Weather, watering and wind

Late post today due to other things going on. Weather was fine, kind of overcast in the morning but very windy and cool enough needed a jacket. I knew it hadn't rained that much so got my nozzle and made sure to bring my gloves this time. First, this evening's discovery then yesterdays...

Three days ago this rose bush was covered in aphids... nature took care of it for me. I saw that the one rose bud was now completely clean and there was a lump under one of the leaves. Sadly a caterpillar got to the bud but that was not the lump. The lump was a ladybug larvae! Yay!

 

  Almost all the aphids were gone, eaten and then I noticed another green lump and saw it was a lacewing larva cocooning. And even as I stood there I saw the ladybug responsible for more of the aphids. It was a yellow orange one rather than red which means it's one of the native beetles.

On  my evening foray previously I noticed this pea leaf with holes in it (sorry for the bad pictures) and knew what was causing it. There was not one but 3 looper caterpillars on it. That's just one leaf. I got video as well.

 

(I got google drive loaded onto the computer so now I can shift things from phone to computer easier)

The view this morning, nice and sunny but breezy and cool. Dry soil enough that I was sure to bring the nozzle with me to water. No rain is expected for the next week and a half so it's going to be watering every other day at least. The buds are starting to form on the cilantro as well as the onions next to them. I have never had onions flower in my own yard always seen pictures and have heard they are just as good for eating. Looking forward to more fresh onions for cooking.

 

Why did I take a picture of the north bed when it's just a pile of dirt? Because it reminds me of the promise I have to make that a viable bed for the summer. No more signs of snails but it was quite warm and dry there so they may have dug deep to hide. I watered enough to get that dirt wet on top so will see what it looks like tomorrow. I tossed the ends of a bunch of cilantro into the compost bucket the other day. It's broken down a lot though since I remember when it was raining a while back it was almost to the top. I'd say it's about 2/3 full now maybe almost half so I might get a nice handful of compost out of it when it's done. Hahaa.

I was getting the hose to water and saw this hole behind the lemon bush. One of the other tenants had seen me heading there and half followed me, apparently the lemon bush is hers or she's taken responsibility for it. She may be the one that almost barked at me originally about not watering it. She said she hoped it got lots of lemons this year and I told her don't count on it, it needs food and pointed out the gopher holes to her. It should have more water as well but I didn't mention that to her. I then put the hose into the gopher hold and was only able to do that for about two minutes before I realized my garden needed the water more than flushing the gopher.

 

The tomatoes are still looking great, except for that one. They are at least  as big as any you'd get in a 6 pack at the nursery. So perfectly fine for planting. If I had a place to plant them all. Hope they can hold out until the cilantro can be pulled at least.

 

The tomatoes are still looking great, except for that one. They are at least  as big as any you'd get in a 6 pack at the nursery. So perfectly fine for planting. If I had a place to plant them all. Hope they can hold out until the cilantro can be pulled at least.

 

Not much difference but before and after watering other than the box and soil being wet. I wasn't careful when tossing the dirt yesterday and tossed it on the end of the window box. I hosed everything down really well. I even took the empty cup and used it to do a bit more point watering, it drained really well. so it took almost five minutes for water to completely get through all the soil on those tomatoes. They're good and wet hopefully now.

 

Formatting is being stupid again but there's the cloth I found yesterday, fabric is too thin to be pants, so it's possibly from a shirt. It's my garden rag now, dug from the depths of the soil.

The Watsonia has more stems blooming, going to be spectacular in a few days with as many blooms that are going off. Just wish it was in a better spot for photos.

My evening harvest of peas. We feast tonight! A couple of the pods felt wrinkled so they were prime for picking. Got those in a baggie in the fridge now and will be adding to them as they fill out more. I tossed the shucked pods into the scrap bucket. Not sure if I want to grow peas again at this rate. I would prefer Sweet Pea flowers really, they have sentimental meaning for me and I love the fragrance. Will see about getting some seed before the fall so I can plant them in October/November.

Technically could probably pull the onions next to the cilantro, oh I was careful not to get the garlic too wet just in case. Maybe those will come up the same time as the cilantro and have all that room for the peppers and tomatoes. The peppers are doing good, not so sure on separating them when they're planted on top of each other so they'll all be double plants. Which just means that at some point they'll either coexist or one will suffer and have to cut it out.

Bell peppers I certainly can use, onions, tomatoes, lettuce all of that and hopefully will be able to figure out what else I can plant. I'm hoping the amendments and fertilizer makes a difference in the bed.  I didn't have much luck with the previous peppers, the tomato was off the charts but mostly growth. That's the soil I have, all iron and nitrogen not much else. Just gotta keep pumping fertlizer in there and maybe get some bloom food for the phosphorus. But then the fertilizer I have is a 3-5-6 so it's good on the other two numbers that I need for veggies as long as I put enough in to make a difference.

That's all folks!