The weather continues to be intermittent

 Rain last night and early this morning and cold wind. Had a full bucket of kitchen scraps so had to take those down and check on the lizards which, in retrospect am naming them Linus and Lucy which are difficult to tell apart.

Top of the picture sidled against the bucket is one, couldn't see the second one but it didn't budge when I dropped the scraps in. It's cold, they're reptiles so yeah, it must be warm in there. Still trying to figure out how they got in there. The bottom of the bucket only has 1/2 inch holes so the only way they could get in there is from the top. I did think that maybe when I scooped the compost from the other location they were in there. 

Just as I planned, put the fertilizer down before the rain and it did my work for me. Everything is coming along nicely but with 60+/- degree days and colder nights the soil and air says it's winter.

Best growing thing in the garden at this point, is the potatoes. The lettuce is meh, but it's still in the shade mostly so not surprising. Not much else going on really but at least things are growing. 

Partly cloudy today, small chance of rain but definitely will be raining tomorrow, wonder if I should put something over the buckets to keep them from getting too soaked.

Plans, plans and more plans. And rain.

Another partially clear day

 Gorgeous day actually. We're due more rain later but for now, took advantage of the sunny weather and grabbed the fertilizer to the garden.

Fertilized all the plants, couldn't dig it in the raised bed but the coming rain will get it into the soil. Everything expectedly was wet still and I don't expect to need to water for several days.

Took pictures of the iris in full bloom because it was gorgeous and I will post them to an iris group to see about an ID. I would love to grow them but more than one color because... colors! The aloe is almost blooming, it opens all the flowers up the stalk first then opens them from bottom to top in progression. It's definitely a favorite of hummingbirds as long as they find it.

So I took a picture of the compost then started to stir it around and something wiggled. I thought, Oh! Worms! Then they wiggled a lot and moved around. Two lizards! I had no clue they would be in there so they are named Larry and Lucy for now. I now realize they are stuck in there because the sides of the bucket are slick and it's too far for them to jump. Not sure why they would get in there other than warmth and away from flooding in the log pile. Might make them a leafy compost home in the windowbox planter I'm not using at the moment. The most they can eat in there are the worms I included and maybe the occasional fruit fly. Hope I didn't hurt them too badly.

To say we had some drainage issues is correct, I was walking Rocky and saw this . The other day after it rained I noticed a huge puddle on the upper right, where someone usually parks. I don't know what brilliant person decided it was a great idea to just make a drainage channel through the lawn and down to where it joins with a channel next to the sidewalk. Honestly. I thought something had happened until I remembered the lake that had been there.

Okay, off to do some errands and be back home and settled before the clouds come back.

A clearish spot so got outside

 We had rain mixed with hail last night, rained most of the day.  It's now big puffy white clouds, beautiful blue skies and a cold breeze. Even the doves had to take shelter yesterday on our kitchen window.

So this is what winter weather should be? Well without the snow of course, at least where I am. The local mountains got snow but can't see it from where I am. We're due more rain midweek and then partial clouds...and repeat to the end of March.

 

 Everything survived the rain and light hail thankfully, you never know with seedlings and the weather. The cilantro is doing great, the lettuce is slowly surviving. The leaves in that bed were collected in the hole I dug a potato so I pulled those off. I'm debating on whether to keep that there for a later crop but then it will likely be rotted by the time it's warm enough to grow.

Very proud of those potatoes and if it doesn't rain tomorrow I'll throw some fertilizer on them. I'll get my act together some day and remember to put fertilizer down before I plant anything. I got a shot of the entire raised bed and it's now showing more green. Again, hard to see the onions but those are coming up nicely. I pinched some of the fertilizer mush from the biggest pea and put it around the smaller ones because it was obvious which had benefited from the extra food.

I am rather piqued as to what exactly is eating the radish seedlings. They are trying to grow and I am wondering what in the heck is small enough that is moving around in that bed to eat them. The potatoes don't seem to be bothered much anymore and again, what the heck is eating them. Hopefully they survive to first real leaves and the cold wet weather.

I keep wanting to plant more in that bed because there's so much open space right now. Did I mention I'm the worst combination of lazy and impatient gardener? 

Still feeling very excited and hopeful all of this worry will be for nothing.

Some photos, still a lot of weather

 Still windy and cloudy and sputtering rain. Not raining today, so far but likely later, cold and windy so I grabbed the scrap bucket and headed to the garden for a few quick pictures.

The potatoes are loving this weather for sure and the peas are starting to gain some growth as well. The cilantro is getting secondary leaves so as soon as it starts warming up they are off and running.

 

What is barely visible is the first planting of onions coming up. They are there but hard to see,then there's the lettuce that seems to be stalled out at this point. That soil is so difficult to grow in, might as well let the weeds grow or throw something like rosemary in there. Those things will survive any situation and thrive.

 

Speaking of weeds. She moved the stick, no sign of there actually being any growth as there are a few holes where she poked it in then changed her mind. She has stuck a succulent branch where that was which will likely have better success than the stick. 

Judgy much? Yeah but it's to point out how some people just putter in the garden without knowing what they're doing and expecting things to just grow. I want people to succeed when they garden, I have success to a point even with my knowledge and it makes me happy and frustrated in turn. But I have the knowledge to be more of a success with the right materials. 

I know I made some mistakes and did what I could with what I have. With little money to spend I have very little to make things better. With the new raised bed I have a much better situation than the previous two years. Although, looking at the potatoes on my way back today, the leaves have been chewed already. It's way early for potato beetle so it's hard to say what is chewing on them, only thing I can think of is the same worm that damages roses. Could even be earwigs, possibly slugs or baby snails so without a visual positive ID, can't spray anything.

There was still a robin hanging around, heard it when I walked Rocky this morning and when I was in the garden as well. It was even reported on a news blurb how we haven't had a flock of robins in San Diego in over a decade. Longer than that for this many. Robins apparently are rather erratic in their migration and it depends on the berry and seed availability. Which is why I saw them perching in the tree with all the dry seeds in it and most of the branches where they perched are picked clean.

Going to be cloudy and sporadic rain for a while so posts and reports will be sporadic as well.

 

 

 

Lots of rain and wind and rambling

 Got out briefly yesterday to just check on things before it rained. It's been a 'Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day' for three days now. Gusty winds and intermittent rain showers which means going out to the garden has been limited. Not raining this morning so was able to take Rocky out who objected to the wind and cold after about two minutes then we booked it back inside.

No pictures of the garden but a blurry distant photo of a lingering robin. A whole flock went through the other day and I guess this one was lagging behind.

And after the robins came the storm. It happened when I was in high school in San Jose as well. Robins came through, were on the lawn and in the trees, next day it was a rare snowfall. San Jose never got snow, so this was a treat and there's pictures in my yearbook to back me up.

So, opening my Encyclopedia of Country Living to a random page, happens to be on tomatoes, here's a quote:

"It's easy to raise tomato plants from seed, and they transplant without difficulty. One ounce of tomato seed might produce 3,500 to 4,500 plants." The author adds that they didn't count them just read that from another book. That might seems like an awful high number considering how many we usually get in a seed packet but consider that the sees are weighed in milligrams. Some companies actually do a count on their packets instead. Which to me is more logical since you are given instructions to plant so many inches or feet apart you can calculate how many you need. My packet was 515mg and I only planted about six or eight, there's enough left to plant the entire garden area and still have seeds left over. I mean, if the entire garden space was usable, 8 feet by 25 feet of space I think. I don't have to worry about supports since Roma are 'compact Determinate' type which is great for small spaces like mine.

 My packet cost $1.99 and if all the seeds I just planted sprouted and I kept them, that would produce enough tomatoes (hopefully) to keep me in tomatoes for weeks possibly enough for canning. That handful of seeds that's left... that to me is 1/4 acre farm size plot of tomatoes. Seriously! 

It boggles my mind sometimes thinking about how one fruit like a tomato can produce at least that many seeds. 1 fruit. This is how the larger tomato variety (might have the man's name wrong) 'Harry's Mortgage Lifter' got it's name. His tomatoes produced so well, and word got around town how good they were, he was able to save money and pay his mortgage with both the fruit and the seeds. Can you imagine selling eight or ten seeds for a penny (it was the 30's or 40's so that was a lot) and that family could have tomatoes enough for themselves and others.

This is one of the reasons why I love gardening. The idea of having one plant provide that much legacy and enjoyment. I would want a small farm that I could have kids or people over to teach about the plants, how to plant them, their history, all that.

You really do need a lot of room to garden 'sustainably'. I mean, I have three or four varieties of radishes and carrots already and haven't been able to plant them all. I could provide for so m any families with that. Granted radishes and carrots aren't the top of most people's list for vegetables but pair that up with some onions, lettuce, peas, more than enough. 

I was rather frugal with planting in the raised bed. I could have just taken a handful of seeds and sprinkled them all over willynilly and see what came up. It would be crowded as heck though which is not good. Technically. I have seen pictures of other beds where the plants are just exploding and there's no issues with production. But then they're growing things like kale and cabbage and all these huge plants, even potatoes and well, I have not gotten into the kale thing.

When I get more confident with how well this works I'll likely plant a bit tighter. The cilantro for sure can grow where it is almost forever, my sister in law had a 'perpetual' cilantro bed because she ignored it and it kept going to seed. If I get seeds from this crop I'll save it with the original seeds and will have to get some pepper seeds for the summer to go with the tomatoes. 

Funny thing about onions, the bunching onions I planted are typically the long narrow kind without a bulb also called 'scallions'. It's a marketing thing. I saw in the store what is being called 'Mexican green onions' which are basically the same scallion just grown long enough to get a bulb.

So there I go rambling on again but without any pictures of garden progress, that's what you get.

So much for rainy weather, for now.

 It is clear, breezy and no rain expected for two more days. Expected to be 71 and from Wednesday on it's supposed to be cloudy, cold and rainy. Will see how that works out. Guess I planted the onion and tomato seeds a bit too soon again?

The potatoes are just leaping out of the ground! Top growth is healthy but will have to wait until summer to see what size spuds were able to form.

 

While watering I noticed itty bitty seedlings and realized it must be the radishes finally coming up. I definitely put them in too deep if it took them this long. There's only like two or three so when it starts warming up again I'm just going to toss the seeds out there with some lettuce and carrots and see what happens.

I looked at the cage trellis arrangement and realized it was just not what is going to work but I have no other options at this point.

Onions are so hard to see given the leaves are just threads of green but they're there. Again not many but still have those seeds even after planting another row. Might do another row between the cilantro and the first row.

So Fenugreek is coming up again as well as some onions she planted and I think, a small sage plant. Not surprising that stick hasn't done anything but the prickly lettuce in the next bed is gangbusters. Like they do this time of year. That, along with the wild oats and grasses are the primary green in the hills right now.

We actually have some wild fennel as well in some of the canyons, since the park service never uses any sprays or pesticides it's actually 'organically grown' and some Asians and islanders know this and go pick it in the spring. Weed control and fresh greens, win win.

So one of the tenants downstairs has her collection of plants (real and fake) that blue cover is over her creeping charlie...that's under the stairs... because it was supposed to be frosty. At the opposite corner of the porch is a small clump of pansies she just planted and next to that is a cone trimmed rosemary bush. Which she covered the other evening because...there was going to be frost. She's under the walkway of the upstairs so there's no chance of frost hitting those plants.  (The tiny little potted plant next to the blue pot is actually an artificial succulent.) An eclectic collection to be sure but the pansies replaced the chrysanthemums that were there and died. Yet another situation of insufficient understanding of gardening and instructions. 

I took a picture of the aloes at the end of the garden to remind me that's where I mean to put the other potted aloe. If it rains on Wednesday it won't happen for a week, will see if I can do that tomorrow or maybe later today. I really don't care about aloes, they're ugly most of the time, it's the plant of choice because they're succulents and aloe vera has 'uses'. Mostly, they're ignored 99% of the time and up looking like those. The ones in the ground on the other side of the lemon bush are doing just fine. 

Anyway, will see what happens the next few days.

Utilizing what is at hand

 Cooling weather with more high overcast clouds. Still good weather though for spring garden stuff. The hill in the distance is a lush green this time of year and usually lasts until about late May when it starts to brown out. As you can see it was clear and blue sky this morning and now it's hazy high clouds. Go figure. Just looked at the weather and by gosh we're supposed to get rain today! Good thing I watered right? Looks like there's going to be high probability for rain all this coming week. Yay?!

I was looking around and judged that where the onions were coming up I could put in another row of them then realized I had only brought down the sprayer and ended up not needing it. I did water the potatoes as that is apparently faster draining and less moisture holding than the raised bed soil.

I utilized the tomato cages, putting the legs as close as possible to the peas so they have something to grab. The one on the end I just moved the red thing (metal stick?) closer and caught some of the netting on it. I would have gotten some metal mesh but spent my meager extra bucks at goodwill on an absolute rare find of an enamel cast iron dutch oven! Score! Was hoping for a metal or wood bakers rack for the front porch but oh well, meanwhile back at the garden.

I was going to just dig in and start moving logs but, again, forgot necessary things like my gloves. I don't have a rake either, which would be handy for moving the leaves. An idea I just had is clear out that corner completely, move the cages to the other end of the garden where I just put the folding chair into the electrical closet. I'm not using that bed as much and aside from the lizards using that as a hiding corner can be used to store the tools and stuff. That sprayer needs to be thrown out as well. Just might take that and the chair to the dumpsters but it's not my stuff even though the owners likely aren't even there anymore. There is a water shut off valve there as well so can't pile the logs there and block it.

First idea: clear that corner, dig up the dirt, yes the gophers like that corner so really need to lay down some wire mesh, but make that another bed. Crowded, yes. Mostly shaded in winter, yes but still should be usable. Aside from getting a little mantis tiller the best I'm able to do has to be done with a shovel. 

Second idea is clear the corner and move the cages but then shift half the logs (smaller ones close to the north bed) over to that corner and tidy up the 'lizard den' of larger logs and make room for me to get to the raised bed a bit more. Then there's that aloe, which could be moved to the other end near the lemon bush where the other aloes are. There's also the long flower planter that is cracked but has a tray. I just need some soil and can maybe use that on my front porch for flowers? The issue is watering it. That's down the road a bit though and not critical.

No one else pays attention to that area so might as well make it presentable for me. We will be getting a new tenant or two soon so maybe they'll want to garden. I don't know if the manager will show them or even tell them about the garden area but that was a selling point for me.

If it was a well cared for and maintained area there would be a rubbermaid shed in that corner. But it isn't and no one (owner/management/tenants) has the money or time for that if it's not being used by more people. (I know my friends, so absolutely DO NOT send one of those sheds, as the management said about the raised bed, I have to take it with me if/when I leave. So there's no use for it right now.)

Since it's going to rain I'm going to grab the onion seeds and run down there.

 

 

 

Warmer than I thought and a look back.

 It's always colder in the apartment so I took Rocky for his walk with my jacket on and had to take it off as soon as I got downstairs because it was sunny and not that breezy but the wind comes and goes, rather gusty right now. Another beautiful day though and will have a few more before the next rain comes in.

Compost bucket from dumping the scraps yesterday. Only about a third full at this point and I suspect by the time it gets to the top I'll have worms working their magic in the bottom. The lettuce is looking like weeds at this point, once again forgot to put out any fertilizer for them. My focus was on the jury rigged netting situation and despite what it looks like the soil is still nicely moist underneath the dry surface.

I even looked at the aloe and then looked around to see where I could put it but didn't feel like working that hard right now. I had some serious stretching and cinching to do.

How do actual, competent gardeners use this stuff? I did get the third pole lashed to the top and then secured it to the fence because it was all wibbly wobbly side to side. I tied most of the strings on the sides of one half then attempted to do the same with the other half and ended up about six inches higher than the peas. Sigh.

 They won't be able to grow very quickly at that distance. I remember they took off a lot faster once they were able to grab onto something. I then looked around and saw the tomato cages. Why didn't I just use those? One of them is rather bent out of shape... now that I have the poles lashed and the rigged up netting... ::facepalm::

So after tying on the sides I had to figure out how to get the string down to the level of the soil. What I needed was long weed cloth staples. What I have are sticks and pieces of stiff metal. I was even offered another roll of metal fencing and turned it down.

 So with that done I realized the bees were out and the aloe had two bloom spikes coming up. The aloe needs to stay where it is because it needs the sun. Was going to move it to the other side of the jade but that's all shaded still. Will move it later when the sun's a little higher and make room where the logs are currently on the back wall.

 

I went back in my archives to see when I started this garden and discovered it was May 23, 2021 for the first pictures. The photo on the right was May 24 and closer and later in the day. I will take another side by side considering the time of year and day is considerably different. So in May I will have been working on this for 2 years, doesn't seem like it. Definitely has changed a lot, no more weeds, new beds, it was just looking like an empty lot when I started my gardens. 

One thing you can tell from the difference between February and May is the jade plant. That corner will soon be in full sun and the temperatures will be climbing 20 and 30 degrees during the day by May. Still going to work on that corner for something other than storage and logs. Another planting bed? With reinforcement below of course, it would completely be fallow during the winter since it would be shaded. Oh I also took two bags of the leaves to the dumpsters. I have more than enough mulch material and they were getting in the way.

Will think of something to do, the only thing  I can't do is cut back the jade plant. I hardly ever see anyone else out there and yet one of the tenants told me not to touch it, because she love that jade plant. I promised her I wouldn't get rid of it. There will be a few branches missing here and there slowly over time though. 

Things I forgot to do today: the rubber edging and fertilizer. Dangit!