It actually rained overnight!

 It rained. In June. In San Diego! IT is cloudy and cool, ground is wet and it could drizzle again at any moment. I smelled the rain just after midnight and slept very soundly for the next six hours. It was wonderful.

Though it does put a crimp in my usual routine I still got down to the garden to get some rainy day pictures. Obviously, watering was not needed.

I had to up the brightness a bit on the left picture because I had it on HDR which darkens photos a bit. Everything is looking perky and refreshed after the overnight sprinkles. It also smelled wonderful.

 

Except for the coriander that should have been tied up when I changed the position of the cage. A little shaking and adjusting, and used the green wire to support them.

 

Oh my! What are all those white things on the tomatoes?! Heheheh, flower petals from the coriander shake down.

 

I wanted to get a picture of the tomato flower with the trio of coriander petals caught on the leaf branch below it. I made sure to tickle the flower to distribute pollen if it was on there. Shaking the bush or actually knocking the flowers when I'm out there every day will hopefully help the pollination due to bees and others not being out there for the tomatoes.

The tomato is once again obscured by the coriander from this angle, oh well. It still gets plenty of light and the onions aren't being shaded any longer either. Other than the ones under the tomato. 

This is where careful planning and knowing the mature size of a plant is crucial for success and fewer delays in harvesting. The next crop of onions aren't delayed that much as they are about a week or two after the first planting from the beginning of May. It's all good though because I have a good handful in the fridge ready to cut and store. 

The weather news is about the same as I suspected, after this coming week things will start clearing and heating up. The other news is an El Niño weather pattern has been predicted for this year which means an extra hot and long summer for us. Better start planning some zucchini and peppers because they'll be able to grow all the way into November. It was warmer and sunnier in May than it has been for June so far. July is gearing up for being a scorcher so as soon as the tomatoes are done, I'm getting a zucchini for the North bed. 

I figure if I say it enough it'll never happen so will see.

 

Soil phase completed! Tomatoes planted!

 Warmer today because the cloud cover broke earlier. It was mostly sunny and warm by  11 which is when I got out to do my planting. But first, flowers.

I was able to go to HD last yesterday and get two bags of soil I needed. When we were bringing them to the garden I was able to get a better picture of the Angel Face rose.

It's not as pink as the picture, a little more lavender color but still gorgeous. Not exactly pruned correctly but look at that, four flowers with another two buds coming! Sigh.

 

I didn't notice this epi flowering in the bench garden until today. It's another huge flower and one of my favorite colorings. The Tiffany rose has four or five buds on it, that's the biggest one to bloom next.

And now.... to the garden!

I used some precious dollars to get soil but at a bargain. I don't normally buy broken bags but since I worked at HD I am taking advantage of the 'broken bag' policy. It varies store to store but if you get a cashier that's not worn down and the bag is ripped sufficiently you can get 50% off.  I was standing in front of the pallet that had the soil and looked at the other soils but really, for the money this was the best thing. I put one on my cart and then considered getting a second one. I knew that if I didn't get a second one, I would need it. These are 2 cf bags and the same stuff I used in the raised bed so I know it's good stuff.

I then noticed a bag standing between two pallets of soil that had huge rips in the side. I know exactly how that sort of thing happens and knew why it was put there. I hauled it out and put it on my cart, then considered putting the unbroken one back. I went to the register still wondering if I wanted to put it back and thought, 'screw it, I need both of them'. I asked the cashier if I could get half off the broken one and she said sure. So regular price is 9.97 and got the broken one for about 5.  Score! $16 and change for two bags that would cost $21.

So here we go. Full light of day and plants are ready. I didn't water yesterday or before I added the soil. I didn't remember the fertilizer once again until everything was planted. I did use the cultivator and loosened the soil in the bottom of the bed.

The plastic edging is not level all the way around so it looks deeper at the far end but in fact, the soil is level. There wasn't much really missing from the broken bag so that's one full 2 cf bag of soil in and it's almost to the top. Without compacting it much, of course so that would happen after I added more from the second bag.

Oh, I measured the soil depth and I got my trowel all the way down to handle depth so that's at least as deep as the raw soil was for my tomato two years ago. The soil spillage at the front shows that I already broke open the second bag and added about half that in.

Gave the soil a 'focaccia' treatment for compacting. If you've seen the videos on how they make it dimpled, I just spread my fingers and pushed down all over the bed. I could have used even more soil actually and, even though the tomatoes are planted, I can still add more because they don't mind.

 

Before and after planting and before fertilizer. I can't see well when I'm bent over and eyes watering and all that being half blind so I didn't see the difference in the soil. You can see how the soil was already drying out just in a matter of minutes after putting it in. 

Bag of fertilizer to show that I actually did put some in. Just scraped a moat around the plants and sprinkled it in best I could (more like dumped accidentally but scooped some and distributed it. Running low on the fertilizer too, going to run out with the next feeding.

And then the south bed. Had to be more careful here due to the onions being there, otherwise it would have gotten a lot more digging and amending. Not quite centered but that's okay. Will see what the difference between amended soil like this is compared to the mostly raised bed in the other bed.

I already know how well the plants do in straight potting soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remaining soil and the cups ready for the pepper plants next. Will be potting those up tomorrow on the patio and put them out on the window box where the tomatoes were. I'm going to offer some of that leftover soil to Layla when she gets back, maybe even put the window box over there as well for her to use until she can manage to work her garden. 

Well, now it's time for a shower and then head off to get grandkids. Gardening is done for now, will check back this evening and maybe do the pepper potting then.

Yay! Garden is looking good! Hope that chicken wire keeps the snails away too...maybe?

Yep, it's gonna be a scorcher

 82 degrees at 11:45 am. One report says it will be in the 90's while my phone which is centered on my location says high 80's. As the saying goes, whether the stone hits the pot or the pot hits the stone, it's going to be bad for the pot.

Since Rocky wasn't cooperating this morning I got out and watered first. Everything was still damp but lightly watered anyway because.... hot. First thing I noticed was the shade structure was slightly askew. This could have been caused by the occasional breezes overnight and I didn't dig the hangars in very deep.

This heat and sun is great for getting things going, but new seeds it's murder. Pulled up the shade thing and watered the soil. It doesn't cover all the ground that has seeds but I think they'll survive.

After watering I took a look at the peas, carrots and cilantro and noticed the carrots getting a bit crowded and decided it was time for some thinning. It's a bit difficult being on the ground and my angle was not good. Do it again sometime? Container on legs or in a pot.

One of the carrots had a good taproot going, oh well, at least I know they're developing well for the most part. I tossed the culled plants on the pile as you should as long as they're not diseased or infested.

They are getting sun in the morning and as you can see, it will eventually have sun on it for half the day as the sun climbs higher. By that time I think the carrots and cilantro may just be done for the summer and will save seeds if I get them. Still have plenty of radish and carrot seeds and now have some lettuce to add to it for my fall crops. Will get some different types of lettuce for planting in that south bed when that happens. Have to get some string bean, lima beans or other edible beans. I have three bags of pinto beans in the cupboard we got from various places. Do not need pinto beans.

What to do with that south bed for summer though? Zucchini was kind of too much invested energy for very little return.One can only eat so many tomatoes, the green pepper seeds I planted never came up but might try again in a month or so.

The problem with planting a 'theme' garden is they aren't all the same season plants. Let's say I wanted to plant a 'salsa' garden. That involves, jalapeños, tomatoes, onion and cilantro, two of those are cool season and two are warm season. Three will keep for a long time and another won't, I still have cilantro in a small cup of water in the fridge and it's not looking happy from three days ago. The onions are long term keepers, tomatoes and peppers not so much. So how to time planting and use all homegrown veggies? Tomatoes and peppers start in the spring/early summer. Onions can as well but take longer to harvest size.

Another thing that is important is knowing what USDA zone you are in. I think I covered this previously but I am in Zone 10, San Diego is anywhere from 8-10 due to being coastal to inland desert. We get cold in the winter but not for very long and summers are brutally hot everywhere. So looking for a chart that has planting times I had to be very careful and find one that was for my zone. 

Brief explanation of zones: USDA zones are based on coldest and hottest temperatures in a wide band of geography. The Sunset Zone charts take into account micro climates and inland valleys coastal wind patterns and such. Much more detailed and in that chart we are a solid Zone 24. Useful info when talking with garden experts.

Meanwhile, I found a chart that will do for a planting guide and knowing how long it takes for a plant to get mature you can generally figure out what overlaps.

Onions are supposed to be planted in the fall...ooops. I planted the carrots, radishes and cilantro at the right time, same with the potatoes. A 'warm season' plant is not something you plant in the middle of the warm season, you plant ahead of that in order for it to grow and mature in it's ideal temperature range. Just like 'spring bulbs' are planted in the fall or winter so they bloom in the spring.

This was the most useful chart I could find. I paused when I noted the site that created it was 'Homestead and Chill' then saw it was indeed a chart for zone 10. You can click on it to get a closer look but the blue vertical line is last frost date and the red is first frost date. Like we ever get that much frost here so again, it depends on where you live.

I'll be paying better attention to what I plant and when now that I have this. Getting late to plant seeds where I am of most anything but will see what happens.