Progress and not, those early days of Fall

 The soil was still showing damp today so I didn't have to water despite it being warm. Nights are very cool, down into the high 50's now and with the additional shade/angle of the sun the soil isn't being baked for hours at a time. Tomato is hanging in there, figuratively and actually. The cilantro is still hanging around and likely struggling in the difficult soil but it isn't dead yet!

The cages worked once again to keep roaming cats from digging in soft soil. I dug a bit around the tomato and kept hearing and feeling the distinctive sign of roots under the surface. If threatening it like that does any good it should put out more leaves and flowers. It has a few on the top branches and I tucked some of the lower ones back in. Again, not expecting much this time of year but who knows.

I mentioned the cuphea and jade that were planted a few months ago. I think I even did a follow up on how it did not survive. Here are pictures just in case of the totally different plants and how they are doing.

Jade thriving, cuphea all but dead

Oh and the tiny flowered epiphyllum is blooming again in the background. It really is a cute and dainty little flower compared to some of the huge and spectacular ones I've seen. I'm not fond of pale colors but this would be a nice contrast in the right spot. Speaking of epiphyllums, the cutting I found in the parking lot, the one that had about an inch and a half growth? Yeah well despite my efforts, cat knocked the branch off and when I pulled it out there were no roots whatsoever. I watered the soil thoroughly and made a fresh cut. I likely need some rooting hormone but since that is about $6 a small bottle and I don't intend to do any other cuttings, it's going to have to try on it's own.

Went on another walk in one of the canyons and was able to get pictures of some things that are cool but nonetheless bad.

Phoenix canariensis

 

That is much bigger than it looks. Canary Island Date Palms are huge! That one may only have a trunk about five feet from the ground but the head is double that. This is in a wild canyon that is monitored and tended by not only park rangers but volunteers. This is in the Marion Bear Canyon park on the East side. These palm trees are spread by birds eating the fruit and dropping them. No way anyone would plant one of those in the canyon or even chuck one down there. Amid all the other native and semi-native plants and that one sticks out like a sore thumb.

Another oopsie is knowing what plants are what when placing a bench.
 

Don't lean back!

The low greenish looking plants directly behind the bench is actually Poison Oak (in all my years of being in horticulture I have never learned the botanical name for it).  I've seen this in the spring and it's wonderfully inviting with the shade of the sycamore but honestly, they needed to either cut that back more or move it forward. One thing I do admire about this park and others is they are a 'natural' canyon trail but have benches sporadically placed in shady spots. Just watch where you're sitting.

I took more pictures to use as painting subjects and am now trying to figure out how to market them seriously as we are in a money crunch now due to me having no more unemployment payments. Technically until June of next year. That is a personal matter and not really garden related but budgeting and necessity says I can't buy any soil or fertilizer as the garden is not crucial right now.

On and on we go as the days wind down and the calendar and leaves change.

Still hot but got out later and worked the bed

 Tomato was sad looking but not completely wilted though definitely stressed out and not colored very well, and surprise surprise, the cilantro was looking just fine.

Sad little plant

Just a wee babe

 

I started trimming back the tomato into manageable chunks then saw there were some new branches still trying to grow. This was about 4:30pm hence the shade on the bed it was still about 80 something. Okay.. you get a second chance. Trimmed all the old stuff off and this is what was left. 

I took the cultivator to the rest of the bed and hit cement or something so threw two sticks down to mark the edge. I dug a bit close to the tomato and discovered a long root from it. you can see it down at the bottom of the photo on the right. Better picture is here:

Leaves everywhere from the liquidambar but that's okay, good fodder for the compost pile. I cultivated thoroughly but only as deep as it could go, didn't get the shovel out yet. That will happen when I get compost and fertilizer. So cultivated and leveled best I could and watered the heck out of it. Used the regular spray then decided a little water based cultivation is in order. Turned it to the pinpoint multi spray and went for it.

Mostly level surprisingly and likely well churned. Then discovered the hose was leaking from my tape and when I went to shut it off, the hose mend at the faucet was loose. Great.

Will have to see if they'll replace the hose but likely not now since it's winter and technically don't need it as much. Will see what happens. I could fix it right but would be spending my own money and honestly, I don't feel like investing time and money like that right now. I will point it out as a matter of building issue because having water on the wall like that is not good.

Another tenant is moving out, upstairs but opposite end from our building. Much closer to the garden and the office is under it. Not sure if it's worth moving or they would let us but the breeze would be better and looks over the lawn and trees. Rocky would love that. 

Bird of Paradise are blooming like crazy now, one bush has at least a dozen flower buds and the other had more flowers and some trying to make more flowers before the primary one had even opened!

 

Hard to see the buds due to coloring and shape but they're the mostly pencil stem looking ones. There is actually a strelitzia that is all pencil thin stems and no leaves to speak of. Strelitzia juncea looks more like a cactus than a tropical plant but all of t hem are native to Africa and are very tough and easy to grow.

The nursery didn't get the juncea in to sell until about ten years ago I think and only big ones. The flower is identical to the orange variety (Strelitzia reginae) but a bit slimmer.

Some people get the Giant Bird of Paradise (sometimes called White or Alba but S. nicolai) confused with banana trees and all you have to remember is if it has a white and blue flower and no single stem, it's strelitzia. Bananas hang down even their leaves so another trait to look for.

 

 Leaves up, it's flying like a bird!

Leaves down banana hang upside down!

I just made that up. Don't shoot me. Anyway you can see in the background younger banana trees that are single stalk. Most edible ones are and they are cut down after they fruit because that's the end of it. Some growers burn the field but the plants come back from the roots. A renewable tree much like pine christmas trees. They'll be back in a few years.

I did not mean to go on a tangent like this, a lot more interesting things out there than learning about bananas and bird of paradise trees.

But not today.

 

And it's hot again.

 Stupid Santa Ana's. It is clear, breezy 16% humidity and 90 degrees. No wonder my sinuses went off last night.

Needless to say I have not gone out to the garden. Not going to worry about watering and let the tomato plant just die as all the fruit are off it and nothing else is out there to water.  Until the weather settles down to actual fall and winter nothing to do out there. Budget is tight so paying for a large back of compost and fertilizer is going to have to wait. I just now remembered the little cilantro sprout coming up, that one is toast as well no doubt.

In other news:

I think I mentioned about planting things in the right place? Well there used to be a camellia bush there. The stump is forward and to the right of the white thing which is a capped off pipe. They needed to be able to see the fire extinguisher. If I had been there a few seconds sooner I would have offered to trim it back but.... oh well.

Neither of those bushes have bloomed but for one or two flowers in the past year. Too much shade (and no food/alkaline soil) is a thing even for a shade plant like these. So there that sits, an ugly empty spot they can't dig in due to the electrical going under the dirt. I might suggest a pot with a small plant in it there just to make it look better. One side note though, it is entirely possible though unlikely, that stump may well sprout. I've seen it happen. So when planning for where to put a plant, once again, consider the future, how big it will get, seasonal change and changes to the surrounding area.

 Weather like this makes me retract any thoughts of fall planting or bulbs or anything to do outside. The only place that's going to have bulbs is HD and most nurseries. Do not go by the advice of people who live back east and wait until spring to plant tulips and such. Now is the time for planting spring bulbs in San Diego. Despite the weather. No flowers locally other than the roses and the one epiphyllum on the ground that is sporting all manner of buds on it! Didn't get a chance for a photo but will have some later.

 Wonderful little mushroom clump from a few weeks ago. Sorry for the blurriness, walking the cat and he tugged on the leash at the wrong moment. Notice they aren't in bare dirt and grass is luscious and green? Remember 'fairy rings' in the lawn? Yep, nitrogen is abundant there due to decomposing material under the soil. See all the mulch in the background? Yup. The smell in the air in the past few weeks in certain places just reeks of fungus and I always wondered why until not too long ago and the connection hit me.

I'm still 'window shopping' for an actual place of our own instead of an apartment. Not going to happen any time soon but it keeps me hopeful and dreaming.

I killed it. Oops. No more bean plant

I knew I had taken too long to get out and water so when I did get out to the garden yesterday, this was a sad sight.

Always a chance with gardening. In this case, crappy soil, irregular watering and weather. User error on my part due to it looking like it needed watering two days previous to it falling over. I might buy some soil today, ask if I can use one of the tree stakes I saw laying along a fence for a 'terrace' border in that bed. The tomatoes were ripe enough but two not worth keeping and two I brought home. Should have put them out on the table.

These red ones were actually from the compost pile. I threw a branch on the pile that had green tomatoes on it. Well, decomposing matter accelerates ripening or aging so there you go. The two  yellow ones (sorry, couldn't see my screen) I brought home. They were turning redder and our four footed furry freak decided they were toys. Knocked one of them (with a bigger crack) on the floor overnight and the other one was still on the counter. Oh well. The two red ones I put on the table and they were gone within an hour.

(stupid formatting again won't let me do what I usually do, this is rediculous!)

So I guess that's all I'm going to post today since formatting is being stupid. 

Long walks, rose pictures and stuff

 Haven't been out to the garden since I watered might go out there a bit alter. It's a wonderful fall day and went out for a long walk in a park near the San Diego river. Large amounts of flat land and yet fall color was to be seen as the poplar trees were turning yellow.

I was taking photos for possible paint projects but it was hard to see the screen on my phone and just hoped the framing was good. The chaparral bushes were in full fluff and it made a good contrast. Watching shows like This Old House which is filmed mostly back east it definitely shows a difference in the weather. The last show we saw had snow on the ground but they swept the snow off the new sod they put down. Funny that... 

Whenever a customer would ask about what to plant in the winter here or how to take care of a plant for the winter I would remark, 'what winter?' We get cold and what mountains we do have get some snow but it has rarely ever gotten down to the lower elevations. Cold is tolerable for most plants and even preferred so they can properly go dormant but here again we get 80 degree days in the middle of November or December which drives the plants crazy.

Tiffany?

Fragrant Plum?

Hard to say what variety the lavender one is but it might be Fragrant Plum but pretty sure I'm wrong. I used to know roses so well and now it's another fading knowledge bank. Perishable skills due to memory loss. 

Anyway, the roses are blooming and that's because it feels like spring. Cool nights, warm days, occasional overcast. If they had been taken care of properly and fed they would have more flowers but was happy to see these nonetheless. I'm thankful for the place we have and would like to think I could do so much with an actual yard.

As soon as I get some more money in I'll definitely get another bag of compost and dig it in the tomato bed. The tomatoes I don't think are going to be ripening very quickly so that will be my workout this coming week. I said that a few weeks ago didn't I?

Oh another small thing about liability with neighbors. A former coworker from HD messaged me and asked if a 50-60 year old pine tree that was 90% burned from a neighbor firing a bottle rocket could be saved. My first reaction was 'umm say what?' It was a huge old pine tree and the idiot neighbors killed it with a bottle rocket. It could have been so much worse but he sent me a picture that another neighbor had taken and I was flabbergasted. Now pine trees are faster growing than say and oak tree thankfully but still, 50-60 years old is venerable for a pine tree. I told him sadly no, it was not salvagable and if he wanted to replace it or there were other damages his neighbor was entirely responsible for getting a replacement and paying for damages. Good luck trying to find a decades old mature pine tree for sale.

He wasn't going to sue and the neighbor was turning the stump into a love seat. That isn't enough compensation for being reckless. That could have turned very bad very quickly due to it being a pine tree and has sap that can be explosive. So it comes down to anything you do to vegetation on a neighbors yard or vice versa is the responsibility of the perpetrator not the home owner. Even if the roots or branches are infringing on a neighbor, you are liable for damages your tree or bush does to your neighbor. 

The house I lived in while I was married was built in the early 80's when we got it it was about 10 years old. It had a full grown Chinese Elm between our house and the fence between the two houses. That space was about six feet, a Chinese Elm gets 20-30 feet wide. So needless to say it was covering most of my front yard and overhanging the neighbors, clogging their gutters with leaves and seeds. We never trimmed it as it was about $200 to get someone to do it properly and ex did not want to spend that much money on the yard. 

Well finally we had to move out and the neighbors asked if they could chop of the branches on their side, I told them sure, go at it, we won't be here. They did a straight line at the fence and chainsawed it off. That was decades ago literally and recently saw a picture of the house. Most of the yard was now cemented in, the front hedge is gone and the tree is no longer there. Knowing what used to be there it saddened me but owners changed three or four times over the years since we had it and that's what happens.

A home is what you make it and that includes the yard and what you do with it outside as well as inside. Realtors call it 'curb appeal' I call it making a house into a home starts with landscaping that shows your personality a bit. Don't ever let a real estate agent tell you to plant something because it looks nice. I had to deal with that a few times as well, trying to put a bush in a shady spot where I know it would die. Is your RE agent a landscaper? No? Then pick something else that works better.

Anyway... that's my reminiscing rant for today. Might go out to the garden and see if there's a tomato ready. Might wait until tomorrow. Went for a 40 minute walk today and am pooped.

Got out and watered..discovered something and psychology of plants

 It's still warm outside though very cool in the evening. I decided the garden might need water and when I got there, two tomatoes were close enough to be picked. I pulled off smaller ones (dime and quarter size) and left the three larger ones to ripen. It's going to be done in about a week for sure.

In trying to dig around the bean plant to make a watering basin and see just how hard the soil is that close to the wall, I heard a 'chink' of trowel hitting something hard like a rock. It was maybe two inches deep and so explored a little more and discovered.... asphalt!

 

So apparently this may have been paved over at some point but unknown why. Entirely possible it was part of the parking lot on the south side but that doesn't explain it completely. In any case, the bean plant is as far back as I want to put anything now. Not sure how far that asphalt extends sideways but I will be marking the boundary with logs and maybe eventually get a small fence or something like on the south beds.

Another discovery while watering is one of the cilantro seeds actually survived! Crossing fingers it continues to grow and I will likely add to it later on. One cilantro plant is not sufficient to survive on it's own. It's behind the tomato plant and as you can see is shaded at the moment by a clump of dirt. 

Nature finds a way in more ways than one. Like pelicans on an inland lake and tiny seedlings finding their way through the soil despite all odds.

On the landscaping front I have been wishful shopping for a new house not like I have the money right now and could only afford a mobile home to boot, I happened across a common site that was labeled as 'very low maintenance yard'. In other words... rock.

Why do they always assume that everyone wants absolutely no plants whatsoever in a mobile home? This is a travesty and makes me cringe and itch looking at it. It must be about three inches thick at most, possibly more considering the bottom stringer on the fence. It can't be dug out, you have to put planters and pots on it if you want greenery. I've also seen artificial turf which is another heinous idea. I'm to young to be old and yet don't want to be around other people with yappy dogs or screaming kids on a weekend.

Landscaping in a mobile home park varies greatly depending on the location and geographical area. In other words, that can swing from a good size actual grass area with a vegetable garden to tree backed small yard to pavement to the lava rock. Oh and the front of that one didn't look so inviting either.

I could also tell what places had plants put in or placed for curb appeal and others simply left alone. Given the past two years many places are likely up for sale due to the owner dying or unable to make payments sadly. I look at several factors having been around the block a few times, I've also seen what passes for yards in my own neighborhood which is not the best as far as income and social status is concerned. I think about what I could do with a reasonable size yard, the bulbs, shrubs, veggies and all that. Greenery is life, gives life and adds to life. It is vital to have it around and has been shown that plants improve your mental health as well.  To me that picture above is very depressing and makes me want to go crawl into a hole and pull the cover over. Nothing to live for. That's just me though. (That property btw was in the Bay Area/Sunnyvale). This one is in Washington state:

    

The back yard has grass though unkept but still. That color makes me more relaxed and knowing that there is life. I won't even consider that particular property for a few other reasons but saved it anyway. (That roof line for one).

Anyway, even if you have weeds, they are a sign of life continuing. Make it your own.

A few pictures here and there

 Living in a climate that is considered 'temperate/tropical' has it's perks and confusions. We get roses blooming spring and fall because that's what the weather does.

There's another one that's in bud but apparently I didn't take a picture of it or one good enough to post. This one I think is Fragrant Cloud, one of my favorite roses but if it opens and has other colors it might be Tiffany.

Another flower that blooms in the fall here is surprising enough, a tropical that people automatically equate with warmer temperatures.

Bird of Paradise

It's flowering season starts in October and runs through likely to December or January. I remember taking a trip to Massachusets twenty some years ago in October and was thrilled to be able to see actual fall color back there. When I returned to San Diego, this flower was greeting me at the airport parking lot and to top it off, a hummingbird visited it as I sat there. What an amazing world.

This is what fall is looking like where I am now. leaves all over the place and in the background, that bigger tree I've taken other photos of has leaves ankle deep. Well instead of blowing or raking them, the gardener just took the lawn mower and ran over them.

 Hard to make out unfortunately, but you can see his jeans and his straw hat pushing the lawn mower in the shade.

I mentioned bulbs the other day and I still haven't gotten to a garden place to pick any out but did notice that Paperwhites are coming up in a spot here but they won't bloom. I remember them last year and never saw a flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paperwhites and fall leaves

Haven't been to the garden today so really should go check on the bean plant and see if there's a tomato that's ripe yet. I do realize now why the mint was doing so well when I first checked the garden area, it was coming out of full shade from the winter. It's a sorry sad situation for it right now and who knows, it might just start sprouting again despite the lack of care. 

 

Oh! I went for a walk at the local collection of percolation lakes, Santee Lakes and there were pelicans!

Pelicans!

 

 They were patrolling the shallows for mosquito fish and as we walked, they kept ahead of us and finally cruised away from the shore as we passed and then came back. Coots all over the place, saw some Merganser ducks and a few small Egrets. Absolutely beautiful day for a walk and the sounds and air were wonderful. That is until we got to the parking lot that the ducks and coots liked to frequent...ahem... power wash that please! I don't know if this is a regular little group of pelicans that visit here in the winter but they are quite a distance from any ocean I can tell you. 

So that's all there is so far. Not much exciting as usual and still a waiting game on the garden.