Not much to do, not many pictures

 Early phone call that took a while then taking care of paperwork having to do with that so didn't get out until almost 1 pm. Yeesh!

Everything is about the same, gave a good watering and the two suspicious white things are indeed, fungus. I was watering and it knocked them down almost flat, just took a chance and picked them up gently. Definitely had the look of fungus but no reference material to identify. Warm soil/weather + water + organic material = prime fugus growing. It may well have come from the compost but that's not a bad thing at all. Again thought I got a picture but didn't, oh well.

After the watering and pulling a little grass behind the peas before they encroach much further.

Really need to get something to put in the potato bed. When I get some money. Still haven't figured out how to make the concept art for the garden idea I have. I have so many ideas though and am slowly trying to build my 3D art skills to make images and objects.

I have many dreams of a garden to play in and can't do much with what I've got at the moment. I'm a great idea person but not so good on follow through because of different factors getting in the way outside of my own issues.

The thing about gardening is, procrastination is not as big an issue in a way. You could put off planting at a certain time and miss the window for that particular crop, but then if you  have the seeds or plants, just plant the next ones. In my area the growing season is so long that you could put off planting something by a week and you're still good usually. Putting off watering... not so much in the middle of summer but that's true almost everywhere else. Having mulch would save me on watering so much, but also that means I wouldn't have much to do there in a week. More stuff to do maybe? I haven't turned the compost pile in a while, meh I can do that tomorrow. 

Definitely getting strawberries though, three in the potato bed and three mixed in with the peppers. They're still good to plant until the middle of June along with some flowers and even tomatoes. Still want those chives though. My other dream is being self sufficient for some of my food. Make my own cheese and butter (honest, not that hard), grow enough veggies to give some to others, teach kids how to garden..all the things. No cows. Too much work and cost, chickens maybe, ducks definitely. All this of course requires more income than I have right now. So it's just a dream.

Have to make do with what I've got to work with and do what I can.

Another lovely day, technology is not

 Had Memorial day potluck lunch with other residents but was able to get out and water the garden before that. Got up early enough for a shower and garden despite not being able to sleep well last night

Thought I took more pictures but it only shows four. Hmmph. Checking again in a minute. Still thinking seriously of putting some strawberry plants out. Prime planting for them right now with a long warm season ahead. They do like a good mulch around them though and that's one thing I don't have. 

Meanwhile in the garden this morning and afternoon:

 First off, I'm not entirely sure what this is. could be fungus, could be a plant. Given the warm weather and amount of water I've been putting on the soil, fungus is an option. It wasn't there the other day when I watered and only noticed it today. For all the world it almost looks like bean sprouts, didn't want to touch them if they were fungus so will see what they look like tomorrow. 

 (Photos on Blogger aren't cooperating so it's taking me twice as long to post apparently there is a google photos update and I can see my photos everywhere else but here. Page wasn't connecting to the cloud apparently)

 

The purslane is starting to creep back in after I hacked at it the other day. Must have missed that clump. You can see the two potatoes left behind and the lettuce continues to do well. Just might grab those tomorrow and use in a salad to finish them off. I did say I have no patience for potatoes right?

Difference in the direction with afternoon light. Only about 1:30 or 2 and the shadow from the building and trees is already on the north bed. I watered in the morning and you can see the color is still there in wet soil. 

 

Almost there! getting some good size on them but the pods themselves are still a bit small. Meanwhile on the other plant:

I tried to smell the flower but a whif of stench from the garden entrance where something pooped hit me at the wrong moment. Grrrr. They don't really have a scent themselves, unlike sweet peas which, I swear, I want to plant in the fall this year. One of my favorite flowers because of their smell and my mom's favorite as well.

I should have some flowers before the end of June! Yay! The peppers are perking along and looking great so far may not have anything from them until end of summer at this rate.

As soon as I get some money I'll spare a few dollars for the strawberries, fertilizer and chives. As for later, I've pointed out the wonderful colors of sweet peas and will try and just make a flower garden in the south bed with some lettuces for the fall.

Potatoes and pondering

 The weather is windy which is blowing the May Grey away now. It was overcast most of the day yesterday but it's an absolutely gorgeous day today. Not that yesterday was bad, but I love breezy partly cloudy warmish spring days.

I went out with my nozzle to water and, due to it being overcast all the way to morning, didn't need it.

The soil was still perfectly wet in all the beds despite what looked like dry soil on top. Especially the potato bed that  I completely flooded. I could have waited another day to dig the plant but here I am being an impatient gardener again. Everything else looked fine, peppers, peas and marigolds all just perking along.

Suspicious spotting on the pea pod. Not exactly sure that that is and hope it isn't something I have to worry about.

The soil was soft as butter, didn't take much to dig that shovel all the way in and lift the plant. As I suspected, only about three or four potatoes with the original still feeding the plant. There was one small one (smaller than the original) hanging on and left that and the seedling behind.

 I've got a lovely bunch of potatoes now, the largest one of this batch was slightly green around the stem part but not worried about it. Washed them off good and put them in the cupboard with the others. Might even cook them up tonight with whatever else we have in the fridge. Burgers maybe. Or by itself with some butter, salt and pepper.

The neighbor downstairs across from the stair landing has an incredible collection of extremely happy Creeping Charlies as well as a rambunctious Asparagus Fern. Not sure what she does with her plants but she definitely takes care of them very well paired with an ideal location under the stairs.

 Something that I saw at a house that was for sale caught my attention way back. The one that's near Clear Lake that had so much room and solar panels. For gardeners it is a must if you can: an outdoor sink. Sure, if you have a hose you can wash things off with that but a dedicated sink with a small countertop like a laundry tub sink is perfect! Having the drain go to a holding tank for watering is ideal. Only need cold water, no need for two handles so single handle for one source of water.

No soap is needed at this point as it's only for washing off veggies and your hands before going in the house. The one I saw was a white plastic type, built into a wood counter, nothing fancy but was also under the porch cover which is best so you don't have to worry about metal rusting or getting fouled. Any number of designs out there but when I had to wash off the potatoes using the hose I thought about this and should I ever have a garden I will make sure to have one.

The Jacaranda is still blooming like crazy so the bees and hummingbirds are going crazy outside. I'm considering getting a 6 pack of strawberries to put all over the garden. 2 or three in the bed formerly known as the tomato bed, the remainder in the former potato bed. Still want to plant some chives in the south bed as I am not convinced the potato I put at the back of the bed is going to grow very quickly. Chives can take over... oh speaking of that.. something I noticed in the neighboring bed.

I am not entirely sure what those are but a partially educated guess is... possibly cucumber. It's not mallow weed, definitely looks like a cucurbit. If it is, and it takes off... it's going to swallow everything else. Keeping an eye on those for sure. 

So yeah, strawberries and chives are next on the list. Hopefully. Who knows anymore? Chives go really well on potatoes with cheese, butter and sour cream.

Am I hungry?

 

 

Okay now for the rest of my day

 Things are just going wonky. I can't take alleve for my arthritis anymore because it's upsetting my stomach so my hands and joints are getting stiff and painful. Makes it harder to go up and down stairs as well as typing. Just falling apart all over.

Meanwhile at the garden: Mostly cloudy today as I mentioned in my previous entry so that also makes for good photo lighting. Focus is still an issue.

Pretty much the same as yesterday, the peppers are still good, no sign of wilting from transplant. No sign of gopher or grasshopper but there was... digging near the potato bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Discovered this day before yesterday and it's a bit too close for comfort.. The potato is looking really rough still and decided to water real thoroughly and will likely dig it up tomorrow. This soil is so deceptive. I watered what I thought was pretty well then dug around the potato and discovered it had only gotten wet about a 1/4 inch down. Drowning it is then.

I had a moment after I watered that maybe I could dig up the potato right then. I realized the soil was entirely too muddy to do that and it would be a mess so will wait until tomorrow. Really encouraged by the peas that are growing right now.

Still no grasshopper and who knows where the lizard went off to. On my way to the garden though, I saw this thing on the sidewalk. It looked familiar from something I saw before.

I want to say it's a Soldier Fly but the legs are throwing me off. Definitely a fly and it wasn't moving so not really concerned about it, just curious. Soldier Fly larva are bad for compost but used as feeder bugs for frogs and lizards. I've had to identify hundreds of bugs working at the nursery and go through the same criteria list with them as identifying plants. Won't go into detail but size, legs, head/eye type and wings are all things to identify something.

With that, garden will settle overnight and will dig the potatoes tomorrow. Hate to do it so early but the plant is looking really pathetic. I took the three remaining tomatoes from my plant down to the table after they ripened so those are gone. The two potatoes I got from the other plant are in the cupboard waiting for more to fix as a snack or with a meal. I love potatoes and Yukon Golds are wonderful by themselves.

Looks like I'm hungry again, off to the kitchen to scrounge for food.

Corn? Maybe I could grow corn? Nahhh.

Talk about an off kilter day

I posted this morning and when I went to do today's it wasn't there. I put it on my regular blog instead of here. SMH. So this is for yesterday and the next one is for today.

 Forgot to post yesterday, mind was on other things and had to go out to the garden in the evening because I didn't get pictures in the morning. So one day behind right now.

The grasshopper was there in the morning but appeared to be gone in the evening, will check today to see if it returned, or rather she, because I looked up the difference between male and female grasshoppers.

The peas are doing really good and the weather is holding off being scorching hot so good for them to continue growing. It was warm yesterday with very little cloud cover and today still overcast at 11 a.m. Apparently it might drizzle on the coast, cloudy where we are. Good spring weather as far as I'm concerned.

Transplanted the other pepper from the corner so there are four peppers in a group at the west end of the bed. Hopefully the soil is better in that spot and they will grow a little faster despite the cool weather. I need fertilizer but not in the budget currently.

Peas on both plants are doing great, the short ones will be ready soon just have to get a little fatter, and the other ones on the tall plant still have a few weeks to go. 

I almost dug up the potato plant, I dug around to see if there were any potatoes close to the surface and only found one toward the middle of the bed. Decided to hold off because if I dig that one up, have to put something in its place and don't have anything yet. Other than cool season seeds and more potatoes. 

Big difference in lighting from evening and morning. Certainly gets enough sun and I could have watered but decided I would do that this morning instead. I did pick two of the lettuce plants because those aren't getting much bigger either.

They're supposed to be three times that size to pick the entire head. I used the leaves in a salad immediately along with some storebought greens. It was lettuce, with enough dressing you can't tell the difference between store and home grown.

I also missed the other tiny epiphyllum blooming near the walkway. What few flowers that were on it were all done.

It's honestly not that brown, the evening sun was reflecting off the branches. The one flower that was left is the hook above the plant. 

So on to today and will be watering and making more decisions about what to plant where and what to harvest.

Some visitors (residents?) of the garden

 Checking on things this morning and sure enough, grasshopper is still there but on a different stake. Common Field Grasshopper....female. They lay their eggs typically in the soil.

No signs of chewing so far so she may be hanging out waiting for some lonely male hopper to come along. The peas themselves are doing great, lots of flowers and a few pods coming out.

Then I noticed someone else hanging around, cousin or other relation to the one I flooded out perhaps?

Note the stubby tail and it's a bit larger than the other one. I was moving around a bit from one end to the other and noticed it wasn't on the wall any longer and looked down..perfectly camouflaged in the mud. You just go ahead and hang out Lizzy, catch all the bugs you can find.

So I decided to tackle the weeds around the potato bed and noticed what looked like a possible gopher hole at the front (hard to see in right hand picture). Didn't look like anything serious and used the hoe and my hands to tackled the ones at the fence and then what I could around the other sides. If that soil is not wet it is cement, it took some hard work but got most of them hacked away.

Then it was pondering time. Looked at the pitiful peppers, the empty space in the other bed, back and forth and made a decision. Transplanting time!

So I guess that's going to be a pepper bed now, there's room for one more plant but I have four already and hoping they all survive and thrive. The soil is so different in the North bed from the potato bed! Much richer and looser, I knocked most of the dirt off the roots before planting them in the new soil and might even move the one on the far right over to the left near the two new ones. 

The Marigolds are starting to form buds now yay!

Sun angle in the morning makes it hard to get a picture without my shadow. Yay for flowers! should be blooming  most of the summer at this rate, hopefully. 

I lost track of the trowel, knew I usually leave it in the corner of one of my beds, well it wasn't there. No where. Me jumping to conclusions, someone might have used it elsewhere. Hmmph, go check the obvious other places it would be used and got some pictures of things that have been done.

The iris was repotted, good to see that and the bed where the tomato is planted but mostly shaded is getting about an  hour of sun at this point. Maybe. Will see what happens with that one as it grows.

So a bit of movement and change in the garden, grow and thrive everyone!