Had to post this milestone

 But first, the weather. Gorgeous, clear sunny day, light breeze, perfect temperatures for now. Night time was also very nice, though I needed my hoodie for that little touch of chill in the air. Full moon was out too.

 

Those flower pictures are without any flash, there was a parking lot light on the building and I changed some setting on my phone for better resolution. The moon is still a foggy blur unfortunately as I don't have a fancy schmancy phone that takes good night photos.

I has cucumbers! One actual fruiting and one hoping to make it. As usual the male flowers come out first and then the females, seems I didn't need to do any manual fertilizing so far. Had to tease another tendril closer to a support which is how I discovered the larger one. So excited! Now if the peppers could just kick into high gear please. 

Oh and I picked another tomato, this one wasn't quite ready but will likely be in another day or two. Slow ripening on these guys, how do professional growers get so many at one time? Simple answer: thousands of plants and artificial ripening.

So very much excitement, hoping bugs stay away and they grow long and healthy.  

 

 

 

Another small loss, the weather goes on

 It may have sprinkled overnight, the air certainly smelled like damp earth and wild brown grasses. I had a poor night sleeping and wanted to take a walk around the complex so took Rocky with me (on a leash of course). It was kind of misty in a few spots but judging from the lack of rain divots in dry soil, not much else fell in our location.

Partly cloudy most of today but that picture is from day before yesterday. Breeze is almost constant with a few blustery moments so weather is being variable. The cactus are at the East end of the property and I believe are San Pedro cactus and primarily bloom at night. It also looks like whoever broke off some branches that were sticking out over the saw horses. Oh well. It's flowering like crazy and gets absolutely no care whatsoever.

So apparently according to other gardeners they sometimes end up with cherry tomatoes when they hadn't grown them either. This may be a spontaneous seedling from the Roma but reverted to a cherry. Oh well, was hoping for a bounty of Roma but here's hoping the Terra Cotta fills that void. The cucumbers are still climbing and flowering but no sign of fruit yet. I didn't have luck last time so will see if that trend continues. I teased another branch with a tendril onto the trellis  so it wouldn't grab itself or the tomatoes. The peppers are surviving, some of the larger ones are developing side growth and the smaller ones are just...growing. The cherry tomatoes are being harvested as they turn red and when I posted that picture in the group someone said they look like Sungold. I told them most emphatically they are not, they turn bright red when ripe, as I said originally. Honestly.

I watered thoroughly yesterday and the little zinnia was flopping around in the swamp water. I put in a stick to help prop it up but I think I may have broken it off. It was definitely wilted today and either I broke it or something ate the root. Poor thing, oh well so much for flowers in the garden this year other than oregano and the veggies.

 

I pulled the larger of the onions and planted five more that where from the last of the store bought onions. I have a container of chopped scallions in the fridge now for whatever I want to put them on. Maybe we'll have teriyaki chicken thighs tomorrow and will toss some of those into the mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I guess Rocky wasn't as traumatized as much as I thought, he did his usual route around the lawn area and I held back as usual since he gets cranky if I follow too close when he decides to go into the garden. He sniffed and snuffled and looked around and then I decided to get a bit closer to see what he was looking at and he hissed and decided he was done looking around. I noticed on the way out that the lemon bush is loaded with fruit now. Must be at least six or eight lemons on this side and maybe a few more on the other. Whatever we're doing it's responding well to it. I do wish we could angle it a bit more to the wall but you can see how it grows more where there's more sun. Once again, whoever planted it there had no clue how plants grow. Judging from the size, even if it was started from a 5 gallon it's been there for at least a decade or two.

That's all for this week, new month in a few days and will see about either some flower starts or fertilizer.  

May Grey/June Gloom has arrived

 It actually might even sprinkle a little today, at least according to the weather app. It's been cloudy all day yesterday and today so staying relatively cool not good for accelerated growth on plants but a respite for watering. Which I should have done today but maybe later. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only things blooming in the gardens other than the Star Jasmine and one yellow iris. Of course the ever present stalwart geraniums wherever they are. The Easter Lilies are in full bloom, all flowers open and the first opener is now wilting. 

 The cucumbers are growing well and the one on the left has curled the first tendril around a tomato branch. Oopsie.... I managed to see another tendril and jostled the vine close enough to hopefully get it to grab onto the trellis All male flower so far unfortunately, will see what happens as they grow.

 

After watering the other day I do believe the peppers are responding to the tip pruning. That stick in the back is supporting the smallest of the plants. It fell over, then I tried to prop it up and then it tried to grow so it has a pronounced curvature in the stem. I have to decide what I want to plant in place of those two if I want to pull them. Going to give them all another week after I just fertilized again.

Not quite ripe tomato but I picked it anyway and it's sitting in the vicinity of some apples and onions on the counter to finish ripening. Wish I had the room to store the tomatoes out of the fridge, the flavor is much better.

 

The first cluster of Terra Cotta tomatoes is growing nicely. I culled a few small ones so the others have a chance to get full size on my half grown plant. The zinnia surprisingly seems to be showing a bud, rather pathetic compared to the first crop I planted that gave me huge bushes. That were promptly pillaged by a gopher. Might have to buy some actual plants next month to fill in around the garden.

 Sad nes. When I went out to check the garden and maybe water I noticed something grey that looked like plastic. Things are constantly blowing into the area so I reacted out to pick it up, it was a dead lizard. Not any lizard, but Stumpy poor thing. Not sure what happened to it, no sign of  teeth marks and it was in the middle of the bed and rather flat. So it had been there for at least a day or two, I rather unceremoniously picked the carcass up and tossed it behind the Jade bush. Ah well such is garden and nature. That very shortened tail obviously was a sign it almost got caught by something, hope it wasn't Rocky. 

So that's all for the garden, Jacarandas are still in bloom, the natural tree barrier on the back neighbor fence is still growing. Not sure how long that will be around but the guy with the chainsaw didn't cut them down so here's hoping the green wall stays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tried something daring today

 The weather is supposed to cool down to the 70's in the next week but it's still warm enough in the afternoon it's a roaster in the apartment. Had the AC on for a few hours yesterday but we pushed through today.

Just a shot of Rocky heading into the garden before the frightening mishap yesterday. More on that later. This was taken around 2pm so the south beds are still in full sun. Blasting full sun and am going to have to figure out how to gauge how much sun it does get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I noticed the front and tallest pepper had a weird branching going on so I pinched it off. Then remembered a trick to make your bushes fuller is to top prune them when they're about 6 inches tall. So I went and did that. I didn't have my clippers but my nails are long enough to do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of them had the beginnings of flower buds on them so this is going to set back the growth and harvest a few months. But honestly, they are too short to be fruiting so this is a good thing. I watered yesterday but didn't fertilize, will do that sometime this weekend.

I started messing with the tomatoes and suddenly noticed the lower leaves on the cherry had the telltale signs of mites. DANGIT! Started pulling leaves and small branches from the bottom and then grabbed a weak looking branch... and yanked a fruiting branch off. Oh well, more than enough really left on the bush, and it was toward the middle of the trellis so it was a good thing.

Definitely mite damage and I tried to get as many leaves and branches as possible cleared off the bottom. I have nothing to spray for control unfortunately and am not going to do a DIY oil spray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinned it out a lot really but you can see how much fruit is still on there. Oh and the cucumbers are both now starting to climb. Second one finally has a tendril and I tucked that one into the trellis so it latches on as well. The two smaller peppers on the right side I am kind of on the fence about pulling. They're not thriving like they should and the one at the back is somehow a bit too high in the soil. Will see what I decide on the weekend.

Now then, about the 'Great Mishap'... this picture was taken today but imagine if you will... a bright sunny day. The kind that is full of promises of lizards sunning and cats wanting to hunt. Rocky was making his way back out of the garden and he usually weaves through those pots and buckets that Dolores has because there's always something interesting smelling there. I was not following very closely but close enough and saw him come around the tree and then he spied something between the buckets. He lunged for likely a lizard, dislodging a pot and a brass wire pot stand that ended up on him partially around his head. He leaped out of the collection of pots (all of them plastic mind you) and ran full speed into that bush on the right of the picture, the one closest to the camera with the brass wire pot stand still on his neck. He collided with said bush yowling like his life was ending and luckily the pot stand came off and he then ran straight for home at full speed. There were some guys at the table on the patio that heard his yell and saw him take off for home. I was laughing they were laughing and wondered what happened. I explained in short hand as much as possible as I followed the thoroughly frightened Rocky home. Well, he got some exercise at least but I don't think he's ever going back into the garden for a while, if ever.

Poor kitty. He frightens so easily and if it happens to be something he's doing, it's even more frightening for him.

 

 

Breezy and mild

 Things are growing, watering was done yesterday and was almost a bit late at that. Soil was very dry and the peppers were looking particularly weak.

The Easter Lilies are blooming like they should, smiling happy flowers for sure. There are other bulbs that aren't faring so well, mostly narcissus that have been ignored and are in too much shade so they only grow leaves all the time. I need to ask if I can dig some up this fall and replant them maybe in a pot.

Found two tomatoes yesterday and one of them at least tasted fantastic! I am not putting them in the fridge, keeping them on the counter in the same bowl as some apples.  The cucumbers are finally taking off, two tendrils on the taller plant so as soon as that gets the signal for climbing it'll go a lot faster. Got out today really quick while I had Rocky out but didn't see any more telltale red orbs on the plant. 

 

So many fruit on both plants! I was trying to tuck some of the branches back and snapped off the leader of one, oops. I took a chance and tucked it into the soil then watered but it didn't survive the night, oh well. Not sure what variety these are but will be saving seeds from one of the fruit for sure for next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little miss survivor Zinnia is growing strong, hoping she gets as big as her previous generation  because that would fill in that bed very well. I pulled the one, tiny little sprout in the corner that was not doing well at all. That center spot seems to be the best area for growing. The garlic on the West end tend to dry out more than the other side. Side note: Rocky spied a lizard that darted from the south bed to the jade but he gave up trying to find it.

Before watering... just all the plants doing what they can with the care I'm giving them. Happy enough for me at least. Might give them another dose of food tomorrow... if not it won't happen until Thursday or Friday.