California - What are you doing this month?

I've always loved the sound of rain - since I was a little girl.

I have a couple ideas in my head but I will have to wait until this evening. Sigh

I can't believe it's raining after 3 years....now kids will know what a puddle really is! I hope we get more; it will take lots of rain to replace the aquifers, lakes and reservoirs in California. It's a start, and my orchard really needed it- they were on life support.

Yeah, we need a LOT more where that came from and we need political powers that stop allowing environmental extremists to set us back a 100 years. California is always in a drought/flood cycle. That's why we built water storage capacity. It's still there. It can be used - except that a non-extinction threatened bait fish species (the Delta Smelt which isn't even indigenous to our state) is more important than human lives so the water is flowing out to the sea.

Thousands of people in the Porterville area have no water for their homes. Millions of acres of farmland is desert.

*packing up soap box and going away*

Reported that we got 0.8" of rain, which is more than 1/3 the amount we got all last year. Amazing.

I don't know how much we got up here, we're usually at least double what you guys get. I had no idea that your rain total was that low last year. I don't know what we were, but we did get a couple of huge storms that flooded things pretty heavily. Our base soil is decomposed granite mixed with silty clay so when it rains we can have 3-4 inches of standing water that will sink down into the ground in just hours with very little run off.

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote: Our base soil is decomposed granite mixed with silty clay so when it rains we can have 3-4 inches of standing water that will sink down into the ground in just hours with very little run off.  

Hence, well water for you.  Totally exhausted.  Got home at 9:`15 with Wendy's baked potatoes and chili.  Ate with out To-Do notebook for tomorrow's work.  Cant.  Wait. Until. It. Is. Over. We have had fast food for lunch for 4 straight weeks, not counting some for dinner. I think it will be kale and apple smoothies for us after this.

How much longer will it take?  Hope it's over soon!!!

48 hours????  Then we can watch the offers pour in  

At least the finish line is in sight!  

Definitely. I'll be watching the other "finish lines" tonight while in jammies.

Listed rental house for sale yesterday.  Got a cash offer today at a lower price but still a bit above our mental bottom line.  It is a cutie and very clean.  Gads, it will be great to not have to go to the rental 8/7.  I think we started rehabbing and cleaning Oct 7.   ??  One month ago.  Here's the flower bed in front of the house:  Love that Kellogg for the rentals.


The dirt is sandy and hasn't had anything close to compost added for years if not decades.  We also mixed a little in the dirt around each plant/flower as transitional material.

Edit, PS:  You can imagine what I think when I see this back yard Drool

You can see the grape vines that survived when DH chopped in down 6 years ago. Some part of the Mother must have survived.

Foggy and damp today in the Valley. No sunshine here on the floor. What about in Squaw Valley? Great day to do nothing. Computer, read and nap with the cat. That last one was her idea! Yesterday I spread the neglected Berkeley pile out on the blue tarp to dry after our recent rain. I was afraid it might be septic inside but it wasn't. At least it is getting an airing and I picked all the giant grubs out of it. I put them in a plastic container with some material to hide under. Two birds were interested in it when the grubs crawled out this afternoon but didn't approach it. What, I have to demonstrate for them?

The day started sunny and finished very cool and grey.  Great weather for all the yard work I did today. 

Emptied the finished compost and put it down as the base layer for 3 x 25 garden extension.  I got five large wheelbarrow loads out of that compost batch!  Now to start hauling the wood chips for 12 inches on top and I will add some composted manure later.  That will cook for the winter and be ready for spring.

Turned the first bed that I layered like the new one but used raw horse manure so lots of little weeds are growing.  Loads of worms are feasting on the mix!

Honey and I started repairing the greenhouse cover and getting things ready for the first frost which is usually early December but can come any time.

I am tired...

I bet you are pooped. You had a productive day. I have a question - is it time to pull out the KY wonder beans? There aren't any flowers now.

Funny you should ask... I just harvested the dried beans this afternoon.  My outside beans are done, inside my greenhouse they're still growing and producing.

The rain measured 0.08", so we are almost up to 1" for the year so far.  My compost is a soggy mess on the tarp, small pools of tea.  I think a turkey baster will work for collecting the pools.  Spray it on the front lawn?  The bag of grass clippings is a soggy mess.  Definitely not ready for the rain we had.

I'm in the process of pruning the photinia, xylosma and some still-green branches of the Chinese pistachio tree.  DH will rent a 2" shredder/chipper from HD for them.  Want to try what Slimbolen is composting.  If it doesn't come to anything, it will be a good start on mulch for the orange tree corner.

I'm still thinking about Fresno State.  This is the sign they have posted on the "garden" experiment area.
The wood chips they spread are plain wood. After the rain they were about 1" thick. We slowly cruised the ag campus just to see what is there. Off to work in the front yard some more while the sun is shining. I also need to re-line my compost cage with 1/2" hardware cloth before I put the mess back in. The fly screen is not sturdy enough to withstand the frequent turnings with the manure fork. With gardening in CA, there is always something to do, even if it is as simple as mowing the lawn.

Sorry about the soggy mess - I would definitely put it on the lawn as compost tea. Your lawn will love you!

I totally scored today.  Our friend brought over the risers, which I paired with old concrete piers he gave us a few years ago and they're ready for my mix once I get this load of compost finished. Hubby is drilling one inch holes for drainage and covering them with 1/4" hardware cloth we had left over from my sifter project.

On top of that he told me he has a huge burn pile that he has added to for 10 years and never burned.  At the bottom is pure aged compost that I'm welcome to  AND he'll chip up the branches on top of the pile and give them to me as well.  

OH IT TAKES SO LITTLE TO MAKE ME HAPPY    

audrey.jeanne.roberts wrote:
OH IT TAKES SO LITTLE TO MAKE ME HAPPY    

Pure happiness. You'd think it was your birthday!

And here's the second one installed.  We decided it would be much easier to just put landscape cloth inside, so we're doing that next.  

If only I hadn't spread my last batch of compost already, drats!  Now I have to wait 2 weeks for this batch to finish.  



The picture view is facing south, so the box on the left runs north and south, the right runs east and west. I'm thinking of placing a climbing structure on the West side of each to give filtered shade to the boxes from the hot late afternoon sun. What are your thoughts on that idea?

Oh, Audrey, those boxes are beautiful. My vote is yes, to western trellises. And yes to just using landscape cloth. After all, you may find another use for the left over hardware cloth! What are your plans for the boxes. I can picture some squash spilling over onto plain wood chips. Maybe some strawberries.

Here's my handsome hubby, dressed in his finest farmer clothing, making me my newest beds We had such a fun day working on this yesterday.

If only repairing the greenhouse was as much fun Our repairs aren't holding. Next call is to the mfg. A cover ought to last more than a year when you pay $400 for it.

DH looks like he's having fun. Yesterday was such a great day to work outside. Not so much today with everything wet from the fog/low clouds.

I hope your greenhouse cover gets resolved correctly. $400 and lasting only one year is not good advertising for a product.

Today was the culmination of 4 days of my pruning efforts:

A little nervous!
Mr. Confident:
Rain expected Thursday so tomorrow has to be the day for building the new pile.

Chance of rain tomorrow! And Thursday and Saturday. Must get my act together early tomorrow.