Couldn't help it, the weather made me do it.

 I decided to plant the tomatoes and cucumber. They're looking a bit yellow and with the weather warming up it's a good time to do it. No I didn't get more soil but they'll survive like they have in the past.

Critters day! Leezard from the other day that Rocky spotted and, well camoflauged as they are, a Mourning Dove at the top of the photo framed between the black wire legs of that plant stand.

 

Seedlings are also looking good, I watered them yesterday and noticed lots more lettuces coming up, oh and another pepper is unfolding as well. The sweet peas will hopefully go to daughter this week but have to ask her again if she's prepared for them. If not......don't know what to do.

I have a feeling that the west bed is going to be for the peppers.

Can you see it? That older onion has a flower coming up. It's not very thick at the base which is why I haven't pulled it yet, but I might do it anyway even though there aren't a lot of leaves. 

The transplants huddled in the middle of the bed before I decided to put them in the soil. I just watered them yesterday and they are bone dry again, which was another deciding factor for them. Soil and fertilizer are on the list of things next month.

 

 

I knew that cucumber would try and flower! I recognized the buds forming and there it is. I nipped it off before I planted it. I tore the peat pots off before planting, will likely toss those in the compost. And yes, I watered very well after they were all planted. I made sure to place that cucumber as close to the middle as possible and now realize it may be too close to the tomatoes. Oh well. Hoping I can get some straw to go around it before the fruit starts growing. Although I don't have as much of a problem with the pill bugs as I did that first year.

 

 

 

Before and after using the shovel to chop the tomatillo stems and other stuff that were on top. Wondering now if I should have watered it afterward. Oh well. Hoping tomorrow I can get the tarp out there and dump at least one bucket into the other empty one (the one with the soil bags I'm using as a trash bucket). Will slowly get that corner more organized and pretty again. Might even hack back some of the jade carefully so as not to arouse suspicions. I heard a 'large' animal  shuffle under the bush the other day. It didn't move much but definitely was not a bird, a lizard wouldn't make that much leaf litter move. That was the last night I had protection on the raised bed just in case it was an opossum or rat. 

Another two weeks and will see how the budget shakes out.

Almost planting time!

 The weather is going to be warm and sunny for the next few days. Skies are blue, the trees are filling out, the birds are singing, another glorious spring day. Officially Spring now.

So I took the chance to put the tomatoes and cucumber out in the garden,  not planted yet, and moved the sweet peas and peppers to the porch for maximum sunshine.

 

The soil was dry on the surface but you can see in the pictures how it's a little darker after scraping the soil to level it at the trellis. The soil in the pots was very dry being mostly peat moss, so I used the existing hose and watered them well and filled the tray as much as possible and poured that on the onions. If all three tomatoes survive and thrive, that is going to be an AMAZING tomato crop this year!

 

 

A second pepper was coming up right next to the shorter seedling so I plucked it while it was still small and just left it on the soil. The lettuces are coming along nicely. Never have had good sprouting with them and of course, it looks like the red lettuce is again the fastest. The larger ones may well be Romaine, will see when they get bigger but at this rate, it's going to be too warm for them when I plant them out, even if they are in the south shady bed. Without a greenhouse situation or even grow lights it's hard to start seeds when it's time in order to plant them out in time.

Looking at previous photos, it took 5 days for those peppers to get from just emerging to that stage. Radishes are about that fast (minor pout about not being able to plant them again this year)

That's all for now, ten days until the end of the month, hope to get soil and plants in the ground next month.

And more sunny days so things can grow!

Mostly clear, breezy and a pale blue sky on the horizon. Perfect and beautiful spring weather! Windows and door are open to let the breeze through (until someone decided to take a nap and closed up the front of the apartment). 

Had to take a picture showing the new spring growth on the tree and realized the branch in the foreground was in an awkward position. Oh well. 

Can hardly see them but the lettuces are sprouting and they're even bigger now. The tiny little jalapeno that started two days ago, completely unfolded in the same day.

You can actually see the two sprouts now and they are getting plenty of light and sun now. The tomatoes are at least 6 inches tall and when they get planted out I'll plant them as deep as possible so the stems are covered.

I had more onion starts to plant so got out yesterday and pulled the six or seven onions that were big enough.

The mesh is keeping the critters out because the uncovered south bed...was menaced. Just a bunch of pocket holes dug so, considering I smelled skunk last night I bet that's who did it.

I watered everything just to keep the onions moist, saw a big grey/black lizard on the wood pile when I swung the hose around to spray down the wood. Also a tiny one about three inches long was out sunning on the sidewalk but skittered way to fast for me to get a picture.

 

How much that oregano has grown! Now, January this year and May of last year. I actually pinched off some stems but then left them on the window ledge and Mr. McFurrybutt sat on them and.... not as organic anymore so had to toss them. More is growing for sure. You can also see the cilantro in the recent photo that is growing inside the border and further back, just outside the border. Go figure. By the time the current crop of onions is ready I'll be able to plant the tomatoes and cucumber, maybe the lettuce. 

Yay for things growing! Wind is blowing, sun is shining!

It's been quite a lull.

 Four days straight of overcast, clouds, rain, wind and cold. A few days on either end of those was just overcast and cold so technically, it's been a week of winter weather. No pictures to show for it because...I never got out without being on the way somewhere. 

The sky yesterday was amazing! Cotton puffy clouds with blue skies, barely a wind and sunshine that only warmed things up to about the low 70's. We have warm sunny weather now to dry out the soil and bring on the weeds. Or seedlings. Off in the distance one of the hills that is in view from my desk chair is now covered in green. What isn't rock and vertical surface is now sprouting 'native' plants like mustard and other things.

The cilantro is coming up wherever the seeds ended up except where I put them. The onions are doing good, I had to move the mesh away from them because they were getting too tall. Time change happened and I've been lagging a lot. Got out yesterday evening and took pictures of what was going on 'out in the wild'.

Meanwhile, I planted mixed lettuce and romaine in the large container four or five days ago and then realizing rain was coming I put another clear plastic container on top making for a nice little greenhouse environment. Tadaaa! They're sprouting! And the second round of Jalapeño seeds are starting to sprout too. That one little looped seedling is moving fast! That picture was taken this morning and it's doubled in size by after noon! Will see if any more decide to sprout as well. I only need about three plants. I messaged my daughter to ask if she had a place to plant the two sweet peas and am waiting on a reply. The tomatoes take precedence over flowers at this point.

I was able to get to Harbor Freight and buy a small tarp to organize this messy corner. Going to check the weather and if it's still going to be sunny and mostly warm tomorrow I'll see what I feel like doing. I know both those buckets have water in the bottom for sure, especially the hose bucket and have to remember to bring something with me for the trash.

 

No chance of getting more soil until next month but that's still okay because the plants aren't ready yet and neither is the weather. The in ground soil that I got before is back to normal price, so will be getting the larger bag of Kellog's hopefully. Need to ask someone to borrow a wagon. Or see if Harbor Freight has one we can afford.

Flowers from other places

 But first, weather is shifting, it's been breezy/windy, perfect weather that may give way to some rain later in the week. My seedlings are pared down to three tomatoes now and finally had to bring the other two pots indoors to keep an eye on them since they have dried out twice now. Doesn't speak well for germination for sure. I don't think I'll be able to plant the sweet peas this year.

JAMBO!

(Hello in Swahili)

 Had a lot of fun at the Safari Park and was able to get some pictures of interesting flowers and plants. Not too many animals out and we were only there for about four and a half hours. 

 

Nothing too unusual but Clivia is one of my favorite flowers for the huge clusters of orange flowers. Not too many blooming but was happy to see this one near the entrance.

 

Had to get a picture of this immense, life size sculpture of a giraffe and her baby. There is Clivia planted there but the previous picture was taken further down the trail.

Golden yellow bamboo forest was just spectacular. I didn't see a name plate for it other than who donated money for putting it in. It was really gorgeous and better lit than the picture.

It was crowded enough that I didn't want to be 'that' tourist and take pictures of plants every twenty feet but had to stop and get these where it wasn't so crowded. We trekked up the hill to the Australia area and the first on is a tall single trunk Eucalyptus that apparently was a weeping variety with palm sized yellow flowers and leaves almost the size of my hand. Spectacular but hard to get a good photo. The other one is something I had never seen before. It is an Acacia glaucoptera. I had to use google lens to find out what it was. Again, the only failing for the park is not enough signs for individual plants. It is such a very unique plant with little puffball flowers maybe no bigger than a quarter inch at the joints of each angled stem. As a note, those are not leaves, mature acacias have modified stems and very few have true leaves.

 

Had to look this one up as well. Hakea francisiana. I thought it was possibly a grevillea but somehow that didn't seem right. Absolutely stunning contrast of the almost salmon pink brush flowers and long grey leaves. Sadly the only grower that ever had it was San Marcos Growers and they are selling off their plants and the company to allow low income housing on the property. So sad to see them go, they had so many  unusual plants that the nursery tried  to keep in stock.

 

And then there was this.... in the small bonsai section on the way up to Australia, among all the other well tended bonsai, a Lego bonsai tree on display. I thought it was absolutely hilarious and heard someone ask, 'is that a Lego tree?!'. Made me smile to see them have a sense of humor like that. Could only imagine a docent giving a tour .... 'and here we have a very well tended bonsai sakura legoiana'.

 

Not much else going on, beds are undisturbed, keep forgetting to bring the lettuce seeds with me to put in the south bed. But if we are going to get rain will have to do that on Wednesday or Thursday when it's supposed to rain.

No new soil yet, waiting for budget to settle out since we spent a little bit too much at the park and other places.  More pictures when that happens of course.