Very late post, got very busy.

 It's supposed to rain in the next 24 hours, when I went out just after dark it was clear as a bell. But it is a nippy 48 outside right now at 11:30pm. It got downright windy earlier so sure as shoot it's going to rain tomorrow.

Yesterday (Tuesday) clear and calm, beautiful blue skies and sun. I didn't bother watering because rain was coming. I assessed the garden again and decided the front potato (down right) just needed to go. It's leaning and crawling along the bed rather than going up and was crowding the Romaine and the carrots.

One lone red spud, about the same size as the other large one I dug up. I am most definitely going to curb my impatience and let the rest of the plants grow more. Again there were small red buds on the stem under the soil so I dug around to replant it and there was a huge fat worm. Yay!  I now am thinking they are definitely coming up from the soil below, which is great.

 

So I replanted the potato plant as I had not pulled too many roots up, hoping it would survive. Unfortunately... it didn't. Oh well.

So out it went and onto the compost pile. I suppose I could have watered it really well and it might have survived but I have more than enough plants for plenty of potatoes. Just look at that Romaine though! I think I might plant some of the other lettuce seeds in that now empty corner after the rain. If it hasn't rained yet by the time I'm dressed and ready in the morning I'll dart out there and sprinkle some in. Going to dump out the other ones I am sure they were probably just too crowded and couldn't grow.

Since I plucked out some of the little seedlings the other seem to be doing better so definitely a crowding issue. A few sprinkled in that corner though should be just fine. I also toyed with the idea of putting one of the cauliflower sprouts there but if it suddenly decided to take off it would be a crowded situation all over.

Radishes in the west bed are also getting true leaves and the Romaine there is also starting to take off. Probably due to the sun shining a bit more and getting longer sunlight as well. I'm concerned about the radishes as some of them are getting long red stems on them. I think they may have been planted too shallow. Will see what kind of crop I get and if there are any really straggly ones I'll yank them for the compost. There is a chance that crop may not bulb sufficiently due to lack of sufficient sun so will see what happens.

There won't be a post for tomorrow due to rain so enjoy the free water and stay safe!

Beautiful spring weather!

 It is gorgeous today! Clear blue skies, barely a breeze and temps in the 70's. By Wednesday/Thursday it is supposed to rain then clear off for the weekend. That makes garden centers very happy as more people shop there on the weekends.

Almost that dark a blue, just wonderful! The branches contrasting with the blue is my favorite color combo. The camera on my phone always intensifies the blue for some reason. Everything is sharp and saturated.

Grasshopper startled me when I got up to the raised bed. I think it was hanging out on the frame but could well have been considering the potatoes for lunch. It flew off and then tried to go one direction then another, back again to the jade and finally landed under Layla's tomatoes.  Talk about perfect camouflage! By the time I got the hose out I must have startled it so have no idea where it went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything looking a bit dry today, warmest today than it's been in weeks so the plants are kind of droopy. The west bed is looking parched and I finally decided to yank that potato. That bed is just not prime real estate for spuds I guess.

 

One spud. Yellow/gold variety and not full grown obviously. I just pulled gently and forgot to dig around to see if there were any others. The lower stem near that potato had a few nubs that looked like they were either going to be substantial roots or more potatoes. So yeah, no potatoes for that bed anymore.The carrots and cilantro are getting really tall! Those carrots may well be ready very soon.

Snail/slug damage. Getting really annoyed with them at this point. The way to tell this damage from grasshopper is snails/slugs are a gastropod literally stomach foot so they eat where they slide and you end up with more internal leaf damage with threads and maybe some 'ledges' (upper right photo) and threads between chew areas. Grasshoppers are a rigid body, they have no flexibility in their thorax/upper body so they can only bend their head so far and there fore only eat on the edges of leaves. I really need to figure out a snail/slug trap that works or get some Sluggo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took this picture as best I could to show the radishes are putting out true leaves now. Yay! Watered everything really well, still no green onions or more peas coming up. Oh well.

Looks like everything is on track for full speed growing next month. As long as the weather continues on the current trend. I might be pulling the potatoes sooner than later, probably by mid or end of February.

Feeling good about the garden again.

Back to the garden again

Not that anything fantastic and wonderful is happening and the same goes with the weather. Nice easy day, breezy with hazy high clouds. No rain expected until middle of the week so gives things just enough time to dry out a bit enough that any seeds need to get watered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early morning silhouette from yesterday before I went on an excursion to visit a friend. Sun is directly behind the tree purposely and had just cleared the roof line of the church next door. Water droplets on the snow peas after I watered. Just playing with the lenses and how close I can get.

The following pictures are from the previous three days.

The two romaine in this bed are just getting huge! My fingertips are touching the soil on the left picture so the leaves are getting close to six inches. Again, almost picked a few leaves but remembered seeing a video about how to cut romaine so you get all the leaves but leave the base so it grows back.

Chives are hanging in there and still haven't dug up that punky potato. I'm wondering if something ate or attacked the middle of it, it's just not looking good and don't think it's ever going to produce much.

I was asked what the green onions in the baggie by the sink was and I leaped up and said I meant to take those down to plant them. Luckily it wasn't too late in the day and I raced down, picked up my favorite hole drilling stick (flower stalk from the aloe) and shoved them all in. Four were ones I had just pulled so they still had some good roots on them the others were from a bunch I had bought. Total of 7 and we'll see how they do in that bed. The radishes along the front are doing good and everything else is plugging along nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the three extra sweet peas have come up! Before and after watering, I didn't notice any new ones today but will keep checking. With the way they are all filling out, should have left it at three and dropped in an extra snow pea on the other side.

oh well.

The gardeners haven't mowed the lawns in a while for various reasons so some of the grass is as tall as Rocky's elbow. He doesn't have to hunt for blades to chew on, they're right in front of his face. Also, as much as some garden pages and 'experts' say to leave the leaves on the ground, it doesn't work here. That large patch of yellow and dead grass is from a pile that was left there for a week. Leaving the leaves is for rural places where lawns don't survive the winter snow. Finally, I got my plant ID app reloaded and instead of using that I went with Google Lens (as soon as my phone restarts from an update I'll be checking with the app). So due to the shine on the leaves making it look more blue it came up with 'Milk Thistle', 'Blessed Thistle (same thing), and Prickly Lettuce. I am still going with thistle as I've seen Prickly Lettuce when it's new and it's not that shiny green. Of course when I've seen it, it's growing in full sun. Consensus on the apps is, Spiny Sowthistle, which has a flower that looks unfortunately a lot like Prickly Lettuce. So not really worth keeping around. Young leaves are edible though, but they'll do better in the compost bucket.

Worm sign! There are worms at work in the raised bed yay! Breaking down all the composty goodness in there making it wonderful. Impossible to add soil in there as I go but will put aside some money for end of summer to add in two more bags. I decided to dig in the south bed and discovered more worm castings and an unlucky worm I may have cut in half. From what I remember, they regenerate just shorter. Hopefully. Where there's one, there's a few more so not too upset about it.

Seeing worm activity in the raised bed means  they have most likely worked their way up from the ground, through the leaves and up to the soil. this is okay. More than okay it means the leaf litter and branches underneath are turning into compost.

Everything chugging a long, seriously thinking about 'recycling' the lettuces and cauliflower seedlings and starting some lettuce in the beds. Most definitely not worth the wait if it takes this long, that lettuce should have been much bigger by now.

Composting is just plant recycling right?

 

New post, weather is drying out.

 Ground is still saturated and big puffy clouds are drifting overhead. I'm going on an excursion on the weekend to visit a friend so likely no post Saturday or Sunday. The plants will survive without me like they have the past few rainy days.

I just discovered that pictures weren't uploaded, have to look at my settings on my phone dangit! So when that gets fixed, will continue with this post. With errands and such, took all day for me to get back to this. Literally.

Finally got everything synced, no idea what's going on. But on to the garden.

 

A view of the south-eastern sky earlier today. The colors in that photo are kind of echoed in the picture of the jade bush with a busy bee. I tried to use the macro lens on the flowers, the bees have found the giant tree that's in bloom that we park under as well. I swear an entire hive must be out in that tree right now! I tried to get a video but was busy going in and out. They'll be there tomorrow for sure.

Still looking good, the romaine is just doing fantastic and I again had to hold back and not cut any leaves off just yet. And as you can see in the upper left photo.... grrrr.

Any leaf on the ground is chewed to bits. I don't have any beer for traps and not enough open ground really for a large tray. No money for Sluggo, that will be for next month. Will have to look up the directions for doing a bread trap. It's the yeast smell that draws them to the trap.

Another shot of the jade bush and flowers and the green onion that I had no patience anymore and realized there were actually two so I pulled those and the three in between the potatoes.

I brought them all upstairs cut the tops off and dropped them in some water. Hope to get out tomorrow with them and plant them out in the west bed.  As I was digging around I tried to see if there was anything going on with that potato in the corner and sure enough, teeny tiny sprout coming up. I left it alone. Potatoes just are that vegetable that may move slow but they can give back from one season to the next. Mid summer is about the only time you don't plant potatoes.

I thinned out some more of the lettuces, they are all just intertwined in the soil so I suspect that's part of the issue with them not growing as much. Competition for nutrients and room. The other things are moving just as slow but those are doing what they're supposed to be doing. Then there's that thistle. Yes indeed that is a thistle too prickly to be prickly lettuce but who knows. I may check it on google lens to make sure. That leaf shape looks like prickly lettuce but there's a LOT more prickles on it. Google lens oddly didn't come up with anything. Weird. Will get a better picture of it tomorrow.

Well then I think I'm getting into the hang of using my phone now, hopefully with no hiccups anymore. I'm going to visit a friend over the weekend, still unsure whether I'm spending the night or not. Will know when the end of Saturday comes.