Well let's just say warm and sunny

 Supposed to get up to the low 80's this week with negligible clouds up high in wispy clumps and streaks. This makes for more soil warmth and accelerated growing. YAY! But also means will need to water soonish.

 Jade bush is finally starting to fade. It was in full bloom when it was raining so didn't get out to get a picture but this is still good. This is the more 'artistic' photo I took, the other is just all flowers which isn't so engaging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is also encroaching a bit too much on the bed frame. I broke some branches off at the back side but will need my clippers to trim back a bigger branch that is right there at the corner. To heck with the lady that said 'don't touch the jade bush'. I'm sorry this thing has doubled in size in five years, I doubt any trimming I'm going to be doing is going to do any serious damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I pulled up a good amount of the chickweed (or whatever that is) around the cilantro after pulling some to bring upstairs. I noticed the cilantro starting to bolt and snapped off the growth points to kkeep that at bay for a while. Dumped the greens into the compost bucket, both of which need to be completely dumped out onto the tarp, chopped up and mixed and put back in. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the lid being on tight, apparently the cat litter containers are not water tight. A good 6 inches of water in that bucket and only about an inch or two in the one behind it.  That groundcover is what is creeping from the cilantro bed which makes me doubt it's chickweed. It's not creeping mint or anything with a fragrance. Still think it's just weird chickweed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purple potato is kind of weak and where it was laying over on the ground some of the leaves had been chewed. Pill bugs most likely, I'm sure those are still in there as well as earwigs. The romaine is starting to catch up finally and those other potatoes are gaining some size as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure that tomato needs some food but no gots so it's hanging in there. Already gained four inches and even as weak as it looks, I suspect it will gain some growth in the next week. The carrots are looking mighty fluffy and tall.  I rifled through them to look for any that were too close together and found a good candidate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a little guy but that tells me they'll be ready to pull soon if that's how big that one is. Made sure to pull away from its neighbor then patted the soil back down. The rest were far enough apart there wouldn't be any crowding.

The bunch I gleaned before weeding. That's like triple the size of anything from the store that is usually .99 cents a bunch. I love growing it because it is so freaking easy but then I have way too much on hand and no one to give it to. It's never around when I want to make salsa in the summer and will try and experiment on drying some in the microwave hopefully.

Half a sun drenched garden, this was taken around 2pm so that's accurate for sun angle this time of year.  The person who set this garden area up really, really didn't know what they were doing. It was probably middle of summer and they thought there was enough sun to put beds on the south wall side.

Normally this arrangement would be fine if there was no building or walls. I have imagined a better arrangement but then given all the factors involved it would require a lot more engineering. But that's just playing around and have to make do with what is there.

 

So here we are, sunny days ahead with summer weather around the corner. Literally. 
 

 

Clear skies for a while

 It's been clear most of today, only a bit breezy but definitely 'sweater weather' for being outside. I was only able to get some quick pictures while Rocky had his grass time. Can't lose sight of him for more than a few seconds.

 

Comparison from 2021 and today. Yeah that jade bush has doubled in size and it was different time of year as well. But still a big difference for sure. Need to make a collage or slide show of the progression. Oh and those weeds are just taking over back there aren't they?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cilantro is getting ready to bolt, need to pick some more as the last batch finally wilted and rotted out. The onions are going nuts, the potatoes are growing like gangbusters and ...the worms have arrived on the cauliflower.

No flower head yet but the leaves all have the telltale little holes of the little cabbage worms. Need to get out there tomorrow and wipe the leaves down. Plants certainly are getting big enough, they're loving this weather for sure! The larger seedling in the pod is getting first set of true leaves, yay! Still a tiny little thing and would not survive the weather right now. 

And the carrots, garlic, oregano and cilantro. Carrots are looking pretty darn fluffy for sure but still too young to pull even if they are the short and stocky type. Need to figure out what to plant behind them, oh right, peppers. Which I haven't even started yet because it's still too cold in the window. I was so tempted to turn on the hood light over the stove last night for the two little seedlings but my ever vigilant partner would object to having the light on all night. Which is fair, I don't have the budget for extra electricity costs. 

Anyone want some oregano? Cilantro?   By summer it'll be tomatoes I hope.

 

 

 

And the rain came down!

 Hence why nothing for three days, other than not much happening in the garden. Let's see, rained 'all day' yesterday, and the day before. 'All day' being at lest three hours in the middle of the day, rained overnight in a couple of heavy downpours. So the garden got watered...for sure.

Rain obscuring the distant hills and the one behind as well completely covered. It's been windy as well, fits and starts of breeze to light wind that actually broke off a sizeable branch overnight.

The base of that is about as thick as my forearm so it got whipped around pretty good overnight. Ground is soggy, but today the clouds are puffy grey and white scattered across the sky. Supposed to rain some more overnight or tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday and today. Haven't had a chance to get out today but doubt there's any change from that picture. The carrot tops are all fluffy and full just need to get a bit taller than that before they're close to being ready to pull. Potatoes are loonnng ways from being ready, although the purple ones might be ready sooner since they were the first to come up. The plant is floppy and not as green but that could be from not having it in a trench and filling it in properly that would support it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature finds a way. That pipe is what is left from a lamp (6 foot tall antique style lights they have around the complex) that used to be there and a seed from the surrounding plants found it's way into the opening to grow.  Second tomato seedling has sprouted, yay!  Will see if the third one makes a showing in the next week or so but if not, all good. That's all I have room for currently. 

Which reminds me to start some peppers as well. Raised bed, cauliflower and potatoes will be gone by summer, same with the onions. The carrots in the other bed will be gone in a few weeks, might plant peppers over there. If I start the hot pepper seeds now they'll be of a size to plant by the time it starts warming up reliably. Same with the sweet peppers like the green bell peppers or if I still have them, the small pepper seeds I culled from ones I bought in the store. 

Only thing missing is bulb onions, those will have to be for another year if ever. Such a long time and space commitment for those. 

 

Windy, cloudy day. Just going to be cloudy and windy until tomorrow. Blustery day you might say.

 

Rain is coming?

 Supposedly a 'big storm' is headed for SoCal, now that is a large area and we are far enough south I'm not counting on a lot of rain. Supposedly 100% chance of rain tomorrow and it is cool, high level layer of clouds today. Detailed report says 'periods of rain' with a possibility of ½ inch and only a 90% chance, so precipitation will happen sometime in the next 24 hours.

 That is the cloud cover about four hours ago, the clouds have smoothed out like cake frosting now. Or a painted ceiling depending on your imagery. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is growing fine in the garden with no help from me.  Cilantro is getting ready to flower and carrots are fluffy but still not big enough to harvest. I still have cilantro in the fridge. As much as I use that, I always overplant because it comes up everywhere anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Romaine was transplanted and only a bit wilted later in the day. The tomato transplant did not survive 24 hours but the other Roma has shot up like crazy. Just needed some warmer weather I guess and some more regular water. The potatoes are bounding up as well and am waiting for that purple plant to show signs of finishing up but that may be a while as well. The cauliflower...well, they should have been at this stage a month ago, oh well not counting on big beautiful heads on those this time.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tomato seedling, Thursday and today. Still nothing from the other two pods but that's okay, if that one survives I'll be fine with that since it's a beefsteak type it may be a bigger plant than the Roma. I doubt that, but will see what happens. Been moving it from the window to across the room at night because it's still nippy in the high 40's and low 50's in that window. If there's daylight, they're in the window even if it's overcast. 

Took a walk outside last night to stretch my legs and apparently there was a rocket launch on Valentine's Day. Can't see it but the trail does a loop behind that tree and then makes a hook further to the right. Stupid skyline blocked most of the full length. It was pretty cool though.

So not much happening, as usual. And then two hummingbirds do aerial battle outside my window as I typed that. 

I should probably toss a lot of the seeds I have that I'll never plant, like cantaloupe and peppers that I kept from fruit I bought at the store.... 2 or 3 years ago. Limited garden space, not going to experiment with large plants or germinate seeds I'll never use. Haven't had a chance to get to the library and see if they have anything new, will have to wait until next month for that.

Three years ago August  I had tomatoes in every bed. Wow. It also rained. Will have to take a picture after it rains from the same angle. 

 

 

Breezy, breezy

 Not much going on, flowers blooming, breeze is blowing what wispy clouds are drifting high up. Light sweater weather for sure, if you're in the shade definitely. Out in the sun, short sleeves if you're going to be moving a lot. Didn't get out to the garden today but that's fine, not much different really.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shaky hands make for blurry photos, sorry. Bird of Paradise and the rose in full bloom are what we've got right now. Someone in the garden group posted pictures of cosmos and red flax blooming and it made me wish for another bed to just have flowers in. 

 Oh and the iris in front of this apartment are the only ones blooming because allll the others in the complex that are scattered around were cut back a month ago. So they're only a few inches tall and won't bloom for at least another two months or more. Grrumble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the tomatoes is peeking out of the soil in that middle pod! The garlic, surprisingly is growing roots with regular water in the bottom of the container. The greens are rather weak and grey green but not looking for cloves, just looking for greens so might have something to cut by fall after it gets in the ground for the summer.

So it's a beautiful day, feel like taking a walk in the park, specifically would love to go walk around Balboa Park again but.... the city in it's shortfall of income decided they would start charging for parking. The system wasn't installed well, people are staying away in droves and does not bode well for revenue this summer. They've backed off fees on some lots but not all of them, this park has had free parking almost since it's inception. It is the city's people park. Unfortunately, public transit is not convenient to get there either. The zoo is there, several prominent museums, the main botanical building is there that was just completely renovated. It is a wonderful botanical park just for walking around and enjoying people and the buildings. It is being changed into a place where you can no longer just drive down and park, enjoy the canyons and gardens for a few hours.  People are protesting, not just regular people but mayors and city councils are being very vocal about this having an impact on everyone. 

So, there's that and it is free seniors month for the Safari Park but that is an hour drive away and they charge for parking, then there's the food. So that's another trip that is off our books this month. Such wonderful weather and, due to other circumstances, not convenient to be enjoying it strolling freely around.

There will be other days of course, I have my breeze coming in through the window, private planes are making the rounds at the airport and I can smell the hills in the distance (which were completely shrouded in fog this morning. I could only see maybe two houses away). 

Still loving the weather. 

Funky SoCal Spring Weather

 It is now overcast but in the 70's, weather app says it might rain tonight. Maybe a 40% chance so not worried about the garden since I just watered anyway. Can't count on the weather to do that these days.

 This was a few days ago, a few hazy clouds on the horizon and the day after that it was overcast like today but warmer. Almost like a blanket but breezy, so so odd weather.

And full open for the rose, again a day ago since I haven't had much in the way of pictures and updates on the garden. I'm always conflicted when I see roses in bloom, cut it off for me to enjoy personally or leave it for everyone else to enjoy. Then it turns out someone else is selfish and cuts it off for them. So that sort of settles my mind to leave flowers for others to enjoy in public spaces.

 

 

Mystery stalk identified, wayward onion that wasn't pulled last week and likely just the top had been snapped off when I pulled the other ones. No big deal but still trying to decide what to put in front of the carrots, if anything. Or what to put in that bed at all this summer. 

 

 

 I cleared out some of the weeds, the ground was too dry and hard to really pull things up by the roots but at least nothing will be going to seed this year. While stuffing the leaves into the bucket I noticed a seedling in the compost.... and yep. Another tomato. With it growing in the compost and in a bucket with little sun it is light green and a bit weak, so taking pity on it against the trellis it goes. If it survives that's great if not, there's three other seeds that are waiting to come up to take its place. 

I was going to transplant the Romaine and forgot because I got tired after watering, working up a sweat and all that.  Now on to the travesty and tragedy of gardening.

Someone felt the need to completely butcher this planter area. That stalk on the left was a nandina two feet taller than the stalk. There was spider plants and other ground cover in that bed and then there's the palm trees. They were trimmed back except for the center fronds, which is right but then yesterday they decided the smaller two just needed to have the center fronds cut back too. Such an absolute unnecessary travesty of gardening. Luckily they didn't cut too close to the center growth point but it is much too close for my comfort no matter. So now what. Wait for it all to grow back in like we're in the middle of Minnesota winter or something? Stupid stupid ugly ...... grrr.

BIG BREATH... not my circus, not my monkees. 

Circus you can walk away from, this is something I'll see every time I go to my car or take Rocky for a walk. Hard to ignore it.

Anyway. In  my small way of trying to reuse things I have a 2 dozen egg clear clamshell container that just happens to have cells big enough to fit the peat pods. Holds water, can be closed for greenhouse warmth and if need be, can be germinating up to 24 pods in one shot. Not that I have that much room for that much but it's useful no matter what. 

Breeze is picking up outside and the clouds are getting more dense. It might drizzle in the early morning hours but whatever. Yay for weather I guess? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful weather!

 Breezy windy, clear skies, mild temperatures...perfect spring weather! Just watered the garden so don't have to do that yet. Can smell the wild plants on the distant hills coming through on the breeze in the open window. Makes my heart kind of sing with this kind of weather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiffany opened up wonderfully so had to get a picture, blue skies courtesy of yesterday. Skies are more powder blue today but not a wisp of cloud in the sky. Weather says spring, trees say WINTER!

It's going to be summer weather by the time that cauliflower is big enough to harvest, same with the Romaine. Silly plants. Remembering my first crop of those plants and how proud I was of being so successful and yet here we are, every year is different. Looking back through photos, two years ago January I was growing potatoes in the raised bed as well along with peas on the trellis. A LOT of red potatoes. By March the Romaine was coming in strong and by May had sweet peas busting out all over. Having a journal like this and near permanent photo records is an amazing resource for gardening.

The single stalk in the front coming up, that's new. I thought maybe it was a garlic that had been eaten but looked back at other pictures and nothing was there before. Will have to get a closer look but it might be a carrot that got munched Mysteries in the garden for sure, will have to bruise it a little and do a smell test. I was walking Rocky so only got the quick look and pictures. 

Only been three days but still expecting those tomato seeds to start showing, what with being in a nice warm window all day.  I checked that other garlic bulb and it isn't completely scraped clean and the tops were starting to wilt. I put it the window in a small shallow container with some water, will see what happens.

Just feel very optimistic today with the good weather.