And 'definition of space' was done

 But first the weather. Right now, clear and breezy, supposed to be an 18% chance of rain by tomorrow morning. Which means .... practically zero. Temperatures are fine got rather windy earlier today which means there are clouds moving in some time in the next 24 hours.

These were clouds from earlier today, beautiful white puffy against an amazing blue sky. The green of the trees set it off nicely, love that combo.

Tomatoes are popping! They're about the size of a large pea at this point and the branches aren't nearly strong enough to hold up a full size ripe tomato.  The shape at least tracks with a Roma, like there was any doubt of it's parentage.

So. This apparently happened day before yesterday. I am assuming it was one of the gardeners because rake marks were all over and it was very thorough. 'Definition of space' as I heard it called in gardening areas and public space.  They even got between the raised bed and the jade plant as well as behind the raised bed as far as they could get at least. Someone has issues with weeds apparently, wondering if someone complained about bugs biting them or saw a lizard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything not in the boundary of the beds was cleaned out. All that's left is dusty soil half inch thick on the surface. This is ecologically, bad news because the plants were keeping the area cool and the soil intact, it also increases the reflected heat midday. I will ask the manager and see if she knows about it, not going to be angry just letting her know that I noticed and it was rather jarring. The owners of the complex never ever make an appearance so the only thing I can think of is pest control. Oh well. It needs bark or sharp gravel now to keep the dust and mud down for sure. It did give me the impetus to clean up the compost bucket corner, took some trash away and neatened up the corner with the cages. They were hiding behind the tall weeds so wasn't that visible to me at least.

Hard to get a good picture in my small space but here's the four remaining peppers and the two cucumbers coming up. I'm keeping them in the west kitchen window most of the day unless it is blistering hot so usually about 3 or 4pm is when I opt to take them to the other side of the room and cool down. Still no more than two or three inches tall so a few weeks at least before they're big enough to transplant. Waffling on where to put the cucumbers. At least one on the trellis for sure but how to keep the other off the ground. If I put both of them together like I did the tomatoes, that's going to be a riot of vines on the trellis and not a good idea. I can try and work something out in the west bed with the two poles and chicken wire maybe? South bed gets too much shade for sure otherwise I'd lean them on the wall with chicken wire between them. Will see what I come up with.

Watered thoroughly of course, probably need to do it every other day now given how fast everything dries out. If rain happens in the next 24 hours, it won't be anything amazing so not worried about mud on the pathway. Oh apparently one of the newer residents who speaks zero english was puttering around in Dolores' area. I was out with Rocky and managed to herd him that direction and tried to ask her if Dolores said she could use her soil, that conversation went nowhere and she acted like that was her soil she was using. Not my garden, not my flowers. Have at it whatever you do lady. She lives downstairs across from our building and has no garden space whatsoever but is trying to put things in pots near their front door. 

Anyway, that's all for today and maybe this week, who knows. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cucumbers are up, peppers are as well

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rose is blooming nicely also, about the only thing that seems to be at this point. Well the jasmine is starting to bloom and bud so it will be smelling lovely very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterflies and lizards oh my! I was winged by that Mourning Cloak that was flitting around the lawn area. Saw three of them having a battle today as well, soon the tips of the tree branches will be inundated by caterpillars. Rocky spied the lizard on the tree but it moved too fast and he knew it was a lost cause, wasn't happy but he walked away. So it's lizard season again, the adults are out and sunning themselves which means there will be babies in another month.

 Two cucumbers are up! The photos are about two days apart with the lower one taken today. Whoever gets big enough first, gets first crack at the trellis. I know I'm supposed to wait and transplant them when they're three or four inches but so far, the other peppers are still holding strong. Need to water today or tomorrow for sure though.

Almost cool breeze coming through right now, supposed to rain, possibly, maybe in a week.... right. Will have to water and wash my car to guarantee that event.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently Layla got out and loosened up her soil. for whatever reason. I know I loosened up my south bed but am waiting to put some onions in which may happen tomorrow or Sunday. I don't even think she uses the cilantro/coriander. I need to find the ground coriander in the spice section of the store and see what they're charging for it.  Too late in the season for actual cilantro so have to buy that for the next three months. 

At least tomato prices will come down soon, about the time I have tomatoes! That was taken two days ago so it's twice as bit and another behind it as well. Yay for tomatoes! Even if the plant is a bit weak and not big enough. Food is coming, hopefully. 

 

Still alive and thriving

 So the weather has been pleasant enough, supposed to cool down next week and possibly rain. Right. Only if I decide to wash the car or water the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annd blogger photos works again! Must have been the OS update from yesterday it needed. So first up is the Tiffany/Pink rose that's blooming. I finally got my clippers and trimmed off the old flowers on all the bushes a few days ago. The Angel Face has survived but it's so old and maltreated it's going to be a while before a flower shows up, if it does flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The seedlings have survived and seem to be weathering the full sun just fine. The onions on the other hand... not so much. Oh and when I was shifting soil around I uncovered a potato briefly but immediately piled as much soil under the plant and on top of the baby spuds as possible.  Hard to make a 'tower' of dirt when there's nothing around to hold it in place.

I thought I took a picture of the west bed but don't see it. After I watered I used the trowel and moved the muck around. Muck it was really, barely any organic matter in the soil so it was mud. Easy to break up after it's dried a bit but that bed seriously needs some compost that's more organic forest products than decayed kitchen scraps. Still working on getting to the store for fertilizer and a small bag of soil.

So short post, will see what goes in and on this month. 

 

 

Changing of the garden

It's been warm, almost hot but kind of cloudy. Today it's perfectly clear but was cloudy and chill overnight so only getting into the high 70's today thankfully. Will definitely need to water again today, top inch of soil is bone dry.

 But first, a lovely picture of the trumpet flowers for the post icon because the rest of the photos are not very photogenic.

Rocky wasn't cooperating yesterday so I grabbed the little glass with two onions growing in it and headed to the garden. What greeted me in the raised bed was disturbing. One of the smaller potatoes (the one laying on the ground) was looking wilted and absolutely done. Okay yank it out and only four small potatoes in as many sizes. Gloves for reference and you can see how dry the soil is as well. I may have to pull up the other two plants also at this rate. They need more soil protection and moisture not to mention a deeper bed to support the stem. Oh well, try again next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All that's left. I cut the last cauliflower yesterday as well and that is already broken into pieces in the fridge then pulled the stump and leaves. Just the tomatoes, the last potato, two onions and that's it for that bed. A least until I plant the peppers that are almost ready. Might do that this evening when it's cooler and the soil will be wet again. Lots of room for four peppers for sure. I did get a chance to swing by the library and check their seed stash, not a big selection unfortunately. Green tomatillos some bell peppers and other veggies that I won't eat so I had to pass on those. HD always has the same companies because they aren't an actual nursery so might have to drive the ten minutes east to see what Armstrong has.

 

Bought garlic at the store and as I was separating them discovered one that was starting to sprout so brought that down with the onions and plopped it at the back. If it grows it grows, there's still plenty of room in that bed for at least three peppers.

 Tomato definitely needs some fertilizer. My money situation is always in flux so thought 

I had enough for a bag the other day but .... bills. So probably not this month again.

That potato is looking so sad, way too soon for it to have any sizeable spuds so the inconsistent watering and lack of fertilizer is doing a number on them for sure. I will probably wait until the end of summer and plant the babies that I pulled up yesterday. 

Still waiting for the cucumber seeds to come up, trying to keep them watered as well so if or when they come up, will have to make a decision on the trellis space.

All good with sunny weather ahead. 

 

 

 

 

A bit more cooling

 Not too much really but still not getting into the 80's so don't need to run the AC for the last day or two. Just warm enough and yet slightly overcast to make for pleasant garden weather.

Near perfect picture of the season tree in full leaf now. Skies dotted and smeared with wisps of clouds, bit of a breeze almost wind which portends a change in the weather of course.

Pulled the last of the carrots and three were keepers out of the four, I wasn't going to leave one lone carrot in the bed so pulled that and tossed it on the compost bucket. Gave the carrots to one of the ladies that knows I do the gardening that happened to be walking in my direction. So that bed is now mostly 'empty' other than the garlic and oregano. Plenty of room for at least three if not four peppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to get a good visual of how big the cauliflower is now. At lest 5 or 6 inches across since my hand is about four inches wide.

I had left it open overnight and noticed it was yellowing again so tied it up to blanch it a bit more. Again, you can see in the background the sorry state of the potato plant and yes, the soil is incredibly dry and I did water thoroughly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More flowers on the Roma and one, possibly more are fruiting. It's still way too small compared to other years for fruiting but will take what I can this time. It certainly does look like it needs fertilizer and will try and get some soon.

 After watering thoroughly, using the cultivator to see how far down the water went. Sure enough, after creating a lake three times in the raised bed and the west bed, it had only soaked he top half inch. I know it would soak further down overnight but the more water in there the better. The potatoes are really looking ragged and I'm not holding out any hope of having a bumper crop of spuds this year. I just don't have the depth to be able to grow them properly. I'd love to try and get one of those potato bags to grow in or a taller laundry basket kind of thing. I have the chicken wire but it needs poles to be stable as an upright container and likely pounded into the ground. Would rather have something like the crate but way taller.

But yeah, that tomato is looking awfully spindly like it's growing in the shade or something. I was looking to find a potato grow bag but they are all being sold in multiples and for half the price I'll get a bag of fertilizer. 

 

Cool down period

 it has been overcast with high cloud cover all day today and yesterday, supposed to have a chance of rain tomorrow. Maybe I should have gone out and watered a little to really bring it on. Still having issues with the photo window feed so not likely to have any photos for a bit. Have no idea why it's happening, help forums are useless and nothing more recent than a few years ago. SIGH! I have to download the photos from google to my computer in order to upload them here. Very inconvenient.

Before and after opening the cauliflower tent. It's gotten huge! Bigger than the palm of my hand for sure, will probably be doing cauliflower and carrot chopping sometime soon. I did notice that the flower is more white than yellow with it protected by the leaves, so the blanching works of course.

 

Not sure how high a mound it will be but it's definitely bigger than the other two I picked too early. I am probably going to put this one on the table for other people to take. Just so silly for me to grow a vegetable if I'm not going to eat it. I think at the end of summer I'm going to try and clean out my seed cache and get seeds I'll actually use.

And speaking of using seeds. I culled out the four that were not growing and the other three bean seeds that were not doing anything. I hydrated two more pods and planted 2 cucumber seeds in each, will see how that goes. The little glass holds onother pod with the stem of thyme I pinched off Layla's plant. It's been sitting in just water for a few days so I decided might as well put it in one of the pods and keep it moist that way so if it grows roots, it's ready to go. I want it grown enough that it will look like I bought it or was given it by someone. 

As for the peppers, the two tallest ones seem to have similar true leaves. A little more round then the other ones but it really isn't a good indicator of variety with peppers. 

The Romaine was starting to stretch out a bit so I just decided to pull both of them and strip the leaves. Will try again in the winter for a better crop. The potatoes are starting to look a bit ragged as well and I know it's much too soon to pull them. Will have to wait until they are completely yellowed down and dying.  

If it doesn't rain tomorrow will have to water for sure. I have to do grocery shopping tomorrow and for the first time in four or more months I am going to have to buy cilantro. Much too late to toss seed out with the summer coming up so that will have to wait until November. Give me enough time to find some leaf lettuce seeds as well as more mixed lettuce and maybe some radishes.

A few more carrots to go before the west bed is cleared out. Then that will be ready for the peppers, and if the cucumbers come up I'll try and put those on the trellis between the tomatoes. Hope there's enough room, might be able to get some fertilizer this month too!

That's all for now, not sure how much longer I'll be able to use Blogger if it keeps screwing up like this.  

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.