Still warm and clear, greenies are happy. Spring is here!

 Despite it going to be warm again today when I went out there, everything was still very dark and damp looking so not watering. Especially the shade bed, I got out earlier than usual because I knew it was going to be warm.

The radishes in the south bed are not forming bulbs. Usual culprit and likely not enough sun, not going to stress about it. I am going to be concerned about the carrots though. They have a longer growing time and I remember those are the Thumbelina or the other short variety. If it's all a wash this year will definitely add in more organic matter and bone meal for root crops next time.

And of course the potatoes are just busting out all kinds of leaves. Not much of a stalk on them so nothing to cover at this point. Those are a summer crop anyway but can hardly wait to see if I get any sweet golden tubers. Given my success with the radishes it may end in disappointment.

 

Not exactly sure what that tiny seedling next to the pea is on the left. I found a Chinese Elm seedling coming up somewhere else and yanked that one quickly. Will see about this one when it gets the second set of leaves. That pea in the shade though is just boosting fast definitely have to go find a support for it.

The Rhaphiolepis (Indian Hawthorn) are blooming like crazy and the bees are out taking advantage of them. The Alaska azalea is also blooming it's branches off making a wonderful white show in the shade. Got a picture of the little red rose that's blooming on the way to the garden. 

I also got a picture of that other aloe. In my year of being here and walking around I don't recall seeing it bloom but may be wrong. Not blooming is okay for a plant that you want to use for the leaves but note the color difference between sun and shade from the other plant. It is happier in a partial shade situation to give it the best color on the leaves. This plant though is a train wreck of a potted one that was just left to itself. And another example of your surroundings reflect how you feel. If this was better cared for it would make people not feel so old...I hope?

Now we come to the educational gardening portion. Tomato issues that I didn't have last year.

It's called 'cat facing' and here is the wiki description of possible reasons, all of which have happend or are present in my situation.

"This condition is usually caused by unfavorable growing conditions like drops in temperature and poor soil."

"While it is uncertain, temperatures below 60 F. (16 C.) for a number of successive days when plants are immature — about three weeks prior to blooming — appear to coincide with tomato catfacing fruit deformity. The result is incomplete pollination, which creates the deformity. Physical trauma to the blossom can also cause cat-facing. Additionally, catfacing may appear if the fruit has exposure to herbicides containing phenoxy. Excess nitrogen levels in the soil media can also aggravate the issue as well as aggressive pruning"

There you have it. All of the above. Since that plant was put in later in the year I didn't have wonky weather to deal with, the soil was new but still poor, and we can rule out the herbicide use of course. And that last sentence right there.... excessive nitrogen and aggressive pruning.

Now you can still eat them as long as there is enough fruit to eat. Those are my two largest tomatoes and given the issue with the radishes and nitrogen, the nutrient level tests... we will see what happens as the season progresses. Sometimes catfacing can be caused by thrips but I haven't seen any evidence of that and large red flags for the other causes.

All of the radishes except for the first two as well as the cilantro I cut have been tossed sadly. I'd like to know what people with large gardens do when they can only cook so much and then have fruit and leaves yet to use. If I ever get to that stage in gardening on my own land, I'll let you know.