Did some clipping last night and strawberry pups

 I had other things to do today so am posting way later than usual. Temperatures were reasonable until a few hours ago then we decided to close up for the day. It's been dropping almost 30 degrees overnight making it very pleasant in the morning. Today was a lazy day getting up and going though so didn't get out until noon. 

Tomatoes are slowly dying as they should. Still plenty to pick though on the trellis bush and the other. Looks messy and horrid but actually not that bad. 

Not exactly sure what happened on this one, it's scabbed over and has signs of insect damage. I brought it in and will be cutting it open to see what's going on. It was tucked behind the trellis so that could be rubbing damage that a bug took advantage of.

 

I decided to hack back that front tomato. I noticed pill bugs were taking refuge on some of the fruit tucked in the branches so time to clear out the dead stuff.

Pile of what I cut off then noticed the garlic as I was checking the back side of the tomatoes. Poor thing, never had a chance. Will try again this winter and see what I can do. Green onions do just fine but can't plant any right now on the trellis because that's going to be for the sweet peas.

 

I didn't feel like pulling the bag off the other bucket so just stuffed the cuttings into the other one. Will figure it out tonight. Have to also clean up the tomatoes I keep tossing on the ground over there.

 

Still plenty of tomatoes but they are showing damage in various forms. The one on the left is from being up against the trellis. The one on the right has a hole from the pill bugs. What looks like a green caterpillar there is actually another tomato.

Those two came off in my hand for obvious reasons. There is no lack of other tomatoes thankfully and am pulling off small ones that are growing. Otherwise I'll still have a tomato bush by December giving fruit.

The cucumber on the left is definitely growing, the one on the right was fully open this morning and I had to run back upstairs for my paint brush. Which I couldn't find and had to get another one out. 

So plenty of cucumbers coming in thankfully, here's hoping they turn out as well as the tomatoes.

The view this morning. That cucumber is just going wild and now that the other tomato is cut back I can angle the second plant to go that direction.

This is the one that was closed last night and grabbed as much pollen as I could from the few male flowers to do that one and another one. People marvel at how fast zucchini grow, this is about the same speed.

Just like the tomatoes, getting pictures of every one I find because they grow so fast. Hope the male flowers can keep up.

So on to the strawberries. I only grabbed a few because of space, have no idea what type they are but they have huge leaves. There's five there but for some reason I ended up with four finally. Also... I have never seen a snail and this one made an appearance in the bag from the strawberry cuttings. I tossed it in the jade bush because, even though it could lay eggs, I still didn't have the heart to just kill it and toss it over the wall. I'll pay for that weakness later.

So I punched holes in the cereal cups  and used them to plant the plantlets. Kind of difficult to not plant them too deep as they don't have much of a crown. I brought the sprayer but didn't bother hooking it up. The soil was still very wet from the rain and being in the corner. I also moved the cages out of the way and pushed that box closer to the wall for more shade. Will give them a sprinkle of water tonight hopefully.

 

Well, we've got spiders, rainstorm, and now fungus. That's a stump behind the recycling dumpster here. Thing is covered in what looks like Turkey Tail or shelf type fungus. No, did not even enter my mind to cut some because I am not a fungus expert, and if that's a stump from an oleander, even more of a big nope.

I keep wanting to grab seeds to take with me down to the garden and have to stop myself. I know I have plans but it's still too soon. It was too warm this morning for chopping down the tomatoes in the West bed, none of the tomatoes are developing well and they may be red but they're the size and shape of a ping pong ball or smaller with blossom rot.  I have enough tomatoes luckily so its not a total failure.

Have to remember my paintbrush tonight because I know there will be another cuke flower ready to pollinate.

Puffy clouds, blue sky...breezy.

 Since there's no rain today, it's wonderful weather. Chilly yes, but wonderful just he same. If this sort of cycle is going to continue I'd love it, sporadic rain and clearing is great for gardens. You can see the sky in the pictures how gorgeous it is.

When I got to the entrance to the garden, didn't see the dove on the ground behind the potatoes. Have to watch my step going from sidewalk to dirt with all the caltrops seed balls on the ground. Whistling wings alerted me and looked up to see the dove on the top of the wall. I looked away, walked past and it watched me. Predators watch their prey so I acted like I hadn't seen it and it stuck around for a while. Even hopped back down to the potato plants but then walked quickly away and out the garden. Got video but not worth the hassle to try and upload it. Bird basically walked away 'okay so I'm not alone, peace out homie'.

 

The peas are struggling to get a grasp of the trellis in the winds. I technically could string more of the green wire in between to make it easier and may do that next chance of a clear day. I tucked and bent but the wind would come up and pull it away. I got creative and found the wire the poultry netting was wound in and rigged that up. Will see if the peas get hold of it but the wind is really rough today.

 

Then I discovered... one of those pesky snails IN my bed! The soil looked a bit disturbed where it was, almost like it had been dropped there or something. I checked and it was alive so I chucked it over the wall to the parking lot. That radish is almost ready to pull, same with one of the other ones. I noticed some oxalis coming through the fence behind the bucket and pulled it and another clump, just dropped it in the compost bucket. I put a couple of scoops of mulch on top as well. It'll probably just try and grow from there but easy to get rid of.

I saw this also, a skeletonized flower. At first I couldn't figure out what it was from. Blew in on the wind most likely because examining it as I was headed back upstairs and realized it was from a cyclamen. Very rare they last that long but wherever it came from, it's in my collection now.

With all the gardening sites and articles crossing my feed I finally saw one that made me smack my head. I tried to grow seeds in a cardboard egg carton but failed. The cardboard would dry out too fast. I then saw the right way to do it... put it in a clear plastic bag and tie it shut. Brilliant!  I didn't have any soil in the little cups either so double silly of me to think it would work.

I have enough tomato seeds going now to last a while, next project is the seed tape with the radishes and carrots. Not much else going on for the garden, no watering needed, everything is going good so just do stuff inside and maybe go for a walk.