Finally had to water.

 Mild Santa Ana winds today and tomorrow. My sinuses already detected it two days ago when I started randomly sneezing. Very windy right now enough so it blew a lightly framed poster off my bedroom wall. Has blown the bedroom door shut three times before I found a door stop that worked (half balled up sock).

 

Basically the same as the last few days, Rocky getting a bit bolder and has taken a stroll through the garden for the third day in a row. I kind of have to herd him there if I need to check things. Today I needed more cilantro for a recipe so was able to grab some from the west and south bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato is about ten inches tall now, so glad I figured out the cattle/hog fence spacing is 4 inches. The potatoes are a bit floppy, especially after I watered them for ten or fifteen minutes (soil was very dry and had to stop and dig around to open up holes for the water to penetrate deeper than half an inch). Technically the potatoes need to have their own mounds around them but not happening obviously. They'll make enough potatoes for two of us for sure. As much as I'd like to dig around I know those plants need to be MUCH bigger because those are all Russets. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still no sign of a flower cluster on that front cauliflower and the other two are doing good. The back one seems to have a hole in the middle like the flower branches didn't form there. Would have to get my face right down in there to double check and bending over is not happening as much right now. Nothing wrong with  my back but can't bend over for long periods without getting dizzy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checked the carrots as best I could again, bending over and low down like that is not an easy feat. Ripped off some of the cilantro leaves on those plants for dinner today, even pulling up a small plant oh well. The garlic is hanging in there, will know what kind of bulbs I have in another two or three months. The oregano, tempted to take my garden knife and just cut through it like a cake to get some more room. It's a nice ground cover for sure but won't see the flowers until around June, which is nice for pollinators I suppose. Going to have to recommend that to the garden group if anyone wants a medium spreading 'edible' ground cover.

The roses are still blooming just forgot to take a picture or two. Still no pepper seedlings or even the squash showing up yet. I separated the two tomatoes from the rest of the pods because Rocky was havin to navigate around the huge tray and I felt like I was infringing on his territory. So at least the tomatoes are getting more sun, the unsprouted seeds don't need it as much. 

Hope to have some carrots soon, maybe by next week I'll pull the largest one. 

 

 

Very warm then it cools down

 (This post was started on March 1 when it was in the low 90's) Breezy but it's a warm breeze that doesn't bring any relief. Have not started the AC yet because it cools down sufficiently at night so interior of apartment is cool without extra help other than fans.  Did have to close the bedroom window because hooboy that air coming in was warm.

Mild breezy weather for the next few days (as of Mar 4).  Started out rather overcast this morning and had to put an extra blanket on my side of the bed last night.  

I think I have a lawn growing. I'm not going to bother scraping or hoeing it because in a matter of a few months it will be brown and dead. If it connects from the middle to the raised bed, then I may well do something. Right now it's good for having a lush oxygen producing ground cover. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roses are blooming and have no idea what the names are. I want to say the pink and white is Paradise but am most likely wrong. Anyone's guess on the yellow is good, there's so many.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for my garden, the cilantro continues to grow and I may well be pulling them out, I still have two bundles in the fridge. The carrots are still not quite there, waiting for the bases to gain a bit more girth and the tops to grow just a bit taller. I planted them somewhere around the beginning of January and it's 65-75 days to maturity. It's been about 60 some days, or less considering February is two days shorter. So will see what the one with the coloring at the base looks like in another week. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cauliflower is blooming! Two of them at least, the one in front is a bit younger/slower so nothing there yet. Now, have to see if the weather cooperates and they form a head bigger than a softball. This variety is supposed to do well in higher temperatures so wills ee what happens. It's still getting chewed but not worried about it. Kind of surprised me but then I haven't been out there diligently checking on anything for a couple of days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two different days and times, late afternoon three days ago and about noon today. Tomato is about eight inches tall now, still looking a bit spindly and not really surprising since I haven't fertilized since December or before. The seedlings in the peat pots, well it'll be a while before they're big enough to plant out. Still looking a bit weak and really need to get them more sun. I would have to set an alarm to go out and cover them or something. Still too small to be in full full sun and be planted out. Don't have anything like shade cloth or even cheese cloth to cover them. The plastic containers I have would bake them and possibly shrivel in high heat... will figure out something.

I soaked then then separated two rose hips from the small pink flower bush again. Not sure how viable they are and have to put them in a completely separate container because the veggies have all been jumbled up I don't want to take a chance. I have them in a small tupperware type container that I had three peat pods in before, just hanging out in the warm window today.

Breezy and mild, perfect gardening weather. 

 

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.