Warmer and the tree is in bloom

 It smells wonderful outside with the light breeze and warm air mixing coming through the window. Warm enough that I only spent about twenty minutes or so in the garden before I got too warm to even comtemplate dumping the compost bucket. Besides I forgot the bag to put it on so will try and do that tonight. Starting with yesterday evening's foray to the garden. Cool enough I needed my jacket.

I yanked another large cilantro plant to make more room for the tomato and lettuce. Until it gets big enough to peek over the tops of the cilantro, will keep yanking it.

Watsonia is getting ready to bloom and there is a small rose bush (likely root stock coming up) trying to compete with the bigger bush. Hoping it can try and bloom this year just to see what it is.

Just a difference between last evening and today. Yes, the second picture is closer but it also shows that the lettuce in that spot is doing very well. I suspect it's happy to be shaded compared to the line out in full sun. 

 

Fungus coming back up again behind the peas and just gonna leave them. The tomatoes are still looking rather sickly and hope that the shot of fertilizer I gave them (and the trauma) helps them improve a bit more.

There is something nibbling on the lower leaves of the peas. Those are definitely snail/slug chew marks and knowing where they like to hide they are likely digging into the soil rather than climbing all the way back up and out of the bed. Cutworms would eat in a different pattern and they aren't touching the garlic or onions.

The tomato is a bit more in the clear but I also was holding the cilantro back to get a clear photo. It's much better looking than the other seedlings but there's still time for the others to catch up. I suspect this tomato is going to grow up and through that trellis but that's one of the reasons why I put it there. Self-supporting situation. Will be difficult to get to any tomatoes at the back and there's not a lot of room but will see what happens. I almost unplanted it when I pulled the cilantro out. Due to the soil being so loose and open tiny roots were going everywhere.

Speaking of cilantro, that stuff is about ready to flower I suspect. Will be looking at ways to preserve it or dry it to have for salsas and dishes. The peas are still just pumping out the pods, still tucking them in here and there to help them spread out a bit more. You can see it's slightly darker in the  middle of the bed, I roughed up the soil and it wasn't dark enough for my liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to see but some of the white you see on the dirt and rocks...it's mollusk trails. There was a LOT of them all over the logs and rocks, and under the jade bush even. I have not seen any on the soil of the raised bed so not sure how my logic is working on that. So it's not like I'm keeping the ground wet all the time, these little snails can survived going over rough broken ground. Eggshells aren't going to deter them very much.

Given the temperatures today I made sure to bring my nozzle with me to water the beds. I decided to show the difference between the raised bed and the not so raised dirt bed. I watered for about 8-10 minutes on each bed. The first picture there is immediately while I was watering and five minutes later.

 

Same length of time for the raised bed. No puddles at all and it soaked in faster than I was watering. Now, both situations are good to a point. It's great to have good drainage but it's also good to have the water stick around for a while. Yesterday the soil in the raised bed was still that dark under the surface but much less so today. The other bed in the ground with just dirt, about the same but it was harder to dig when it was dry.

 

And the roses are finally blooming. I know for a fact now that rose is called Paradise. Looking at it I remember it being the rose that my son picked out but it had no tag. I researched it and discovered what it was back then and it came to me today. Very fragrant and a lovely variety.

The irises are starting to pop as well and the yellow rose busted out a couple of flowers. The rose doesn't have as much fragrance if I remember so still not sure what variety it is.

That's about it for today in the gardens. Unless something momentous happens might not do a big post tomorrow.