California - What are you doing this month?

a LOT of okra.  A recent housemate, the one who is my best help in the garden, is from the south originally and brought it to our attention. Until now I had never eaten okra.  We have several different kinds. I'll keep you posted. A recent issue of Organic Gardening had some great recipes.

I remember that followers of Adi Da, the fellow who had headquarters on a Fijian island, once had ONLY okra growing in their garden.  Oy Vey!

Triple digits expected Friday-Sunday!   

Over 100 is YYYYYYUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

THAT IS ALL, LOL!

Here we are only about 100 miles apart and all we will be seeing this weekend will be about 78 degrees.  Our temperatures are not as extreme as yours (normally).

Mazzy

Mazzy, your garden should grow very well with your mild climate. I lived in Daly City for 2 years (foggy or overcast, then two years in San Bruno, sunny and mild, and worked those 4 years in Oakland (hot in the summers). I would leave for work all bundled up and be a sticky mess driving around Oakland. I was a health inspector so I was out and about all day.

Yes...I like the mild climate.

My "real job" is a fire protection contractor and we service restaurants in the SF Bay Area.  I bet we could trade stories of restaurant "cleanliness" that we've run into.

Mazzy

OM goodness! I was an inspector in the Bay area 1972-1976. Those were the dark ages of restaurants, especially in that area with all the basements and water front restaurants.

We used to steam clean hoods at one Chinese restaurant in China Town.  The hoods were swarming with wharf rats the size of large cats.  We would take a pellet gun with us and hand it to the owner of the restaurant and his job was to keep the wharf rats off my steam cleaners.  It got to the point that my employees wouldn't work there any more.  I didn't blame them.

Mazzy

Wharf rats, yes!

Just.... eeeeewwwwwwww!

105*F today, Sunday. 109*F expected tomorrow, Monday. Everything is drooping regardless of the watering. I don't have enough white tulle left to double up for shade. But, I did save a roll of pale green sheer curtain material that didn't sell from my Mother's Estate. I'm such a hoarder (as DH says) but now that I'm into gardening I'm glad I saved it. The papers stapled to the fabric are circuit 45-50 years ago, if not more.

The rental house is finally up for sale so I can finally turn my attention to hot weather needs in the garden. If it's not too late.

Yikes!!!  That's warm.  We got up to around 90 yesterday and it's supposed to drop off to about 82 today.  Where I live it's a micro climate and always about 5 degrees hotter than they forecast.  But it's supposed to drop off fast starting tomorrow.

Mazzy

Monday reached 109*F.    Tuesday forecast: 103* Cooling trend Wednesday with 99*F.

PERFECT time of course, to have issues with our well, grrrrr!  Our water pressure is lower than usual and dropping off.  Could be the pressurizing tank or?  It's taking forever to water everything as when I start I have 70% of normal pressure/water and within 5 minutes its down to just over a trickle.

Just whining :-)

I'd do more than whine.  Probably a bit or a lot of cussing for all the good it would do.  Makes me appreciate our county water system, although our neighbors a couple of miles down the road lost their water due to problems with the big tanks.

Audrey, Do you have a blue colored bladder tank? Or a galvanized tank with a pressure gauge? Any drips? Is the well pump cycling on and off every few minutes (or 2)?  

Rosina, That's one of the perks to be on a community water system   

HI guys! I took some photos of my garden today:

curing garlic (early california white):



wide view of garden. to the right are all my fruit trees.  I had a great harvest of apriums but the leaf footed plant bugs ruin my apricot harvest every year.  I'm going to cut my apricot tree down this winter and plant something else since I don't even get 1 fruit for myself.  Right now we are enjoying santa rosa plums. 


This is supposed to be a Jarrahdale pumpkin which is like a blue/gray in color but it obviously isn't!  I don't know what it is!


pumpkins on the cattle panel trellis.  On the left I had spaghetti squash but I harvested them a few weeks ago and pulled them all but 1 (they weren't healthy).  I am sprouting some more for a 2nd planting.


My regular visitor.  He is huge and very tolerant of me getting close


seashell cosmos:


Zinnia:




My new sprouts to be planted in about a week or so (pickling cucumber, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash and stars and moon pumpkins):


My tomato harvest has been lacking   I have a naughty chicken who has been flying over the garden fence to feast on them in the mornings.  I clipped her wing which stopped her for a while but she's at it again.  I know where she goes over so this weekend I need to put something higher.  She has eaten probably 10 so far.  I find them half eaten and strewn about.

Wow...very plentiful!!!

Mazzy

Keeper, So happy that you posted. Love your trellis with pumpkins. I'm glad to see that I am not the only one with droopy leaves in this first heat spell. I have had an orange visitor, also. I keep forgetting that you are in a county island so you can have chickens. How neat.

Have you ever started tomato seedlings at this date? I lost my 11 varieties to disease. The replacements also got the curly leaf. I was just wondering if I started seedlings now, if I could get some tomatoes.

I miss you not being here.

Mazzy, Keeper is less than 5 miles from me so our climate is the same. She's more experienced than I am. I look to her and Audrey for gardening advice.

Ahahh...I'm start to see the pecking order :>)  I'm still the little northern California chicken on the block.
Mazzy

I just put in 6 Black Krim Heirloom tomato seeds.  I figure they will be producing fruit around September.

Mazzy

Lil Northern Chicken, We are so happy you have joined and stayed active. No Cal has so many climates, it's a mental category all its own.   

Here's a question for you.  My beet leaves are turning light brown and seem to be dying.  Any idea what might be happening to them?

Mazzy

sanderson wrote:
Have you ever started tomato seedlings at this date? I lost my 11 varieties to disease. The replacements also got the curly leaf. I was just wondering if I started seedlings now, if I could get some tomatoes.

I had no idea you'd had such bad luck. Sorry to hear that!

Sanderson,

I personally wouldn't go with seeds but you could give it a shot.  You would probably get fruit at the end of sept, beginning of October so you would only get about a month or 2 before frost.  But you'll have the best tomatoes on the block at that point because everyone else's plants will be tired out!  The sellers at the vineyard farmer's market still have some tomato seedlings I believe (I got one 2 or 3 weeks ago).  And yes pumpkin and cucumber leaves droop in the afternoon heat.  But they are all perky in the morning so I don't worry about it (freaked me out last year though!).  

I can't legally have chickens but nobody has complained so far (4 years now).  Even those in county islands can't legally have them from what I have read of the zoning (and I have a very good friend who works in city planning who lives in a county island and plans on having chickens but she says she's not zoned for them).  You have to have some kind of minimum land size before you can have any kind of livestock including chickens.  The only exceptions are pot bellied pigs and muscovy ducks.  I have had bees in the past and want to have them again and those too are illegal.