Skipped a day and shouldn't have, another plant is put in.

 And the weather is back up to clear, sunny and warm. Warm as opposed to being skin baking hot, warm as in it may well get in the 80's for the next few days. Now what did I say about the weather changing? Predictable as usual when you have the experience of years in one area.

So, got out and watered, the tape is holding better but still a few small leaks but nothing like the previous issue. 

Pressure was definitely better but technically with a break that bad it needs to be cut and repaired. That tape is about six inches long and covers most of the damaged area. Leakage caused some lifting of the hose layers so the actual split is only about an inch or two.

When I watered the next thing that happens, as usual this time of year is.... small pepper specks with six legs.

Get to high ground!

The little specks (whose name shall not be mentioned to avoid their incursion in our living space) have taken advantage of the periodic dry ground and the time of year. I do hope I'm not causing them to go into the apartment next door. 

The garden area is looking decidedly different. I watered the former zucchini bed thoroughly as well and as I watered the front bed noticed a bean had been exposed. Tucked that back into the dirt and continued watering.

I should really find a rake and clean the pathway. Make it look a little cared for at least and maybe try and figure out a way of covering the path with bricks or stones or something. If it were my own property and house, it would be a bigger priority, I'm only renting so not my call. The zucchini bed is definitely going to be leafy stuff, lettuce, cilantro and things that like shadier areas. The tomato bed is going to be the beans if they ever come up, maybe radishes, peas later on, but first, it's going to get either terraced or leveled.

I know the reason why it's sloping away from the wall but that can also do with the fact that whoever had the bed before had the aloe and planter sitting there so only the front of the bed was used. There's an almost visible break point where the tilled ground meets the raw dirt. Watering really shows how the soil slopes and all the good compost just floats to the front. I will want to definitely terrace it minimally to keep water at the back but not so much that it creates an issue with water at the foundation. Not like having wood piled up does anything worse, right? I won't be watering every day nor will I be running the hose on it all the time either so there's minimal impact I think.

 The angle of the picture is exaggerating the slope but it is obvious that everything is washing to the front. That is an engineering thing that I'm not sure I have the strength or energy to accomplish. I want to try though. There are weeds and grass coming up close to the wall and I can't really do anything until the tomato and pepper are out of there. Then have to find a wide board or something to stand on in the bed while I did. Would be nice to finally get rid of that wood pile of course... sigh. The overall property slopes to the street.  Nothing flat about this, a very gentle slope of course but the front of the property is definitely lower. More on that project when it happens.

Now about that plant I mentioned. 

 Okay to the left of this bed is a bench then there's more planting bed, where the electrical box is, and more planting area. Remember the Norfolk Island Pine? Well in front of that is a small area that had some dutch Iris bulbs that are now done. What does the management decide to put there?

A Jade plant.

Sigh. It is going to get watered more than it should which means it is going to get big and overpower that box. Eventually. Honestly, 'oh this needs to go somewhere, let's put it here where the plants have died.' Not my circus, not my monkeys as they say. 

So other than that, weather heated up as I predicted and back to wearing shorts during the day and sweat pants before going to bed because it's getting down to the 60's at night.

Ah fickle Fall weather.

I did it, worked hard and ignored my previous plans.

 I decided I was tired of looking at the zucchini doing nothing so picked the last fruit, cut it down and ripped it out. I also cut the tomato bush back a lot. There was a LOT of greenwaste.

Two kitchen size bags stuffed with clippings of tomato on left and the entirety of the zucchini in the right. I also brought down the jar of soil/water from the tests I did months ago. Threw that on the compost pile. It was looking rather swampish and something you'd see from an underwater video from a murky river somewhere.

When I ripped out the zucchini one root just kept going and going...the picture on the right up above with the longer trail of dark dirt, that was the track the root left behind. This is the root that caused it.

It's about 18-20 inches long, the small green leaves are the stem it was attached to. It was running basically in the same direction as the plant was grown, nice shady soil that stayed moist. There will be a lot of digging with the cultivator to pull most of those remaining roots out. Nothing like the plant helping you cultivate.

Now as far as the tomato is concerned. That is just pumping out leaves and flowers at the tips so I got tired of seeing that, trimmed out the bottom and shifted some of the branches with tomatoes on them to be more exposed. About 4 or 5 small tomatoes on there right now and I really really should get some fertilizer because I don't think they're going to get much bigger at this rate. I will likely pull up the pepper plant tomorrow or in the next few days.

Taped up the hose more and it didn't appear to be leaking when I used the hose, but I didn't use a lot of pressure either so will see day after tomorrow what it does. The weather still holds with overcast and in the 70's, slightly breezy but I worked up a sweat not having worked that hard in a long time so I'm pooped and likely will get a nap. I've got a headache now, probably from wearing pants that are too tight and causing pressure issues. Gonna be an interesting day.

So now I need to wait for the pintos to come up and see what they do. Anything in the legume family are 'nitrogen fixers' helping the bacteria in the soil feed the beans and in turn the plant provides carbohydrates to the bacteria. This isn't just a one shot and toss the plant, this only works if you chop up the plant and cultivate it back into the soil. Now if it was done right they need to be coated with a specific innoculant rhizobacteria but considering I didn't have that or do that, will see what happens when they get fertilized. Wrong time of year to be planting but as I pointed out, San Diego does not follow the usual weather patterns of the rest of the country.

So a lot of 'do as I say not as I do' following a gardener with insufficient supplies and energy. Anywho, now planning on what to put in the zucchini bed other than the three small patches of beans. I put the trowel in that bed just to let people know it's mine. Need to get a sign that has 'Pat's Garden #36' (my apt mumber). I staked my claim and it's still mine even if there isn't anything in it.

So, what to do... till it under with compost and organic fertilizer and wait until spring or do that and grow something. With the way the numbers were in both beds they really need to get boosters of nutrients before anything else goes in...oops already put beans in, oh well. I'm soo bad at following my own advice.

Flowers and bulbs need to be in a location that is appreciated by more than just me. The problem is not wanting to haul dirt and planter up the stairs. Have to see if there's a spot I can put a pot for bulbs that will be appreciated by everyone.

 

Okay lunch time again. Feed body and soul to keep the mind going.

Cloud cover continues, a leak is sort of fixed.

 It's grey and overcast, I actually put on long pants and my henley style hawaiian shirt that is heavier fabric. From what I have seen this weather may continue for another few days. Fantastic! I watered the spots where I put the beans and tried to repair the hole in the hose.

Need more tape!

The zucchini has not made much progress, maybe another few days. Once that fruit is picked those plants are coming out for sure. Get chopped up for compost and thrown on the heap. 

Pretty much done for the season. Same with the tomato and pepper, so likely sometime in October I will be hauling it all up and actually will toss the zucchini plants in the trash, not going to perpetuate that mildew.

I needed the tape so went to HD to get that and look at selections of fertilizers. I knew what they carried but needed to confirm just what would be involved. Barring the 'all purpose' MG fertilizer that is 15-15-15 that I would need to put on every week or so religiously by water, I would need three other organic fertilizers plus compost to really invigorate the beds. They had blood and bone meal (nitrogen and phosphorus) and, if I wanted, toss in some Epsom Salts...yessir magnesium and sulfur right there is great for your garden. So it would cost me about $30 in supplies to get my soil charged up and healthy. Minimum. That is money I need to spend on some needed clothing right now and bills. My EDD payment went through and it is roughly half of what I was getting before due to Pandemic extra dropping off. Plenty of money for food so we will survive.

Gardening is not cheap nor a lazy persons hobby. 

Oh I also saw that bulbs were in. I'm a sucker for bulbs but will not put them in the dirt we have here. Nope, no way no how. They deserve better than that and that means growing in a container on the front porch... sigh. Or not grow them at all...again.

Anyway,  I know from experience that with this cool weather in our area if the wind comes up the clouds will leave and be back to warm sunny days. Next couple of weeks if we're on track from previous years. It's always been warm in October around Halloween, didn't used to be that way but being So. Cal, it's rarely ever rained on Halloween. Cold weather usually does not set in for us until Late December or January. I made the statement years ago that at this rate, we need to change the season start and end dates so Winter starts in October or November and goes till February.

Weather is very fickle for sure, and even as I look out the window the leaves are moving in the breeze just enough that my experience says it will build overnight and we may have clear weather midweek. Will let you know if my 'farmers almanac' brain predicted correctly.

I fibbed to myself and the weather is glorious right now!

It is currently noon and there is still cloud cover keeping the temperature down to a lovely 72 degrees. Still wearing shorts and a slightly heavier Hawaiian shirt but am comfortable. This could change by tomorrow but for now we will enjoy.

Got out to the garden and picked a few more tiny peppers, tomatoes are not making much progress and will wait for another day or two for the zucchini. Forgot to leave the peppers on the table, oh well.

 

The zucchini looks like a tube balloon, just waiting for it to fill completely to the end. The size is right but still want it to look uniform. Nothing else looks promising on either bush except for more mildew. Can you see the absence of a shadow? Yep totally overcast so it's bright light but no direct sun.

 

I was looking at the bare spots and thought, 'what the heck, going to throw some of the beans in the ground, worst thing that could happen is they won't grow.' I didn't pre soak like you're supposed to, used a stick to make a hole and put three in the holes I made. Then covered them up, didn't water because I didn't want to use the hose just for that.

 

Only AFTER I put them in the ground did I look up to see how big they are. Guess what? They're a bush bean! Fantastic! Only get maybe two feet tall so this is perfect if they grow at all. Will water them in tomorrow and maybe soak some tonight. I put five or six behind the zucchini and about nine in the pepper bed, two holes behind and one to the front. Beans grow fast, that's why I took a chance to try them out and why so many plant/botany lessons in grade school use them. Radishes too but no kid actually likes radishes. I like them to a point actually, my dad used to slice them and put them in a salad.

See the grass/weeds coming up close to the wall? That happens when you water a spot that has had little to know water at all for four months.

 

So I did mention it was also fungus season, an other organism that grows quickly and here's another picture of the ones from yesterday.

 

 

Might use that for some practice sketching. So wonderful weather to take a walk, go have some Italian food from down the street and enjoy the weather..did I say that already?
 

It rained! Moisture and noise from the sky!

 We got a small thunderstorm yesterday about mid afternoon. It was Wonderful! Saw the clouds coming in, wind picked up, heard the thunder... only lasted about two hours and then it was gone. Sadness. No torrential rain, gentle rain that got things wet but nothing in my location that caused issues. No pictures because I was preoccupied with enjoying the change. Temperature was in the low 80's high 70's so could still wear shorts. I miss it already.

So, as a result of not going to the garden yesterday I didn't post. I am about ready to yank the pepper bush and start digging that bed. I have one zucchini coming on and then I think that will be pulled too.

End of season

Full shade by 10 am

Despite there being another two coming on, I'm done with the zucchini. Will likely pick that last one tomorrow. I harvested a double handful of small jalapenos and threw them on the patio table. Told the one landscaper they were there. Hopefully better luck next time. Not too thrilled with the tomatoes right now either. Still small and not going to expect them to ripen any time soon. The bush is mostly greenery and getting just a touch of mildew so I think everything is going in the next week or so.

You can see in the first picture how much room there is already after moving the planter box and aloe. That is all hard dirt. The darker area behind the plants is where I dug it up and watered it two days ago. The front side I chewed up with the trowel to loosen it up and discovered some fine hair roots.

 It's just close enough to the pepper that I figured they were from there. Not going to stress about it honestly, and as they break down it adds a little to the soil. They won't regrow, peppers don't work that way. But it also shows that there's no good size roots spreading out, those are all feeder roots looking for water and nutrients. Which is why it wilted so quickly. Deep water, deep roots.

I have the pinto beans and the bell peppers but, as I've said before, it's likely too late for those and I really really need to amend the bed with more fertilizer and compost first. If I'm here for another year or two that can turn into some really nice soil.  

There are fungus among us as well in the grass! 

 

No he wasn't eating or even paying attention to them. I noticed them and they are likely feeding off the old roots from bushes that were cut down ages ago. That's what they do. More about that later. Lunchtime now and need to get out into the much more enjoyable weather while it lasts.

Wondering, inventive trellis and birds.

 Still wondering if I should just pull up the zucchini. Almost pulled the small one but it is still clear and hot so will put that off for a while. It is currently 82 and therefore not conducive to great strenuous activity outdoors.

One zucchini but more coming.

 I was also considering turning the compost pile over as well. It's got enough to do it but again, see note above. Also would rather have something to put it in rather than just leaving it in the ground. That involves money I do not want to spend at the moment.

#composting

Gardening is only as successful as how much work you're willing to put out. So my success tells me that I am an inherently lazy gardener. I just want it to do it's thing on it's own without much input from me. Well that may work in the Northwest but not down here in the desert. Someday.

So the #tomatoes are still hanging in there, literally. It is trying to lean over into the pathway and I had to prop it up with the stake the other day and turn a few branches back to the main bush.

#tomatoes

 

 

#jalapenos

 

Those are only about an inch long or less. Some other ones were turning dark on the shoulders so I think I am going to have to pick them all and put them on the table. I thought I would be using them for salsa every week but my salsa mojo is not what it used to be and the last two batches were bitter. Not sure why.

So also a good shot of the rest of the bed now that the aloe and planter are no longer there and you can see the staining from the dirt spashes over the decades. I tried to see if it would wash off but it is permanently stained from the red iron rich soil. Oh and there is still a lizard that is living in the woodpile, I startled it the other day when I threw one of the logs back at the pile. Sorry dud(ette).

I picked up the small logs that I was using to keep the cats out to rep for refreshing the bed. This bed is about 3 feet deep and four feet wide. Plenty of room for whatever I need but you can see the greenhouse window from the apartment and if I decided to put something like beans or peas there I would need to be diligent in keeping it under control. Bush beans or peas?

 Someone left quarter of a bag of pinto beans on the table. I thought, 'who the heck uses that few beans?' Then it hit me... free seeds! Snag. Beans are so easy to grow and given our growing weather I could throw them in the ground now and may well have beans by Christmas. Have to arrange a string and post kind of trellis. Maybe only grow three or four seeds  due to the space. IF you have no grand expectations in a garden you will be constantly surprised at how well things grow.

Speaking of string, one of the residents has very healthy and happy Creeping Charlies on their porch.

That is one of the most healthy and abundant plants I've seen, well two plants actually but note how they are getting it to climb? Tying it up with string to three windchimes. It does have a very apt name if it were on the ground somewhere it could take over much like spider plants.

  I mentioned that it is now Fall and the Phoebes are back, I've found a few signs of where they perch for the night.

Good thing we don't use this.

Where they perch.

 

There is also a piece of sidewalk that has signs as well hey, maybe I should scrape it off and throw it in the garden for fertilizer?! Ha! Seriously, where do you think chicken manure comes from?

 So doldrums of late summer and signs of Fall but not breaking the pants out just yet, dress for the weather not the calendar. Shorts and t-shirt it is until further indications tell me otherwise. Have to lose weight too, I don't fit in my current store of pants anymore.

 

It's hot again, stupid weather, stupid zucchini.

 I didn't go to the garden at all yesterday as it got close to 100 by midday which means it was in the high 80's in the morning. We got food, a trip to the store and we were done for the day. Also not taking Rocky out because of issues with his feet. So got there this morning, landscaping was being watered so good timing and did some puttering around.

Dirt is actually not that pink.

Still a few small tomatoes trying to grow but frankly not sure if I have the patience anymore. Just threw out two that I didn't use from a month ago. I'll be putting any more harvest on the patio table for others. I was trying to pollinate another zucchini flower and in the process, snapped it off. The one with the stem is the male flower, so no hope on that one unfortunately.

This is the one I pollinated two days ago and it still looking good. You can tell when they're ready to be picked not only by size but when they go from being upright to laying over. Same thing with the peppers. The plant is looking wilty for sure but the fruit are supposed to hang down when they're ripening. I had thought I took a picture of the peppers but guess not, not a memory thing but using phone one handed and thumb didn't actually hit the button.

 

 

 

 

 Then there's the amount of mildew on the zucchini bushes. That picture was taken around 10 am and the bed is already in full shade. I'm going to try and get out there earlier to see if it gets any sun in the morning but I can tell by the wall and angle that likely not. Soon to be a lettuce patch for sure.

One thing I didn't post about was cleaning out the planter box that I moved. After dumping it out I saw that whoever had used it, had taken the tray off the bottom and put it inside. I guess that works for holding more water but not what I would want to do.

 The bottom is cracked roughly where the white splotches are. Gee more drainage, excellent! Apparently they didn't think so and put the tray on the inside. Not a big deal really and will have to get some potting soil if I want to use it. Even if I didn't plant directly in it, I can still use it to put small peat pots in it for seedlings. Still way hot to do that so another project for another day.

I chewed up the dirt behind the pepper plant more and watered the heck out of it. Soaked it really really well so it's easier to work. Still going to be a lot of digging but I need the exercise and am still wondering if I should just pull up the zucchini now to work that bed sooner since it's in the shade now and getting more mildew than I'm comfortable with. I might consider growing it again next year but would still have the same problems with not enough room in the kitchen to cook what I want. 

For records sake we should be in this apartment for a minimum of three years. We've already been here a little over a year. Why, do you ask, am I bringing this up? Because for gardening purposes that is a good gauge on what a garden does over a period of time. Second, it is the minimum amount of time that landlords and lenders want to see someone living at.

Because I still want to have my own little piece of land with a house on it something like this:

 

It's working! Also, a start for next season.

 Today was kind of bass ackwards, we decided to go to Denny's for breakfast so got out of the house early. I came back and because Rocky was still napping I went out to the garden to check on things. Zucchini is still looking good and had to prop up the tomato plant a bit more.

Question was, should I pick it now or tomorrow? I decided to wait until tomorrow.  Crumpled flower on the right is the next one that I pollinated yesterday. I picked the big open flower thinking to save the pollen but then just chucked it on the compost pile. Since I watered yesterday everything was looking good still. So having brought my gloves with me I decided it was time to move the aloe and abandoned planter. I just might commandeer the planter to put on the front porch to grow seedlings.

After moving them I decided to pull the aloe (that sucker was heavy!) on the other side of the log pile at the end. Gave me a little more room to move so I could dig the rest of the dirt.

I didn't take any pictures because I wore myself out digging. The dirt there likely hasn't been dug at all. Shovel only went in maybe two or three inches depending on where I put it. The darker part of the wall is likely dirt splash stains. I did discover a larger root, slightly smaller than the diameter of a pencil that was not part of the tomato or the aloe (which did have some tiny roots connecting to the dirt). So got the shovel and dug around a bit. Going to have to wet that all down and really do some digging when the other two plants are done if I want to utilize the whole bed. Or at least put a trelles there for peas.

As for the other bed, depending on how long the zucchini hold out, given the increase in mildew and the smaller one declining, still deciding what to do over there. Other than that, it is MUCH cooler today, I had to actually put pants on to go to breakfast! I have gained a bit of weight sadly so that means I need to do some more exercise. Walking around the block every day when I can. Right now my left foot is recovering from a violent encounter with the bed post three days ago. Walking not so steady right now and trying to use the shovel with my right foot was not good either.

Gardening is good exercise if you do something strenuous for an extended time. Like digging, raking, hoeing and all that. Just watch your back, literally in the sense of watch your posture, use your legs when lifting or shifting something and if you know you're going to be doing a lot of stretching and bending and lifting, believe it or not, stretch your muscles before hand. I never do because I don't do that much but right now I can feel the muscles in my lower back feeling used. Not painful but my legs are also feeling the same way. Not bad, it's in a good way so didn't hurt anything.

I've been trying to notice gardens, trees, plants whenever I go out because it is a change of seasons now and some trees are either putting out seeds or fruit or flowers. One branch on one of the liquidambar trees was starting to change color. One smaller branch. Of all the trees that's the only one. Those trees are so weird. They are the only tree we have that gives us 'fall color' like other places have. 

Where I grew up we never saw anything that looked like fall. You know the decorations classrooms get, the orange and yellow leaves.. I never understood why. It was just what you did in the fall. It's utterly stupid really that a southern California school that has no maple trees or even, at the time, liquidambar trees that change color would have that. We had to draw a 'fall leaf' all the time. Thought it was just a symbol or something. 

When I got older and learned that there are trees elsewhere in the country that did change color in the fall it finally connected but still didn't make any sense. It wasn't until I was able to go to Massachusets in October to see my first grandson that I saw fall color in person. Pumpkins and an old wagon in someone's front yard with a sign 'pumpkins and gourds for sale', a huge dairy farm in the distance and honest to dirt maple trees turning color. It finally clicked for me and realized that all the symbology of fall is a carry over from people who lived back east and brought that with them west. Or south. 

Our weather, soil and temperatures are not conducive for a lot of plants that are native or thrive in colder climates.  When I worked at the nursery and we got Japanese maples in we would have to school people on how to take care of them so they would have leaves all the way through to fall. You see, they hate our alkaline water and that was all we had to water them with so, as a result, by October the leaves would be turning brown from the tips and by November be dry and dirt brown, falling off. We would tell them that they need to have more acidic soil, feed them cottonseed meal and all the ways to get the most out of them. 9 out of 10 would come back in six months (we would get them in the spring/winter) and ask why they weren't looking good, leaves were burning yada yada. 

So anyway, it's starting to feel like Fall finally. Love it!