Another sunny day but chilly at night

 It was only in the mid to high 70's today which made for wonderful shorts weather. As soon as the sun went down, winter whooshed in. 59 at 9:30 pm right now, double blanket weather for sure.

Early evening/late afternoon sun on the white azalea and the trees. Fantastic lighting with the angled light around 6 pm. Didn't get out until late afternoon and it was almost too chilly for shorts and a t-shirt. A better shot of the azalea earlier in the previous day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally got the peppers and sweet peas planted out late yesterday. Hard to see because of the shadows but peppers and lettuces are still okay, I'm keeping the fencing cover on them still because just my luck some rampaging opossum or skunk would come through and dig everything up. The peppers and lettuce are doing fine 24 hours later but the sweet peas....not so much. They're fading fast unfortunately and getting even more pale today, oh well, there's always the fall planting. Those tomatoes hopefully will do gangbusters this year. If I'm proactive, will have to tie that trellis to the fence now.

The west bed is still going strong with Oregano, onions and garlic. Oh, I planted cilantro along the back side of the south bed. Hoping those come up and take advantage of this great weather. Can't really plant much else in the west bed, only thing left for growing for the summer is peppers or flowers. 

Just had a brainstorm. Instead of covering the raised bed like a hoop house, run a vertical piece around the edge, maybe like a circle so it's removable. Attach to the trellis with hooks made from the cut ends of the wire..... interesting and complicated idea. Would require a LOT of cutting to get a piece that long and maybe some stakes. Will make do with what I have and work on that other idea for next year. 

It is going to be warmb as we say.

 Weather says it'll get close to 90 today and it's already 85. Clear as far as the horizon and hot sun beating down. Weather app says it'll slowly cool down over the next two weeks so eventually be cloudy and cooler again. For today I have shorts and a t-shirt on. We may end up turning the AC on for the first time in over six months.

I 'plowed under' the not thriving row of lettuce before watering. It seriously looked like something had eaten most of it so no great loss. I left them in place and just stirred the dirt a bit so they'll break down in place. The carrots are still there luckily but I am considering pulling those as well and putting a tomato right in the middle. Then again I have peppers coming on so I might end up putting peppers against the trellis (no they don't need it but I'm not going to move it and the beans aren't coming up). I am also tempted to pull up the weak and tiny garlic to make room for the tomatoes and peppers as well. The tops can be chopped for 'imitation' chives at least.

The white azalea is in full bloom again. Still don't know which one it is but doesn't matter at this point, I don't need the name to enjoy it.  And the bag of soil has a hole or two in it. I know there were no holes when I pulled them from the car. I wonder if something decided to try and get into it. It's a tear not a bite so not sure what's going on. I might have to mix that into the north bed soil now and maybe use the extra panels from the raised bed as a partial barrier. Still no luck or money to get the netting I need.

Unknown (likely weed) seedlings and the rather rough looking tomato seedling. I suspect something got to it for sure and it's struggling.

The peas are pumping out pods and given the weather and timing they'll be done enough in about a month to pull up. (The two unknown seedlings are in front of that right side pea plant against the wall of the bed.)

 The cilantro after watering looks bad but it's doing just fine, it'll be dried off in an hour or so and is still shading the lettuce and the tomato at the back. Onions are holding their own and really looking forward to harvesting those at the end of the summer. I had to buy some onions and cut the bottoms off about 2 inches and put them in water for the next crop.

I watered for almost ten minutes and there were still some spots that were dry under the surface but not pockets of dry soil. Later this evening I'll go back and and likely harvest the last of the other lettuce and carefully move the tomato cups out of the way. I thought I got a picture of them but guess not. They survived their first 24 hours being outside completely just fine. My worry was insects and the gophers or other rodents but crossing fingers/knock on wood they'll continue to do fine. 

I do also need to upend that compost bucket again and get that aerated in the heat but not going to do that in the middle of the day, another task for late evening or early morning. The gardening chores start mounting up with the warm weather trending for the next week or so.

I saw a 1b/1ba 'house' for rent in the vicinity where I live for less than our rent. It's a brand new ADU (accessory dwelling unit) someone built in their back/side yard on a cul de sac. Came with an 8x10 storage shed, big kitchen, AC and heating and separate parking. It mentioned laundry was available so I can only imagine it was the 'landlords' in the house. I thought, 'fantastic! less than our rent, seems to be about our sq footage or a bit more with a flat piece of yard right next to it. Wonderful! It was not listed anymore this morning. The other issue I thought of is 'I just got my garden going! I can't move right now!' 

I can't pull up my garden right now which is what the manager said was the only stipulation for having it. I would have to take it with me and even though I could gift it to the other lady I doubt she would be able to do it justice given her style of gardening.

So hot weather now which means more watering to do and a harbinger of what's to come in another month.

At least it's cloudy, rain coming soon.

 As soon as I say 'wait and see' for the weather, it does what it's predicted. No rain but definitely still blustery and cloudy. Love the wind because I know it brings different weather, I had to wear my long pants again today because it may not get to the high 70's.

So out to the garden I went. Everything chugging along, soil still 'moist' from watering yesterday but due to it being sunny and now cloudy I decided to water anyway. The pea I tried to support had been blown sideways so twisted it up to try and get it to stay.

Honestly considered getting my wire cutters out and opening that cage up flat but it's technically not mine. Didn't get a chance to go to HD yesterday, made a half hearted look at what Target had in their seasonal/garden section. Disappointing for actual gardening as suspected. Might go for a walk up the road to the little nursery and see what they have.

I am disconcerted every time I dig into the soil with the trowel and hear that 'scrape/tink' of hitting a small rock or pebble. I pulled pea sized rocks and slightly bigger out of the potato soil when I was loosening it. I did the same in the north bed and accidentally chopped one of the smaller pea sprouts. Oh well. I then decided to transplant the remaining one in the front over to the corner of the potato bed.

 

At least in the corner there I can set up a couple of stakes, I'll get some shade in the summer with the sun overhead even and now I have room to plant something in the front of the other bed. You can see how dark the soil still is but it's not very wet hence why I watered anyway despite rain coming in.

The lawn was wet as well which means the gardeners turned the sprinklers on this morning. Any water is better than none. Definitely getting darker outside from cloud cover, may have some sprinkles in a few hours. 

There was a flower blooming on my morning walk with Rocky but pictures on my phone didn't do it justice. I thought it was a Freesia at first but then got closer and realized I was wrong. I love Freesias.

The name of this one escapes me but now I want to go see if there's freesias somewhere so I can plant them. Way too late in the season for us though. Sigh.

It's finally raining!!! Due to the wind it's blowing around most of it but love that smell, the wind and everything. Sigh.

I got a better look at the azalea and am incorrect that it is an Alaska. It's a single flower so it's likely a Mrs. G.G. Gerbing. Had to look it up because it's been so long since I was working with Azaleas every  day I've lost a lot of the names.

Anyway, wonderful weather outside my window and keeping the blinds and window open for the breeze and smells.