Skipped a day due to rain

 It was cloudy and rainy all day yesterday and now it's windy again but partly cloudy and very cool. It supposedly rained sometime in the middle of the O Dark Early morning hours. It was sporadic rain and clouds most of the day but did get a chance to check on things yesterday.

 

 I chanced taking Rocky out when I thought it was clear of rain. It was misty drizzle but not enough to get wet.

 

Misty spitty rain is right.  If there was anything covering the soil, it didn't get wet. Look how big those Romaine are getting! Oh and see those two leaves on the left? I put those out for slug/snail/bug bait.

 

I thinned out a couple of radishes and a carrot. A down side to having more nitrogen in the soil is root veggies put out more top growth than root. Those culls of course went in the compost bucket.

I saw Dolores today and told her to help herself to any of the cilantro in the garden, I have plenty and she said to help myself to the mint and other things. I told her I picked a few peppers for salsa and she gave me a thumbs up. That's what gardeners do, they share their bounty with others. I sadly don't have anything to use mint in, I just like the smell.

Beautiful blue skies with spotty clouds earlier, more clouds right now and wind but still enough sunshine for the garden when I was out there.

 

Everything is just busting out. I will be harvesting the Romaine very soon and continue to collect cilantro stems. Still hesitating on pulling the potatoes because of the radishes and lettuce nearby. Those two leaves that I had put out for 'bait'...?

Along with a pea pod I broke in half they were all gone as you can see in the picture up right of the whole raised bed. The down left picture is from the west bed and a stem of cilantro that was completely eaten except the stem. The cauliflower is finally starting to grow and gain size and it may be a day late and dollar short for them in that bed.

It's hard to get a good picture of just how big the Romaine is.  I could wait until they get to full harvest size but the leaves are big enough to use now and frankly, much sweeter than an older mature leaf. As soon as I make some more dressing (most likely a copy cat Pollo Loco cilantro dressing), salads will be happening for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, so three sets of leaves on those cauliflower plants. I think if I really want to grow cauliflower I'll be starting it at the end of summer or early fall. I am considering this a failure even if it is super slow it's way too super slow for me. Our cool season is very short and the hot season way too long for it. It's considered a 'cool' season crop but it needs to form a flower head when it starts to warm up in the spring. Just not what I want in my garden. Oh something else is the huge pile of worm castings in the right hand picture right next to the cauliflower plant.

I am itching to get my peppers and tomatoes started so I can plant those out in another month or so. End of March and into April is the early summer season for planting and despite the typical 'May Grey/June Gloom' it is warm enough for those plants to grow. Everything typically should be ready to plant out by April or May. Which means all the things I have in the ground right now should be finished up in two months. 

Hopefully.

The wind brings change and another small harvest

 It was very windy yesterday (Friday) and dawned clear and stayed that way with only patchy clouds. Today... overcast, drizzly and damp, it figures though because I watered the garden yesterday. But the drizzle isn't a really soaking rain which is also good because I did the deep watering.

This around 11 am today and the pictures don't show it too well in that direction except for that ominous dark grey over the buildings to the south. The wind has picked up a bit just in the last half hour of writing this post, going to rain some more tomorrow supposedly and be generally cloudy for the next two weeks. That's spring weather for sure.

The sky now has high flat rain soaking cloud layer, perfect day to stay inside and knit or whatever.But yesterday was a better day in the garden.

Small harvest indeed with two radishes only an inch across and a handful of peas. I made the decision to dig up the thistle and had brought down my gloves and clippers.

 

The stalk was hollow as I knew it was and about the diameter at the base of the handle on the shovel.

So a very hefty stalk in diameter just not solid thankfully. I chopped it into sections and pulled the leaves off for compost. Before that though I noticed another reason besides the aphids to cut it down.

Signs of Giant Whitefly on one of the leaves. NOW I know where those two I killed came from, so I rubbed the leaf to kill those egg tracks and stuffed them all in the compost bucket, dividing them between the covered one and uncovered. Then I got the shovel to dig the rootball up.

It actually didn't have much in the way of a rootball. Roots yes but no big taproot either. That mostly had to do with the soil it was in and I suspect somewhere near a river or in the bottom of a canyon the soil would be easier to root into. It's all compost now and all that's left is the disturbed dirt from the shallow hole.

They haven't formed a tight head yet but it's close on that one in the bottom picture and the one at the back side in the first picture. It's not a bad thing to harvest the entire head at this point, it'll still taste the same and actually might be more tender.

About twenty-four hours between that previous photo and this one on the left so they're getting ready. Those two in the west bed are shorter and closing up the center sooner because there's not as much nitrogen in the soil they're growing more sturdy with the potatssium and phosphorus.

Cooler weather brings on the pests. Yes that is the same radish leaf from one day to the next. Completely eaten and yet the plants themselves don't show signs of being eaten. I refuse to spend four dollars on a can of beer just for a trap.

Pea harvest today. It's hard to tell in the left picture, but the pods all have 'pimples' on them. I never had that before on previous plants and suddenly it's on these. Researching, it's apparently a virus called Pea Enation Virus that can be spread by aphids. I haven't noticed any aphids on the plants but there were a lot on the sow thistle. There are two other viruses that can affect peas but the symptoms didn't match up. They're safe to eat but could cause an early death of the plant or distortion of the leaves and pods. There are some curled pods for sure and more research on that says it's from cold weather. I guess I'm going to have to plant peas closer to spring next time, or possibly late fall. If I want to plant them again.

Rain is sporadic today, as you can see not much to show for it this morning. Those dry patches are from the carrot tops bending over and covering the soil. Only about a half cup of water in the accidental rain gauge that is the plastic bag.

 

The reason for the redundant lettuce picture is to A: show how much more the center is closing up on that one and B: there is one hole from a slug/snail on one leaf of that lettuce. So they are climbing up that far for sure but in general not bothering them as the potatoes are acting as a 'catch crop' for pests.

I went grocery shopping and was able to get some salad veggies so will be choosing which Romaine will be the sacrificial plant for salads. I think I'm all caught up on photos and garden update for now. It will soon be time to start peppers and tomatoes!

Weather redux, spring flowers

 Forgot to post yesterday and the day before so this was supposed to post yesterday but forgot. Thursday was very overcast with possible rain 'soon'. Not today but maybe tomorrow so yesterday t-shirt and overshirt unbuttoned, today buttoned up with a jacket. Go figure.

On my walk yesterday, peach tree in bloom and aeonium flowers. That peach tree is very productive and they don't do much in the way of culling so the fruit are small but a lot. I know, I picked some last year because they put a piece of paper on the tree saying 'take as much as you want'. I might help them a bit and start culling them when they get big enough.

More harvest yesterday as well. I picked a handful of peas and remembered the potatoes that were drying under the fabric. Eating good tonight! 😁😁

Keep having to stop grabbing for the carrots and radishes to pull. Just aren't quite there yet despite the size. The Romaine is another story in the raised bed. When I go grocery shopping tomorrow I'll grab some tomatoes, cucumber and a few other veggies for salad and then harvest one of the Romaines. Might check the radishes too. I always liked radishes in salad more than cabbage which is a good thing.

Signs the slugs/snails are munching on the bait lettuce and two snails in the west bed trap. I pulled out all the traps, they were getting stinky since I dropped some raisins in them to see if that would draw more. No such luck but two is better than none.

Since I only have one protective glove left and I left my pruners upstairs, the Sow Thistle got a reprieve. I also thought of the bees that might want another flower in the garden to visit so the stay of execution is in effect. I put the bag over the compost again after kicking it to scatter the fruit flies. I think I'm going to move the buckets so they're parallel with the back wall and put the window box in front of them. As soon as I can get some soil will see about using that or, since it's busted on the bottom, just toss it in the trash finally

Will do a post Saturday (tomorrow) for both missed days.