Weed extermination has begun

 Finally found a cheap spray bottle, had white vinegar in the cupboard and the test has begun. When I went out today there was either one of the worlds largest dog paw prints or someone had a lot of digging.

Before picture for reference

Luckily it didn't disturb the seeds or cilantro. I cultivated the area and then realized I had left the spray bottle upstairs. Went back up, filled the bottle and came back down to spray the weeds. One thing I was sure to test was direction of the breeze. Luckily it was wafting eastward toward the corner. 

I sprayed most of the weeds in proximity to where I planted as well as into the corner. This area is in shade so not so sure it's going to do as well as the one I sprayed that's in the sun.

Something else that I realized, cats don't like the smell of vinegar...guess what I sprayed on the dirt as well? Not very strong acid but it can help lower the pH a little I hope. Cat deterrent, weed killer and soil acidifier all in one? Yes please!

So I also planted the entire lot of Danvers carrots in the front of the south bed and just on a lark threw in some of the Red Burgundy onion seeds. After spraying the soil with vinegar again to water in.

Danvers Carrot line

Red Burgundy onion line

 They're both root crops and are compatible but if the onions are as big as I think they could be they will crowd the carrots and everything else out. With my luck they may never form a bulb but at least I'll have the greens to use. I'll be fertilizing again in a month because with my soil, can never have enough organic fertilizer.

I should have taken pictures of the seed packet along with where I planted them for future reference all along. Oh well.

The carrots may be too close to the front where the soil gets shallower from insufficient digging. All experimental this year for sure! I watered the south bed thoroughly of course since the peas at the back need to stay moist. I wish I could have put more compost in, but if the peas and beans actually grow that helps throw more nitrogen in the soil. I was looking at what are compatible plants for veggies and herbs and I need to plant chamomile even though I don't use it or know of any one that does. That adds potassium and sulfur in the soil. Definitely needed. I forgot to take a picture but put more cat deterrent devices (aka tomato cages) on the south bed.

I also think I figured out what the other gardener planted now that the second set of leaves have come out. 

Peas

I am hoping mine start coming up soon, will see what happens. Even if those are bush peas they're going to crowd each other out unless she thins. But then, I'm using standard garden logic on someone who is only doing it to do something. I guess.

Now we wait. Some more. I hate waiting. C'mon little seeds grow!

Watered, forgot the seeds.

 But honestly how many radish and carrots am I going to get? Also forgot to get a spray bottle when I went to the store darn it. Will try again tomorrow. It's best to catch the weedlings when they're small to kill faster.

Abandoned rose cutting.

 

The neighbor bed owner appears to have read my blog or came to her senses because the rose 'cutting' was near the compost pile and there is now a tomato seedling where it was along with another one , so she now has three tomatoes..

Hope she realizes the other tomato is going to need the red cage more than the mint. Maybe I'm having an influence on her with my tomato and other planting. ::shrugs::

So I was considering my options on expanding my planting area and realized that the log pile is not ideal even though it is next to my existing bed. There is, however, a spot in front of the North fence that looks burned. There's also a small spot just on the other side of a border wood where I dug up some of the prickly lettuce and dandelion.

It's about four feet or so along the fence (due to angle of the sun had to take the picture to the side) but will consider it three working feed by about two feet, I watered it really well and looked at the corner of the wall. The shadiness of it just isn't suiting me and likely will be better for composting. I have no idea what the original configuration of the beds were but I'm going to try and carve out another space in front of the fence (if the fence wasn't wet you couldn't tell that I actually did water that spot).

 

It's going to take a lot more work to get that done and ready. Have to mark the perimeter, hopefully get some boards or... better yet the black plastic edging that someone threw on the wood pile! Bingo! Didn't get a picture of it because I didn't think of it until now. But a LOT of digging for sure. A LOT of compost...for sure.Then decide what I want to grow there. Brain says something pretty like a rose bush, experience says no. That is a permanent bush that you would have to leave behind if/when you move.

Anyway. I watered the beds well, especially the peas, oddly enough that bed seemed almost as dry as the north bed. Might put some more carrots in that one though. Wish I had some coriander seed. Ohhh.... I have celery seed!!! Worth a shot! I know it gets big and even if it only puts out stalks and not a head can still use it..(five minutes of research later)..'marshland plant that was cultivated'... that is a hard nope then. It needs three times the amount of compost than I can provide and twice the water. Never mind. I'll save room for the bell peppers when it starts warming up, also want to try the jalapeños again. I'll put some carrots in the south bed along the front.

 

Peas soaked and planted

 Just as I was going to bed last night I remembered I wanted to plant the peas today so got back up and put them in a tiny container to soak. Watched for any floaters (not good ones) and hopefully all 14 will come up. A bit more than I should have soaked for my space but there's always a few that don't survive and can always thin them out. (forgot to get picture of them in the container oh well)

On my morning walk this morning one of the hawks flew into the tree above us and declared territory, the crows had something else to say about it and chased it off. Did a quick look up and discovered it's a

Red Shouldered Hawk!!

Now I know for sure!

Got out to the garden after draining the peas and there was no sign of digging in the main beds but still a smell of cat. Darn just realized I also wanted to put in some radishes in that bed, oh well, something to do later.

North bed still good

South bed just fine.

Need to find a sprayer so I can do the vinegar treatment on the weeds this weekend. Soil was still damp looking and technically needed to water in the peas but I just covered them and patted them down well. Yes I planted some amid the cilantro, will see what happens. As soon as they get big enough I'll figure out what sort of support I'm going to give them.

Partially covered

All tucked in.

It's going to take a lot more work to dig out more bed where the oxalis is and still need to ask if they can move some of the woodpile to the corner opposite the jade bush. Plenty of room but then I realized that is also the shadiest corner of the garden. Moving some of the woodpile there would be best so I have more sunny area to plant.

 Lunch time

Watered, trimmed and planted!

South bed after smoothing

(Formatting is being funky again due to so many pictures)

 Nothing like a warm winter day to get out and plant some seeds! First I noticed a distinct smell when I was inspecting the beds and noticed another divot in the dirt (not in the beds). So yes, it was a cat or multiple cats making the divots. 

I first smoothed out the south bed, then re-cultivated the north bed because the dirt likes to compact. Broke up some of the small clods because I was going to plant carrots and radishes and beans.

Foot print confirms, cat

North bed before smoothing

Because I am a doofus and always rush into things I didn't bring markers or even sticks. So I used the dried flower stem from the aloe and marked where I planted two groups of 3 beans. Now I said that it was technically too early but that spot is getting sun consistently so it is warmer than the other areas. Worth a shot. Since the previous attempt at beans was definitely too early and in the shade and weren't soaked I think I'm good.

The shade line is where I planted Little Finger carrots and in front I planted Cherry Belle radishes.

Red Devil Radishes?

Little Finger Carrots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least I made a trough for the carrot seeds first, the radishes I just sprinkled out there since they were smaller. Was I supposed to look up spacing and depth? Yes indeed, but did I? Nope. I picked out any remnants of weedlings (my new word for weed seedlings) and crumbled any small clods, cleared any leaf bits and sticks. Seeds are very sahnsitive to obstructions.

Got them planted and covered then went to water and discovered my sprayer wasn't fitting the threads on the hose..wth?  Looked at the hose and discovered what looked like cement. The hose was also in an odd spot so it wasn't  until my sweetie came to rescue me with his knife I put the puzzle together. They're renovating an apartment and that may well be grout, spackle or something that got in there when they were washing out a bucket. Problem fixed and I was able to water.

Watered both beds well, starting with a mist then used standard spray but lightly and moving constantly. Then, since I had my tool basket, trimmed back the tomato and discovered another little fruit! So two of them on there now and trimmed back the branches that were hanging out.

I was walking away and decided to plant some of the Easter Egg radishes in front of the tomato. The ground was nice and freshly wet so just tucked a sprinkle of them in there and covered them up. All good, all pretty.

Tomorrow will be peas in the other bed and have to hold off on the red onions due to their specific needs for sun and pH. See below for onion trivia.

Trivia: Onions (and most alliums) do best with a slightly acidic soil and plenty of sun. Think of the sweet onion varieties, Walla Walla, Maui and Vidalia. Where do those names come from?

Walla Walla.... Washington (PNW), Maui.... Hawaii, Vidalia's are named for their origin in Georgia. So all those places have acidic soil in common. The higher pH gives you a more pungent and less sweet onion. My soil is very alkaline to maybe neutral and not very organic so will have to wait on those but they have a long window for planting where I am.

So seeds are in and cat deterrents in place. Radishes will be the first to come up.

Cat deterrents

Easter Egg Blend radishes.

As planned... digging and feeding and watering.

 I got my exercise in! Yeesh! Took the bag of fertilizer and my hose sprayer down but didn't think to bring my entire basket with gloves and pruners which turns out I needed. Oh well.

First off, I startled Meester Leezard (or maybe should call him Woody?) as I got to the garden and it skittered along the wall and back into the wood pile. I then noticed, holes. Or rather divots.

They are too narrow and deep for it being cat digs. I didn't notice any animal prints and the hose was in the aloe which means the other lady had watered. Hmmph. The other bed had some holes as well.

No smell of cat leavings either so it may be possum, raccoon? Human? There is a large chunk of dirt that was tipped up so had to have some strength. The south bed is a lot softer so digging that deep isn't necessary. Oh well, tilled it all in. 

Now as for the other beds that are not mine... looks like melons of some sort maybe cucumber, two onions and then the final sign that she just doesn't have all the brains in there for gardening.

Considering her bed had a divot as well I can't blame the holes on her.

There's a term for what she does and I can't think of it. She just sticks random things in the ground thinking that because it looks healthy it's going to grow. The seeds are doing good but if those are melons she has way too many and most assured most of them will die by summer.

A 'rose cutting'?

 So as I've mentioned, the weeds are also growing like...well...weeds. This is what we call 'spring' in San Diego. After the first rains of the season things are just busting out all over.

'Cheese Weed' or 'Mallow'

The tallest ones are all prickly lettuce and then there's the 'Cheese Weed' which is named for the shape the seed capsules that look like a wheel of cheese. Don't be deceived, I dug all these out because of how big they can get. Easier to do it now.

Dandelion in shade

Prickly Lettuce

Big difference in the leaves for these two. That dandelion is the same one I took a picture of three days ago that was no bigger than the palm of my hand. The prickly lettuce was as tall as my knee this week and ankle high three days ago.

Oh yeah and don't get me started on the scourge of garden and lawn alike.... oxalis (Creeping Woodsorrel)... aka 'clover' as some people call it.

This is the creeping cousin to the other oxalis I used to munch on. This stuff... this is horrific in so many ways. It spreads by runners and when it goes to see the seed capsules are like little rocket shapes that when they pop it can throw seed at least a foot away from the main plant. Yeah this stuff has to go and I am going to have to do it organically. I dug some of it up but just remembered about using vinegar which I have. I don't have a spray bottle unfortunately so have to get that first and will take before and after pictures. I don't usually recommend 'home remedy' things but I have no choice in this since I'm not going to risk overspray on anything else out there.

Meanwhile, back at the tomato:

That's on the topmost long branch coming out, was trying to shift and tuck it in and heard a crunch. Hoping I didn't damage the branch too badly. Going to be about a month before that little baby is ready.

So I cultivated er, hacked with the cultivator in the bed first to get it broken up. The soil hasn't been worked in at least two months so it was not bone dry but just dry enough it was hard and in order to put fertilizer down it needed to be opened up.

Still a bit shady

Fertilizer applied

Almost forgot to take a picture before working the fertilizer in. Did the same for the other bed and worked it all really well before watering it in. Will likely water again tomorrow or day after to make sure (oh and the 30" depth on the bed is correct after I marked off usable area).

Dangit, I was going to do a soil test before putting fertilizer down, oh well. Will do that in a few weeks after it's had time to distribute into the soil. Did I measure how much I put down? Nope.. it's organic fertilizer and I know it needed it so just sprinkled it to whatever I thought looked good. Supposedly this lasts for 3 months, will see what I have in the ground in three months and also see if there's 'fertilizer tea' directions on the bag like there is for the top brand.

Oops, sorry cilantro.

I really need to get an actual camera or learn how to take better pictures on my phone.

 

Was not paying attention and almost dug up the little cilantro seedlings in the other bed. Brains  said, 'small green things like weeds hackychoppy' just before the second swing I stopped realizing what I had just done. Poor things.

After I watered and was digging up the weeds at the back I heard water coming on. Turn around and sure enough, the sprinklers came on. I even walked past the guy and nodded to him as he was turning on one of the other valves on the way to the garden. 

10:20 a.m.

So remember the lady that complained people always water the lemon bush and ruins the lemons? Yeah..the one sprinkler head is aimed right at it for a reason. I had to step over that sprayer and side step to the right to go around the corner to turn off the hose I was using. 'Coiling' up the hose is another matter of course but managed to not get too wet. The tree in the distance is at the end of the sidewalk and the hose bib is roughly across from it on the right.

One of these days I might even try and video my trek from the apartment to the garden with running commentary. As long as there isn't any helicopters, sirens, airplanes, neighbors and such creating too much noise.

Oh drat! Oh, okay... forgot to put the tomato cage back on the bed then realized I had just watered so hopefully cats and other animals might leave it alone. Will find out in the morning.

I got seeds and fertilizer!

 We were able to pick up a gift of seeds from a friend and I now have a glut of choices! She has a lot more room for a garden bed than I do so she was very generous.

She had no lettuce seeds but that's okay. The two pea packets are not full and that's okay also, but I have six varieties of carrots to choose from, five radish, red onions and multicolor bell peppers. I also have of my own green peppers and the pintos. Which I am now questioning as I seem to recall pintos being speckled dark and light brown and these are all brown. After research the answer is yes they are pinto beans but they have darkened with age. 

These are two different varieties of pintos, the one on the left is a newer variety developed from the one on the right. They were harvested at the same time and as you can see, have colored differently. Things I never knew about beans! 

"According to the USDA, dried beans are considered non-perishable. This means, that though they should be consumed within a year or two for ultimate freshness and quality, they will never spoil." So this also means they are still viable for planting as my previous experiment showed. But... also with any seed the fertility of the seed declines over time. The 'best by' date on this bag is July of next year. As a food item and because it is that they had to put a date on it. No telling how long the person had them before I swooped them off the table but now, I know they are pintos and very possibly a variety called 'Lariat' which is the brown variety on the right. Not truly a bush variety but not huge.

Enough of the beans already! Those and the peppers are warm season anyway!

I was at Walmart getting other things and decided, what the heck, go get some fertilizer while I'm out. So luckily they had some dry organic vegetable/tomato food. Not top of the line but you get what you can.

 

And once again formatting defies logic

As I have elaborated before on ingredients the 'Guaranteed Analysis' is the major nutrients and what is in there. The other side (sorry for the blurriness) is the extra stuff like the 'Non-plant food' ingredients that are a bonus, microbes and such. As you can see the three biggies are at 3-5-6. This should be sufficient for getting things going especially if I'm starting with seeds. I do still need some organic components to mix in but I'm good with having fertilizer at this point. Bbecause this is organic fertilizer it can degrade and the viablility of the microbes and ingredients can dissipate, hence look at the date on it. Good for two more years if kept in a cool, dry location.

Now then, what to plant where. I need graph paper. I tried looking for a gardening app but the type I need had mixed reviews and honestly, I can plot it out on paper just as easily and will journal all that right here. Just realized that I CAN buy veggie seeds and plants with EBT since it's considered a food item and isn't taxable but have to find a store that will take it. Home Depot and all them aren't a 'food store' so they don't take EBT.

I asked if she had short carrot varieties because I don't have the best loose rich soil they usually like. Luckily she had a few to choose from. Little Finger, Thumbelina (round type), Danver's 1/2 long..Danvers is the typical carrot variety in stores so these are a shorter growing variety. Gosh so many choices and so little time and space to grow them! We get hot so fast here I need to get things going with the peas and root crops tomorrow!

Now to my bed sizes. North bed is against the wall of the building and I measured 'plantable area' at the time as 5' x 30", now that I've dug and tested all the way to the wall I have to reduce that to 20". Not even two feet so very small bed but still can get two peppers in there and a row of radishes and maybe carrots.

Plenty of room

 

The south bed I can do the peas and maybe The peas I got are Green Arrow and Little Marvel, both are listed as being no taller than 30" so if needed I can use an inverted cage. Carrots in front of them because the sun will be hitting the front of that bed more and more. Something I need to remember about the south bed is because it gets shade sooner, as my zucchini showed, things get mildew easier as well. Peas are subject to mildew. Sigh. 

Even more room.

 

The south bed is only slightly bigger at 2'x3'. Still big enough for two or three peas at the back, a row of carrots or two and a row or two of radishes. Have to remember to mark what they are when I plant.

All this starts tomorrow with a good sprinkle of fertilizer and watering.The cilantro is still going as far as I know and have to be careful with that as well. Exciting to have some progress for the garden and the weather cooperating makes it so much nicer. I saw bulb packages in Costco and sighed.. no room.