A hawk crisis and tomato is gone

 Yesterday afternoon, after I posted here I kept hearing the crows going nuts. Well it turns out that the fledgling had fallen out of the tree or was pushed by the crows when it tried to stretch it's wings.

It was almost completely fledged so it must have been exploring and fell off the nest and then the crows just decided to be the bullies they are and keep it pinned there. The closest Project Wildlife is forty minutes away so I decided to let nature do it's thing and deep down knew it would be okay.

Sure enough, it's calling from the tree this morning and I heard one of the parents as well so all is good and nature took care of itself.

Meanwhile, back in the garden... given the weather is still May Gray I decided to tackle the tomato. The rest of the garden is doing good, with the cloud cover I didn't have to water again hence digging it out. Sad about it in a way because there were about five or six tomatoes almost ready.

Before

It was time for it to go though. The top branches were now covered in mites and at this point, just not going to try and keep it. It was in the ground longer than it should have been and will plant another one soon.

Implements of destruction and the halfway point, with more tomatoes uncovered.

 

Two bags full including the stump. Every time, all around I put the shovel in I heard the breaking of roots, given how much water I was putting on it and how long it had been growing, not surprising.

Good news is, the roots are perfectly healthy, no signs of nematodes at all so it's all good for putting another tomato in there or maybe something else. As you can see the soil is pretty dark and not dry, I was also digging a bit deeper and coming up with chunks of clay soil which I broke up. Overall it's pretty good dirt and will go back out there tomorrow and dig some more closer to the borders.

After

 

 

 

 Apparently formatting is all wonky now. One of the roots was as big around as my thumb or right forefinger (which is a bit swollen). Roots follow water and this one must have been following a river.

 

One thing I wanted to show is the original soil from the container was still intact at the center of the plant root ball. Potting soil takes a long time to break down for sure and it was still all nice and packed in there. 

It's all chopped up in two kitchen size trash bags and in the dumpster. I left the tomatoes next to the lemon bush, if they're there tomorrow I  might bring them home to ripen, if not.... more power to whoever wants them. 

To give you an idea of how territorial crows are, I was walking rocky on the lawn between two of the buildings as usual, near the pergola and two or three of them were in the tree overhead just acting like it was a full on invasion. Picking bark off and dropping it, ripping leaves and dropping them... stupid crows. They're rather smart I know but this is 'stupid' as in not knowing we are not a threat and no where near any nest or possible thing of interest. The sycamores aren't tall enough or have the right structure for a nest. So maybe we were tromping on their grass where they search for worms and stuff. One of them even dropped a liquidamber ball near me... oh for a good slingshot...

Oh yes and it is Star Jasmine season, one of my favorite scents and the bushes around the complex and everywhere else are blooming. This one is near the laundry room and patio area.

 So lots of stuff in the garden and nature happening today and yesterday. Spring is doing it's thing, the birds are singing (screaming/cawing) the bees are buzzing in the jacaranda tree.... 

And I have some room to plant something new.