Another cool day and rearranging for safety.

 Definitely cooler today, actually had to put on a second shirt over my t-shirt. Mostly high overcast with a light breeze this morning and now breaking up around noon. Since Rocky didn't want to go out this  morning I used the time to go putter in the garden. But first, pics from the evening foray to the garden.

Something (or someone?) is eating the tips off my onion sprouts. I certainly didn't do it and it's just the young ones, the older ones are fine. 😕😖😕 (just discovered I can use emojis)

 

Application of dry fertilizer and careful watering which was almost all dumped out the next day (see below).

Peas are filling out rather unevenly. Going to have to look up the reason for that since I've seen so many other people's peas with full pods. Most I can discover is uneven pollination..go figure.

A geranium in the downstairs neighbors garden, lovely little thing and makes me smile. The grass was being mowed so I took the 'back way' to the garden and had to take a picture. 

The soil in the north bed... I don't remember it looking like that when I left the garden last night. I watered and fertilized the tomatoes and moved the tray back to where it was and then used the shovel to scrape and smooth the soil around. That looks more like someone used the hose...which I did so maybe in the dim light I didn't see it.

And the Tomatoes are still waiting for the garden and the fertilizer to kick in. If I remember the reasons they look sickly is A: lack of fertilizer and B: temperatures are too erratic/cold. So yeah..got that pegged.

So I think two things are happening with the lettuce, watering is covering up the smaller seedlings and stunting them and lack of fertilizer. The ones behind the cilantro are in a similar situation, one is always bigger than the others so I might as well thin them this week and give them all some room.

The cilantro. It's getting big! Big enough that I'm having to pull the cilantro away from the tomato and may well yank the ones at the back to give it some more sun. Onions are making their presence more apparent which is good. Can't wait to plant the tomatoes and peppers and have a summer salsa garden.

Failing eyesight and clumsiness. I tried to get into the corner to move the compost bucket and tripped over one of the cages, tripped again and the cage knocked the tomatoes over (picture on the right is where I ended up standing). I was more angry with myself than worried about the tomatoes. Safety in the garden is just as important as safety in a work environment. This could have ended badly with me tripping over the cages, I crushed one and nearly lost two tomatoes. They survived and so did I. I hadn't planned on rearranging things to this extent but that sort of pushed me and it was cool enough I could stay in the garden longer.

 

 

 

I started clearing where the compost used to be and discovered several decollete snails. One larger one and lots of small ones, some tiny enough it was hard to pick them up. So this is where they like to hide. This also explains the damage to the lettuce that was in the bed next to it. Someone tried to denounce that they were harmless and good for the garden and I had to shoot them down with facts I learned years ago working at the nursery. This proves my point. When their target food is no longer around they go vegetarian. Snail trails on the logs from that spot also confirm their movements. I took that handful and tossed them into the church parking lot. Lord knows how many are hiding under that jade bush. And the log pile against the building next to the north bed.

You can't see it on the logs but there are snail trails on them. They must move quickly to get out of hiding and to their food and back again.

 

I pulled out the edging and rolled it up tighter, securing it with some green wire I had stashed. Short piece just the right length for what I needed. You can see the sun started coming out at this point but I was basically finished. I was able to balance the compost bucket on two logs supported by the rolled up edging (didn't curl it up small enough for the bucket to fit on it) and then did what I could using the hoe to 'rake' the leaves up. Yes I know that is a prime hiding place for snails but guess what is going to be checked regularly? I was tempted to put them in the compost bucket but then ... yeah I want to use that compost in the garden so not a good spot. 

I turned the window box over and put the tray on it..like it's supposed to be and the tomatoes are stable and out of the way. Yes, that's another prime hiding spot for critters but  what's to be done? Oh and there were also pill bugs and an earwig in that spot with the snails. Everyone cleared out and it's now safer and more organized. Cages are stacked in the corner with my three poles.

 

 

After I took the picture of the whole garden I moved the tools all to the corner where the hose is. Just seems more logical to put them there until I change my mind again.

Oh speaking of the Jade bush, it's falling apart.  Not exactly sure what's going on but the branches are kind of splaying out from the center and one other branch is laying on the ground. I don't remember it doing that last year after blooming, they don't feel soft or weak in fact, rather heavy.

I'm not going to move those buckets out of the way to go worm my way behind there to see what's going on. It's Jade. It'll survive. Just concerned but then I did see some suspicious cat like foot prints in the south bed maybe a cat jumped on the bush to get over the fence. Needs a good pruning for sure but would need to talk to the lady that asked me not to touch it. She loves the plant but I've never seen her in the garden, she doesn't seem interested in what's going on other than that.

Anyway, more productive in the garden today and I only need two more things to really get cranking, metal mesh and a sifter. Still scouring the internet for freebies on that.