It's starting to warm up

 It got up to 96 today but not until afternoon, still a bit too toasty for this time of year. Which means I have to step up the watering schedule again. The raised bed heats up faster than the ground and gets more sun so it will need watering more often.

 Three-quarter moon yesterday afternoon, it was close to 5pm so moon had been up for a while and the sun was about to set in an hour. That's zoomed in 4x on my phone and of course still smaller than it looks to your eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another pair of carrots that should be thinned out but they're too close and in an awkward position to the front of the bed, will make a decision on pulling that back one tomorrow. I decided to dig up the purple potato and discovered, that was all there was. So technically there were three potatoes along with the other one I had almost cut in half and decided to throw out. Will have more patience with the other plants for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because that center one is huge so will have a staggered harvest, you can see all the empty space where the onions are missing, the Romaine is doing okay, that front one gets blasted by the sun this time of year and was seriously wilted. The one in the back gets shaded by the two potatoes, so pretty ideal for that. I have a huge open space in the front now but there's nothing to put in there yet. Oh yeah and I 'trimmed' back some more of the jade. Slowly breaking branches off and will do it around to the other side on the right just so it doesn't look tooo obvious.

The two tomato seedlings are very light green because essentially are growing in mostly shade. They're doing okay but I can't put them out in the garden without some protection and would have to check on them every day for watering. Will ask my partner if I can turn the stove hood light on and put them over there tonight.  It's going to be a very long while before the peppers start sprouting, they take so much longer than tomatoes. 10-20 days instead of the 7-10 days for tomatoes. With the warm weather here's hoping closer to ten days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes and decided on a lark to plant 1 lone yellow squash seed. I know my luck with those have been less than productive because you need more than one plant in the same row for better pollination. Might plant more than one and then gut the west bed (other than the garlic). Well not exactly gut, I trimmed back some of the oregano and by the time the squash is ready to plant the carrots will be done. That's still too small a bed for a squash plant though. 

So many plants, so little space to grow them! 

 

 

 

 

 

Have to post for seed planting

 I decided to plant three different pepper seeds today, given the spring like weather and possible warming trend. I also made use of a plastic egg carton that held 2 dozen eggs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Only planting four of each and first up are the Poblanos, which were a fail last time. Used a wood chopstick to push them down into the very wet peat pellet. I tried to use the faucet to get them all wet and it took two tries because the pocket only hold so much water and the pellets can take up twice that. So I double soaked all of them with some still holding water only.

Next is Jalapeño's which also were a minor fail, they never got up to size so am hopeful that I will have sufficient funds to get fertilizer by the time they need it.

Last is just some green bell peppers. All these seeds are at least two years old maybe older so if all four sprout then yay and I get to try and trade plants for something else in the garden group. I have two more pellets left. Oh the three at the top formerly held other seeds including I think rose seeds so it'll be interesting to see if anything comes up from that. The two left over I might put rose seeds in or something else.

Not that I have room for all of these but it's fun to grow things for the science and nurturing.

 Rocky spied the lizard on the wall before I did but he decided it wasn't worth the effort to chase. Or I was too close and he was annoyed by that. He almost caught another one, or that one when we were coming around that building from the other side. No successful hunt today. 

It was warm and sunnier earlier and technically I needed to get out and water. It's only 4pm right now so still time to do that and warm enough to boot. Got up to 85 today which was very much t-shirt weather and standing in the shade while he wandered around. 

Okay so off for watering. 

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.