Holding steady, clear skies

 By holding steady that means nothing has died. The weather has been nippy at night and chilly despite sunshine during the day. Definitely sweater weather but not overcast or even a hint of rain coming any time soon.

Sky wasn't quite that blue but the shading is right. Clear bright days with a little breeze or light wind so typical for SoCal winter. We usually get the heavier rains in January and February so here's hoping, or it's going to be a really dry winter this year. Last time we had flooding rains was about 14 years ago. Yes we had some serious rain this year but it was not for the winter season.

I got out and dug around in the raised bed to see if it was dry and sure enough, damp dirt only about a half inch down then dry. Slog out the hose... dig around some more and ..... made a disgusting discovery using my bare hand. Yep, it was cats that had been using the dry dirt for a litter box. EEEWWW! Scooped it out with the trowel and just used the water to wash my hand off until I could go upstairs. Tossed the various bits over toward the compost buckets because I had no plastic bag to transport the poop. It stank for a while but didn't smell anything today.

Surprisingly, the radishes have survived. Actually growing true leaves now so that's a bonus. Still need to put out some more lettuce seed and some more cilantro as well. The largest one in the raised bed is looking great. Once again hoping to get at least two or three bags of soil to drop in that bed but have to wait a bit since the cilantro and onions still need a bit more growth before using.

Honestly surprised about the radishes. Thought for sure they were goners even with watering immediately after transplanting them. If I want my smaller Easter Egg variety I have to go to an actual nursery as my usual free source is closed. The main library here is closed for refurbishing and new roof until January 5. All they have is a bookmobile out front so I can wait a little longer, not like the weather is going to break into Summer suddenly in the next week or so.

I heard both a Mourning Dove and Eurasian Dove yesterday as well as one of the hawks. It's good to hear the birds again and a hummingbird checked me out through the window yesterday. It apparently rests on a branch of the Jacaranda which as a view right at me but it flew up to the window, chirped once then when I looked at it, took off. Of course, because they're like that.

I've been doing more cooking and blogging over on my other page since there isn't much to do in the garden this time of year and it'll switch back when the weather warms and I do more gardening than oven and stove cooking.

But that's the way of things right? All in it's own season.
 

Merry Christmas to me!

But first, the weather. It was cold and overcast for a few days including Christmas but then cleared off and warmed up a bit in the afternoon. Still no rain but we got some misty drizzle briefly, not enough to do much other than dampen sidewalks and grass.

The rampaging mammal continued to stir up dirt looking for food and mostly because I haven't watered the soil was dry and perfect for digging. 

One of the lizards was taking advantage of the south angled sun on the fence. It was actually closer to the log pile but as I stepped closer it shuffled ahead. Good to see them still hanging out and doing the good work for the garden.

I finally got a hose and sprayer! I had just enough money left over from Christmas gifting (after taking care of the important things first) and went to HD today. If not for needing to buy a case of water I would have had enough to get a bag of soil. I decided that the hose and sprayer was of utmost importants and soil would happen next month. Pictures are before, the product and after watering thoroughly. I have used the Aquajoe before working at HD and it's fine for a compact hose, I can stand on it and it won't lose pressure much. I almost bought the 'Silver Bullet' but it was $5 more and I decided to conserve money a bit. This one isn't much better but at least it fits in the cat litter bucket I have spare that I was using to hold the 'seedling' spuds. it's a flat profile hose when not being used so easy to just loop on itself and stuff it in the bucket. The nozzle is an ultra cheap ($10) multi sprayer with a thumb control that caught my eye last second as I was leaving the garden area at HD.  I will eventually replace it with a better one that's about five or six dollars more but for now it's good for what I need to do.
I do not trust the other two ladies to use it so it is staying tucked away and used only by me. I almost bought the same hose that Dolores did then realized I would likely leave it out to be  used by the other two. I wanted to tuck it away to last longer and got the more compact one. 

That raised bed was so dry the left side  that hadn't been watered in months pooled immediately. The far side still being damp soaked in almost immediately. I switched between the three beds watering for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. Going to check the soil tomorrow and see if the raised bed needs watering on that left side. I wanted to buy seeds or peat pellets but not enough cash for both. Besides they don't have the seeds I wanted which were the Easter Egg variety of radishes.  

They had roses and bare root fruit trees out.... LE Sigh..... I wouldn't be able to do a rose justice because it would have to be in a pot on my front porch area. That means, buying a pot, and the soil, and watering it.... 

Some day. A house of my own with a garden to plant.

Well, calamity struck.

 I never got out to the garden yesterday because I figured it wasn't worth it. I should have watered because it's been dry of course. So going out today.... and this sight greeted me.

All three beds were torn up. The south bed, didn't really care because nothing was planted and the raised bed is mostly potatoes and didn't have much in the way of insect activity. The west bed though, completely torn up.

I grabbed the cultivator and started raking, thinking the plants were all eaten and trashed. As I did, I found the romaine was a total loss but there were about nine or ten radishes that were still intact as well as the larger cilantro. I saw a tiny onion sprig but lost it in the shuffle of dirt. Even the oregano was only covered in soil with nothing torn up. Sigh.

The rampaging animal likely was looking for worms because I saw some worm piles in that bed the other day. I will be looking for replacement radish seeds and onions next month as well as trying to start more lettuces. 

I watered thoroughly as I could then replaced the wire cover and hope that the piece of wood suffices. I might go out later and add another log or two and maybe use the other piece of chicken wire on the raised bed for insurance.

And on the topic of tortured plants. This is an oak tree, possibly a live oak or a cork oak that is one of three trees along that short wall in a commercial area. We park our car there when we go to the grocery store. That was a thriving, full canopy a few months ago. They pollarded it. Butchered them horridly and I am beyond disgusted. Oak trees do not grow back like that! 

I feel like throwing something. Sharp.... and heavy. At the supposed tree company that did that.

Sorry to end on an angry note so close to Christmas but I am just so appalled by this.

And Blessed Winter Solstice to everyone

 Today is the shortest day of the year, known as many names but Winter Solstice is the common one. From now on the days get longer as the sun begins to move more to the north. Yay!

It's going to be a very dry winter this season unfortunately. Looking back at my photos and posts from a year ago we had rain in August and we had cloudy and drizzly weather in December. We got a late Santa Ana which means we are still on a dry streak for a month now.

Meanwhile back in the garden. I'm concerned about the radishes, I guess I didn't plant them deep enough again or they are not getting enough sun. The ones on the west side are more stretched out and larger than the ones on the east. It may well be a matter of more shade due to the sun angle and with this being the Solstice, I will likely try to find another packet of radish seeds to put in as well as replanting lettuce. These were taken day before yesterday and shows everything is growing as fast as it can. As expected, the bougainvillea is growing again, anxious about what they will do with it. Keep an eye on the raised bed, off to the left in the photo is that one lone potato sprout coming up.

 

 Yesterday something dug in the bed right where the potato was sprouting and buried it in dirt. Since the spud was still there, I suspect it was just an opportunistic cat using it as a litter box. I had to move the soil around a bit to find it and discovered it had very small, fragile roots so I just pulled it and buried the potato piece more.

 

 

I watered everything again, best I could, you can see how dry the soil was even about an inch down. Oh I also pulled the onion that I put next to the trellis, it wasn't getting enough water and was very limp despite having roots. The others are doing fine as well as the cilantro. 

 

 

Right now we have an interesting example of higher supply the more traffic. The bird of paradise are still blooming like crazy and then I noticed that the vibrunum bushes were blooming as well. Guess where the bees were? Bird of Paradise flowers because the nectar was less work to find and drink. The flowers on the viburnum are very small and are more suited to a butterfly tongue than a bee. Problem is, there aren't any butterflies around this time of year, not even moths because it's too cold for them and wrong time of year for their life cycle. You can barely see it but there is a bee on that flower at the base of the purple/blue tongue part where it meets the orange flags.

That's it from the garden for this week. Christmas is in a few days so we'll see if 'Santa' brings me anything for the garden this year.

 

 

Well then, seems a bit too long without a post

 It happens that not much is happening in the garden so I didn't think it worth while to post until there was enough pictures. It's been cold, got a drizzle the other day and a cold Santa Ana came through, but that's about all for the weather. Getting into the low 40's at night into early morning and only gets up to low 70's midday. 

The 'Seasonal Tree' is about as naked as it can get and the same with other liquid ambers in the area. That's how you know it's really winter around here. Sycamores still have their leaves, mostly brown so they are dropping tons every day and moreso when there's a wind.

Something I noticed a few days ago was Dolores dragged her planter box of chives over to her 'garden area' from the end of mine. I remember her saying she's going to dig them out and put something else in it since she doesn't use them really. Oh well. I got a good handful, chopped them up and put them in the freezer. They last for a long time so it's a no brainer but whatever she wants to do. Those pictures were taken around noon and you can see that the west bed is in complete shade by then so the radishes only get maybe a few hours of sun early in the morning when it comes up and around from the building. 

Radishes are doing okay and still only one Romaine growing. Potatoes are still plugging along and I'm still only using the broken hose. Have to wait until after Christmas to see what gifts I get and probably get one in January. The onions will be ready in that bed in a few more weeks and there's a few cilantro sprouts there and in the west bed that will be ready to harvest by February at least. Once the new year hits I'll drop some more seeds as a succession planting. Still need to plant some lettuce. Have to wait on those as well since it's too cold for them to really do well unless I try to do them indoors.

Haven't been any signs of animals but that's sort of expected considering anything that would be digging is semi-hibernating right now. The lady downstairs with the hibiscus and lantana have trimmed them back completely again, it all works out obviously but it just hurts to see them like that when it really isn't necessary. Oh, 'Mabel' the mantid disappeared a few days back. One day she was on the same flower and the next, gone. Hope she just moved on and not a bird getting her, still don't know what happened to Manny.

Time for bed and the long, cold plodding of days to the end of the year.

Still not much going on, but weather is good.

 Not too many pictures either because nothing fantastic has been happening. Radishes are coming up, leaves on the trees are falling and still no rain in the forecast.

Decided to use a picture from last month for first photo just in case. Only difference is more wispy clouds today with lighter blue sky.

Not sure if something ate some of the seedlings or the chicken wire cover had slipped and cut them off. Looks more like munching but only a couple were eaten, no big deal. Other than that, they're growing and not much else. There are some onion seedlings in that bed coming up, all in a clump so have to wait until they're much bigger before spreading them out.

Next to that long white piece of wood are the onion seedlings the 'starts' I planted in the raised bed are doing well and so are the potatoes, more sprouts are starting to show so I might have potatoes by April. I mentioned that the gardener came through and denuded the other rose bushes, well this is the Angel Face still blooming thankfully. Wish I could get a cutting to grow one again. The other roses are definitely dormant now and St. Fucre help them (patron saint of gardeners).

I used the cultivator and mixed up the south bed that I've let go dry. Still planning on putting herbs in that bed like moving the oregano there, maybe thyme, rosemary would get too big, same with sage. Dolores has chives to spare, I dug up the three green onions she was just going to dig up and toss. Really? Why the heck are you even growing them? Wish I could do a stepped garden but that would require more soil and materials. Going through spices in my cupboard I really have a set handful that I use and most of them are things like garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, basically things I can't grow. I have the Italian mix which is rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, savory and sage. So a lot of those are large growers or annuals or picky growers, marjoram and oregano are very similar but both need warm weather to do best. Although the oregano in the ground already is doing pretty good. So more research is needed for sure and will figure it out in another couple of months when the weather starts getting warmer again.

I saw Dolores the other day and as I was watering I showed her how difficult it was for me to water my raised bed and her only excuse was 'there's no use getting a new hose because the sun will ruin it'. I tried to counter with getting a better hose and she said she can't afford that. Well gee whiz, what a surprise, that's why I haven't bought one in two years. No sympathy from her, no apology for making it difficult just her reasoning for not getting a new hose. She seems to be buying soil in bags, not big ones and also pepper plants, so we'll have to make do with that for now because she was not very insightful.

We might get our cold/wet weather in January because so far, it looks like a very, very dry winter this year.

Just a small update

 It is now 4 pm and the view out my window is all shaded. Tops of the trees across the way are still in the yellow glow of sunset. Not enough daylight in the day anymore to really enjoy things. Not that I was getting out and doing stuff but I'm not cooped up with the ac on and windows closed because it's a furnace outside.

Closest to actual color of the sunset last night. It made everything glow orange and I'm sure other people got better pictures but that was the best I could do. If I ever got a drone camera, I'd be taking pictures from rooftops for sure.

Best photo I could get of the regrowing pepper tree. they trimmed up the lower branches that were making it look like a huge ball. So they will be letting it regrow obviously but it's going to take another five or six years for it to get close to full size. One of the nandina were putting on a spectacular red show. Most of the others have some berries and some leaves that were red but this one is an overachiever for sure. Had to color correct a bit because...my phone is stupid.

Actual garden update now, the radishes are coming on like gangbusters, as they do. There seems to be only one romaine that has survived and none of the lettuces have come up yet. I might have to get some new seeds. I've been thinning out the radish line as they grow so they're pretty evenly spaced now. The potatoes are coming up slowly, another cilantro is growing (forgot I tossed some of those in the raised bed). Until I get another hose I can only grow things on the far end of the bed where the hose can spray. The local grocery store I go to doesn't have 'live' herbs in pots, have to go to either Trader Joe's or a nursery to get some sage, thyme, rosemary and whatever else I want to grow in the south bed.

I also noticed that the price for roma tomatoes is up due to it being 'off season' for them. During the summer they're 99 cents a pound now they're 1.29 and smaller than usual. I miss my bumper crop from last year. I will be planting regular romas again for sure. As long as I can start them inside and have the right soil.

Always one thing or another right? That's all for the update this time, just happy to see those radishes coming up.