A little trimming, a lot of sunshine.

 My how the weather changes. Yesterday, barely any sun, today, nothing but since the sun came up. Perfect gardening weather really, actually worked up a sweat. Temps are going to be pretty much the same for the next week or so. Mid to high 70's during the day and dropping down into the high 50's at night with variable clouds. Wish my tomatoes would kick into high gear.

I decided to trim the sweet peas a bit. There was a LOT of mildew on them and a good portion of the branches/leaves in the back were yellow and brown from lack of sun. I also discovered that I have a mild mildew allergy. It was throwing some serious powdery spores all over when I was cutting it.

I cut a bunch of the flowers off the branches I removed so no lack of a bouquet there, cut a bunch yesterday for my daughter as well.  Bundled up the pile and just barely fit them all in the green waste container near the trash.  Definitely going to get a dwarf variety for next year.

Speaking of flowers, this plant is apparently thriving on benign neglect with so many flowers this year. It's in an ideal location really and happy to see so many flowers lighting up the space!

That silly potato plant. I'm going to try and leave it as long as possible and hope that some spuds develop above the chicken wire in the bottom. I might have to pile soil around it or something after the cauliflowers are done. Still no sign of a flower on the other cauliflower but it was a bit younger than the other one. I also trimmed out a branch or two on the cilantro. Was going to chop that down too because there are seeds on the 'wild' one by the compost. I left it for now for butterflies and other insects. Lots of Mourning Cloak, one lone Swallowtail and a Monarch in the past week were out and flitting about.

 

 All the seedlings are doing good (picture taken before I watered the heck out of them). I brought down some empty cups that I had used for planting with the idea of transplanting some of those tomatillos but did other things instead. Will try and do that tomorrow. Hoping the lids on those other containers speeds things up a bit, it's getting awfully late for planting tomatoes and peppers.

More flowers blooming from yesterday. Apparently I'm wrong to complain about her hacking back that lantana,  it came back like gangbusters.

Today and yesterday. Today, the celery is doing great, yay! And that wet spot is a drippage from the overhang. Apparently we had heavy mist/fog/spatter rain the night before. The carrot still isn't ready.

On my way upstairs I decided to help our downstairs neighbor who's been in the hospital for almost a month and not been home. Went and watered her wilting plants, didn't get any pictures but will get a photo tomorrow. A pothos that was seriously yellow and dying (but it's pothos, it will survive with the watering I gave it). A lot of geraniums, her walkway is lined with Sanseverias from a single pot, there's a loquat at the back near the wall that's in a pot and surviving. While I was watering a hummingbird came to check out the stream of water from the hose. I tried to hold still and mentally encourage her to go ahead and take a dip but she was investigating. Hope I didn't water a nest but she was quiet, if I was intruding she would have been chittering and trying to attack me. So lots of succulents were in there, just a mish mash of things. I just remembered I left two 5 gallon pots that were on stands near her door out in the sun when I watered them. Oops. Will go down later and move them back.

So good deed done, watering done, weather is good, what else could you ask for?

Started this the other day and forgot about it

 Decided there wasn't a lot going on so postponed it to today. It actually got nippy enough last night I had to change out of my shorts and put on sweatpants. During the day it was mostly fine but stayed cloudy a bit more into midday. Right now it's almost 1pm and clear but not that warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Different day, same sky. Patchy clouds in a wonderful blue sky, plenty of sun for the plants and animals. I saw a memory from last year on facebook, it was 93 that day this time of year. Wow. Certainly not having that kind of pre-summer weather this year.

Gorgeous flowers on the epi! Huge pink ones and then today... there's one huge yellow/cream one opened!

That did not have that flower last year! It must be a leaf someone snuck in there and it's only now happy enough to bloom! Same style of flower just different color. That plant is just going off like fireworks this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a flower on the strawberry! Wooot! It is very happy now and even as I was checking it today, I noticed another one and at least two more buds coming up behind those!

Bud to the left, another coming up in the middle and the first one getting a nice long stem on it. I really need a container for it and the roses but I got nothing that's permanent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oregano is filling in nicely, the two green onions  I planted are growing as well and the celery I planted is sending up lots of leaves. Yay! I would never have thought of growing celery like that if I hadn't seen Dolores'. Which, by the way, is looking absolutely lush along with the mint.

Wish I had a use for mint (sorry for the blur, was walking Rocky and he tugged on my other arm holding the leash).

That little seedling that I noticed where I planted lettuce and cilantro? Yeah, take a guess... it's cilantro. None of the lettuce is coming up and not really too sad about that. Wasn't expecting much in that dirt. It's hard to see but the black pot with the pepper seeds.... 'one of these things is not like the other'.

I only put jalapeños in that pot. That most definitely is not a pepper and can only wonder if it's just a random weed seed that got in or something else. Will know soon enough I'm sure, would be nice if it was a squash seed but those are replanted in another pot. A weed is only a plant growing where you don't expect or want it.

I planted more of the 'Sweet Aroma' tomato seeds in potting soil this time, which btw, in that bucket and sealed is creating it's own moisture so not getting dry at all. Just have to be careful it isn't rotting on the bottom. I noticed two things about the sweet peas; one is they are setting pods because I'm not cutting them fast enough and two, it's picked up powdery mildew. Not unexpected of course, this time of year is prime weather for mildew. So, as much as I love them I have to think about how to pull them down and maybe work some of the plants back into the soil and into the compost. Wayyy too much to have them all in the tiny compost buckets so they'll go in the green waste bin by the dumpsters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added some clear trays to the three containers to boost the heat factor since those are all peppers. The purple tomatillos are getting big and almost to transplant size, hopefully for trading. And I noticed this long black fly hovering around the compost, research on google lens confirmed, Black Soldier Fly which like to hang around compost and lay their eggs. All well and good, I really need to dump those buckets on a tarp and mix them up. Especially since I have those sweet peas ready to come down soon.

A little lizard action for Rocky on his walk, which of course he wasn't able to catch but glad to get him some 'enrichment'. Then there was the lizard in the garden who cautiously skittered along the wall in front of me and on behind the sweet peas.

 The big black one, don't know male or female, caught my attention in the corner of my eye so luckily I moved fast enough but not fast enough to cause it to panic and got some video.

 

And the rose bush is also blooming its fool head off, 6 buds! Two on the yellow one on the other side but the other rose bush to the left had three opened at the same time yesterday and someone cut them off 😞. I try not to cut any flowers in the 'public' gardens but if I do, it's one if there are multiples like this bush. Leave some for everyone else to enjoy.

And a full panorama of Dolores' flower garden. Marigolds, dahlias, gerber daisies, a sunflower, lemon grass, geraniums, color bowl of petunias, a white mandevilla and yellow 'mandevilla' which may be an alamanda similar to mandevillas. Wayy too much for that spot, oh yes and a succulent in a pot off to the right. She went a bit overboard, oh yes not pictures is three pots of the thai hot chilies over to the left out in the sun on the shuffleboard cement area. That is easily well over $100 of plants, maybe close to $200 including the soil she used. She asked if she could rip up the ivy that was there and without looking the manager said yeah go ahead. Probably not expecting that sort of spread. 

Anywho... I'm fine with my small garden and glad I was able to grow one of my favorite flowers and hope to have a bumper crop this year again of veggies.

 

 

 

Trimming, flowers, breezy and all that

 Not much else going on. Weather is slightly different. Same overcast in the morning, clearing off slightly by noon. 'Slightly' meaning high smears of hazy clouds so it's 'sunny' but sort of not and still warm.

Better picture of the little red rose yesterday and caught a lizard that was likely sunning itself until it saw me coming into the garden. Ducked down behind Dolores' planters as I walked past. It still makes me smile and get excited seeing wildlife like this. Mourning Cloak butterflies have been flitting around also, two of them chasing each other yesterday and then the day before that there was a dance between a Swallowtail and a Mourning Cloak.

And better pictures of the pink rose and the epi flower that was in full bloom yesterday and today. The sky was clearer yesterday but temps are about the same, which is good.

Growth small enough have to circle it. Lettuce of some sort, only one on the left in the south bed, and the potato sprout coming up in the west bed. I have no idea what I'm going to put in that bed now other than maybe more peppers and tomatillos. Not much else I can do in that bed that won't  overrun everything else. 

I pulled two green onions out of the fridge to use and they were still growing roots because I had them in a damp paper towl. Well then, into the garden you go. Put one on either side of the oregano making sure to get the roots deep enough.

Then went and trimmed the other green onions to use today as well. The thickest leaves were almost a half inch across. Still no flowers on those though. I got about a half cup or more of chopped onion from those stalks. The carrot is still too small to pull and the other two onions won't be ready for several months for sure. I cut two chive flower stalks and put them in the small vase with the sweet pea flowers yesterday as well. Surprisingly nice scent with only a hint of chive.

 

And then remembered I should be covering the cauliflower center and had to look around for something suitable. I used the net bag from something and just wrapped it all up but there was still a gap in the leaves just a the right spot where the sun was blazing in.  Pulled it off and the only other thing I had was some green wire so tried to 'sew/tie' two leaves together with little effect and then tried the bag again tucking more leaves in for a final success. (Pictures loaded in odd order).

 

Skies as I said are high hazy clouds and got a picture of one of the hawks on the nest in the tree. There was also one yesterday hanging out on one of the branches. 

It's a wonderful cycle of the seasons that works better for me than a clock or calendar. The animals and plants are weather dependent and therefore are better harbingers of the seasons.