California - What are you doing this month?

Scorpio Rising wrote:I hope I got my garlic started in time; I had a big case of the Procrastinations this fall....

Me too! everything is so small right now compared to last year this time.

I have yet to plant the onions and garlic, but I'll get around to it- a bit late, but what the heck. The pepper plants are still blossoming, but I think that the plants will soon start to die back, and I can give them a good pruning and hope they make it again through the winter. After three years, they have stalks that are about 1 1/2" around and appear to be hardy enough to make it. The zucchini are not looking too good, so they'll be pulled soon, as well as the last 2 tomato plants. The Tree Kale is going strong and I'm gong to plant some Red Russian kale and carrots for the late winter/spring harvest.

YS, You have had an extended fall, temperature-wise. I finally got the garlic in before Thanksgiving and it's up. I can't imagine having to get it in before the MM freezes like our Northern members.

We have a freeze warning for tonight and tomorrow night. I picked 4 blushers for the counter top earlier today, but went out at 11:30 PM and picked all of the green Mortgage Lifters. Guess what I will try to learn to cook tomorrow

Frost has hit at my place; Now, it's survival of the fittest!

Yardslave wrote:Frost has hit at my place; Now, it's survival of the fittest!

We're projecting Santa Ana wind thru Wednesday, 40-50 mph winds, gusts to 70 with 5-10% humidity and temps of 85.

Survival of the fittest for different extremes.

Best of luck with the Santa Ana winds.

Geez, we're farther north, but no sign of frost in the forecast, yet. Also, it's windy today (so I can't rake) but not nearly as bad as the Santa Ana's. I gripe about our weather all summer, but we really do have it pretty good for the rest of the year.

Can't rake today, but I'm clearing dead-fall and preparing beds. Tomorrow I'll get back to raking and more bed prep. Asparagus is turning yellow, but the strawberry plants are still green.

YEE-HAH! I'm all caught up on everything! Inside gardening, outside gardening, web work for the sanctuary, posting indoor gardening "book" here as promised Life is good! Now I'm gonna take the night off and watch Christmas movies.

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted.  The weather has been reasonable for working outside.  Though the air quality was in the Red Zone for most of the days, I was able to work outside for a few hours a day, when no one was visiting.  My kids staggered their visits so that we had company for 7 days.  The main concern for all of us was to avoid the flu, both type A and B, and the terrible cold going around.  So far, so good.  A new batch of sauerkraut is bubbling on the counter and the oranges have been big, juicy and sweet.  I thawed some of the orange juice I squeezed last Feb and it is delicious.  So, I know I can juice them instead of picking and letting them get moldy and tossing out.  The winter garden is short, maybe half the height they were last winter.  Just too late planting them this fall.

January 2, Hubby helped me put up these extra Christmas Lights over the garden.  I'm like a little girl every time I walk out the back door - it's like fairy land.  In the second photo, it just so happened that the full moon was rising.


January 1, Hubby and I collected and mowed leaves that finally fell.  It was so warm up until the freeze (74*F today), that leaf collecting was really delayed this fall.  I used one of the leaf storage bins to dispose of holiday kitchen wastes, especially orange and banana peels.  It started heating up and is now at 110*F!  So, tomorrow I will be building a new compost batch in the tumbler using the hot leaf bin mix, fresh horse manure, coffee grounds, expired grains, pasta, etc. from the kitchen, and a small booster of blood meal.

January 4-5 was spent amending the 1' x 50' strip of dirt.  Removed most of the wood chips, added horse manure that Hubby got for me, mixed in the manure down to 8" deep using the garden fork, and lastly, replaced the chips.  We should start getting rain on Saturday, and all I can say, is bring it on.  Chips removed:

Closeup of the broken down organic materials from the past 2 years.  Absolutely great but only 3-4" deep.  As I removed the summer tomato plants, it looked like most of the roots were in this thin layer and did not go down through the lower hard pan.

So Ken roughly broke up the hard pan 8+" deep with the garden fork.  I did the rest, applying the manure and further breaking up and mixing in the older organic material and horse manure.


Replaced the chips, hosed down and watered well.  All done until planting this spring.

Now that the holidays are over and things are back to normal, I need to go through the 3 buckets of seeds and decide what I want to plant this summer and if I need to order any of the seeds. Some of the sweet potatoes are sprouting so I need to roast and freeze most of them and put a couple in cups of water. Their split storage totes have been replaced and will be amended between expected rains. Well, that's it for now.

Wow, sanderson, you have been very busy.  It all looks absolutely great. I salute you 

Sanderson, you put me to shame! I haven't done anything but put a little compost in my beds and let them rest. I'm trying to figure out what to plant now that the heat spells are over and the rain has arrived. I think I'll plant one bed with carrots and start a bed of onions and garlic, maybe start some cuttings of tree Kale and start planning for a more efficient water strategy this year.

, S. Your coverage is so complete I feel like a shareholder in your place.  

It's a beautiful day for gardening here, but it's also very wet from 2 days of rain, so I think I'll do my inside prep work today, and outside planting, tomorrow. 

I have over a dozen of those beautiful gallon jugs from the alkaline water Hubby uses. Today I'll remove their labels (very boring and time-consuming ) and tomorrow I'll put them all out in the Salad Bar and BTE garden as mini greenhouses for a whole bunch of sugar snap peas I grew for microgreens, then changed my mind. Since our 10-day forecast shows no winter weather through the 15th, there's just a slim chance I can get away with a super early start to spring. Fingers crossed.

No shareholders here, more like stock holders! The 3 of us live in 3 different Zones within this Region so our gardening chores come up at different times.  In Sacramento, the leaves were changing early November.  In Fresno it was late November and they didn't actually fall until around Christmas.  In fact, I picked these Roses Jan 2:

The garlic seems to be doing good so far.  At least they have a dedicated bed and I don't have to pull them before their time.  Jan 4:

The Washington Navel didn't produce as many fruit this year but they are bigger.  Dec 8, when they still had green shoulders.

sanderson wrote:No shareholders here, more like stock holders!  

I'll be a stock holder. I think I bought in with some seeds last year, and I'll happily reinvest my dividends.

The 3 of us live in 3 different Zones within this Region so our gardening chores come up at different times.  In Sacramento, the leaves were changing early November.  In Fresno it was late November and they didn't actually fall until around Christmas.  

We actually started losing leaves in August. I began raking in Sep and kept right on all through the rest of the year. I may still get a chance to rake some more, but I did a really good job of collecting and spreading, so I'm not worried about it if Nature doesn't cooperate. (I need at least 3 days without rain for them to dry out enough to rake.)

I actually got the tumbler compost built yesterday. From 70*F base line to 80 and now today 86*F.

Today is seed organization day so I can get the kitchen table cleared and seed list drawn.

I'm just falling further behind.  Holidays came followed by the flu. Nasty sneaky flu seeming like a pre-cold for a few days with no energy and then whammo!  .

NSR, That flu is a nasty thing. Just take care and get well, again.

It's raining lightly today so running out to peak at the compost temp (135*F in less than 48 hours ) was the most I will get done outside today. Seeds still scattered about the kitchen table. Just finished a sandwich with homemade sauerkraut, so it must be nap time.

It's been a couple of weeks since I wrote.  Still on garden vacation, in a way.

Seeds - the Seed Exhange forced me to go through at least the veggie seeds.  After 5 summers and winters, I mostly know what I will grow and what handful of seeds I need to order.  Ten (10) packs at the most and half are just reorders.

Kitchen duty:  I gifted most of the Dec sauerkraut so I made a second batch around New Years.  That batch is now in jars in the refrigerator and a 3rd batch is on the kitchen counter.  The sweet potatoes started to sprout so I roasted and froze all but 3 (for slips) yesterday and put up in Seal-a-Meal bags today.  Pork and turkey have been on sale so I have been Sealing and freezing servings for 2.  Tomorrow I will be cooking up green beans with bacon and freezing servings.  I made the WW chili and will freeze left overs.  So, while not in the garden, I'm still involved with food.

Compost - The tumbler contents are ambient temps after 3 weeks so it's time to put some in the summer beds and the rest in storage (the former 3' x 3' x 3' hot bin).  Thank goodness I stumbled across the Lifetime Tumbler on Craig's List.

Garden - the winter crops are so-so.  One broccoli head is the size of a 50 cent piece.  Whoopie.  I still have to brooch the south neighbor regarding his tall trees.  The back yards are so small that the tree shadows just kissed our solar panels at winter solstice.  Not to mention the effect the shade has on my table top beds.

Birds - The hummingbirds are gone now but the little birds (sparrow, finch and lark?) are enjoying the bird feeder.

Rain - It looks like we will have a drought spring, less than the average rain fall.  Such is Nature.

How are the rest of you doing?  SoCal included.

sanderson wrote:How are the rest of you doing?  SoCal included.

We've had a perfect year for winter gardening and I blew it!  Real life has interfered at every turn. What little I have out there and inside is thriving, but I barely have time to keep it alive, never mind truly appreciate it or maximize its potential.

Hopefully, your summer garden will be great to make up for it.

When can you grow?  Year round?  Or sometimes it is just too hot, right?  Is it ever too hot for peppers and tomatoes?  Sorry for my ignorance!

SR, Year around. When it is scorching hot (100*F+) plants struggle to stay alive. Blossoms fall. Keeping the plants alive during these months is the goal. Then, in the early Fall, everything gives a bounty of fruit.

Scorpio Rising wrote:When can you grow?  Year round?  Or sometimes it is just too hot, right?  Is it ever too hot for peppers and tomatoes?  Sorry for my ignorance!

I can grow through June, then again starting in October. July thru Sep almost everything goes dormant. Beans, cukes, carrots, kale, onions, & melons do okay. The only tomatoes I can grow are cherry tomatoes in the house. Peppers survive, but don't thrive.

I'm back in business.

These are the 2 trees that are giving me grief with their shade.  They are planted just on the other side of my southern fence.  You can see trellises for 2 of the boxes that are shaded 8 and 10 months of the year respectively.  The red outlines show their sizes when I started SFG in 2013.  The blue marks indicate where I was hoping to get permission to cut.  The neighbor would still have full height and growth on his side.

Well, the good news is that they agree and want to remove them completely.  We will be sharing the cost.  I get my garden back and our solar panels will not be affected by the Winter Solstice shade.  Just the price of living peacefully with a neighbor.