After the rains, a little clean up and nostalgic weeds.

 First off, the tree...you know the one... the pine in the barrel...

Well it's supported

Not sure who did it but they just finally up and busted what was left of the barrel and leaned the tree against the post. It really doesn't have that much of a root ball given it's size. If I had the money I would buy a new pot for it and put it out there.

The piles of leaves are still in two spots but Rocky was able to follow the path I made for him to get through. Silly kitty.  I finished his walk then went back to check on the garden. Didn't take a picture of the tomato darn it and didn't bring any of my tools. The main branch has grown about 18 inches out of the cage but I tucked in a side branch that was still short and soft enough to bend. The compost pile is composting and the winter plants are growing from seeds and roots from the summer.

Compost stuff

'Weeds'

The one labeled 'Weeds' I have some things to say about. A lot of people see both of the plants in that picture and say 'dandelions' but in actuality the only dandelion is the flat looking on on the left. All the others are actually 'prickly lettuce' and the original ancestor of our modern hybrid lettuces. They get some really cool shaped leaves (the arrow shaped ones next to the dandelion) and then it matures and gets bigger leaves on a tall stalk. They do have a similar looking flower to dandelions but that is the only similarity. Both are edible when picked when they are young. If I choose to let that larger lettuce or the one in the corner get big enough I'll take a picture of it. 

Years ago I was driving on a semi backroad through one of our canyons and there was an asian lady bent over, digging up the tall mustard plants by the side of the road. Oh yes we get wild mustard here as well and it isn't exactly the same as your typical mustard but the greens are still edible. We also get wild fennel along the roads and in the canyons, and sometimes we get what I discovered years later was wild radish. They have lavender, white or pale yellow colored flowers and I distinctly remember pulling one up one time and smelling it. It smelled like a radish by golly so I brought it to my mom and she said no we can't eat that we don't know for sure it's a radish. But... at the time I thought I knew I was right. I have a book on picking wild greens somewhere in my storage collection but here's a picture to confirm it.

Rhaphanus raphanistrum

So it is labeled as a noxious weed in some places and when I was growing up it and the mustard pretty much dominated the two lots flanking our driveway. The leaves, seeds and the roots are edible and again I know because I bit into one of the green seedpods and they were very peppery flavored.

An other noxious weed that is much worse than these is Wood Sorrel, Sour Grass or Oxalis pes-caprae. Another somewhat edible but oh so worse than anything other than Bermuda grass for spreading.

Oxalis pes-caprae

I think it's also called Oregon Buttercup but not sure on that.  This one is another that we used to pull the flowers and nibble on the stems as we walked home from school. There were at least two patches of it on our way and in the spring the tall yellow flowers stood up above the clover looking leaves so pretty.

When I grew up and started studying plants I discovered it is a devil in disguise. Here's how it works: When it's young it sprouts from a previous seasons root and starts growing a new clump, also spreading the roots out more. Once it starts to mature it separates from it's mother root and can survive on it's own. If you kill that clump, you haven't done anything. It will survive in the number of running roots all over and the still viable 'mother' clump. It is extremely difficult to get rid of if it crops up in some juniper or other ground cover, because by the time you see the flowers, it's too late.

I told a customer years ago about it and that we used to chew on the stems, they gasped, 'It's got oxalic acid, that's poisonous!'. Blink, blink..... I can verify that myself and my brothers are all still very much alive and never had any side effects of it. The juice from the stems were almost lemon flavored which is why they were such a fun thing to munch on. We never swallowed the stem, just mashed it with our teeth and sucked on the juice then tossed the stems.

One last 'native/non native/weed' that we also used to suck on was Tree Tobacco. Oh yes... we called it 'honeysuckle' because the flowers are long yellow tubes that we would suck the nectar out of. Honestly I have no idea how we figured out to do that or who told us but it was another spring/summer plant we used to look forward to seeing in bloom.

Nicotiana glauca

Tree Tobacco

These plants can get eight to ten feet tall if left to grow uncontrolled hence the name and the similarity to cultivated tobacco plants. They are both in the same family, note the name 'nicotiana' similar to nicotine. We never did anything with the leaves only the flowers, pulling the flowers off and the sepal cap off to suck the nectar. Another incident of someone hearing what we did and said 'it has nicotine in it that's toxic!'. Sigh. 

I don't think there's any use for this plant though due to it having some nicotinoids and in the solanum family it can be used as a possible pesticide. The reason why you only see it in the canyons is it prefers drier undisturbed areas. Yup, that was my canyon backyard and the canyons around San Diego.

So anyway that's a walk down memory lane that was brought on my the rainy weather and plants coming up. Hope to get out and do some more walking in wild areas to take pictures.

Finally getting winter weather, rain and wind.

 It's been overcast and cold which is good. Northwest has been getting record snow and likely some of the mountains around me got a good snowfall as well. It's a bit late this year but as I noted earlier in this blog and to others years ago, pretty soon we'll have to adjust our idea of 'winter' as the weather patterns change and the calendar and tilt of the planet may be off so our winter down here comes later every year.

I keep watching all these cooking shows and they show and recommend getting fresh vegetables and have your own garden blah blah... sigh. If I had the means to store supplies and the space I would totally do that. Something related to both gardening and cooking, I bought basic veggies that are used in a variety of recipes I do. Celery, onion, carrot and green onions. Going to chop them up (except the carrots, should cook those first) put them in baggies and put them in the freezer. Same thing with the 2 lbs of hamburger, divide it, flatten it in a ziplock baggie and put in freezer. I've never been much for storing things ahead of time in the past few decades but am getting inspired now. The celery and onion is a staple, same with the garlic I'm going to do the same. Put whole cloves in the freezer then when you need it pull one out and use the smaller zest grater for instant fresh grated garlic!

Didn't get out to the garden again as it likely hasn't changed since day before so a few pictures of other things. The pine tree that got knocked over and then put back upright...fell over again due to the high winds the other day. Sigh.

(Reused photo basically the same)

The never ending blowing and piling of leaves from the sycamores goes on as well. They just got most of the piles taken away and we have a storm that dropped an equal amount right back on the ground. 

Rocky trying to figure passage.

 Rocky hates stepping on leaves so seeing this veritable ocean of leaves to cross... not fun. The grass was still trying to recover from the last pile. I even tried to use my foot and make a passage for him along the wall on the left but he said...nah I know a different way around.  Need to remember to grab a few handfuls and take it over to the compost pile next time and maybe give it a toss with the potting soil someone dumped out there earlier in the year.

So many plans on the screen and so little actual energy, time and money to do it. Very good about giving advice and not so good at following it myself. It's all based on a 'perfect' world and still too lazy to do what needs to be done.

Oh a small note while watching a 'cooking/travel' show that is filmed in the North East/Rhode Island and there abouts. The lady that was visiting went 'foraging' with the local expert and chef at the inn she was staying at. He is an experienced forager of edible fungus and they were walking and talking then stopped and realized they were about to 'step on a (whatever orange fungus) in the hummus' in front of them. 

I didn't know whether to laugh or yell at the screen. It's HUMUS! Pronounced hewmus and this supposed 'expert' pronounced it like the edible chickpea dip you find in the store. I could not believe my ears. This is why we have issues when people come to a garden store and get their information from the web or tv. I have corrected a few customers when they pronounced it wrong and they give me a strange look. Listen, I've been in the retail garden business for two decades and know of what I speak. As opposed to some Easterner that is giving you wrong information based totally on their experience where they are.

Sigh.

That's all I have for today. Looks like it might be starting to rain again. Wish I had a rain barrel to catch the free water.

 

 

It's Christmas Eve and it rained really well.

 It started raining yesterday and has continued on and off with gusts of wind occasionally. Badly needed rain and for us it isn't torrential but still a good soaking. We may get the heavier rain later, expected to be on and off rain for Christmas day and then tapering off during the week. 

Needless to say I didn't get out to the garden at all but that's fine. I know it's just hanging in there and am sort of glad the cilantro seedlings got wiped out. They would have been pummeled pretty hard with the rain and buried under mud. Can't wait until spring when I can plant the beans and maybe some peas and sweet peas. 

Basic colors

Sweet Pea 'Matucana'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's not to love about these? They now have a 'true blue' color as well as an actual orange. Variegated and all sorts of combinations.

I love sweet peas not only for the scent and colors but it was my mom's favorite flower then my daughters oddly enough. My mom grew some when I was in high school and that's one of my fond memories of seeing them climbing up and covering a window, my mom enjoying them when she cut some to bring in the house.

For now, we hold steady and dream of better days. It's been a tough three years and I'm thankful for what I have but would have a lot less stress with a little more.

I hope gardens grow well, there is enough water and food to make plants healthy and happy. May the gardeners who tend them have no bad days and many happy harvests.

Merry Christmas, Solstice, Happy Hannukah/Kwanzaa and all other holidays to all.

 

 

Finally had to go water and winterizing

The weather is cleared but now another Santa Ana is here which means little wind, dry and warm for winter. Sigh. So the last couple of days there hasn't been much opportunity to get out anywhere with plants. The landscaping around the buildings rarely changes so nothing new there so I finally went back out after walking Rocky to water what I have and discovered... snails had eaten both cilantro seedlings.

Can't see the slime trails but they were there. That brown pile in the middle was where the larger of the seedlings used to be. Oh well. The tomato is doing fine, still putting out flowers and losing a few leaves on the bottom. Again I was tempted to take a lemon and put some of the juice around it but I didn't bring my clippers or knife.

For the past few days the leaves from the trees have been piled up on the lawns waiting for being dealt with. Well they finally got the 'Billy Goat' machine out and dealt with them. This is what happens when you leave a pile of anything on grass for more than a day or two:

It will recover but not quickly and it could damage it beyond repair, will see what happens. In someplaces around the country it's okay to leave your leaves on the grass because it acts as a protective layer for the coming snow. That isn't the case here and it should have been dealt with a few days ago but that's in an ideal situation. Not my circus. I am only presenting this as an informational post not something I am moaning about that I need to fix. Even though that's what I want to do.

'Winterizing' is a thing and is different in every part of the country down to locations in the same city. It can mean anything from just leaving your garden soil to go fallow to planting winter 'green manure' (clover or other legume types) to add nitrogen to the soil. I'm doing the lazy way and leaving one bed alone and the other just barely hanging on. As I said, the tomato will likely not fruit over winter due to temperatures but if it survives to spring, might have some spectacular spring tomatoes. IF I get some fertilizer in there. Where it snows and gets regular frost, there's pruning to be done, digging up leftover veggies, roughing up the soil and all manner of things. Now we're talking a reasonable yard garden not my piddly two small bed area that I don't even own.

I would have a proper compost corner where I could dump veggie scraps and paper and such, might have some chickens or ducks if there is room for fertilizer and eggs. Dedicated beds for flowers and ornamental plants, a kitchen herb garden... so many things. All a dream right now.

We are due some heavy rains over Christmas weekend so now would be the time to add fertilizer and amendments if I had them. Going to do the compost pile good I'm sure. Might ask the next time they mow the lawn to take one bagful to the garden end dump it on the pile. Might also look into making a containment or perimeter of some sort for it. How hard to I want to work to make this? Not very much. If I owned a house I would be doing a lot more to make a better garden for sure.

Making sure the weeds don't get the upper hand in our area is a winterizing thing to do. As soon as it rains and cools down the grasses come back and start growing...which reminds me, I just bought a small jar of white vinegar which is good weed killer and acidifies the soil. Might mix some with water and put it in a spray bottle for the pesky grass stuff coming up in the bed.

That's basically all for now. The sky is a pale blue with patchy clouds moving inland as soon as we hear reports of rain in L.A. I know it's only a matter of a few hours before it hits us. Yay and boo at the same time, makes for interesting gathering on Christmas.

Happy Solstice as well, days start getting longer and nights shorter from here out, yay! I look forward to the return of the sun later in the day and longer hours to do more gardening.

Had to change the theme

 Due to not finding the blogger button in order to make a new post. Very annoying.

Anyway, haven't been out to the garden but took other pictures and have been bundling up at night due to it getting really really cold. Remember that previous post where I said I doubted it would get down to 50? Well...... it got to 50 by 11 pm. It's been dipping into the mid to high 40's at night and early morning the last few days so it's definitely winter now. The great rain storm dumped some badly needed water and snow in the higher elevations but still not enough.

The day after it rained I noticed this. These are the herb planters I snitched cilantro seeds from and they are in front of the apartment office. Manager put them out to get some watering and they were still sitting there the next day. Take advantage of water from the sky every chance you get.

It's been dry the last two days but still chilly enough to wear a jacket. Might have even gotten some drizzle or frost overnight but by the time the sun comes up it was just damp. Oh and remember the Norfolk Pine and how I showed it wasn't very stable?

All fall down go boom, well more like a thud or quiet crunch. Poor thing (Rocky is checking out wondering what happened.) So yet another example of poorly placed plants poorly performing. Hoping they find somewhere to replant it, repot it or more likely as they did with the Camellia, just kill it by cutting it up and throwing it in the dumpster. Hoping they repot it and maybe I'll sneak some ornaments and garland out to dress it up for Christmas.

On that topic, knowing the mature size of a plant/tree will be when planting near a fence, exhibit A:

Eucalyptus citriodora (I am behind on my taxonomy because it is now called Corymbia citriodora). Yes they smell lemony when it rains or you crush the leaves. This is likely the source of medicinal lemon/eucalyptus throat drops but don't take my word for it. Anyway, these can get trunks that are at least four feet across at the base, sometimes bigger. Likely when this was younger it was about two feet from the fence.. well it's bulging the fence out now because the base of the tree expanded that much and more. The neighbors on that side have small dogs so had to put in extra barrier to keep them in. It is doing quite a number on the fence which is likely the same age as the tree... thirty plus years old I suspect.

Something else I discovered walking along the fence was winged insects.

These are an ant nest that is swarming. It happens when there's been an extended dry period and then rain. Typically we see them in the spring but it happens this time of year as well, the rain triggers queen ants to hatch with wings and spread out to find a new nest site. It was on the other side of the fence so I couldn't do anything about it but even if it was on our side, can't do anything about it. Rocky found them fascinating fluttering all over the place had to brush them off his fur or he'd bring them in the house.

This is something to watch for in any case, it also happens with termites but those are white, these were definitely black and the size of ants but thicker.  Plants and insects benefit from the rain, the world weather patterns are changing and we need to be aware of it and adapt. It's too late to do anything about it, the best we can do is try to mitigate any future changes and the problems it may cause.

Meanwhile another tree that needs to be eradicated is oddly enough called 'Tree of Heaven' (Ailanthus altissimus) it is anything but that. It grows like a weed and is considered invasive, seedlings come up everywhere, the seed pods are obvious and obnoxious. Birds don't eat the seeds and the branches are barely strong enough to hold a large bird. The flowers smell all right I guess but that's about it. (You can see the bulge in the fence from the Lemon Gum tree at this angle).

Our street has several spots where this invasive tree has sprung up and people think 'it's a free shade tree, not going to cut it down'. Lazy man's landscaping can cause headaches and cost money down the road.

New year is around the corner and hopefully better days ahead for us all.

 

Got out yesterday to take pictures and check on things

 No wind whatsoever yesterday which both the weather people and my own experience told me that there would be wind today as well as rain. Bingo!

I didn't even water yesterday because it has been cold and overcast for a few days and I knew it would rain today. The cilantro is still plugging along and the tomato is actually looking pretty good for color and growth.

There are still low spots that are dark from being damp still you can see in front of the tomato, that's also where the compost type stuff settles. Still can't get into the bed sufficiently to dig out the grass weeds at the back and honestly would rather have a 'hula' hoe or stirrup hoe to do that well. I have a regular 'chopping' type hoe that is okay but not ideal.

It's getting closer to Christmas and I haven't been much of anywhere that has an abundance of pointsettias for the first time in almost 25 years. Rather shocking I don't have to deal with the 'red tide' and sad looking, under watered, broken plants. I did go to the local HD and they had so little Christmas out it was scary but also expected. People got there early and cleaned them out as well as supplies are delayed due to dozens of container ships sitting off the coast waiting to offload from last year. Yes... last year.  The supplies for holidays on these ships won't likely get to the stores until June or July of next year. 

Anyway that has nothing and yet something to do with gardening. Some tools, supplies, accessories and such that come from overseas may be on those ships. The weather impacts shipping locally as well with tornadoes and flooding and hurricanes all affecting the same supply chain.

Gardening goes on one way or another, it is a constant and yet intermittent 'seasonal' track that improvisation can make new tools instead of buying something. Using seeds from existing vegetables for the next season planting and stretching the growing season of an existing plant (tomato) to see if it will produce next year. Fertilizer is a little more problematic unless you have a source of cow/steer/horse/chicken manure or a thriving compost pile. Eggshells for calcium, but that takes a while to break down. I'm tempted to pick one of the lemons on the lemon bush and use the juice around the tomato and cilantro. I have lemon and lime juice in the fridge but that's for cooking and not going to squander it on my garden as an experiment.

Today is blustery and rainy, wonderful change and I'm sure if I lived where it did this almost every day I wouldn't be as okay with it. Still better than 95-102 and 65% humidity for days on end. Water is good for the Earth this sort of rain is perfect as it is a gentle constant drizzle that doesn't overpower the absorption of the soil too quickly. 

No job in sight so I applied for social security as official retirement. That will bring in some money and will see if there is enough to buy garden supplies once in a while.

Rained really well so no trip to the garden

It rained a bit harder in spurts yesterday so again didn't bother to go out and check on things. Tomato is not really going to do anything fast, don't expect the beans to grow for a while and the cilantro is likely pummeled. Really understand now why people don't garden much in the winter around here and don't understand the people that do.

Vegetables are very seasonal for a reason. If you want to have a 'salsa garden' in winter, good luck. About the only thing that's going to grow is the cilantro. You need to plan your garden for when it's going to harvest not when to plant it. So having salsa in the summer you have to have really fast growing plants if you want it from your own plants. I could have done the tomatoes and peppers for sure but neither ended up ripening at the same time and not very well. Also need onion and the cilantro which I didn't have unless I bought it. So veggie gardening for me is more of a novelty, I would love to have the space to do a flower garden and this is another year I can't buy bulbs despite me wishing to. Gardening in general is seasonal. Some people don't understand about that or have a different idea of what's seasonal due to them being used to living in another area or state entirely.

We plant 'spring bulbs' in fall and 'summer bulbs' in spring. Because guess what? That's how long it takes for them to grow and bloom in the normal cycle of things. Another thing I would get asked is 'what's your favorite flower?' Now that's a toughie for anyone because there are different categories of flowers. Bulbs are wonderful because they typically come back year after year if you're in the right area. For So. Cal unfortunately tulips, crocus and hyacinth need more cold to repeat every year so they are one shot wonders if you don't chill them.

          

For bulbs believe it or not I love Freesias for sentimental reasons and for fragrance you just can't beat Hyacinths. Hyacinths come in four colors. Yellow is a newer color variant but previously it was 'blue', white, pink and dark pink. Each color smells slightly different and they are all wonderful no matter what so that would be one of my first picks. 

Tulips are gorgeous of course but very short lived at least where I am. All the different shapes and types are incredible! There are daffodil varieties that I have always wanted to grow because of how unusual they are. Where are the paperwhites you ask? Well they have their place of course but again very short lived and overrated in my mind. Due to their odd growing needs they don't do as well in the ground as they do in a pot and replanted. Cross fingers they decide to come up the following year and flower, haven't had much luck with that in the past.

Summer bulbs... I absolutely adore Gladiolas. Tall, stately and a wealth of colors from purple, green, white, red, bicolor, orange even. Full rainbow of colors and I would love to grow them some day. Iris..bearded iris are another flower that I'd love to have. They keep growing and multiplying through the year and you can divide them all over the place. Just about all bulbs will divide, that's one of the reasons why they're such a great addition to the garden. Put them in the ground, be sure to mark where they are! You can sink them in a pot so it's easier which with most plants would be silly. Overplant with annuals that will be there before and at the same time as the bulbs.

I could go into the details on how bu lbs, especially tulips, got to be so popular but that's something for another day.

There is water falling from the sky finally!

 After I watered the tomato and cilantro yesterday of course. The rain is not enough to really penetrate the dirt and barely washes the dirt of my car but at least it is rain we need though still not enough to thoroughly soak the ground

I didn't take any pictures when I watered for some reason or other. Not much progress there so same ol' same ol'. I did water the other empty bed just because it helps with microbes and such, as well as the compost pile. 

So no pictures this time around, nothing even from previous days because I already used some of those that are pertinent to gardening. Since it's drizzling don't need to water and it's cold so plants aren't growing very much. Oh! I did throw some more pepper seeds where the other pepper was after I watered. Wrong time of year for that but who knows what will happen by spring. We aren't due any really warm weather for months from  now on, not that we're like back east or up north with weather but we usually have day temps in the 70's most days. The soil cools down as well which is another factor people don't consider with some plants.

It's not just air temperature but soil as well that determines how fast a plant grows. When you see some seed packets that say 'after the last frost' that means the weather warms sufficiently that the ground will start warming.

Another point: when does it frost? Why does it frost?

Frost is air condensation that has frozen. It is a combination of air moisture (condensation), no wind and low temperatures. What you need to look for on the weather is 'dew point', that is the temperature at which condensation will form in the air and create 'dew' on the plants and ground. 

 So you can see from this screenshot, today the wind is non-existent, humidity is relatively high (if this were summer we would be melting), Dew Point is the temperature at which moisture will form in the air. It may well get down that far but it depends on where we are and how long it stays below that temperature. The combination of no wind, possible low temperatures and the skies have to be clear is the other part of the formula. We could get some frost in low lying areas, we have a lot of hills and valleys and some areas will be in a frost area and others will not. According to the weather and from what my old 'weather sense' says, it won't get down to 50 in the next 24 hours, 53 is predicted for most areas. We are currently cloudy which means it is holding the ambient warmth from the city a bit high so for the most part, no frost conditions yet.

And there you have your garden weather lesson for the day. Science!

 

 

Again with the delays in posting

 When there's nothing to do, you do nothing right?

I need to get out and water today hopefully so there's not much in the way of pictures from the actual garden. Instead going to talk worms, plant size and other stuff.

Walking Rocky the last few days I've noticed 'wormsign' as I call it. Worm poop, worm castings..whatever you want to call it, on dirt areas in the lawns.

This is a good sign of work activity in the ground. In the last decade or so there has been an increase in people asking for worm castings. It's a good source of minerals for soil and is best used in really organic and fluffy soil. Why not in soil like I have? Because I already have clay soil and that's what this is. Worms eat organic material and what comes out the back end is essentially dirt that is extremely fine and slightly gritty. No organics left in it so if you put this in a garden that is already heavy soil it really is not good for improving the texture. But if you have a pot or garden that is mostly compost, this is a good addition as well as just a touch of regular 'dirt'. 

You want the composition of your soil ideally to be about 1/2 organic, 1/4 clay and 1/4 sand. You can also do 1/3 of each which is more ideal for potting soils. Worm castings are not bad, not saying you can't use it but like anything else you need to be aware of where you're putting it. The gardeners have not used any fertilizer at all on the lawns and as you can see, it's typical bermuda patchy lawn but other than the tree roots it's fairly healthy.

Remember that Norfolk pine that they moved? Well it's got issues now and I suspect it may be from a lawnmower running into it.

The bottom band on the barrel is gone so the roots and soil are just expanding. I tried shifting it but there's no help for it at this point, it needs to be repotted. The color is not good either, it's lost a lot of green and some of the branches are browning. Poor thing.

I talked about roses and how to tell when you have to dig them up and how to recognize the root stock. Well here's your sign,

Hard to get a good shot of this due to shade and position but all the branches are coming from the ground, it essentially looks like a climber, which it wasn't, and the former bush trunk is evident in the middle. So much I want to do to fix the landscaping around here and can't do a thing about it since it's not my job nor place to tell people how to do things.

Anyway...bright spots in the garden on the other hand are the signature winter flower for Southern California, pointsetties? No, calendulas.... no:

 All the bushes are just busting out with flowers. Since it is a South Africa native, it's spring going into summer for that hemisphere and therefore, they are blooming here. Several other plants from Australia and other places usually bloom in the winter here because that's their timing. 

On the right of that photo you can see a tall stem with a tuft of foliage at the top. The left side...is a nandina that is about 5 feet tall, (the bush in the background is a viburnum). 

Cat for size comparison accidental

This is a better shot but still a bit wonky. When people see that the mature size of something is say 5-6 feet they gasp, 'I don't want anything that big!'. You know how long it took for this to get that tall and look at it? Spindly, not cared for should have been dug up and replaced by now. My usual reply is, 'don't let it get that tall' or 'then you don't want this bush'. I have seen some nandina that were full and beautiful and full height but it's not common.

So a bit of this and that, don't let your pets chew on your plants, pointsettias or azaleas or trees or garland.. you know the drill.