Happy Turkey Day, or as some people call it, Thursday.

 It got really foggy last night which made the air smell wonderful coming off the small hills The morning though, clear, cloudless, sunny and warm with a light breeze. Amazing. Normally it's perfect gardening weather. If I had things to do in the garden.

The 'weather tree' is almost naked, right on schedule actually and need to check the other trees as well. Not that it's important but you know, the little things are cool these days. 

Afternoon sun coming through the other trees making a gorgeous yellow orange glow in the branches. Those are all sycamores with the gorgeous colors, making the liquid amber weak in comparison.

I was able to get up close to the Gorgeous Green Girl still hanging out on the flower. I noticed looking at her closer her left eye has some black patches, so she's partially blind on that side.  The top left photo unfortunately has a bit of shade right on that corner of her eye. So she's still hanging out and apparently surviving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't get pictures because it's kind of silly saying 'look there's seeds coming up!'. It's been four days since I put the radish and lettuce seeds in and I'll be danged if they are starting to sprout already! The potatoes are breaking through the surface as well in the raised bed. But I got pictures of the potato sprouts, all coming up in a cluster from the one tuber, then there's another one coming in  (upper left on the left picture). So things are happening just slower because it's that time of year. I'm hoping that I can spare a bit of cash for at least a bag of soil to put in there by the time they get tall enough to cover.

One downside, it's only been a few months since the gardener stripped all the roses, they bloomed again and then he goes and does it all over again! Good god! They are stripped naked now and so help me I want to put a sign up in spanish tell him to leave the roses alone!

So that's all the garden news today. Almost time for heading off to stuff ourselves silly at my daughters. 

Enjoy the day and whatever weather you may have, make it a good one!

Weather is very nice at least.

 Breezy, chilly and sunny all at once most days now. Sun is low in the sky so the garden beds are not as warm which means the seeds are taking longer to germinate.

This is an ash tree on the other side of the fence from where we park. Waaaayyy up at the top seems to be a nest. I saw a crow up there making noise the other day so it's possible that is who it belongs to, much too small for a hawk nest.

Fluffy clouds and clear blue skies in the same day. You can barely see but the tree sprouts are showing above the fence and so is the pepper tree. They actually trimmed up the bottom of the sprouts so it's almost a canopy shape. Can only see it from our window of course and the screen and windows are too filthy to get a good picture.

I decided yesterday to put some mixed lettuce and the last of the radish seeds in the west bed. A few onion sprouts were up but apparently only one Romaine seems to have survived. I also noticed earlier in the day something (cat) got into the raised bed so I moved the soil around and watered best I could. No sign of potato sprouts yet but almost dug one up I forgot was toward the middle of the bed.

I got a better look at the mantid and sadly, it is a female. Still hoping Manny made it out of the garden alive but it's great to see natural predators out and about. Wonder if she's hanging out waiting for ants or bees.

And then there's this.... act of.... what in the garden are they thinking. A lone geranium stick just stuck in the ground between a formerly potted ficus and nandina. Right where cars park. I hope to not be living there when that ficus really starts taking off.

That's about all for the garden stuff today. I may use some of our meager spare money next month to either get a hose or some soil instead of eating out. I had to use the remainder of my fun money for food. Again. 

Needs over wants and hobbies.

Been a few days

 I totally ignored the garden on Wednesday because I was at Disneyland all day then got busy the next day so at least got out and watered this morning. It has been getting niiippy! Dropping down to the high 30's in the wee hours of the morning and only up to the 70's during the day. Actually had a light layer of frost on my car window when we left for Anaheim.

The 'weather tree' has lost a lot more leaves as it should and the winter flower for San Diego is blooming right on schedule, that bush had about five flowers on it. While I was taking a picture I saw a familiar shape! A green mantid on one of the flowers!

 

I would like to hope that's Manny and has just changed color after molting.  It is a male, they have a narrower abdomen than females so it would be nice to think that he survived.

 

The romaine is still growing, so is the cilantro and I planted some green onion ends in the raised bed. The oregano is making a come back after almost being buried under the deterrent logs. Not much to look at this time of year. I am crossing my fingers I can use some of my left over money to get a bag or two of soil.

 

Since there's no pictures of the garden (not much going on there anyway), here are some pictures from Disneyland. They always have incredible layouts for their landscaping and interesting singular plants. The left picture is the entrance to Tomorrowland, the rockets are to the left. Kalanchoe baharensis, aloes and some succulents I can't remember the name.  The tree is actually in memory of a Ray Bradbury store that I had no clue about.

The story (and short film) was called 'The Halloween Tree' and it was dedicated on the night of Halloween 2007. "Realizing famed author Ray Bradbury's dream of having the symbol for the Holiday become a part of Disneyland." The tree itself I don't remember having green leaves on it and the leaves that are stuck up in the branches are from what looks like an English Oak and possibly (hopefully) an Oregon White Oak because that would possibly do better in Anaheim than the English Oak. Will have to look into it another time.

And beautiful lights illuminating the trees in Downtown Disney for the holidays. Wish we could have stayed to see the castle lit up but we were completely dead broken tired by sunset and still had a 2 hour drive home in the dark.

It was way too crowded or I would have taken more pictures of the plants. Because, that's what I do.

The weather is beautiful, garden....not so much.

Wonderful puffy white and grey clouds, it almost rained yesterday but never happened. Clouds were going west to east yesterday and the opposite today but still lovely skies.

Wind is still going today but not as much as two days ago. Harbinger of the weather change and my seasonal allergy kicked up as another sign. I was going to water last night but figured if it rained then wouldn't need to. Well, I should have watered because it didn't rain so I had to water this morning. 

Leaves have doubled on the ground due to the winds reminds me of when the Ginkgo trees lose all their leaves within a few days. A wonderful yellow carpet used to cover the street and sidewalk of the neighborhood I lived in during high school. 

This was four days ago when the parrots decided to roost in the trees for the night. They prune leaves and seed balls off to make room and have a clear flight path. Other than their chattering, the occasional thump of a seed ball and the fluttering of leaves falling was the only sounds. 

I checked the potatoes in the bucket and decided that it was time to plant some of them. Only bed I have available with enough sun but even if I get soil later it's still okay. I planted five, two were cuts from a larger spud and the other three were just smaller ones but all of them were rooting. The one in my hand actually had small 'proto-potato' nodes starting already! So yeah definitely tossed that one in there carefully.

These are russets for sure, I don't have any red or golds left in my cupboard or outside.  You can see that I watered a bit before planting them, there's a 'shadow line' from where the water was blocked by the wall of the planter. Yeah. I'm not even being as nice about putting the hose back, just tossing it back in the general direction. 

No pictures but there are four or five romaine coming up, similar amount of cilantro but onions are being slow. I bought some green onions and have 5 of the root ends in water right now and might just cut the ends off the rest and plant them in that bed and the west bed.

I have the cauliflower seeds I could put in the raised bed, radishes and the mixed lettuce. I think the lettuces will be a contender, I don't have the patience or space for the other two. Maybe the radishes too but I NEED A NEW HOSE DANGIT! Or at least a functional watering can with a decent spreader/rose on it.

I can't plant on the west side of that bed due to the hose not being able to hit it. The south bed is total shade and unless I put starter plants in, seeds are not going to grow.

If I am frugal with my Disneyland money and have anything left over I likely will need that for supplemental food.  Given the prices of things I likely won't have much left oh well.

Anyway, garden is as what the garden does. Never the same year to year.

Garden is still there, slowly but sure.

 It is settling into being Fall now. Nights are definitely colder, going to dip into the high 40's in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow and the south bed in the garden is getting no sun at all so none of the seeds have sprouted.

Did I mention I figured out the change in the formatting code for getting pictures parallel again? I just kept trying different combinations of positioning and found it. Yay! Stupid programmers. Oh and that's the same tree different times of the day and different angles. It is almost completely yellow now but in the second picture it's late afternoon so it's more pink/orange due to the sunlight. But you can see that the top of the tree is more yellow and moving to orange while the lower part still has some green. 

I found one leaf on the sidewalk that has the prettiest colors of yellow and red/pink. One of the only ones on the ground and from the trees but then the wind has been blowing a bit.

So I got the cultivator and dug around the soil in the bed just to keep it aerated, I did it again yesterday as well but used my hands.... very black and almost sticky soil which means it's all the broken down compost, I remember seeing similar soil in the bare root beds when they stirred them up after a year of sitting. So I used my hand to spread the perlite out of that corner and mix it in as best I could. I don't know what I'm going to do other than that potato and the cilantro in that bed. I could toss some lettuce seeds and maybe try the radishes again but there's only about two or three inches of soil when it compacts back down again.

Health scare is resolved, nothing major anymore,  other than my knee getting all tweaked which has taken a week and a half for it to recover. One of the reasons why I didn't go down to the garden as often is not wanting to use the stairs when I have to keep my right leg from bending. 

I didn't get any pictures but the cilantro and romaine are coming up in the west bed, I think I saw one lone onion maybe two coming up. Let me tell you, if Santa brings me soil for Christmas I will be so happy. A new hose would be nice as well but that's pushing it, I may get some extra money in December so hopefully I won't need it for actual necessities and manage to get things for my garden.

I really need it to succeed next year. For my own mental health mostly. The world is very depressing right now and I need to be reminded that there are good things I can do in my little corner of the world to make me happy.

A lot has happened and still not much

 The sun is shining, the tank is clean.... or something like that.

Santa Ana's came through yesterday and today so it's windy and clear, very nippy at night and my allergies have kicked in.

Hummingbird was hanging out at the feeder the other day and tried to get a good picture through the kitchen window. Less than professional results of course. And then this morning taking Rocky for his walk, a female was flitting around under the trees and around the pile of leaves and back around. Took me a moment to realize she was taking advantage of gnats and flies collecting in the shade. Made me smile a few moments at least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got new shoes that are slip on and brown leather, won't show the dirt as badly as the white pair at least. The leaf blower started up at 7:45 this morning and the piles have begun to collect on the grass. The piles would not be so big if not for the gusty winds yesterday and today. No need for the fans or AC at least.

I think I've figured out how to get parallel photos finally! YAY! Meanwhile, before, during and after my decision to yank the tomato bushes. I pulled the last two tomatoes off (and left them on the white rack oops) though they showed signs of spotting and not completely ripe. The smaller left side tomato plant had three small ones and frankly wasn't going to wait for those to ripen. I watered as much as I felt necessary, trying not to crush the single cilantro coming up near the potato. Nothing is coming up in the south bed by the way, it's shaded all the time so if I want something to grow there I'll have to put plants in.

Just some fall color, it doesn't show how much they are being whipped around by the wind though. Hoping to get the short video uploaded of that action. Wind just started up again and it's a wonderful feeling but at the same time it is a very dry wind. 

In other news, there was a canyon fire across the freeway and near the university. Not even remotely close to the boys school,but got some good views of the smoke cloud from the park. It could have been very bad if the wind had been as bad as it is today as there were homes all around the rim of the canyon it started in. They got it out in a matter of a few hours thankfully with the help of a water tank chopper going to the nearby lake. Caused a serious traffic snarl and my normal twenty minute drive from the school to their place was almost an hour.

Life goes on, garden will be what it is for a while. Financial situation is not going to improve on it's own so have to make do with what I've got.