Happy New Year!

 As I write this new year is about two and a half hours away still but it's something to look forward to. Not a lot of brand new spiffy things but every day is a new day with the chance to be better.

Meanwhile, back in the plant world. 

Despite the gloomy looking clouds it hasn't rained but it did before the sun came up. Leaves and grass were wet which made for an unhappy and grouchy kitty on his morning walk.

A picture of the completely butchered lantana and hibiscus. I said out loud to her that she must not like bushes very much but I couldn't hear what she answered. So aggravating. And yet there is new life, Dolores planted a celery bottom and it's sprouting! I'm going to have to try that myself sometime.

 

Just so stinkin proud of how well things are growing right now. Those potatoes are going to completely swallow everything on that side of the bed, but the other three are not far behind now. The carrots and cilantro and romaine are growing leaps and bounds in the west bed. 

The oregano I'm a bit concerned about, some of the leaves are turning soft brown and pinkish which is two different things. I need to bring my clippers down and trim that back. I think it's getting too much water, causing the brown leaves (down right) and the taller branches need to be cut entirely to give more energy to the rest of the plant. I'm tempted to dump out the cauliflower (gently) and get some of those planted out, but being in a container the temperature fluctuates more, they may slow down being in the cold ground right now. 

Will see what kind of mood I'm in tomorrow. It's only going to be cloudy and cold, no rain for another few days hopefully.

 

Happy New Gardening Year to everyone!

 

 

Nothing to do yesterday so catching up today. Rain!

 So I guess I wasn't paying attention to the weather because I woke to the sound of water in the rain gutters this morning. Well then! Looks like not much to do in the garden again, even though I did water the other day. Just going to be cool/cold and cloudy until med next week when it's supposed to rain again. Big puffy blazing white and grey clouds drifting overhead right now against a beautiful deep blue sky. One big one just drifted by my window completely heading to the east. It was there and five minutes later it's behind the big pepper tree. Wind is moving fast.

Thought I was being all smart divoting holes where the cauliflower will be planted. Then watered. And it rained. So at least I have pictures to remember. If they ever start growing faster. I'm still wondering how to encase the newer potato stem so it has a chance to grow potatoes above ground. I should think about getting my pruners and cut some of those old aloe leaves off. That plant is all roots for sure. We don't know who's it was or where it came from and sincerely doubt the original owner is even in the complex anymore. So fair game in my book to get rid of it.

It was standing pretty straight today which is good and there's enough room to put maybe a 2 or 3 gallon pot around it. If I had one that I could use and the soil to put in it. I then toyed with the idea of using the spare chicken wire in a cylinder. That would need a lot of cutting wire and again, straw and/or soil to pack in around it. 

The peas are growing faster, the two snow peas have tendrils out and I nudged them here and there to try and get them to grab onto the trellis. Will likely have flowers by late January on those and possibly peas by February. The sweet peas are further behind unfortunately so looking at March flowers for them. I'll be lucky if they start bolting up faster in February. (You can see how wet the soil is after the early morning rain.)

Just sharing the picture of the cleared area in front of the logs here because it just looks so neat and tidy. I saw the flick of a lizard tail when I was leaving the garden today, tried to get a picture but it skittered behind the logs. Then I noticed...one of the lower leaves of that Romaine was cut off. Just cleanly cut and on the other side of the plant from where it was cut. Weird. Yes there is an upright leaf on that side and nothing on the other side, which is how I know that it moved. So maybe the rain knocked down and the subsequent movement of water on the soil floated it there. Not much to say of wind so that's my story and sticking to it.

The next bank of clouds are moving in now, more southish direction and more grey. Covering up the sun as well so definitely cooler and a little breezier. Love the changing weather and being able to look out the window, have the window open during the day and the fan just to move the air a bit inside the apartment. 

Just noticed how dirty the outside of the window glass is. Should probably try and take the sliding window out and clean it when the weather warms up again. Being on the  second floor makes it kind of dangerous to try and clean the other part of the window.

On another note, that lady that cut back the lantana for her lights? She cut the rest of the lantana back now. It's practically all sticks. I mentioned as I walked down the stairs how she must not like bushes in front of her window. She mumbled something and when I got down to the bottom I made another comment of 'nothing left of it now, you must not like plants'. It is seriously butchered and apparently management doesn't care or don't know. She's been here longer than we have and likely asked permission ages ago. As a gardener and plant person it just irks me having people butcher things just because it doesn't appeal to their sense of order.

Anyway. That's all for today, new year coming up, garden keeps going.

Actual garden work done. Perfect weather.

 Yes, even more perfect winter weather to garden in. Warm sun, slight breeze, mostly clear skies. Supposed to get possible rain and thunderstorm by New Years day which will be a bummer because I have an errand to storage on that day. Will see if this storm stalls out like the last one.

But first, the west bed update. Everything is thriving luckily and it looks like there's carrots coming up along the back edge along with the lone onion. The transplanted potato perked up so that's a good sign, just wish I could have buried it deeper to take advantage of that long stalk. Will have to see if I can squeeze in a repurposed nursery pot and fill it with soil. Unfortunately, there's not much room between it and the carrots and the chives. That cilantro will be first harvest in the spring, same with the carrots.

I guess I made a  mistake bringing my pruners (don't remember why I needed them) and my gloves. Because something in my back brain reminded me I needed my gloves to do something. Well I realized what it was when I stopped long enough to look around the garden.

This is what  I ended up doing.

Not only rearranging the crate but moved the aloe pot and raked everything best I could using Dolores' small rake.

This is how it went:

The pile of leaves, bark and debris that was under and around the bucket. Including, sort of expected... snails. I found these when I cleared that pile out as well as a few more when I moved the aloe.

Stage one, clearing out and leveling the soil there. Had to dig down with the hoe to get a mostly level spot for the crate, which I discovered several rocks and pieces of asphalt. Good thing I'm not actually growing anything in the ground there.

Something else discovered on the crate when  I pulled it out. Those are spiky egg sacs so those are from a Brown Widow not Black Widow. Good thing I had gloves on, I pulled that webbing off and tossed it in the Jade bush. I leveled the soil and smushed the crate in there and saw that there would be absolutely no way for me to get to the trellis on that corner. As I knew would happen. Drat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then sized it up and tried to see if I could fit it cross ways, but also realizing it would be an extremely tight fit. Which it was. Dangit. There was a small piece of wood that was apparently hanging it up so I moved that but it was still too tight due to the angled cut on those logs. Two inches was all  I needed.

I then thought maybe I can put the crate in front of the log pile and move the aloe somewhere else, like with the cousins over in the shade near Dolores' garden.

 

So that smaller pot.... I thought it had just rooted in but noooo, someone had buried it half in the ground so one root was snaking out into the surrounding soil. I pulled it up, filled in the hole best I could and left it there. Not enough room and too far for me to move that huge aloe. I then shifted some more logs, cleared that dirt pile there and dragged it to lean against the wall. The issue with moving it is first, the sheer weight of it. Has to be at least 45-50 lbs which is above my weight limit. Second, my gloves are not as 'sticky' as they used to be and the leaves were slick with their own natural wax so it came down almost rolling it into place. It's stable enough and gives something else for the leezards to hide in. It's out of the way of me working in the west bed so good spot for it.

And just for reference, I took a picture of a sunflower seed that was in that area, must have fallen off the flower head when I was loosening the seeds. I tossed it there and then covered it up with some soil. It's out of the way, will get some water and maybe some sun once the light shifts. If it grows, it grows, if not oh well. 

Nice and tidy corner there now with all the plants getting sun. When those containers are no longer needed and planted out the crate can stand up or move completely to the front of the logs to plant something else in.

Feels good to get some work done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday was more laid back so post today

 The weather is...odd today. Little to no breeze, high hazy cloud cover and just cool enough for a sweater/flannel shirt. Neither of which I have. Need to get on that for sure.

Two pictures from yesterday. Among all the brown leaves and green grass, one lone red and yellow leaf. Just too poetic to pass up. The other picture was across the street from the taco shop we were at, if you can see, out of the top of the downspout of the building, there is some sort of weeds/tree of some sort growing. That says two things, one; that gutter hasn't been cleaned in a while and two; that downspout is likely blocked all the way to the ground.

Not my building, not my problem, just kind of humorous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking of things growing in odd places. Yet another potato growing where it was tossed. I tried to carefully dislodge it but may have killed it. When I pulled it out it not only had the original potato but a tinier baby one. That stem had grown out where the sun was and how I  missed it until now is just boggling me. I guess I thought it was a weed coming up and dismissed it and was too focused on my 'actual' garden.

 

There were some roots on the stem so I did what I could to plant it over in the west bed. I tried to put in the raised bed with the rest of the potatoes then realized I had more than enough there. I planted the original little spud in the corner that I had stuck a stick for one I supposedly planted but can't find it. Will see what happens. No great loss if neither of them grow.

So definitely 'worm sign' in the raised bed. Little piles of worm castings in two different spots and the soil around the romaine that was eaten is oddly damp. Just the stem, no leaves and the soil looking like it was watered right around the stem. Same with the peas so the only thing I can think of is dew keeping the soil moist there as it drips down. Honestly don't know. The soil in general was dry about an inch down so got the house out and watered everything.

I thinned out the cilantro a bit near the potatoes since I have so much coming other places a few here and there can be pulled. Made a rainbow from the water, but what you don't see is the drift of mist going to the right from the breeze. Would have to take a video and watering in one hand and trying not to jiggle the phone in the other is not good. So that's why I stick with photos rather than videos.

More wild plants showing the difference between the thistle on the left and the prickly lettuce on the right. Dug up the prickly lettuce which was actually two plants and tossed them in the compost bucket. That wild lettuce is growing faster than my cultivated lettuce for sure.

Two different angles of the watered west bed and the raised bed facing east because otherwise I would be casting a shadow. Like in the top picture. Sun is gradually rising later in the sky and angling higher so more sun is good.

I had a few thoughts on clearing where the orange bucket is, put that over with the other buckets in the corner and making a spot for the crate. I then realized there wouldn't be any room for me to get into the corner there. The lizards are still living in the log pile, I want to move that aloe though to another spot away from the rest of the garden. That will help clear a small space at least, maybe take a few logs and rearrange them but really, really don't like disturbing the lizards and who knows how many black widow spiders. And termites, and crickets...and whatever.

Would have to talk to the other two gardeners and Mike the maintenance guy or the other garden guys. That's a project for next year for sure.

So nothing to do until dinner

MERRY CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

 Not as busy as I thought I'd be so got out to the garden and was just smiling at all the things growing now.

The weather is fine, breezy and 'sky blue' with wispy clouds. Yes the visual depiction of that light blue everyone calls 'sky blue' is real.

The camera lies in the first picture, the sky isn't that blue. Definitely getting breezier though and most of the leaves are gone on the trees. 

And another shot of the sun through hazy clouds looking like a surreal angel of some sort. Since the wind is picking up which means it will be getting cloudy later in the week and possible rain on New Years Eve. Perfect winter weather though, sunny and cool, rainy for a day, cloudy then sunny and so on. The plants just love it because everything is growing a bit faster now.

It's cilantro coming up along the side there. I saw a few sprigs yesterday and compared to the carrots the leaves are wider and shorter. I didn't plant any radishes for sure, and at the top of the right side picture you can the shell of a seed still on the tips of the leaves. Cilantro it is and boy is it coming up like crazy now!

 

Verified growing things in the raised bed (had fun color coding the names). I did see that the one lettuce that got totally munched was still there, just a stem but it was there. Not counting it though. In about a month I'd say some of the carrot hopefully will have some true leaves. The already growing potato bushes will be covering a lot more territory and hoping to get a couple of cauliflower in the middle at least. Should probably try and do a similar picture in the west bed.

So technically can't plan t tomatoes and potatoes in succession because they're related. So where the potatoes are now could be Peppers or squash. Zucchini/squash and cucumber takes up sooo much room though. I wouldn't have any room for much else. Since potatoes, tomatoes and even tomatillos and peppers are all in the same family that doesn't leave much room for anything else in the bed for the summer. Given the spacing I have... cucumber can go on the trellis where the Sweet peas are. A tomato on the trellis is far enough away from where the potatoes are should be good. Those smaller potato plants will still be going by March or April when it's time to plant summer things. I may have to give up on the cauliflower in the west bed, amend that when the cilantro and carrots are done, then put a squash/zucchini there and maybe the Poblano and Jalapeño. 

There's still the south bed but that can't be planted with anything until at least March or April. I have 'Prolific Yellow Straight Neck' which I call yellow zucchini. The plants that I really will use and want to grow is mostly the peppers and tomatoes. I have five sweet peppers and four hot peppers and four varieties of tomatoes but one of those is that climbing 'Spoon' variety that I simply don't have the room for this year.

Time to start planning for summer now and set aside some coin for more soil and fertilizer.

Give me land, give me land lots of fertile land..... all I want for Christmas is a few hundred square feet.