One plant in, gorgeous weather out

 Another glorious day to work outside...in the morning. Warming up just enough that I'm hot and sweaty if I'm out around noon. It started overcast/cloudy this morning but it burned off quickly and it's now powder blue clear skies with a good breeze going.

I wanted the first photo of this to be a beautiful flowering plant and I got it. A good full shot of the bougie in bloom. I think it has a heavier bloom this year than last. What's interesting is the one across from this has been topiaried and is in less sun. Not a single flower since I've been here. Too much shade for it and this one is just throwing blooms like crazy. The Watsonia flowers are climbing up, a second stalk that is kind of laid over was blooming also and there's about six more stalks in bud.  You can see the entrance to the garden in the background there.

 

No further damage on the onions  today, yay! Coriander is bolting really well now and the lettuce behind it is going strong. This means I have to leave the coriander at that end in place for some shade on those little plants, but then that would also shade the tomato that is also doing very well. It just topped the first rung of the trellis so it's doubled in size at 4".

I examined the tomatoes and saw there were some that had some yellowing at the very tip. That could be from the fertilizer or the soil but they still look pretty good. I looked at them, looked at the empty spot in the bed and.... did it.

I planted one of the single plants with the most roots showing in the cup. No need to bury really deep and actually, there isn't a lot of soil left down deep. I was trying to dig as far as I could and I was bringing up leaf bits and felt like I was hitting logs. This is not good. I am going to need another four bags of raised bed mix at the end of summer at this rate.

So I also watered, because as you can see the soil is moist underneath but dry about half an inch down. I set my timer for ten minutes and got bored at 5 and thought it was enough. Watered the other two beds because I'm getting impatient with those as well, then finished up watering the bed. When I realized I forgot to put fertlizer in the hole I got that out, gently scooped out the tomato and threw a small handful in and replanted it. In scraping the soil it hadn't gotten wet all the way through the dry soil in front of the peas. No great calamity but it shows that my timing for watering is right and have to trust the process.

I then remembered I wanted to dump the compost and  mix it but, again didn't bring down anything to dump it on and I was getting hot. Grabbed the trowel and did my best to stir it as far down as I could go. It smelled like dirt. YAY! It's doing much better and the consistency is now more like soil but still has lots of bits of shell, potato skins and other stuff in it. Most of my kitchen scraps are now coffee grounds which I'm going to have to tell my sweetie to either put in the garbage or in the disposal until further notice. We're running shy on fresh veggies lately and may have to pass on doing that for a few months. If I had the other two buckets free I would do a roundabout dumping from one to the other and back to mix it up.

 

 Still itching to get those tomatoes planted and the peppers are not far off from going into cups next. All four pellets with 2 seeds have germinated and are growing primary leaves now. Have to find room for all of those too. They may be able to survive in the window box if I mix about 2 to 1 compost and soil. Their roots aren't nearly as extensive as tomatoes but I won't only plant maybe two or three in the window box. So many plants and so little to put them in!

The lady downstairs across from our building. That spot over the last six months has had bedding begonioas, pansies, a chrysanthemum and a rosemary bush/tree. I think she's the one that's cut down the hibiscus bush to almost nothing because it was shading too much. It was twice that tall and had lots of flowers two years ago. It is now chopped and one lone flower is budding. Grrrrrr. She now has the spider plants that were there already and planted two succulents, one is a jade bush. She likes to putter in that garden and keep the weeds out but honestly... Oh and that is a lantana next to it that has also been hacked back at least once.

I hate seeing gardening done so badly. I'm sure she thinks this is wonderful and weed free and all that but that hibiscus is going to take years to recover, IF she doesn't decide to hack it back again.

So that's all for today. Enjoying the breeze and hope to get back out to the garden in the evening and maybe amend that north bed and take my chances with the tomatoes.

Another wonderful breezy warm day and culprits caught!

 Lots of flower pictures this time, the tree in bloom, roses, irises, the Watsonia, almost bloom time for the cilantro. Or should I say Coriander? It's a Saturday so I suspect the majority of people in the city are at the beach or parks enjoying a fantastic day in our fair city.

Me? I went to the garden and took pictures, then to the store to pick up two needed items for meal today, started that cooking and am back at the computer again. I swear that if I ever got a yard I would be out there doing all kinds of things.

The culprits were found last evening when I went out to check on things.

First, the damage. Almost all of the onions, just the onions, have been chewed again. Some seedlings are almost nubs to the ground. I decided on a hunch to dig around the wall of the bed and sure enough...cutworms. Little bastards.

 

I found three but suspect there may be another. The coriander has put a thick mat of roots all around so it's doubtful they are under there. Biggest one in the second picture was curled up the size of a dime. I made sure to stir up the rest of the soil as much as possible to loosen things a bit. They're the same color as the soil so with failing eyesight and evening light it was hard to see if there were any I missed.

Considering they loved the onions and didn't touch the cilantro I think I found a good deterrent for them.

The garden in the evening. Doesn't look like much when you look down the wall, it holds so much promise and yet, can't plant anything because of subterranean rodents.

 Peas, tomatoes and coriander all doing wonderful. The picture of the coriander is to show the ferny flower stalk leaves showing up. All the tomato starts are looking fantastic now! That's a shot of the roots showing and the tops are so much greener now!

The peas are fattening up and as much as I want to pick them, still a bit too soon and I would only have a few. Really pleased with the tomatoes looking better now that they got a good dose of fertilizer. 

 

As soon as the coriander finishes they'll be pulled and two tomatoes will go in the raised bed. I have to plan that carefully since I only have the three poles, and despite the romas being determinate and bushy, I don't trust them not to get five feet tall.

 

There is damage on the lower leaves of the peas more so now. The damage is consistent with slugs/snails. But given that's the only damage of that type (other than the lettuce being mowed down) not sure it's cutworms. Definitely gastropod/mollusk due to the type of damage, the whole mouth on the bottom thing  and they typically eat between the ribs on leaves.

 

 

Since it's only the lower leaves and no damage any higher I'm not going to worry about it right now. Big difference in the way the soil looks but that's just the surface. You can see between the peas at the back it's much lighter where I didn't ruffle it. Still wondering if I want to put beans in there despite the failed attempt in the pellets. 

The Watsonia is indeed opening. Love those flowers, and as I said,  not a fan of pink generally but this is a nice pink. I don't wear pink, coral maybe and pink mixed in with something else but not all pink. It is always a welcome color in the garden however.

I was walking Rocky and we were at the far side of the lawn area and I remembered there was an Angel Face rose between the bushes, I saw a bud that was already out and then noticed an orange seed hip as well. Yoink! Carefully bent the stem over and was able to break it off without damaging the bush. Looking at it closer I saw some red seeds peeking out of the center. YES! (not pictured but they are there).

The Bougainvillea at the bottom of the stairs in full bloom and the tree I can't remember the name of the fragrant tree. Also full of flowers. The hawks have a nest higher up in the eucalyptus again and, since Rocky took me that way I got pictures but was noticing a lot of white bird poo on the ground.. and something else. Leftovers from their lunch/dinner.

Definitely rabbit skin piece, no bigger than the center of my palm, so at least they are eating well and feeding their babies. The white splotch is likely from the adults, maybe the crows that pester them constantly.

The other thing is a black nightshade that is wild around here and of course if it isn't a tomato a lot of people tend to avoid them. Black nightshade is actually the supposedly edible one, the red one is the deadly night shade. There was another plant that looked familiar from my childhood days of walking the dirt road sides of our neighborhood.

It's being chewed on and a bit wilted due to the sun, I'll be doing cropping and close up of it to get an id on it. Only ID that comes up is Common Iceplant which is a native but I don't think that's it. The leaves are too thin. Will take another picture of it tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

 And to round things out, the 'Bench Garden' as I call it.

 

Warmer and the tree is in bloom

 It smells wonderful outside with the light breeze and warm air mixing coming through the window. Warm enough that I only spent about twenty minutes or so in the garden before I got too warm to even comtemplate dumping the compost bucket. Besides I forgot the bag to put it on so will try and do that tonight. Starting with yesterday evening's foray to the garden. Cool enough I needed my jacket.

I yanked another large cilantro plant to make more room for the tomato and lettuce. Until it gets big enough to peek over the tops of the cilantro, will keep yanking it.

Watsonia is getting ready to bloom and there is a small rose bush (likely root stock coming up) trying to compete with the bigger bush. Hoping it can try and bloom this year just to see what it is.

Just a difference between last evening and today. Yes, the second picture is closer but it also shows that the lettuce in that spot is doing very well. I suspect it's happy to be shaded compared to the line out in full sun. 

 

Fungus coming back up again behind the peas and just gonna leave them. The tomatoes are still looking rather sickly and hope that the shot of fertilizer I gave them (and the trauma) helps them improve a bit more.

There is something nibbling on the lower leaves of the peas. Those are definitely snail/slug chew marks and knowing where they like to hide they are likely digging into the soil rather than climbing all the way back up and out of the bed. Cutworms would eat in a different pattern and they aren't touching the garlic or onions.

The tomato is a bit more in the clear but I also was holding the cilantro back to get a clear photo. It's much better looking than the other seedlings but there's still time for the others to catch up. I suspect this tomato is going to grow up and through that trellis but that's one of the reasons why I put it there. Self-supporting situation. Will be difficult to get to any tomatoes at the back and there's not a lot of room but will see what happens. I almost unplanted it when I pulled the cilantro out. Due to the soil being so loose and open tiny roots were going everywhere.

Speaking of cilantro, that stuff is about ready to flower I suspect. Will be looking at ways to preserve it or dry it to have for salsas and dishes. The peas are still just pumping out the pods, still tucking them in here and there to help them spread out a bit more. You can see it's slightly darker in the  middle of the bed, I roughed up the soil and it wasn't dark enough for my liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to see but some of the white you see on the dirt and rocks...it's mollusk trails. There was a LOT of them all over the logs and rocks, and under the jade bush even. I have not seen any on the soil of the raised bed so not sure how my logic is working on that. So it's not like I'm keeping the ground wet all the time, these little snails can survived going over rough broken ground. Eggshells aren't going to deter them very much.

Given the temperatures today I made sure to bring my nozzle with me to water the beds. I decided to show the difference between the raised bed and the not so raised dirt bed. I watered for about 8-10 minutes on each bed. The first picture there is immediately while I was watering and five minutes later.

 

Same length of time for the raised bed. No puddles at all and it soaked in faster than I was watering. Now, both situations are good to a point. It's great to have good drainage but it's also good to have the water stick around for a while. Yesterday the soil in the raised bed was still that dark under the surface but much less so today. The other bed in the ground with just dirt, about the same but it was harder to dig when it was dry.

 

And the roses are finally blooming. I know for a fact now that rose is called Paradise. Looking at it I remember it being the rose that my son picked out but it had no tag. I researched it and discovered what it was back then and it came to me today. Very fragrant and a lovely variety.

The irises are starting to pop as well and the yellow rose busted out a couple of flowers. The rose doesn't have as much fragrance if I remember so still not sure what variety it is.

That's about it for today in the gardens. Unless something momentous happens might not do a big post tomorrow.