And the day breaks...clear and cool.

 Was very windy yesterday and has continued today but not as gusty. Clear and definitely cold enough for a jacket in the shade. I had to take my jacket off when I went to the garden because it was full on sun.  Might get to 61 today but definitely will be dropping about 20 degrees at night.

Before and after watering. I HAVE A GARDEN! Just absolutely ecstatic at how well everything is going and don't have to worry about gophers! 

 

Speaking of that, looks like fresh mound under the potato that wasn't there yesterday. So much for those potatoes. Sigh. The lettuce I picked some leaves last night for salad and it's still just pumping out more, love that but still not happy with  how thin and flimsy this variety is. Speaking of lettuce.

 

Can you see them? Right there... hang on, let me get another three or four pictures. Right, watering helps with contrast.

The lettuce are coming up! Just when I say I don't like this variety but it's the only one I have so might as well plant it. Still nothing from the carrots and might double sow over them. They're just peeking out behind the cilantro as well as near the garlic so they came up very fast! A lot of thinning to do when they get bigger, will have to get my tweezers out.

 I finally figured out how to upload video from my phone... have to offload it to facebook then download it from there. Blogger does not do videos other than from hard drive or youtube. There you go, bees buzzing in the bushes.

 Wonderful day so far, loving my garden and ever thankful for friends that help me out.

Surprise weather and nothing much else

 Very gusty and windy today with cloud cover breaking up in the afternoon. Looked like it was going to rain this morning as heavy and dark as the clouds were but nothing hit the ground. Weather app says clear and cool most of the next two weeks. Down into the 30's and 40's at night which means still no go for putting any seedlings out. Besides not having room yet and gophers being the main deterrent.

The garden view picture on the left was a few hours earlier than the tree picture but the clouds were about the same. Cold and windy for sure but that's fine, natures air freshener in my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually saw a bee on a dandelion by chance but it flew off before I could get photo proof. They were much busier on the Indian Hawthorn in full bloom. The picture on the right... there's a fresh gopher mound under the lemon bush next to the hose. Grumble....

Peas are latching on very well, a few tucks here and there but will probably be blown by the wind but they at least are close enough that it triggers them to reach in the right direction.

(this formatting stuff is driving me nuts! Just had to delete three pictures and start over because the cursor wouldn't go to the right line.)

Another mound near the potatoes where I had planted a red spud or two. Dug the area and found one that hadn't even sprouted yet. I was going to just leave it in the raised bed like that then decided to toss it in the mulch bucket and put the scoop over it to see what would happen. I have plenty other potatoes that are sprouting in the cupboard.

Seriously looking at either grow bags or containers that aren't ugly to put the tomatoes (and hopefully) peppers in that won't break the bank. Then there's the soil needed. I have to wait and see what the potatoes are going to do, or rather what the gophers are going to do to the potatoes. By the time that bed is ready it'll be too late for potatoes and just in time for tomatoes and peppers. Strawberries maybe? Theoretically I can get a hanging basket of strawberries from HD and hang it on my front porch but we're due an inspection and we can't have anything hanging on the eaves. Despite there being hooks out there already from previous tenants. Will wait until after the inspection.

Went looking on CL and elsewhere for free dirt, wood, pots... anything for planting. A horse ranch not far from us was giving away composted horse manure. Composted and rotting for at least 18 months. Despite it being composted am still hesitant to use it near a building. I Know what the smells like even when it's composted. I would have to bury that stuff in the native soil to be sure the smell was mitigated. They offered loading with a tractor for people with trucks or bring your own shovel. Wonder if horse manure smell would chase off the gophers?

At the very very least I need a small roll of poultry wire and a few boards for that north bed. Two 2' pieces and two 4' pieces at least 12 inches wide a length of 2x2 for the corners and some nails or screws. A simple frame is all, Could even use some heavy duty staples to attach the poultry netting on the bottom. That was something else I saw is someone selling a raised bed frame that included the soil. It was only 12" tall and the size I need but would have to bring some bags to put the soil in and the bottom was wood and rotted out on one side. It was free... and even offered the cement blocks it was on. Very tempting but the dirt was almost worthless and the amount of work needed to make sure it didn't completely mess up my car... I passed on it as well.

So the search goes on as well as the waiting.

 

 

Only a matter of time..... gophers.

 Another glorious day for the weather... might have to invest in more poultry wire or baskets or something. Found a hawk feather in the lawn, was afraid someone else would pick it up before I got Rocky upstairs from our walk. But first pictures of the good things.

Good size feather and in good condition, another one for my garden collection. It's almost time to start trimming the cilantro though they don't have the long stems because they're in full sun.  

Bad angle for the lettuce but those leaves are very big and may well cut them and use in a salad with dinner tonight. The lady that lives next to that bed was out cleaning the weeds and trimming damaged leaves off the hibiscus. I didn't feel like stopping and asking if she was the one that cut it back that far. I don't think she owns a pair of clippers heavy duty enough to cut through an almost two inch trunk.

The snails seem to be eating the orange pieces so that's good news. then I noticed a pile of telltale dirt at the front of the bed...near the potatoes. Only a matter of time.

 

The trowel is pushed into the dirt as far as it could go, up to the handle which is about 6 to 8 inches.

I started digging into the area to probe where the tunnel was, noticed another entrance under the other potato.

 Gophers in there means they'll be eating the potatoes. I had hoped that the plants would be toxic to them but nope. New dinner time food for them, I had hoped that they wouldn't go there oh well.

I don't have the money right now to put in a fence liner in the ground and I could use the two pieces from the raised bed that would require digging of course.  No guarantee on that either since they'll just follow it and find where it stops.

Likely not to grow but in the process of probing the soil I found this underground stem from the potatoes. I has a small tuft of roots on it so I decided to plant it at the back of the raised bed. Likely may not grow or if it does, not going to have potatoes until fall. No tubers on it at all so it would have to build from scratch. Gosh darn shoot!

Was really hoping for a good crop of potatoes this year. I saw a way of growing potatoes in a cardboard box but that requires at least a bag of soil. I have a small box I could use but then, where to put it? I suppose I could again use the bed panels for support. The gophers would not get through those and the box I have in mind is about the same size as the potato grow bags and smaller than the panel. I'm good with that.

Hmmm, will have to ruminate on that idea.

In the meantime I took the scrap bucket down and stirred the compost up a bit. Didn't feel like dumping the whole bucket so dug the trowel in as far as possible and just turned things over. Then took a picture of what the shovel looks like trying to deter the gopher.

Note the singular gopher, that's because it's usually only one, even in the spring as the female starts looking for new food and tunnels for nesting.

And finally, the tomatoes. They're leaning because they were in the window yesterday and in the living room last night so I turned the container around to get them to lean the other way. Gave them a quick bath of water to freshen them up.

And that's it for today. Kind of made up for the lack of pictures and posts a few weeks ago I suppose. 

Potato boxes.. hmmm.

Anothere perfect day for gardening

 Clear and blue skies, breezy, birds singing in the trees... yay for spring!

These bushes... can't see it but there's a bee in one of the flowers on the left. The flowers smell like Stock flowers and with that many I can stand ten feet away and smell them. Same thing with the lemon bush, here's hoping lots of lemons on it this year.

Yes, the sky is that blue and the tree is just busting out the leaves. Didn't get a picture from the garden but there's a line of soft flat clouds to the south east on the horizon.

I noticed two of the garlic sprouts from that experiment of doing a connected bundle weren't looking good so I tugged and it came right out. Tried it on the other one and same thing. So two of the six have not made it. No biggie, plenty more where they failed, just pulled them and left them on the ground for some strange reason.

The soil may look dry but it is definitely moist just under that dry layer, I checked. barely scraped the surface and it was dark brown. Not going to worry about watering at this point and then thought maybe the seeds  I put in need some water. Realized it has been a week exactly since I put in the carrots and nothing showing yet. The lettuce are only a few days later than that so they'll be fine.

The other lettuce may need culling again very soon and wondering if I should put some lettuce seed in there as well. The potatoes are still showing holes but even with pictures it's hard to tell whether any of the damage is new or existing. 

Definitely new chomping on this leave though and it's toward the top of the plant. No sign of beetles so there's still damn snails around. Crushed egg shells and coffee grounds is about all I can afford at this point.

The two aloe are blooming well, and despite the difference in leaves they are definitely both Aloe vera just one is in the shade and the other is in the sun. Different varieties but they both do better with partial shade to keep the leaves looking better and enough sun to have it bloom and get the heat.

Breeze coming through the window says spring and time to get outside again to go shopping.