Missed a day or two

 Decided to go out this evening since I hadn't been there yesterday. Weather is still nippy 'sweater weather' with light cloudy overcast and low temperatures. I'll take it over running the AC for 24 hours any day.

Good thing I went when I did because.... they're still around

Big fresh dirt pile right there and a smaller clump that was dried already in the compost pile. They can chew that up all they want but when I was walking rocky I noticed something I thought I would need..and may still need it. I did forget the little baggies of kitchen scraps when I went down today, another reason to get there tomorrow and add to the pile.

Apparently they replaced a door screen, if it's still there tomorrow I may grab it to put under the compost pile. Makes a nice sifter as well if you know how to pull threads to open the holes more. It's not like shade cloth that I was rather handy at pulling a thread to get a straight line to cut. Screen  may be woven but it's fiberglass not plastic so may be a bit more difficult. Will have to bring scissors with me when I go down tomorrow and hope it's there.

I used the shovel and took some of the dirt pile that was there and tossed it into the raised bed and a little on the compost. Stirred that up really well with the trowel and dug the hole where the dirt pile was. It was dark and fresh so it had to happen within a few hours before I got down there.

That was after stirring it with my trowel and the garbage can was probably what was used for putting on my raised bed not the bigger container thankfully. 

So anyway, cold and damp but no real rain for the most part which makes for nice days if I had something to do in the garden other than worry about not doing anything in the garden. Which reminds me I need to pull out my seeds and see what I have left and what I can plant in the next month or so. 

Definitely going to do some leafy greens, carrots, radishes...root crops do better in looser soil that was confirmed by an article I read. January may be the best month to plant things if we don't get a lot of rain. Not too warm and not too cold but cold enough I need a jacket or sweater going out in the morning or late afternoon.

It's FALL BABY!

Wasn't going to post but pictures to show

 It is definitely going to be chilly for the next two weeks. Daytime temps nothing over high 60's so nights are dropping by ten or twenty degrees when the sun goes down. Yay for winter!

Just wanted to show that I haven't watered in two days (three now) and the ground is still dark in low lying places. Also more weeds showing up, the ones barely perceptible in the south bed are oxalis coming up. Oh those are going to get sprayed with vinegar for sure. Even though I'm not going to use that bed right away I  will not have those taking over again.

That south area is in shade constantly now, like it does this time of year. Which is why I put the raised bed on the north side so it gets maximum sun all year. Yes it will be blazingly hot there in the summer but there's no place safe from that anywhere in that area. 

One of my elderly neighbors here came by and gave me a bottle of Maxi-Cal supplement for my garden. She knew I was gardening and didn't want to leave it on the table since she didn't like anyone else.Primarily for veggies like tomatoes that need the extra calcium and since it's a 10-0-0 it's just nitrogen, which is good for green stuff. The calcium also helps plants take up other nutrients and despite my incredible looking tomato with no blossom rot to speak of, what the heck. It's free fertilizer. Now I need to find a watering can with a disperser.

Need to remember to crush the leaves before putting them on the compost pile. I realized my mistake lying in bed last night. Oh well. Larger bits take longer to break down obviously so will remember to do that in the future. I have some scraps from a zucchini and onion I used today, need to start eating more eggs and those apples sitting in the bottom drawer (need some caramel to go with them).

So other than that, it's very chilly outside, slightly cloudy most of the day and small chance of rain later in the week. Will see how that pans out but for now, it's chill in the garden. hehehe.

A few hours till Turkey time

 So again with not much going on, it was very Santa Ana blustery earlier and gusting occasionally now. This means warm and dry but it's still wonderful weather. Leaves are blowing all over and Rocky is watching them from the window. Just nothing to do in the garden still. The gopher holes don't seem to be disturbed today so here's hoping they're calming down as well.

Added eggshells and bell pepper scraps, exciting huh? Hoping to get some more veggie scraps from my daughter's today as her boyfriend is cooking I asked her to have him hang onto the scraps. Have to remember to save the coffee grounds tomorrow morning as well. A lot of the bits I've put in there aren't going to break down quickly but will see what I have in a couple of months

No other pictures than that right now, brain is in a different direction because I'm looking forward to some wonderful food today and hope to bring some leftovers home. 

Stay safe and hope everyone has a wonderful relaxed day with family and friends.

Posting every other day it seems.

 Weather is still clear, cold and dry. There are new signs of subterranean activity in the garden grrr. I haven't had anything like apples or other veggies recently so the only thing to add to the compost pile was the baggie of coffee grounds. I got some zucchini today and dummy me, through the older zucchini in the trash instead of cutting it up and taking it to the garden. I'll be having some mashed potatoes soon so the peels will be going to the compost as well as some celery bits.

So I dropped the coffee grounds in, a handful of leaves on top and a half scoop of mulch then watered everything down good. The holes are fresh, they were not that open two days ago for sure so the dastardly rodents are still there. I watered down the north bed and the raised bed as well, the leaf level continues to lower thankfully and here's hoping by Christmas I'll have money to put soil on top and start my spring crops.

 

In this part of the country, after our first fall rains comes the winter greens. Weeds are starting to come up already and as soon as they get big enough they will be pulled up and thrown on the compost pile. Not sure what's coming up between the logs, could be anything really, same with the small stuff. We're due some cloudy, possibly a little rainy weather over the weekend so if it doesn't rain I'll likely get out and water again.

Our 'green' season starts in the winter picks up speed in early spring and by April or May it's starting to fade already. Depends on how much rain we get but definitely by June, we're back to having brown hillsides again. So never mind spring is green, here it's winter greening and spring flowers then brown the rest of the year. You know the rest.

Don't forget to save all your kitchen scraps for your garden (if you have one) and see you on the other side of Turkey day!

 

A little more done, still no soil

Days are just the right temperature for being outside with only a light sweater on until the sun goes down. Breeze has died right now and there are noisy kids outside due to being home for the holiday, other than that, did a little more in the garden but still no soil.

I forgot my clippers and due to not watering the pepper it was rather wilty so I just broke it down with my  hands and tossed it in the compost pile and put leaves and a few scoops of the mulch on for good measure. Need to water it tomorrow to help the brown leaves break down faster.

 

 Dumped out the dirt/rootball that was in the bucket and saw that the roots had indeed worked through the soil sufficiently it was mostly dry and pulled out the stump that was left. Chopped the dirt up with the shovel and threw a little on the compost pile for the microbes. Not sure if I'm going to be mixing that dirt into the north bed for planting or not.

I was scrunching up the leaves to break them up a bit more and noticed It's definitely lowered because it was up to the top when he dumped the leaves in the first time. So between breaking down and taking out two bags and two buckets of leaves out it's getting to a level for adding soil.

 And the gardener was out raking up the leaves again, like ya do this time of year.

 

That tree is where he was working but the leaves were under the other trees about where I was taking the picture from. So this is fall for us, reddish brown leaves, though the sycamores still have leaves, the liquidambers are slowly losing theirs.

And the lemon bush is blooming (pardon the toe of my shoe, it was the better picture for lighting).

 

So there's two or three lemons on the bush, it should have had more fruit if it had been taken care of properly but not my bush not my problem.

 

The rose is almost finished blooming and the trees are in full fall color. Welcome to Fall in San Diego.

Got pictures yesterday and forgot to post

 Took the small bag of scraps down to put in the compost pile and get that started yesterday and then got busy and forgot to post.

 

I forgot to take a picture of what I put in before covering it with some of the mulch from the bucket and beds. A bit of paper towel can be seen in the right hand picture though. I had a small zip top baggie of apple peels in the larger bag so that smelled so horrid I was in a hurry to cover it up. 

 

 

The pepper plant will be on the list of things to put in there as well for some 'green' things. The peppers have no seeds so not worried about them sprouting. I was inspecting the peppers and noticed small ants scurrying around, then discovered what they were going after, mealybugs just under the stem collar (calyx) at the top. I added some of the smaller peppers from the plant to the compost as a start. One of the gardeners was out clipping bushes and such but what he was cutting I don't want in the compost pile. Ivy, bougainvillea and asparagus fern...all of which can sprout from clippings. No way, no how am I fostering those in my garden.

 

So the pepper is very much destined for the compost pile tomorrow and will have to remember to bring my clippers with me to break it down.

How did those get there? They climbed, brought on the wind or the ants brought them from somewhere else. The plant has been stressed so mealybugs are the first ones to take advantage of the situation.

Oh and my hose is definitely not a 'kink free'. We have been using it as much and, of course, it folds instead of bends. As long as none of the folds form cracks we'll be good. I will not be replacing it and will just use mending tape if that happens.

The other picture is of one  lemon on the bush that's almost ready for picking and I keep hitting my leg on. Sun glare doesn't show it's fully yellow but it was inferred by the one lady that no one touches that bush but her. Oh well.

So just a lot more waiting now. At least the weather is still nice, breezy and clear again though they said it was a Santa Ana wind and if you remember, wind brings change of weather so here's hoping there's clouds on the way.       

 The Tiffany rose was blooming again. This is San Diego and not unusual for roses to bloom this time of year. The roses at the end of the street I mentioned are in bloom again, they got ugly mid summer but then they trimmed them and are back in bloom.

I want a rose garden.
                                      

Determined to do something in the garden

The weather is again gorgeously breezy with clear sunny skies. Perfect day to get out and do something in the garden.

I started collecting scraps from the kitchen again for a compost pile because I realized I have a nice makeshift containment idea. The plastic border that was around the previous bed.

Not a perfect solution but I don't need a huge container for the amount of scraps I collect. Currently there's apple peel some paper towel, a cilantro bunch that was not useful to trim, potato peels and strawberry tops and bits. Perfect combination. I have some green apples in the fridge I need to eat so there's more apple peels there.

I formed the border into a stacking circle and put some leaves in the bottom as a start for the 'brown' layer. I have plenty but won't over use that. So either later today or tomorrow I'll take my compost collection down to put on the pile.The ground is uneven under that and it's got gaps but that's okay, it needs air circulation. I toyed with the idea of asking to put a notice on the board for anyone with kitchen scraps (no meat or fat or other protein) to just take it down to the garden. I realized that would be about as successful as getting anyone else in the complex to get outside for no particular reason than to get some fresh air.

Refreshing my memory about what goes in compost I saw coffee grounds...totally forgot! My sweetie makes coffee every day in small single cup measures so perfect for putting in my small pile. 

Here's a list of the different categories:

Browns: Dried leaves, twigs and certain papers, tea bags (n/a)

Greens: vegetable and fruit waste, grass clippings and coffee grounds

And the not solid, water.

It also mentions hair and fur! I forgot that was acceptable, it takes a bit longer to break down of course and honestly not going to put my cat fur in there. That's larger composting than I need.

Done properly with the right components I should have some decent compost in about 30 days. Once it's started I need to keep it moist, which judging from how damp the lower level of the leaves are, should not be a problem. I may end up moving the compost ring to a more level spot closer to the corner.

Doesn't look like I did anything but I scooped off two bags and a bucket full of leaves off the top of the bed. I need to remove almost all of it unfortunately. I was afraid this would happen and should have told the gardener to never mind. Oh well. I also considered just piling them up in the corner over the logs but it would look messy and not achieve anything.

That green bin is the 'compost' container for when they do the leaves and such I think. That's about how  much he put in the bed I bet. Next time I hear them mowing I'll grab a bag and go down to get some clippings. They don't mow as often in the winter months but that's fine. I only need a few handfuls for the small pile I have.

So some progress at least but still no money for actual soil.

Late post, not much to say

 It is definitely fall weather and as much as I am a warm weather person this is nice. You can put on layers of clothing and blankets to stay warm but you can only peel off your clothes to a point where you can't go outside in public when it's hot.

The ground is still very wet because it's been cooler and the sun is lower in the south so no blazing hot days to dry it out in five seconds. I am really looking forward to getting some nice soil in that bed and actually growing some quality veggies and maybe some flowers. 

I made the mistake of liking a picture of a gorgeous bearded iris and now my facebook feed is full of those and incredible daylilies. I would love to have a flower garden worthy of those kind of plants. I had the marigolds but they didn't really do the trick and grew a lot bigger than I thought. I might drop a few seeds over in that more public bed that has the new plumeria in it. Ninja gardening, like the prisoners in one of those old war movies that had special pockets where they would load up with dirt and then walk around and open them to spread the dirt around.

Why the heck not right?

But back to the irises, turns out the grower is in Australia called Smokin Heights. The colors and combinations are just gorgeous and when I get an actual yard I'll be having at least two beds of flowers and roses and all that jazz.

Probably won't be able to do much gardening at this rate but I'm trying to keep myself as healthy and nimble as possible so if it ever happens I will do it.

Not much to report

 Days are breezy with scuffy high clouds keeping things very cool but the sunshine feels good compared to the shade. So, no money left to buy soil this month and next month isn't looking so good either. Unless I get a Christmas gift of either money or gift card to buy it.

The ground is still very soft in spots, likely where holes once were and were filled in from the runoff. The deeper one on the left is one I stepped in day before yesterday and then dug my heel in again today to see how big it is. The one on the right you can see me testing the area with my heel prints. Another hole that was filled in. The soil is soft when it's wet and cement when try, typical clay type soil.

Two pieces of paint layer that apparently blew off part of the building in the wind/rain storm. Fascinating testament to how old the neighborhood is when the paint comes off in palm sized pieces. The left picture is some dried Eucalyptus leaf branches from the leaf pile. Knowing the effects of Eucalyptus leaves in soil and on plants I am pulling whatever I find out and throwing it to the side. Since it was all from being blown in the parking lot, there's a lot of random bits and pieces including, a feather.

Also got a better picture of the 'new' planting bed with the plumeria and the palm tree and creeping charlie (Swedish Ivy?) that was in a pot. Before pictures from about a year ago or so.

And now, nothing left but the palm and whatever else was in the pot. I don't know if the black gentleman did it or someone else, out of curiosity I will have to ask someone.

So the leaves are still really wet below the surface at least, which is good because that means they are breaking down at the bottom a bit faster. As I said,I won't be keeping the full layer but am not going to clear them off until I have soil. Plenty of weather and days ahead good enough for planting.