Have to make this short

 Not too many pictures, weather on repeat from yesterday and a miscount on my seedlings.

Rocky spotted a lizard in the garden, it zipped off before he could get close but he was very focused on it. Once again it was over on the right side of the garden doing something and scuttled over to the log pile when we approached. One of the Easter lilies has finally opened, the second one is about a week after it I suspect, maybe sooner.

(Still having issues uploading more than a few photos to this blog. Looking for a solution, hope to have it solved soon.)

 

Busy today, a few pictures

 Weather the same as yesterday, so will just gloss that over for the next few posts. Although it was rather hazy today, oddly warm but almost a smoky haze but didn't smell like it. Almost disturbingly hazy that was only noticed when you looked at the horizon that usually has some hills and it was just barely visible.

 This is a picture from today but almost identical to one I took yesterday so the weather is on repeat for the next few weeks.

Hard to tell but the same animal used that corner as a springboard or landing point again. I watered thoroughly this morning (second picture) and should probably scrape the weeds at the base of the bed wall there just in case.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yay tomatoes and peppers! About a month late but their coming on at least and hoping to get some fertilizer this month for everything. So far, 5 tomatoes, 4 poblanos and 5 jalapeños, if only two of each survive I'll be happy.

(Blogger is being a numnutz again and not able to upload more pictures.....)

So I guess that's all the pictures for today. I opened both cauliflower, the larger one is bigger than the palm of my hand and looking very healthy. The smaller one I looked at and saw caterpillar poo on the center. rasasaafraraaasssin.... I used my hand to move the leaves around and shuffle it a bit and behold, a caterpillar fell out. I chucked in the compost bucket. I tied both back up again even though the smaller one was still in danger of having a hidden monster munching it. Hoping that's the last one. I saw a white butterfly land on Laila's thyme flowers and squirted it with water lightly just to chase it off.

Happy happy joy joy for things growing. Really need to get fertilizer now, those tomatillos are looking rather sickly.

And now the squash and more peppers!

 Yay! Weather is fine, windy and all that. Downstairs neighbor came home from the hospital finally and I was going to water her plants today. I'll give her a day, but went down to say hello and we all welcomed her back. In our complex when someone goes to the hospital, it's not always a good outcome.

Anyway. Sun is shining, birds are singing and blower is blowing and I may well water later today because the soil is drying out due to the sun exposure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like something jumped into my raised bed in the night and the other plant was munched so I pulled it out and planted another. Good thing I have back ups.

I didn't plant the tallest one for a couple of reasons. One, I  might still offer it up for trade and two, I wanted one that was close in size to the one that's already in the bed. The onions are all exceedingly happy and growing well. Just wish I had more room to plant more.

 Speaking of being exceedingly happy. One of the squash seeds finally broke the surface and the next batch of tomatoes as well (lower left corner of the long container). Yayayayyayay! Wondering if I planted them too deep so it took longer for them to get to the surface. The other cup container is the fish peppers and will have to wait on those to see if they ever come up. I got the seeds for those on April 25, the other tomatillos were coming up about the same time so last week of April to last week of May... They should have come up in 8-10 days. Since they're considered a 'warm' pepper they like the heat. If they aren't up by now, going to have to give up on them for this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hard to see but there are two spots showing digging of some sort at the front edge of the south bed. I'm glad I planted the celery at the back and also glad I kept that chicken wire on. Probably something looking for insects because a cat would have not even bothered. Or maybe they did but gave up due to the wire.

I will be preparing proper protection for the up and coming seedlings when they go in the bed. I also got information on growing echinacea and turns out they don't like our hot dry summers and fall is the better time to plant them. If I decide to try that I'll do them in a container to transplant or give away next year.

It's hard getting used to thinking about next years crops when this year just started and, at my age and condition, not sure if I'll even be around in a year or two. Have to stay positive but nothing lasts forever. 

Except nuclear fallout....

I has tomato seedlings, finally!

According to the weather guy it's going to be basically the same weather for the next week. Cloudy in the morning, warm and sunny in the middle of the day, wash, rinse, repeat. So take my word for skies are blue with occasional small streaky clouds. It was warm enough yesterday and today I actually watered. Seems to be in schedule for every other day right now.

If not for zooming and circling wouldn't be able to find the butterfly on the lemon bush. I think it is a Painted Lady which is very cool, I think she was just checking out the leaves for moisture. 

The Tomatillo at the trellis succumbed to something chewing on the stem. It was on it's side yesterday when I went to check on things. Oh well. The other cauliflower is finally making a good flower head and the other one is bigger than the palm of my hand. I think we will have a big enough head to harvest before the end of June. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did close up the leaves again on the cauliflower but left the netting off and then... what do my eyes behold... I have tomato seedlings finally! They are sooo late this year because I didn't start them correctly. Must have heard me threatening to go buy plants at the store. Still nothing from the squash or fish peppers but I think the ones in the long container the tomatillos were in are struggling to survive.

Lesson learned, do not use potting or raised bed soil to grow seeds. I really wanted squash this year and at this rate I'm going to be going into fall with tomatoes and other things when it should be changing over to cool season veggies. I'm going to try and get some of those peat pellets but a larger box of them for next year.

I just can't get enough of these flowers. The one I cut two days ago is fading but still smells as strong as if I just cut it. Amazing flower for fragrance and a good blended pink. I went to double check to make sure I had the right name and so many pictures that were not it simply because of the way analytics and search engines find photos. But it is it for sure and the one in the background is definitely Paradise. 

Wonderful time of year for flowers, just wish my garden was looking as good.

More flowers and not much else

 Still a gorgeous weekend, started cloudy, cleared off, still clear even at sunset so that's unusual. Good weather for gardening still, though I suspect in a few weeks it's going to be AC weather. Still haven't figured out how to get my photos to sync without actually opening google photos on my phone.

Clear skies and stunning epi flower from the rose garden area. I noticed the bud a few days back and then it finally bloomed. I think there's another bud on there but not sure, might just be more branches.

 

I am going out in the evening now to cover up the three Tomatillo seedlings and was able to get a picture of the three roses and the Easter lily finally blooming. So maybe it's not just me  if that's blooming this late.

 

This is just ridiculous. The tallest Tomatillo has a bud! It could very well be just another terminal leaf bud but so help me if it's trying to flower I don't know what I'm going to do. The cauliflower are still doing well and that silly potato.......

 

That oregano is just taking off, which is a good thing and kind of worried it might take over but can never have too much oregano. Just a long shot of the beds after I watered sparingly and only the plants that were in there. Still no seeds coming up in the pots, another week and I'll see about getting some peat pellets and fertilizer, maybe some plants. Seriously looks like it's going to be peppers and tomatillos if I can't get tomatoes before the end of next month. It's hard to find just single small four inch plants at the big box stores and the closest small nursery moved a half hour away.

I decided to nip off one of the taller stems of oregano and bring it inside to dry it. Just hung it up on the paper towel holder under the cabinet. I'm thinking of moving it someplace higher just in case a certain little furball doesn't think it's edible while we're asleep. But at least I have fresh Oregano for cooking now! I was almost out of the dried in the jar.  The mix I have was originally oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, savory and sage. I got a refill from a friend that I think was from Penzey's which was the same thing minus the savory. Basil is touchy to try and grow from what I've heard from various people that have grown it.

So that's it for today, not much since it's Sunday and no walking until Tuesday. Will see how my luck and money runs next week for plants and supplies.

Flowers, and other things

 The weather is perfect for the weekend. I thought at first that, compared to yesterday that dawned and stayed cool and cloudy, today would be the same. It started that way but it's partly cloudy and windy at 1pm. Still beautiful weather no matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swiftly moving clouds makes for beautiful skies in varying shades of blue, white and grey (and the green of trees of course).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rose on my walk is incredible. I wish I knew the name of them both, the bigger, darker pink flowered one rings a bell in my mind from decades ago but have no idea and the second one is totally unknown to me. I will have to post pictures on the garden group to see if any of the rose experts there know.

 

It looks like most of the honeysuckle on that fence was killed. Possibly from cutting it on the other side of the fence. The purple Brunfelsias are also in bloom even better than last year and the jasmine is in full bloom! Jasmine is one of my favorite flowering vines for the fragrance alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A totally random yellow flower milkweed growing in the junipers in front of the school. There is also a lemonade berry bush growing behind other junipers further to the right. I hope they don't cut that down in favor of the junipers. Going out the door yesterday and saw this Mourning Cloak butterfly just chilling on our front 'porch'. 

Just had to get a picture of the sago palm with new leaves, just fun to see that sort of symmetry and shapes in a plant.

Meanwhile back in my garden, I saw Dolores and asked if I could use one of her pots for the rose I have and she was more than happy to let me have one. Hopefully that will help them a bit, I didn't get a picture of the rootball but it was a total mass of roots so I didn't try to untangle them. Hoping that it thrives in the new soil and more space. I also realized that may be a zinnia seedling but it's growing in the pot I only planted the peppers, I decided to yank it.

 

 

 Despite protection, two of the tomatillos show signs of being chewed. Dangit. Will keep them protected for sure and might even break out another couple of those cheap cups. The one in the back corner had the deformed bottomless pot and the other had the bottomless rectangle. Just enough leaf showing that they somehow were eaten. I also tied up the other cauliflower making as sure as possible there wasn't a hidden caterpillar in there.

 

One of the other roses is blooming and I know this one by heart, Paradise. It's one that I had picked out (nameless at the time) for one of my kids when we had a house. I cut the two roses that had been broken off and put those in the compost, then on the way back cut off one of the other ones to take upstairs. And that other picture? A carrot. A freaking carrot somehow came up right next to the cilantro. Looks like I'll just cut down the cilantro to give that more light. 

And yet I can't seem to get my tomatoes seeds to grow this year! Took the peppers forever and not even sure if I'm going to have green peppers at all or a squash! There's pictures of people with cucumbers and pumpkin plants, tomato plants ready to pick.... just so disheartening. So if nothing comes up by next month, I'm going to go buy some fertilizer and plants instead of waiting for seeds to come up.

Gardening sure is fickle!