A little change up and Manny sighting

 The weather is still good, warm daytime chilly at night but according to the weather app, we're expecting high 80's and low 90's for a couple of days next week. Stupid Mother Nature and her hot flashes.

I finally decided to pull up the Jalapeño. It was looking yellowed and the last few peppers were turning color despite being small. I've never really had good success with that pepper, prolific but never good size one. I also pulled that potato plant and it did have a few swollen spots on the roots but I wasn't going to leave it in place due to it getting brown tips.

Not sure where those roots are coming from, they go deep and am hoping they aren't from anything growing up from the ground. I used the cultivator and raked that area out really well and moved the soil around a bit more. 

Fish peppers and the lone poblano looking good so far. I am realizing that 90% of the issue with low production in that bed is low soil and lack of proper fertilizer. Hoping next month I can haul in some more soil and really pile it up to the top. I'm treating it like a pot where you have to leave watering room and that's incorrect. From what I've seen other gardeners do is they pile it up to the top and mound in the middle then mulch with straw to keep the soil in place. I need about 6 bags to do that, $60 I do not have.

Day before yesterday, I smoothed the south bed really well, ready and waiting for planting seeds, critter deterrent has been working and haven't smelled skunk in a while. The other picture is what I assume is scat of some sort. Possibly rat or mouse, maybe a quarter inch long just out in the open. Not even sure if it might be lizard but that's a first in the garden.

Seed planting. I had to shift that piece of wood in a little because it was outside the ring of fencing that was being covered by soil and the cultivator was getting caught on it. Sprinkled cilantro lightly along the back and the green onions in a line in the front. Cilantro is easy to see when planting since it's a tan little ball but the onions, had to trust my fingers on how many were being released. Will see what happens, soil was moist enough but I watered today just because it was looking dry on the surface. It will be slow germination due to the bed not getting direct sun now. 

Tomatillos are coming along and turning purple but the outer skin is far from drying up so resisting the urge to pick them at this stage. I even detected a little stickiness on the big one so they're getting close.

And finally caught sight of Manny. I need to keep track of him for when I have to pull up those bushes. I thought about doing it today but need to find a suitable new place for him to catch lots of food. If I could have put him on the tree branches when the caterpillars were out more, he would have feasted every day!

I had a brief thought about somehow making walls for the two ground beds and since there's gopher proofing already in I don't have to worry about continuing it up another foot or two. Then there's the logistics of what to use and the amount of soil needed. So that's a long term plan that if I knew we were going to be here 'long term' and had the money it would be implemented already. As it is, it's not my property and have no money to use it right now. Still working on that.