California - What are you doing this month?

Same thing here on the coast. I'm playing musical chairs with my seedlings. It's in-and-out with them. I'm putting 'em back inside my garage and they're going back under lights at least until the cold spell passes next week. I had so hoped that I could get an early crop in, so I wouldn't have to be watering much in late summer.

Crazy weather! weather.com says 30 tonight and a chance of rain on thursday. Thankfully nothing in my garden will be affected but 1 tree (the aprium) has started flowering. I don't think it will hurt it. I haven't even done my winter maintenance on the fruit trees! Time to get cracking!

kauairosina - how nice to have a gardening buddy! Nobody takes an interest in my garden except myself. My kids do like showing it off but they don't like to help much. My husband will help when I ask but he has 0 interest in it. All he cares is that I grow spaghetti squash and onions because we use a lot of those. At least I do have friends to talk garden with

30!  I think my blood must be too thin to ever live in California again.  It is 72 here and I'm wearing a sweatshirt.

Have lettuce starts to plant with my friend tomorrow and trying to find my SFG book to show my grandson how to do the trellis .  I think I'll look up the old SFG book about trellises also.  I see from one of these notes that it was simpler.

Gonna put some fish emulsion on broccoli that the worms are getting to as well as maybe some Neem.  We've been picking the worms off.  Aphids on okra.  Gonna try the baby powder because where there's aphids there's ants.

Friend told me that copper wire set around plans discourages slugs and snails.  Gonna try that too to see if it discourages anything else.

30!  I'm a wuss.

kauairosina wrote:30!  I think my blood must be too thin to ever live in California again.  It is 72 here and I'm wearing a sweatshirt.
.........

30!  I'm a wuss.

Nah - you just acclimate to wherever you are.  I am originally from a very hot area of California (where I always froze if it was below 80), however, after 15 years in South Dakota, I now sweat when it is in the 60's!  My CA friends would die if they knew how much I have gotten to like the weather here.  It is no joke that 40 is t-shirt weather!  

GG

The cat and I are looking out the windows at the rain! I'm glad I set up the seedlings and lights in the formal dining room! I started the online course yesterday so I'm doing a little reading and homework, seed watching, cat consoling, laundry. And waiting for the 2013 Second Edition to arrive in the mail. I have the 1st Ed. of ANSFG but I thought I should get a used copy of the 2013 version.

What are you doing?

We are watching the rain pour down, doing school work (I homeschool) and basically just having a lazy day. We do want to get to the pet store at some point today. I have my seedlings in my dining room under lights (where they have been) and I love checking on them a few times a day. They grow SO fast. I have to raise the lights daily. So far I just have tomatoes and 1 eggplant (fairytale). They are 3 weeks old. I will sew squash and more later. I had no luck getting my pepper seeds to germinate.

I do have to say my chickens are not too happy about the rain and they have to run through it to get to the coop to lay. Otherwise they hang out on my back patio (messy!). Oh and all my cats are hangning out inside

Cats are smart!

Today is glorious.    No rain or clouds. I took my seedlings outside for a couple hours of sun while I make some MM for the last planned 2' x 2' box. At 4 Pm, the second online class begins.

I wish I had enough money for the certification course! I wasn't home this afternoon to put my seedlings outside for some sun. But they will go outside starting tomorrow!

Update on seedlings - veggies and some flowers. I need to separately pot some of the twins and triplets.

Looks like you got a second fixture, and your plants are lovin' it!   

Good eyes!   Or good memory.  Much better, less leaning toward the light.. I need to separately replant some of the twins and triplets.

Sanderson, what are you growing? My tomato (and 1 egg plant) seedlings are a month old and now. I potted them up from the 2 inch soil block to solo red cups yesterday and they will now be outside most of the day and brought in at night. My cucumber, squash (summer and winter) and pumpkins that I sewed in 2 inch soil blocks are all beginning to sprout and as soon as they all do they will be outside during the day as well.

I think one of the eggplants sprouted.  But I am reseeding the 3 varieties again in pure vermiculite.  Too many volunteer tomato seeds sprouted in my seed pots because I used MM as the medium.  Not so bad with seedlings with unique first leaves, but disastrous in some of the tomatoes seedling pots!!    

3 varieties of fresh beans, 2 var. bok choy, cabbage, 4 var. cantaloupes, 3 var. carrots, celery, 2 var. corn, 4 var. cucumbers, 3 eggplant, garlic, kale, okra, 3 var. onions, parsnip, snow peas, 9 var. peppers, 2 radishes, 7 var. summer and winter squash, 3 var. Swiss chard, 2 or 4 plants tomatillo, 12 var. tomatoes, 10 var. herbs, and 11-14 var. flowers, plus a few sunflower inside the public sidewalk fence to show off that SFG works.  I have 84 sq ft for veggies plus food grade 5 gallon buckets for potatoes, and 33 pots of herbs and a few veggies.  Most of the flowers will go out front in the non-sfg flower bed and a few in show spots outside the boxes.

I'm going to put up the rest of the high trellises today.  I set one up and then realized that I couldn't reach beyond the 8 ft mark with stool or ladder.  Logistics.  So DH cut 2' off each one before nap time.

If you want to experiment with something, let me know what seed(s) you would like to try.

Audrey, you also.   We could meet for lunch in Sunnyside as a compromise??

You should have a nice variety come harvest time! I have 84 squares now too. I don't even have enough plants for them. Currently I have kale, broccoli, cauliflower, sugar snap peas, lettuce and garlic (my first time!) in the garden. have tons of seeds (maybe a seed hoarder?) so I think I am ok but thank you so much for your offer! Did you use MM from your garden bed? Is that why you have volunteer toms? I up potted my toms in the MM from Lowes. I figured even if it is inferior to home made it should be fine for a few weeks till planting time. All my trellises are 6 feet (except the cattle panel arch) and that works just fine for me and the plants. At the end of the season the tomatoes have gone over the top and are coming back down but it doesn't seem to bother them. I do need to redo the netting on a few.

Since I have a bad cold I supervised my DH while he turned the compost pile into the 3rd bin this afternoon   Normally I would have done most of it with a little help from him. We found several of those huge grubs and the chickens just love them. There was lots of chasing going on! I was so happy to see tons and tons of worms all through the pile. I really think keeping the moisture level high has helped a lot! I soaked it really well when I turned it 2 weeks ago and then the rain added more. I have a compost thermometer and it is always fun to go outside and see 120 degree readings..  Maybe just maybe it will be ready or mostly ready for planting time next month.

Mistake, I have 74, NOT 84.   

Yes, I seeded in MM, which is fine for most but I won't do that again for some of them. I forgot about the MM at Lowes! Maybe tomorrow I can see if they have any left.

Your compost pile sounds wonderful!! Seeing the chickens going after the grubs must be fun to watch.

I'm so sorry you have a cold. I hate getting a cold, honk, cough, groan. My husband visited one of his sons and family in Texas. He tells everyone that he got lots of wet kisses and a cold from his 11 month old great-granddaughter! He's in a guest room until he is well and he is not having much fun not feeling well.

For the instructor class, we have to give a 3-5 minute online presentation.  My topic is growing in a small space and growing up.  I finished the 3 new trellises in the newest area so I thought I would take photos for the Powerpoint presentation.  DH thought he would ruin one of the photos.  I'm getting even:  . . .



Here's another view:

Wow, I was so excited to just get my box yesterday and bought some starter plants and going through what seeds I want to plant.  Still waiting on my soil.  Now that I see you guys, I feel like a wimp.  I'm not saying it is a contest, but I thought I was super excited and really going for it.  You have showed me what being REALLY GOING FOR IT means.  I am very impressed.  Wish you guys lived in my neighborhood for gardening buddies.

Obviously, sanderson's DH takes his Honey Do list seriously!   

That space is looking great.   

E hauffner,  Let's go back 12 months:  Rewind to Feb 2013


Fast forward to Aug 2013:


Back to Dec 1, 2013:


Fast forward to today:


Dream it, and it will come.  Patience.  You are not a wimp.  You are a Newbie today.  Tomorrow a gardener!

Boffer, Yes he does. He constructs all of the wood boxes and helps me set them exactly where I want them! I do all the rest, MM, compost, planting, clean-up! He cuts the metal pipes, I assemble from there. It took me 15 minutes to cut one piece of metal. It took him about 10 minutes to measure and cut by hand 8 pieces.

All of this would have been near impossible without his help.

Look how beautiful that is!  Is that on the side of your house?  How is the sun/shade situation there?  What are you going to be planting?

Well, I wanted to spend most of the day in the yard today but my agents called and I have an art collection that a manufacturer needs ASAP on Monday so I'm working at my computer instead.  I did get to spend a couple hours out in the garden this afternoon taking a sanity break, 60ish temps and overcast.  Perfect to work in. 

1.  Started transplanting lettuce, spinach and other veggies that can tolerate any cold we'll get from now on.

2.  Planted a tomato on my hillside.  I will have to cover it if we get any frosts or below 40 nights (the fact I planted it will guarantee that we'll have a frost - my apologies in advance!)

3.  Weeded my new hillside garden, which with the deep wood chips mostly consisted of raking the weed sprouts away.  Planted about 50 onion starts yesterday there.  My peas are coming up and everything I planted 2 weeks ago it growing nicely.

4.  I'm starting to plant my straw bales.  These have a lot of seeds sprouting (straw) in them.  It's not that big of a deal, they eventually die or we pull them out of cut them off.  They're at the producing mushrooms stage so they're well on their way.  I'm experimenting to see if a see planted in the bale now will grow faster than the ones a started in the greenhouse about 3 weeks ago.  

5.  My newest batch of compost is cooking away.  It will be ready in about 2 months or so as it isn't heating up super high temps this time, but is at about 120 right now. 

6.  Planting my second wave of starts.  I am really liking using the window box size planters.  The tiniest seedlings have MASSIVE root systems in them.  I just plant with enough room to grab a hand full or use a trowel to break apart each plant and then they transplant with virtually no shock or slow down to their growth.

Here's some pictures from today's garden.

The straw bales:


My seed starting system:


My new hillside garden starting to fill in:


My greenhouse gardens.  The Japanese eggplant was attacked this week by some aphid like bugs.  I'm spraying with insecticidal soap mix every few days :-(.  The hot peppers are going crazy and I'm eating tomatoes every day or so.  It has worked magnificently for us this year.  I haven't had to cover the inside beds for 2-3 weeks as it's been warm enough at night without the second covering and the lights and heater.

I'm trying to decide if I can risk planting seedlings from now on out.  They're not quite ready yet, but the last frost date we had was Feb 5th and looking a month out I don't see any threats.  About a month from now there's a possibility of a 36 degree night, but so far every time the "possibility" has popped up it's gone away and hasn't happened.

Have you heard any long term weather forecasts anywhere that would encourage caution? 

If I start planting in the next 1-2 weeks, it's easy enough to cover the seedlings with wide mouthed jars and then a second row cover over that for protection.

What to do?  What to DO???

Anyone going to the Smart Gardening Conference on Saturday? ucanr.org/sgc
I decided to attend with my friend. If you register by tonight it is $40 instead of $50.