Not much more to report.

 Cloudy morning sunny afternoon. I saw a post on FB that said, 'It's officially wear a sweater in the morning and regret it in the afternoon weather'. Absolutely so true! I'm wearing shorts and Hawaiian shirt because by the time I got dressed the clouds were gone. It was 61 this morning and weather app said by 2 or 3 it would be 84. So Shorts it is.

I got tired of brushing up against these two branches on the lemon. They were both triangle new growth anyway so just took them back to a good branching point. Side growth doesn't do the bush any good, we need it to go vertical. I tossed the branches on the compost buckets without pushing them down to hide them. It looks like I hacked it back a lot but honestly it was two branches of all new growth. It won't be missed by the bush.

 

Then I noticed someone had dumped out some old potting soil from a pot. Why the heck didn't you just put it in the window box!? It was bone dry so luckily I had brought my gloves and scooped it off the ground and watered it thoroughly. Barely enough to cover the bottom of it and oddly, drainage wasn't very good in the box. Well it's a start to putting soil in there for the strawberries at least.
Speaking of drainage, I realized that I planted the lettuce seeds in containers that had no drainage. Wondered why one was not drying out at all and the other was. I watered one more than the other apparently and it hasn't needed any water for a few days. Oops.

 

Nighttime visitor at my window last night. Wonder if that's the same mantis I found on the steps the other day. A memory popped up on my fb feed that this time seven years ago (when Katie and I were in Mira Mesa) I took a picture of two mantis that had landed on my bedroom window then. That was also the time we locked ourselves out of the apartment.

Fun times.

Getting close to time for cutting off the sunflower head, the seeds are getting loose now. I would have done it this morning but forgot my clippers. And.... I did it. I took a small, tiny branch from the back of the thyme plant in Layla's pot and was going to bring it upstairs but decided to try and root it in the potting soil that was still very wet.

So here's what I found out:

"Take your thyme cutting at a node on the stem at a point where the leaves attach. This is where the root formations are most viable. Remove the lower leaves and then push the cut end into a container of moist soil mix, vermiculite, or perlite. Keep the pot in a warm, shaded area and keep slightly damp."

 

I have no idea where the cut is on mine, but the soil is certainly damp and warm, can also transfer some of the soil to a small container and bring it upstairs.  I think it's good where it is, might push more soil up around it tonight just to be sure. I've never taken cuttings like this before so it'll be a bonus if it does take.

I brought bunching onion seeds with me to plant them but looked around and all I saw was either very rough and dry soil or an open bed that I had plans for. It's still a bit warm this week so I'll do some seeds next week. I have to give up on getting anymore soil and make do with what I have. 

The way I see it, I'll plant everything and then get a windfall of soil and won't be able to use it right away.