More rain than I expected

 The rain and clouds continue, there were a few spurts of stronger rain so it got to soak into th e ground as well as rinsing off my car. The plants certainly appreciated the cooler weather and rain but once I pull that last cucumber, the pepper in the bucket is all I'll have left that's growing in the garden.

 Oh, and the other bean that's still struggling. The green thing in the first picture is the bean I pulled the other day. I tried to use the tray from the window box to flatten the soil but it's 28 inches long and didn't quite work the way I wanted. Oh well.

 That jade seems to be doing just fine, compared to the other two that are shriveling up. So another shot of the log pile. Plenty of wood no problem just wish I had an axe to split the bigger pieces. I think the smaller branch pieces should be just fine with enough to leave for the lizards. I know that left side is a main entrance for them as I've seen some dart over there and hop up in between the pieces. Sorry guys, you'll still have a home just not a four story condo. This will also open up that end closest to the north bed for better access to dig and plant.

Why do I suddenly have a picture of grass now? Because I wanted to talk about how an invasion starts. That lighter patch of grass after some picture comparisons is likely Centipede grass. Not very common. There is Bermuda mixed in and around as well as some fescue so you can see the difference. This one is flat, yellower, the stems are thicker and is most definitely not from there. I remember seeing it there much smaller previously but you can see how it's spreading from it's origin point. St. Augustine is much greener than this and denser and has to be grown from stolons or runners. Centipede can spread from seed.

Whenever customers have come in and complained about being invaded like this I blame it on the mow and blow service that they usually have. I can't do that here. The mower that is used stays in a pod trailer at the end of the property and is only taken out when they mow here. So how did it get here? Hard to say but there are several 'vectors' as they are called. Vectors are an animal, insect, person, whatever that carries a plant, seed disease or spores from one place to another. Mosquitos are a vector for malaria and West Nile Virus as an example. 

So if the mower doesn't go anywhere else (I'm assuming) then how does it get here? Shoes and birds are the biggest culprit, wind is another. I don't know if the gardeners that work this property work others but if they do then they can bring in seeds and pieces on their clothes or shoes and transfer them to the next location. If they use the mower elsewhere and didn't clean the blades or under deck that is a prime suspect for transferring weeds and seeds around the neighborhood. 

So the general rule about an invading plant or grass goes back to a former co-worker who asked a customer, 'are you a lover or a fighter?'. If you're a lover, welcome to your new lawn, if you're a fighter, get ready to fight for the rest of your life. That rule applies when 30% or more is the invading weed, anything less is manageable, and much like detecting cancer or other diseases early, easier to control and eradicate.

Anyway, that's the topic for today since there's nothing going on in the garden at the moment.

We've got some water on the ground!

 It's a drippy sort of rain, so it will take a  lot to really soak in or wash cars off. Wind is in spurts as well so it was dead calm an hour ago and it's windy again. If the temperature was only five or ten degrees cooler it would be close to ideal. As it is it's a muggy 81/86 which means it's slightly higher inside. Not sure if we're going to run the AC today, the fans seem to be sufficient for now.

I pulled the bean in the south bed. Just not worth keeping, though I left  the cucumber because of beneficials. I then got some pictures of the pepper and...what  did I find!

 Grasshopper you will live but not on my bush. I tried to grab it by the back legs, failed, tried again and it flew off to the jade/bird of paradise. Then I noticed how badly off the jade was.

The one the hopper laded on looked in the same state as the one on the other side a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure the gophers are eating the roots, no way it would collapse that far in a matter of less than a month. Only lack of water for an extended time would do that and I know the bed gets watered. By extended time I'm talking months to a year. If they don't cut it down will see if the winter rains revives them, if not then definitely root loss.

Obviously it wasn't raining sufficiently to worry about getting wet, I even got Rocky out and he wasn't bothered much either. He did discover a tiny lizard that was big enough to completely fit in his mouth. He dropped it and I recovered it to put on a tree higher up, but he still felt the need to continue looking for it where he had dropped it. If it had been a bigger one I would have let him chase it but lizards are good guys and more of them the better.

I forgot to size up the log pile for use in the bed frame later so  here's a picture from a few months ago.

If I had an axe I would split those larger ones and it looks like I can't take anymore than about half the pile without disturbing the lizard home. Should be sufficient for what I need, just hope there aren't any black widows in there.

Lots of planning and sweltering in muggy heat today.

A storm is coming...sort of.

 There's a hurricane coming up the coast of Mexico and is supposed to drop some rain on us. Well right now it's overcast, breezy/windy and still muggy and in the low 90's. Bleh. Likely won't get much in the way of decent rain, if it drizzles or sprits it's so warm it will evaporate before it hits the ground.

I managed to get out and check on things anyway, the last bean is looking a bit toasty and so is the remaining cucumber. Might just rip them both out and leave the bed alone for the remainder of the year. The raised bed is going to have nice, nourishing potting soil so the fertilzer is best used in the ground beds.

 The beetles are still working on aphids and other bugs on it, one of the few reasons why I haven't pulled it yet. Haven't seen any new flowers on this one either and the edges being that way rings a bell in the back of my mind about needing nutrients. Quick investigating and yep, potassium deficiency among other things. So if I want to save it need to use the fertilizer on it but you know what?  It really isn't worth the hassle. It's struggling, the bean behind it had either sunburn or also had the same deficiency so just not going to bother, the bean in front is struggling as well so another bed going fallow for the summer.

That bottom picture looks like it was taken in the 60's right? I wanted to get a picture of the hole size comparison because it's smaller than the other 'gopher holes' near the jade plant. A lot of them as I pointed out last time. I watered those holes really well as you can see in the upper right pictures. That mud patch is where the biggest hole was.

So gophers go at it. Another couple of months and hopefully will have money saved for putting the raised bed up. Oh, now is a good time to review how to use filler in a deep bed like that.

Rounding it down to 24 inches, it seems like it's not that much but actually, it is. Most plants need half that much root room so there's any number of things to do in order to not fill the entire frame with planting soil.

So I have logs, plenty of them, I also have rough mulch, they're calling for plant waste, compost and organic soil. I don't want to take all the logs against the wall because that's a habitat for lizards, I also don't have any green waste but if they mow the lawn around the time I put this up I can use that. As for the compost/organic soil, basically the same for me. 

My layering would go as this: chicken wire, cardboard, logs, rough mulch (as listed on another site) then the soil on top of that with more mulch to top it off. There needs to be a more solid layer on top of the logs like more cardboard or something so the soil doesn't filter down. If I had some window screen or shade cloth that would be ideal. How many logs I'm going to need is going to be the big question and of course this is all predicated on actually doing this  in a few months.

Still don't know whether we're going to be here next year. Money can't buy happiness for those who have more than they can use. For those like us, happiness and living securely comes with more funds to live stress free.

The weather and rose garden ideas.

 We had some hot days last year but don't remember having to run the AC almost 24/7 for three days. It is now day four of temps in the mid 90's with only a ten degree drop overnight. Though it did drop into the 70's last night it was unbearable when we woke up because by 10 am it was already 83 outside and we had our bedroom door closed.

What does that have to do with gardening? I didn't go outside to check on the garden until after sunset but before dark and it was still mid 80's.

 

 

Holes everywhere in the corner. Big ones too, so whatever is making the holes is going gangbusters. I also had to pull the bean in the back corner, it was toast. Literally.

 

Bean in front is still looking okay and yes, those brown leaves in the left picture are the bean I pulled. I watered with the nozzle to soak everything really well and will go out tonight, hopefully before dark, and check on things. 

A whole month before things are going to be cooling down in the least little bit consistently and then another month, maybe more before we've got the money and energy to try and use that raised bed. But when I do, I have so many plans. I have seeds left over from the spring, hopefully they're still good.

 

The flowers are dropping off both the pepper and the beans, they're stressed from the heat no doubt and I haven't given them any extra food. That mulch though, am so glad I got that because it is a water saver for sure. I keep yelling it from the rafters but seeing it first hand is validation and still awesome. 

Still don't know if I'm going to be planting in the north bed this winter. Gophers still have access to it and I might have some screen left over from the raised bed but not sure it will be enough. Quick math: 20 feet left over, raised bed is 40" x 2 is 80", (72+8 = 6'8") which leaves little over 13'. That should be enough to do something for the other bed. In the middle of winter.

 Oh remember that house with the awesome and huge rose bushes? They never deadheaded them or even cut any that I know of so we drove by and all the flowers are just brown ugly heads all over these huge bushes. So many bouquets or just random flowers given out from those bushes but they were just, left there. The bushes have been pruned meticulously to create those flowers and were deserving of a flower show. I couldn't see if they cut any from the house side of course but the side facing the street were gorgeous for weeks. 

I have plans you see, for a beautiful rose garden with no more than a handful of bushes. If a little old lady in her 80's can manage a garden so can I. As soon as I get one. It takes years for a bush to get decent sized and not fail or get lopsided or diseased. But I would have mostly cutting roses so I can give them away, as many scented ones as possible of course and colors across the rainbow. 

One idea is a curved garden (or square) with a color progression of varieties. That's difficult for roses since there's no true green or blue but substitutes will do. All the other colors, white, red, orange, yellow (no true green), blues would have to be lavender and then purples. Then you have the odd color ones the mixed colors which are fun for going red/orange/yellow and for green the closest would be a St. Patrick which is more greenish in bud then opens to yellow so that's a good bridge color. 

Pick blazing white and a more creamy white then go to Double Delight for white/cream red and then into your pink/ reds then reds, then blended red/orange, then maybe for fun go for a red/yellow stripe and yellow/orange and the one greenish, then changing over to lavenders which are difficult. There are a few roses that were for florist only crops that might fit in because you'll never get a true blue, there's Blue Girl but it's still a lavender and Sterling Silver but that's considered a white but if you leave it on the bush too long it turns an ugly grey. I know, I saw one. But then there's the purples of Intrigue and a few others. 

So it's doable, possibly expensive and need the space but it can work. My other idea was a full on rose garden with an archway covered in climbing roses, 'Stairway to Heaven' then on the other side, all the roses that are named after dead celebrities. In no particular order there is Henry Fonda, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Princess Diana (since renamed), Princess De Monaco (named for Grace Kelly), Cary Grant, Julia Child and many others (I keep wanting to put Barbara Streisand in there but as of this writing she's still alive as far as  I know).

Don't get me started on finding roses named for all 50 states in the US. Now wouldn't that be a hoot! Plot out enough room so you can have three or four bushes for each state and big enough that the paths are the state lines (roughly). Gets rather dicey in the northeast of course with such tiny states but expand the area a bit to accomodate. There is a rose named for San Diego but is not on the market and as of about ten years ago it was only grown in Germany. Go figure.

Anyway, rambled enough on that rose topic.... aha.... haha.... yeah.

Many more days of this heat and ideas

 According to the weather it is 94 already and when I took Rocky for a walk and then checked the garden it was 90 in the shade. It is 80-82 inside. Ten degree difference for now, it climbs up as the sun goes overhead and then blasts our front wall for three hours. 

The garden is okay, good thing I watered yesterday, nothing has eaten the other plants in the south bed. Yet. The pepper is doing okay and I think the flowers are finally trying to set fruit. But with the heat, the only time there's a chance of pollinators is too early for them to go out and then it's too hot even for them. Yep, same with me.

It's a catch-22 that plants (most plants) need as much sun as possible to do well and yet, it's always too much of a good thing is bad. In this kind of heat an easily retractable sun shade would be perfect. I can imagine a raised bed arrangement with netting and support poles then the ability to deploy a sun screen during the hottest months.

 This first one is a great idea, though the beds need to be a bit taller for my liking. There are also 'hoop houses' that are curved supports going over the beds to throw row cover or netting on as another good idea. Most of the other ideas were primarily for keeping deer out of the garden so they had two or four inch mesh screen. Having 1/4" hardware cloth as a screen works wonders for that as well as keeping birds and butterflies out. Good and bad on that idea, need butterflies sometimes for pollinating. Oh notice how close the hose is to that square raised bed? 

In theory the beating sun is the least of problems for these gardens, only have to worry about excessive heat is in the West and Southwest. Or it used to be. Seems all over it's going to be a factor now.

That hoop house is an easy peasy build with just some 2 by 4s a good drill and pvc pipe. This can also be used as a seed house/greenhouse for starting plants early. Again, not my concern at this time but good to know for the future.Anyway, those are some ideas for raised beds and not even the good ones, topic for today and more ideas to come. 

I'm a great idea person, just not so good on following through.

I braved the weather

It was unbearably hot yesterday, repeat for today and we have not turned the AC off in a day and a half. After going to the store I decided to brave the heat again and checked the garden. Beans are definitely showing heat stress with burned leaf edges. (The shiny thing behind the bean is my mulch scoop dug into where the tunnel is.)

 

Didn't take any other pictures, the bucket pepper I realized has been in more shade than the other plant and therefore more green. Will see how it does now that I moved it into more sun last week.

The remaining cucumber was definitely wilted, aphids aplenty but I saw another beetle on it so it's in good hands. I startled a lizard the other evening when I went out, it was hiding behind the bean in the back. Hope it wasn't the one that ate the big cucumber.

I watered though without the nozzle, giving the plants a good soaking individually. So gardening as far as I'm concerned is done for the summer crops. Might as well pull everything and hold out for another couple of months. Seriously.Will have to figure out something else to write about here since there's not going to be much else to report from my garden.

It was not this hot last year, not for this long at least. Definitely a shift in the weather patterns and it's not good. Lakes and rivers are drying up all over the world, we're moving into an apocalyptic situation with the water and crop shortages. Getting actually kind of scared and anxious because my kids will have to live through that, as well as my grandkids. There won't be anything left for them.

Global Warming has been happening for years and now it's too late to fix it. The earth has gone through periods like this but there weren't any humans around accelerating it. Do what we can with what we've got for as long as we can. That's the best we can do.

Another plant down, oh well

It was already 95 at 9 am this morning outside and ten degrees less inside. Too warm for sure so AC has been running for close to twelve hours now. Once we closed up and set up the fan, temp has dropped six degrees. Wall is always at 80 because the fan air hits it, the one by the window is at 82 when it was 86 an hour earlier.

I was going to pull the cucumber anyway since it hasn't given anything in the way of fruit. Well the gopher got it or something got it yesterday before I got there. I didn't get out there in the morning as I said so either it happened then or just before sunset because by the time I got out there in the evening it was long dead.

It was dark enough I had to use the flash on my phone camera. It was toast for sure and from the chew marks and lack of a hole it almost looked like it could have been a rat.

 

A number of holes in the corner and I did find a tunnel after digging a little where the cucumber was. But so far ::knock on wood:: the beans are okay. They have flowers now so here's hoping they survive but given the time of year and how small they are, not counting on a bean crop. 

About the only thing you can actually grow and produce in that soil is tomatoes. Bell peppers were a bust but jalapenos did okay, marigolds did fantastic, peas and potatoes did okay. Zucchini was pretty much a bust as well and if the gophers hadn't gotten to most of those I'd say it was a productive year. Two more months and hopefully will be able to put the raised bed together. Literally saving nickles and dimes for soil to put in it because I'm going to need about $40 or more worth of soil depending on the type I get. Cheapest soil in 2 cu ft bags is at W-Mart at $12, I need 12-16 cu ft to fill that planter (depending on my math). 

Anyway, like all my plants about complicated situations it won't happen any time soon. We're barely holding on here and that's money that I don't have and may never have.

Meanwhile, it's flooding back east and other parts of the world and we're melting and sweltering in the west. Imagine back before we knew about weather differences and traveling across country, getting to the midwest and thinking, 'wow... it's weird'. Oh and apparently a few thousand years ago the midwest was covered in trees. Not the plains areas of course but a bit further east. Forest. Sigh.

Anyway, dreaming is what I do best. Vivid imagination and all that.