Another one is caught and monsoon

 We almost had rain. I thought I heard thunder this morning when I woke up but nothing since. Could have been the neighbor's closet door. I smelled damp wild grass and plants on the breeze this morning so I knew that it was raining somewhere. It's hot and muggy right now and will be closing up since I'm having to run the oven. Definitely sticky weather and according to the AC it is 85 at floor level right now which means at head height it's closer to 88 in the kitchen. Yikes.

I dumped the rest of the mulch bucket around the beds last night. It was still damp this morning and likely will stay that way for another day or two if this cloud cover continues.

Still really proud of those cucumbers just hope it's not too late in the season for them to mature and give me a return on my investment of time and effort.

Just more shots of how much mulch spread around. I wasn't able to get all the way to the back wall of the bed but that's fine. When all those plants are gone it'll all get mixed into the soil for next season. I also noticed that they finally took away the broken and busted up bench from that table finally. Only been that way for almost a year.

 

Can you see it? I almost didn't. Saw the tomato first, followed the fallout of caterpillar poop and finally spied it. These are harder to see than the hornworms for sure.

I caught myself a few times because a small branch had a white line similar to that caterpillar. I then noticed a small branch that was completely chewed through. Saw the cut off part first because it was wilting. (Holding the cut off part next to the branch it was chewed from).

 

Just showing the amount of damage those little worms are doing. I am thankful they are the green loopers actually because they aren't partial to the larger tomatoes, mostly foliage and the smaller ones. If they were hornworms I most definitely would be out there at night looking for the bastidges.

 

The roses are bouncing back as they were supposed to, still irked about it, they even have some buds on them because they're resilient like that. The bulb in the left picture is I think Ornithogalum. Unremarkable flower and so they just pulled that one up and tossed it. The Crocosmia was hacked back as well but that's okay. They're a spring plant and did okay flowering. They really need to be divided to do better.

Well  it's supposed to rain really soon and weather app says we might get scattered thunderstorms. Would just like it to drop some water from the sky to cool things down a bit.

We have battened down the hatches and started the AC because it is miserable outside and in right now.

 

Weather shift and culprits caught.

 I smelled moisture in the air last night after dark and was happy. This morning dawned overcast but no rain in sight. At least it extended the cool temperatures a bit longer and made for a pleasant morning in the garden and walkies with Rocky.

First, another harvest of tomatoes. They're close to full size and from three different bushes. The small round one is from the center bush in the north bed. Dolores was down in the evening as well and it seems she does more in her planters than Layla unless I just keep missing her. Anyway, it's nice to chat with another gardener. I actually got so distracted finding the caterpillars and talking with Dolores I forgot to bring the tomatoes up! I ran downstairs again and realized one more could be picked so 5 in one shot.

I am getting seriously annoyed about the chewing on my leaves and decided to do a thorough hunt for them last night. So far they only go for the baby and unripe fruit and I have more than enough full size and ready for ripening that losing a few small ones isn't tragic.

 

Luckily I saw these two small ones almost eaten and turned a leaf over nearby. Hornworms aren't the only things that eat tomatoes. This is likely from the Cabbage White I saw flitting around a while back. And another smaller one on another leaf on the front bushes. Two is a good start but saw more frass and holes this morning on the trellis tomato. No luck finding anything though, but look at the tomatoes!

 

And a garden friend! The Orb Weavers are starting to show up now. this one was between the front tomato bush and the Jade plant. I only noticed it wasn't a dried flower because it vibrated the web it was hanging on. I saw another between the north bed and Layla's pot but it was so tiny the camera could only focus on the log behind it so no picture. Go get em!

Not much in the way of topics for today just maintenance on the bushes, finding three more blossom rotted ones in the north bed bush. I just don't know what's going on with it. 

 

I haven't watered except for after fertilizing. I won't need to water for a while and hope that the food does some good for them. The soil gets really dry on the East side because that gets sun first but yet that's the bush that has the worse rot. I can only surmise that the soil underneath is graded in that direction and it's got less good soil to grow in. Sunflower is happy, zinnias are struggling but still going and they should technically be flowering now and not in a month but because I planted so late, will have zinnias in October if I'm lucky.

With the change in weather my brain starts thinking of what to plant next even though I have no room. Best I can do is potatoes in that crate but where to put it?

I think I'm going to pick up the coriander plants, whatever seeds are left on them I'll shake into the planters and then break them down and put them in the green waste bin.  I dumped the scrap bucket (hoooboy did that stink!) and tried to toss the compost buckets a bit. I need a sifter to break the finished compost down so I can use it. The other bucket I will likely add some of the mulch into it as well as some dirt to help it along. 

So where to put the potato crate? I might let dolores have that window box container because I can't figure out what to do with it. Going to need more soil if I want to fill the crate and that. I could grow lettuce in the long one along with more cilantro. 

But where to put the potato crate? 

The soil bag will be gone since it'll be used up, the coriander branches will be gone... that corner gets more shade so the window box can stay there but the potatoes need more sun.

We can 't do anything with the log pile at this point unless I talk to the gardeners. Along with the lizards there may be black widows.  That aloe needs to go. I think Dolores or Layla tried to water it recently . Dolores wants to move the aloes near her area and I told her she needed to talk to the managers about that.

How to keep habitat for the lizards and make room for more planting? I'm sure the lizards could move to the Jade bush but it isn't as warm as the log pile. Dangit!

Have to do a lot of thinking on that for a while.

 

 

'Monsoon' weather and sporadic harvest

 We have windy weather but it's humid also. Not hot enough to put AC on just wish there was a dehumidifier for the window. As I type this we decide it is only going to get worse and shut up for the say at 11 am.

I went out in the evening to check on things and water a bit and Dolores was out there. I noticed not one but two tomatoes that were ready and they came off in my hand easily (didn't get any pictures of them). I have plenty of tomatoes at this point so I finish up and offer her the tomatoes. She took them gratefully and told me she was shifting her ginger into a pot by itself. The tomato looks like a cherry and she said it was a compost volunteer. I told her 'cherry most definitely'. I don't know if it's goiing to do very well as she has it in a small pot and only a cage on it. Cherry tomatoes are vines. it's going to overtake everything if it survives.

The sunflower facing west in the evening of course and the two other tomatoes coming along. There are those and a few others I tested this morning but none are ready yet.

 

A tomato on the middle plant looked red enough but it didn't pull off easily so I left it. Raised bed is looking good. Cucumbers are going to be all over that corner for sure. Still debating on moving the one closest to the corner in the opposite direction at the trellis.

 

Found a tiny caterpillar but that didn't account for the huge amount of holes in the leaves on all the bushes in the raised bed. My eyes just don't have good binocular and depth perception anymore so I can't focus enough to look for a caterpillar big enough due to the amount of foliage. I was lucky with that first one.

Tomatoes coming along nicely. Not the same bush but similar state of the tomatoes. They'll be ripening about one every other day or every two days at this rate. Which is fine because I can have some to spare for trading when the time comes.

 

Mulch makes all the difference in the world. I watered day before yesterday and the soil underneath is still good. Other areas are bone dry at least an inch or two down. If those cukes thrive like they should I really do need to move the smaller one to the other corner at the trellis where there's lots of room.

I had to kind of coax this branch to hang on the trellis, it was just laying on the ground. I was digging around the north bed and there are a lot of roots really close to the surface. That root at the back had green skin in a section which means that it was exposed to light and would form a plant given the chance. I watered as well as I could (didn't bring the nozzle with me) and buried it again. Hope to get back out tonight and do more thorough watering in the dry areas and put some of the mulch down.

No more pictures at this point so short post today. So the difference in the fertilizer I got and what I usually use not much but got the label pictures for comparison. Anything is better than nothing and this is pretty good stuff.

First off, the print is much smaller. I couldn't get a good picture with both sides in one photo, it would need a magnifier and it's still blurry to me. The analysis on this one is 2-5-3 with 7% calcium which is great, .5% Magnesium and of that .15% Water Soluble  Magnesium (just like Nitrogen it makes a difference). It also has 1.4% sulphur which is absolutely needed in my alkaline soil.

 

I had to crop and reduce the size from the original photo I had.The difference in percentages is obvious numerically but the balance is about the same. Then there's the lack of Sulphur and a difference in the Magnesium. Calcium is higher but without the Sulphur a lot of those beneficial nutrients won't be taken up as quickly. The other difference is the type of bacillus they use. I would have to do some research on which one is more suited to our climate and soil type but essentially they're all good but some are better than others for our type of soil. Again, I'm not a soil scientist and don't plan on starting a career. 

The macro and micro nutrients are more important because it wasn't until about fifteen years ago that fertilizers started incorporating and listing the micro-organisms and micro nutrients as a selling point. Regulations in labeling nationwide but mostly in California is also a factor in knowing what is in your food, garden supplies and fertilizers.

What does this say about which one is better? Nothing. They are both good, they have minor differences in numbers but Jobe's has a rather metallic smell and the EG was more obvious in the appearance of the fertilizer being organic. Jobe's looks and smells like blood meal. For my budget I have to get what I can afford, what's better for the plants in the labels, I'll go with Jobe's. It's apparently less expensive also.

So there's the topic for today, fertilizer comparison but no soil science lesson.

 

Yay for friends and it's still hot.

It's only supposed to be 86 today but we have the AC on already. Sure there's a good wind outside but it's likely not a very cool one and would only be moving the hot air around. So noise and cool air again today.

Yay for friends? I was able to do a grocery exchange with a friend who had an extra bag of tomato and veg fertilizer for me.

And when I went out to feed last night the first ripe tomato (I don't count the other two) came off in my hand easily. There are two more ready to go in an other week. 

And another one as well. They're all coming together and we just got a bunch of tomatoes from the local food pantry as well. No worries about them going bad for sure.

 

I watered this morning to get the fertilizer wet and worked in. The mulch is working as expected and keeping the soil nice and moist. I won't likely water that corner or the north bed for a couple of days. Next time I see someone with a chip drop locally they need to share I'll go check it out.

Just a reference shot of the north bed and the sunflower is plumping up the flower bud. This bed by far is the saddest one. Those zinnias even got some fertilizer along with everything else, just moved the mulch aside and side dressed the cucumbers and flowers and spread as much as I could back.

 

More tomatoes coloring up so it has begun as they say. But this is what it's all about, the worry, the watering and feeding... it comes down to harvest time.

Just some reference photos for how bit these bushes really are. I could technically have just one tomato on that trellis but could fit two next time. Stakes will be for supporting something else but not tomatoes.

I wrestled and wrangled and shifted the cage, tried to use an aloe flower stem as second support and almost gave up. Finally just shifted a bit more and the center tomato is standing more upright again. Then realized it was almost shading the zinnias but they'll be okay.  The tomato off the vine went under the knife with lunch today. Sure there are other tomatoes in the fridge that were older but this was mine. It was still slightly green under the skin on one side but couldn't tell in the tuna sandwich I made.

I told my sweetie we have more than enough tomatoes for him to have his favorite snack any time. Given how fast the bushes are ripening we'll have a constant supply for a bit. Still mulling over planting for fall/winter. Not much of a variety but if I can keep the garden going year round it'll be great. I'm glad I finally started using that mulch, wish I had thought of it sooner but it's needed now and am glad I have it.

Fall coming up means the trees will be dropping their leaves soon which means more mulch. I still have the compost I made which I hope to stir up again tonight. I have another container of scraps from the kitchen to put in the other bucket now and hope to toss that a bit as well. It's just too hot still to do any serious garden work and by the time it cools down it's almost too dark to do anything that would take long. Will see what I can do tonight with the compost.

Oh more lizard sightings as well. There's one that lives in the planter downstairs, Rocky has seen it twice and it scurries up the wall and onto the window screen of an apartment. When I watered this morning there was one on the log pile that I startled who scurried for cover under the logs. I really hate to disturb that habitat but want to expand garden space. Especially with a new gardener now. She has more space than I do in containers so really thinking hard about giving her that end bad if I don't have anything else to use other than the crate.

I looked at the corner of the garden and made a list of things that would need to be done. The logs moved, compost buckets moved, the tomato cages (tossed in the trash really). All the weeds scraped... in the winter time that corner gets little to no direct sun so it's a good spot for things that need to be stored. The log pile though is perfect for more growing space but gophers have been in there and of course the lizards. 

Many decisions on space use and what to do.