shown signs of cracking open so I pulled it out and then dropped in three bush bean seeds. Will see what happens with those, they're very old and I didn't have much luck with them when I tried a few years ago.  Beans are supposed to be really easy to grow. With the heat lately I've put the tray in the window until the sun starts beating down on the window then pull them inside. that flimsy plastic egg carton is not meant for heat only cold so it's warping a bit in the middle. I covered the three beans with a little of the peat and watered thoroughly of course.

West bed after I pulled two more carrots, the remaining carrots are still too small to harvest and will be terrible tasting. If and when the beans come up I might put those there with two of the peppers. I guess what I have is a semi-chaos garden. Whatever I grow goes where ever I can put it.

 

The two transplants are surviving and growing it seems, maybe 3 inches tall now. The potatoes are looking a little haggard and yellow around the base leaves but not going to pull them up just yet. The roma is hanging in there, might pinch off the main leader to get it to fill out a bit. There's all kinds of videos and instructions for 'pruning' tomatoes but I've only had to do that when they're huge and taking over. The Romaine are looking good as well just wish I had planted them sooner, they should have been harvested by now. 

 

 The last lone cauliflower hanging out and surviving in the heat. The seeds were a gift so not going to ask why I got them, but it's not a vegetable I would normally plant. I think this coming summer and fall I hope to get a fresh batch from the library of things I actually will eat or enjoy. Down low shot of the west bed with the garlic hanging out. Soil seems to be staying moist thankfully but may have to try and water either tomorrow or Tuesday. 

 

That's it for ruminating in the garden this time. So much not happening all the time. 

 

 

 

Definitely 'Summer time'

 When the heat comes on in March and runs through to April, then we get some cooling off in May/June it definitely feels like Summer for us lasts from March to October. The nights may start cooling down in November, maybe October but this is why we have such an issue growing things in San Diego. That's not even considering the microclimates that varies from coastal fog to desert scorching heat and cool nights. 

I pulled five of the larger carrots and likely should have left them in for maybe another week but they'll be fine. I was a silly ninny and cut off the tops and just put them in the trash instead of running them back down to the compost bucket. The bucket is overflowing though with one of the cauliflower plants I pulled as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transplants survived a full day yesterday, by the time I got out around 6 they were still standing straight. I think that's a testament to my thorough soaking and late afternoon relief from the sun. Haven't been out today yet, we had a late start to the day, appointment and store and cooking so suddenly it was 5:30 and I wondered where the day went. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still using the spinner to support a smaller potato plant that doesn't seem to be growing very quickly. The larger one is doing fine but none of them are very strong in the stem. I just don't have the depth I need to give them a deep hole to grow in. (white spots on the cauliflower are sun coming through the trees in the West). I plucked another cluster of flowers off the tomato plant the other day, almost missed them until I looked and pondered about it then thought 'oh wait, this is still too small to have any tomatoes!' so I pinched them off. It will thank me later.

 Okay so since blogger isn't showing photos to put them in here I guess that's it for now. The front cauliflower is still smaller than my palm, the remaining carrots are still fluffy but narrow at the base so those will be pulled later. At lest two of the pepper seedlings are getting true leaves and a total of 8 of the twelve have sprouted. That's a good spread for the three different varieties I planted but still high chance that they are only two varieties. None of them are big enough to plant, not for some time unfortunately. They needed to be at this stage two months ago according to our current weather pattern.

 Photos finally loaded, the picture on the right is a stray cilantro growing 'outside the box' south bed. I could swear I've stepped on it a few times but it doesn't seem worse for any damage I may have caused. 

Rocky inspecting something interesting under the lemon bush apparently.  I think he's understanding the words, 'garden' and 'lizard' now and connecting the two.  He has his own walking habit of going around the pergola then down the line of shrubs and into the garden. Sometimes I try to hasten that depending on time of day and what I need to do. It's making it more convenient for sure if he decides to go there when I need to check the plants. 

On that note, it is 6:35 and daylight is diminishing, temp is dropping, time for a short outing. 

 

 

 

Another scorcher, watering happened

 We buttoned up around 11 am today because at that point in time it was already 89 degrees and was expected to get to the mid 90's. Boy howdy did it get beyond that.

 95 at 12:15 and 100 at 2:10 then it ticked up to 101 less than an hour later. So needless to say I didn't go outside until sunset when it got back down to the high 80's to do gardening. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rocky went first and did his walk around almost getting pelted by a branch the crows somehow knocked down. Yeah those three bullies were pulling small branches and stuff off the tree but luckily that was the only serious branch that fell. I then took him back upstairs so I could get watering done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to bring down the tomatoes and after changing my mind about where they would be planted, twice finally just put them really close together on the same upright. I was going to plant one on the left but then realized it would be way too close to the edge. Buried them a bit deeper and watered them in good. I also watered before putting them in the soil but as usual, that didn't get very deep. The potatoes sure could use being buried deeper for sure. They're really leggy and unfortunately, that is just going to be the way it is.

I decided yesterday evening to cut the two cauliflower loose. I was getting worried the heat would make them spread out more and start bolting so just did it. The stems were a bit more green than white, which was another cue that it was too soon. I think this is going to be the last year for cauliflower, I forgot I already had some in the freezer from a head someone gifted me so I broke these apart and parboiled them in the microwave. Have to figure out what to do with them since I don't have any cheese sauce at all. Roasting them in the oven is right out of the realm of reasonable with the current heat wave. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I watered for about fifteen minutes total, using the trowel to dig around and tried to get as much water in the dry areas as possible. I took pity on the potatoes and moved my wind spinner to make a support for the largest one. It'll be all good tomorrow for sure and certainly can't wait for those to be ready to harvest. Will have to really exercise strong will power to not pull the plants before they're ready so I get some good size spuds. As far as I remember, those are all russets and hoping the soil and conditions are right for them to get good size, otherwise, next year it's red or gold or both. 

I've always wanted to try and grow beans to dry like pintos. I tried it before but planted them in the wrong spot or never figured out whether they were pole or bush. That's another long process that needs a dedicated trellis so not likely happening. 

I need more room to experiment with different crops. An onion/garlic bed, at least two potato beds, a rotation of tomatoes, peas and beans, squash/zucchini.... all the things. Don't get me started on the flower garden. With all that I need a serum that will keep me going twenty years younger.