A small harvest of onions another shift in weather

 It was clearing off by noon today, though it was patchy, streaky clouds an hour later. Still more sun than clouds which is fine. It is what it is as they say and not much to be done about it. Not too many pictures today, not many flowers until I go on my walk in the afternoon but here's some progress photos of the garden beds.

I suspect none of the tomatoes are going to get much bigger which is disappointing and good at the same time. I was expecting 'monster' four foot plants but apparently not to be with the Romas. As dry as it looks, I'll delay watering until the evening. Still not sign of the other radishes coming up. Oh and I decided to dump the rest of the romaine that I had in the fridge including the root base. Just wasn't going to wait that long for it and not have anywhere to put it.

 

I had to step way back to get a good shot of the raised bed that includes the leaning tower of Coriander. The tomatoes in this bed are about the same size as the ones in the ground (other than the one on the trellis).  

I decided to pull the largest of the onions and got a nice handful as good as any bunch I've gotten in the store. The ones that are left in the raised bed are getting too much shade and they are at least two weeks behind the ones I pulled. Seriously good green onions, a do again crop for sure and will likely plant a lot more in succession. But where?!

I'm trying to plan the next season (fall/winter) plants and on the list are; potatoes, onions, lettuce, radish, carrots, more cilantro and that's all I can remember. Peas were easy to grow but I have a small baggie of them in the fridge right now and ... honestly I don't die for peas. Same with beans, fun to grow but why waste room in a garden for something I won't 100% eat? I would plant Sweet Peas for the flowers instead absolutely! Spinach and chard are not high on my list of greens either.

So it's a rather pedestrian garden sticking with what I'll eat: Lettuce, potatoes, carrots, radishes, onions and garlic for the winter and spring. As I said, when the three tomatoes in the north bed are done I'm looking for a zucchini plant to put there for mid-summer. I really want peppers but that was a fail the way I did it. Might have to try direct sow.

When you see charts for square foot gardening a lot of times they have everything really close. They suggest 1 tomato per square foot (on center). Doesn't say what kind just one per square foot. That's not one every foot, one in a square foot. So technically, to give them enough room you plant every other foot. Ideal spacing for roma is 2 feet on center. Which is close to what I've planted and roughly follows the square foot gardening method. I have the three in the north bed staggered rather than a straight row so there's a bit more room for them and for anything else I wanted to plant. 

When you have limited space, you do what you can to maximize it.

Warmer than I thought and a look back.

 It's always colder in the apartment so I took Rocky for his walk with my jacket on and had to take it off as soon as I got downstairs because it was sunny and not that breezy but the wind comes and goes, rather gusty right now. Another beautiful day though and will have a few more before the next rain comes in.

Compost bucket from dumping the scraps yesterday. Only about a third full at this point and I suspect by the time it gets to the top I'll have worms working their magic in the bottom. The lettuce is looking like weeds at this point, once again forgot to put out any fertilizer for them. My focus was on the jury rigged netting situation and despite what it looks like the soil is still nicely moist underneath the dry surface.

I even looked at the aloe and then looked around to see where I could put it but didn't feel like working that hard right now. I had some serious stretching and cinching to do.

How do actual, competent gardeners use this stuff? I did get the third pole lashed to the top and then secured it to the fence because it was all wibbly wobbly side to side. I tied most of the strings on the sides of one half then attempted to do the same with the other half and ended up about six inches higher than the peas. Sigh.

 They won't be able to grow very quickly at that distance. I remember they took off a lot faster once they were able to grab onto something. I then looked around and saw the tomato cages. Why didn't I just use those? One of them is rather bent out of shape... now that I have the poles lashed and the rigged up netting... ::facepalm::

So after tying on the sides I had to figure out how to get the string down to the level of the soil. What I needed was long weed cloth staples. What I have are sticks and pieces of stiff metal. I was even offered another roll of metal fencing and turned it down.

 So with that done I realized the bees were out and the aloe had two bloom spikes coming up. The aloe needs to stay where it is because it needs the sun. Was going to move it to the other side of the jade but that's all shaded still. Will move it later when the sun's a little higher and make room where the logs are currently on the back wall.

 

I went back in my archives to see when I started this garden and discovered it was May 23, 2021 for the first pictures. The photo on the right was May 24 and closer and later in the day. I will take another side by side considering the time of year and day is considerably different. So in May I will have been working on this for 2 years, doesn't seem like it. Definitely has changed a lot, no more weeds, new beds, it was just looking like an empty lot when I started my gardens. 

One thing you can tell from the difference between February and May is the jade plant. That corner will soon be in full sun and the temperatures will be climbing 20 and 30 degrees during the day by May. Still going to work on that corner for something other than storage and logs. Another planting bed? With reinforcement below of course, it would completely be fallow during the winter since it would be shaded. Oh I also took two bags of the leaves to the dumpsters. I have more than enough mulch material and they were getting in the way.

Will think of something to do, the only thing  I can't do is cut back the jade plant. I hardly ever see anyone else out there and yet one of the tenants told me not to touch it, because she love that jade plant. I promised her I wouldn't get rid of it. There will be a few branches missing here and there slowly over time though. 

Things I forgot to do today: the rubber edging and fertilizer. Dangit!

Way late start due to morning being boooked.

 Another day in the low 90's so before heading out at 9:30 this morning, we buttoned up and came home to comfortable temperatures inside. Hardly a breeze stirring these days making it very stifling outside on top of the heat.

Didn't get out to water until 1pm and was relieved to see the last marigold still there but dismayed there were digging signs.

Two dirt piles, one on either side of the border, I had noticed the one on the outside before but now... it's heading straight for the other marigold if not there already. It was too hot or I would have grabbed the shovel and dug it in on that side of the marigold and leave it there to delay the inevitable. There was also a dirt pile in the neighbor bed as well, she had gotten out earlier to water.

Another sunflower is popping up and maybe cucumbers?? You can see a seedling in the south bed..(soon to be renamed 'the gopher bed' at this rate) which I thought I had planted cucumbers there but the leaves are the same as the sunflowers coming up in the north bed.

You can also see how the pieces of bark are trapping the water around it in the bed. It was definitely bone dry where it was exposed to the sun. I was too much in a hurry to water and get back inside to flip pieces over before watering. Hard to see the sunflowers coming up and am surprised those are coming up faster than the beans.

I saw a quick video where a woman was moaning about the fact that she planted beans early and her brother planted his late and his are leaps and bounds ahead of hers. Now, that's likely in the midwest somewhere and she was complaining because it was a contest between the two and she has to listen to his boasting for a whole year. Hahaha.

I am not expecting the other marigold to be there tomorrow. If it's still there I will take some of my precious garlic and cut it into pieces to dig into the soil around it and the seedling at the back. All over basically just for insurance. Have to find a good strong onion as well and do the same, hot pepper flakes maybe?

Can only cross my fingers that it leaves my north bed and fence bed alone.

Another sunny day and digging around

 Morning arrived clear and breezy will be a bit warmer today but gardening is done for the day.

Just a lesson in 'no matter how dry it looks on top, dig down to see how wet the soil is.

The soil was still perfectly moist and ready for fertilizing in all the beds. I was going to put the smaller two potatoes back in the same place but then digging around I discovered I missed a spud! I put the smaller ones over in the south bed and put the single one back in the potato bed. In theory I could have planted all three but the soft area of soil isn't big enough to support them all. I should have potato sprouts coming up in the next four weeks or hopefully less.

I would have saved that one out as a 'baby gold' but I had cut it a little with the trowel so back in the ground it went. After a liberal scattering of the fertilizer that was left.

I got to digging around and loosening soil before watering and replanting potatoes. I think I planted the ones in the south bed a bit too far into the shade and might just not plant them at all given how small they are. Might move one more out in the sun but it's such a big plant eventually... whatever.

The peas are doing good, tucked it up some more and hope the added fertilizer will do good. I can plant potatoes all the way to the end of this month so if the peas end in the next two weeks I'll put the potatoes over there with full sun. Really need to get some chives and onions started to go with my potatoes. I don't have enough room for a large russet bush unfortunately, maybe next year.

Lyla's tomato is looking pretty darn good compared to my old bush but there's a big age difference for sure. Will be glad to get that one out of there and something new in so it isn't so sad and looking like it's spreading the plague. One of the tomatoes is already splitting which is another reason I need a good mulch on top so the soil doesn't dry out..

 

 The tall pea in the south bed is finally blooming at the very top, the tendrils are going everywhere and no support to have them grab onto. I can plant those again in the fall and hope to have adequate support for them.

I could plat more flowers but flowers in my mind, other than bringing pollinators, are meant to be seen, unless that turns into an actual garden, marigolds are going to be it and will think about what else to do when the time comes.

Oh and I found a nice little flat black rock. It's the little things right?