Another warm day, nothing much to do

 The soil was still dark even at noon so I delayed watering, might check tonight. The day dawned mostly clear and is going to be warm today but there is a delicious cool breeze coming through the window. The hawk is still calling from the tree, I suspect it's the male making sure everyone in the area that hears his voice knows that the tree and all he surveys is his.

Considering options in the north bed. So much room.

The area I can plant in is about 2x2, the whole bed is almost six feet long but the depth is short due to being so close to the wall. I got a free bag of lentils and was looking to see whether they are more of a pea or bean and 'plant early in the spring after lost frost' says it's a pea which I had forgotten since they are sometimes used with the same ingredients for soup as peas. Speaking of peas...the ones in that bed are coming along nicely, still stunted but should have some good pods very soon. I also made a pea tower.

Recycling garden things right? I would have made a fence but it was already growing in the cage and just made do with more supports and used the wire to try and catch some of the tendrils.  Better design next time.

Potato... the lettuce... I was going to pick the lettuce but decided it was too warm and would wait on it.

 

I know that bed looks on the dry side on the surface but you can see how it's still dark in the hole. I will try and remember to go out and water before dusk.

The gopher is still pushing dirt in the corner which is good. Stay there, don't go near my beds.

Come on peppers get going! Marigolds, you too! Seems like they're just sitting there not doing anything, especially the peppers. I put fertilizer out there and hope it was enough to keep them going. That one marigold in the front is going to be the first to bloom for sure and now thinking I should have moved all of them but whatever.

I was thinking I need more flowers to draw pollinators but then, peppers pollinate just fine, so do peas and potatoes don't need to be pollinated. If I was going to put a zucchini in or another squash maybe but I would need that entire north bed for one plant. Maybe next year. (I keep saying that and with our current situation there may not be 'next year' for where we live).

A friend reposted a note/meme about '7 bee species were put on the endangered list' and this is your wake up call. I first saw that about six or seven years ago and did some research.  First, the bees on the list are in Hawaii, they are not pollinators and are native to the islands. My friend said he hasn't seen any bees in the dandelions where he is. He lives in Quebec, the weather is different up there and it may still be a bit cool for the bees to be out. Fluctuations in bee populations are a normal thing and yes, there are threats to bees I am not denying that but inflamatory posts like that without any science or facts to back it up really gets me. We aren't having any problems with bees were I am, they're all over the jacaranda. Bees prefer blue, purple and white, sometimes pink flowers so not seeing them on dandelions...maybe the particular hive that used to visit there has moved on to another source for nectar. Wild hives even are subject to predators or bad weather so it's a bit alarmist to say that bees are endangered without following up with facts and data.

Off my soapbox and on with my day.