Weather, watering and wind

Late post today due to other things going on. Weather was fine, kind of overcast in the morning but very windy and cool enough needed a jacket. I knew it hadn't rained that much so got my nozzle and made sure to bring my gloves this time. First, this evening's discovery then yesterdays...

Three days ago this rose bush was covered in aphids... nature took care of it for me. I saw that the one rose bud was now completely clean and there was a lump under one of the leaves. Sadly a caterpillar got to the bud but that was not the lump. The lump was a ladybug larvae! Yay!

 

  Almost all the aphids were gone, eaten and then I noticed another green lump and saw it was a lacewing larva cocooning. And even as I stood there I saw the ladybug responsible for more of the aphids. It was a yellow orange one rather than red which means it's one of the native beetles.

On  my evening foray previously I noticed this pea leaf with holes in it (sorry for the bad pictures) and knew what was causing it. There was not one but 3 looper caterpillars on it. That's just one leaf. I got video as well.

 

(I got google drive loaded onto the computer so now I can shift things from phone to computer easier)

The view this morning, nice and sunny but breezy and cool. Dry soil enough that I was sure to bring the nozzle with me to water. No rain is expected for the next week and a half so it's going to be watering every other day at least. The buds are starting to form on the cilantro as well as the onions next to them. I have never had onions flower in my own yard always seen pictures and have heard they are just as good for eating. Looking forward to more fresh onions for cooking.

 

Why did I take a picture of the north bed when it's just a pile of dirt? Because it reminds me of the promise I have to make that a viable bed for the summer. No more signs of snails but it was quite warm and dry there so they may have dug deep to hide. I watered enough to get that dirt wet on top so will see what it looks like tomorrow. I tossed the ends of a bunch of cilantro into the compost bucket the other day. It's broken down a lot though since I remember when it was raining a while back it was almost to the top. I'd say it's about 2/3 full now maybe almost half so I might get a nice handful of compost out of it when it's done. Hahaa.

I was getting the hose to water and saw this hole behind the lemon bush. One of the other tenants had seen me heading there and half followed me, apparently the lemon bush is hers or she's taken responsibility for it. She may be the one that almost barked at me originally about not watering it. She said she hoped it got lots of lemons this year and I told her don't count on it, it needs food and pointed out the gopher holes to her. It should have more water as well but I didn't mention that to her. I then put the hose into the gopher hold and was only able to do that for about two minutes before I realized my garden needed the water more than flushing the gopher.

 

The tomatoes are still looking great, except for that one. They are at least  as big as any you'd get in a 6 pack at the nursery. So perfectly fine for planting. If I had a place to plant them all. Hope they can hold out until the cilantro can be pulled at least.

 

The tomatoes are still looking great, except for that one. They are at least  as big as any you'd get in a 6 pack at the nursery. So perfectly fine for planting. If I had a place to plant them all. Hope they can hold out until the cilantro can be pulled at least.

 

Not much difference but before and after watering other than the box and soil being wet. I wasn't careful when tossing the dirt yesterday and tossed it on the end of the window box. I hosed everything down really well. I even took the empty cup and used it to do a bit more point watering, it drained really well. so it took almost five minutes for water to completely get through all the soil on those tomatoes. They're good and wet hopefully now.

 

Formatting is being stupid again but there's the cloth I found yesterday, fabric is too thin to be pants, so it's possibly from a shirt. It's my garden rag now, dug from the depths of the soil.

The Watsonia has more stems blooming, going to be spectacular in a few days with as many blooms that are going off. Just wish it was in a better spot for photos.

My evening harvest of peas. We feast tonight! A couple of the pods felt wrinkled so they were prime for picking. Got those in a baggie in the fridge now and will be adding to them as they fill out more. I tossed the shucked pods into the scrap bucket. Not sure if I want to grow peas again at this rate. I would prefer Sweet Pea flowers really, they have sentimental meaning for me and I love the fragrance. Will see about getting some seed before the fall so I can plant them in October/November.

Technically could probably pull the onions next to the cilantro, oh I was careful not to get the garlic too wet just in case. Maybe those will come up the same time as the cilantro and have all that room for the peppers and tomatoes. The peppers are doing good, not so sure on separating them when they're planted on top of each other so they'll all be double plants. Which just means that at some point they'll either coexist or one will suffer and have to cut it out.

Bell peppers I certainly can use, onions, tomatoes, lettuce all of that and hopefully will be able to figure out what else I can plant. I'm hoping the amendments and fertilizer makes a difference in the bed.  I didn't have much luck with the previous peppers, the tomato was off the charts but mostly growth. That's the soil I have, all iron and nitrogen not much else. Just gotta keep pumping fertlizer in there and maybe get some bloom food for the phosphorus. But then the fertilizer I have is a 3-5-6 so it's good on the other two numbers that I need for veggies as long as I put enough in to make a difference.

That's all folks!

 

 

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.