California - What are you doing this month?

sanderson wrote:Thank you for posting.  Can you show a shot of the shade sails?  I've thought of white parachute silk banners in the back yard.  I need a realistic photo of shade sails.  Are those railroad ties or 4x4s that I see in the lumber pile?  It looks like a sloped area and the ties laid here and there could make an interesting compost/chip expansion of garden.  You know the word I want to use.

These were purchased for about $20-25 at Costco and are their whiter version, they have a tan.

We just tied them to trees and and existing structure and spaced them so that the worst of the sun was filtered over the gardens.  We thought we would need to take them down during the winter, but the plants were just fine with the sun they got through or around them.  

This is the front shade:


This shade is to the east of the front one and covers our sitting garden patio:


We bought another one we're going to add further east and tie off to the shipping container in the background.  Keeping this section of the property cooler has actually cooled the house as well even though it is still in pretty direct sun and has a charcoal grey roof:


The timbers there are 6" x 8" or so and are pieces we found in a barn 3 properties back and "knew we would use one day" LOL!  We've built our table tops out of them and have quite a few left that are blocking holes in our fence to try and keep one of our dogs in.  You can actually see them in the background at the pasture fence.  BTW, "try" as in it doesn't work she's a buttnik!

I read this earlier, then got side tracked by Bing Searching for suppliers. I think the price has really jumped since you bought those! Your area looks so cool that it has to help keep the house a little cooler. I would like a large triangle and a large square and that should really make the back yard more tolerable this summer. Thanks for sharing (and inspiring)

We just bought another one at Costco for the same price this year.   Do you have a Costco membership?  Or know someone who does?  If not, we could purchase it for you.  Just let me know!  They only have the triangles though.

Thank you for the offer. I'll check them out. Are they large triangles? I don't know how much it costs to join but the savings may be worth it. Do they carry white?

sanderson wrote:Thank you for the offer.  I'll check them out.  Are they large triangles?  I don't know how much it costs to join but the savings may be worth it.  Do they carry white?

Ours are white and creamy light tan mixed.  They produce a soft white light.

We have the executive membership and even not having kids at home or a physical business anymore we save enough to pay the fees with the rebate we get back from Costco.

This cool weather has been a big help in getting the front flower bed rehabbed for summer.  I ringed the rest of the bed with bricks set flat.  Then used concrete stepping stones (that DH cut in half for me) to make a raised border.  Filled in the gaps between the irregular stones with thin stone slab pieces that DH broke into useable sizes.  Filled with Gallo winery compost and some peat moss and last of the vermiculite.

This is 12-10-14 when I first started amending this area.  The bricks along the grass have been there for years as an edging border.

After stones set and compost added.  The wood chips are from the tree we had removed.  Used as a walkway around 2 sides of the wood planter box so I can attend to it.

Filler rocks installed and peat moss and vermiculite added and mixed.  I brought up a little dirt when I mixed.  I added the flat-laid bricks along the front side walk to serve as a visual warning that something is going on.  Namely, there are raised beds one could trip over.  The look is actually nice as well as being functional.


Normally the alysum would be dead enough to remove but they are still going strong.  I bought flowers to plant some 3 weeks ago and have tried to keep them alive until this bed was ready.  Here is a different shot showing the ramial chip compost I tried to make from the green chipping last fall.  I pulled it back and added a couple inches of the Gallo compost and replaced the ramial compost.

Ate these Rattlesnake and Dragon Tongue beans for dinner.  Sauteed with a a small piece of ham.

OMG! So much heavy work. You must be exhausted. The flat rocks look REALLY nice around that bed, Sanderson!  Oh, and what time do I need to be there for dinner?

CC

CC, It really wasn't as hard work as it looks. One brick, one stepping stone and one rock piece at a time. I did it over 2 days. This evening I planted the flowers in the psuedo-MM. The beans and ham were really good.

Beautiful job!  I love the raised border with the round rocks.  Very clever    

With our cool grey weather I have been a busy beaver too.  I've added two types of compost:  Gallo winery and 5 year old goat/horse/sheep bedding & manure compost on my front flower gardens.  That's probably an average 2-3 inches deep and then 3-4 inches of wood chips as mulch.  I REALLY should have done that last summer and everything was so dry and hard because I didn't.  

Racing to finish everything before the heat makes me call it quits!

You win this round! Laying compost and wood chips is a lot harder on the back and arms. You should end up with a really nice flower area. The hybrid ramial/manure compost was already changing the dirt underneath it. About 1/4-1/2" of soft, dark dirt when I moved it back for the Gallo compost.

You are so right about getting the hard stuff done before the heat. I'm dead during the hot day time. Gads, I am dreading making a new veggie based Berkeley pile this summer. Clovis Friday night Farmer's Market is open now.

Stepped out side with the head lamp to look at the new flowers. Killed about 15 snails and many slugs. Two were munching on the Sluggo Plus. Then in the back yard, 2 snails and about 1 slug per square foot of flower beds! And one black widow. That's another thing about summer, the black widows are everywhere!

Ewww on the slugs.  I have seen one or two so I'm sure there are more that I'm not seeing.  Hubby just ordered me 5 lbs of sluggo plus tonight.  I wish it were here already, I'm living in a sea of earwigs right now, geesh!

I was planning to chop and drop flower trimmings as mulch so I set them aside to chop later.  When I moved them today, there were dozens and dozens and dozens of sow bugs.  From where did they come?  Out came the SP for that pile.  Earwigs aren't supposed to be a concern for veggies but they are for me.

I don't think I put enough straw mulch on the veggie beds so I will have to chop some more tomorrow. And hook up drips to all the individual pots so I can leave town now and then. Ken's niece is getting married in August at Hood River, OR. We will be staying in Portland, OR, for 5 days as a mini reunion. Then in Oct, I hope to go to NYC and Niagara Falls.

I have to have my hubby pick up a couple bales of straw for me.  Last time they were out of straw so I used sudan grass.  More expensive but no seeds and it actually seemed to break down more slowly.

I didn't use my drip system last year as it was outdated configuration.  I need to do likewise.  It's just too much to expect someone to water for me for a long vacation.  I'm going to get my raised table tops back on it and my potted plants.  The rest only needs to be watered twice a week in the worst of the summer due to the heavy mulching.  

Woke up to a nice soaking rain, YAY!  I didn't even realize we were supposed to get any rain so my gloves were left in my wheel barrow.  I won't be using those any time soon, LOL!

Zero rain here today.  Ken had an old glue gun with white sticks so I started making some slug/snail bail stations with baby jars and glass stones I've had for years.  Don't laugh, I am not a craft person.  I'm going to put a pinch of active yeast and Sluggo Plus in them.  Maybe set out a few tonight to see how they work. They remind me of hippopotamuses.

sanderson wrote:Zero rain here today.  Ken had an old glue gun with white sticks so I started making some slug/snail bail stations with baby jars and glass stones I've had for years.  Don't laugh, I am not a craft person.  I'm going to put a pinch of active yeast and Sluggo Plus in them.  Maybe set out a few tonight to see how they work.  They remind me of hippopotamuses.

Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing.  But I do like the rocks on the bottom which act to tilt the jar mouth down so water does not get into your bait.  Hmmm.

Those are cute!  Is there a practical purpose for the glass stones on top or are they simply decorative?  

Let me know how they work.  Something like that might work well for ant bait later in the season.

The stones signify that the jars are intentional and not just trash left around.  We are on a corner lot and get bits of trash blown in from the wind or passing kids.

Yolos, don't blame you for laughing.  They are funny looking.
PS: The tilt really worked keeping the inside dry with the front overhead sprinklers.

With the temperatures pushing towards 100*F, water, mulch and shade cloth is my mantra. It wasn't until 7 PM that I was able to go outside yesterday. DH picked up some wood chips for me to finish spreading on the flower beds. It was Water Day, so I really soaked them. I am not able to load photos this morning so the before and after shots will have to come later.

A couple days ago I picked all the Dragon Tongues and Rattlesnakes that were ready on the vines so I could spray the vines with Neem (after sunset). I love the DT because they are large and don't have strings. The Rattlesnake are delicious but they have strings. Last night I blanched and chilled all the DT and used my new FoodSaver for the first time. What a neat gadget! I froze the blanched beans for an hours before packaging, hopefully they won't be a solid block when I cook them. ?? I don't know about that because the vacuum really sucks the air out! What a space saver. Today I will freeze the Rattlesnake beans. We can't have beans every night, especially with the heat. We turn to salad for dinner in the summer.

I got up at 6 AM this morning to do a little work in the back yard. Got the washed sheers out of storage and got 2 beds covered. Have a lot of covering to do but it will now have to wait until evening. Harvested some sage and parsley for drying. Two days ago I harvested the coriander seed bunches and they are drying in a tulle bag outside. I don't know if the cilantro plants will re-grow. I don't mind taking them out but I still need cilantro leaves for drying. I'm still picking quite a few tomatoes with BER (blossom end rot). All the squash, eggplants, tomatillos and half the tomato plants just wilted yesterday. The cantaloupe and cucumbers that I planted late are doing great. No dampening off this year by planting them late. Just wish the pollinators would find them.

With the heat forcing me inside during the day, I am still doing spring cleaning. I cleaned out and washed the inside of the refrigerator. Tossed containers that were expired. Today I will clean the frig coils from the front and back. I made a little extender to reach the deep coils that can't be reached with the vacuum nozzles.

That's all for right now. How are the rest of you doing in the heat?

sanderson wrote:The Rattlesnake are delicious but they have strings.

I found out the hard way last year.  If you pick them young (I think about 6 - 8 inches) they will not have strings.  I was fooled last year and had to string all of them.  Like you said it was a pain in the neck.

The cantaloupe and cucumbers that I planted late are doing great. No dampening off this year by planting them late.

Mind if I pick your brain about the above statement. I have been plagued by dampening off this year. Tried the peroxide spray, the cinnamon. Results were they all still wilted. How does planting later help? I hang my head in shame at the thought that I'm sowing my 3rd, set of chard and romaine, this time in starter cells. Last year I direct sowed those with no problem.

FMSM, I think I was planting them too early when the ground wasn't warm enough. This year I waited until the boxes were warm and the weather dry, then planted them and kept the mulch away from the stems. Only one cantaloupe seed sprouted in the box so the rest are purchased seedlings. Bonnie from Home Depot I am not an expert in cucumbers or cantaloupe; I'm just having success for once. I started all the seedlings indoors for 2013 in Jan, for 2014 first of Feb, and for 2015 mid Feb. The spring weather was so nice this year, I never up-potted anything, they just went directly into the beds.

Summerizing the front flower bed.  First, built a "stone" wall and made a raised bed filled with compost, peat moss and perlite/vermiculite.  Last week:
This week.  The flowers were really dragging until the wood chips were added.:

Efforts today were organizing (moving and grouping) my potted plants. I got all the bell/sweet peppers together and the hot peppers in another group. They will get their shade sheers when I assemble the box part of the winter green house. The eggplants are on the east side of the table tops so they can get some shade from the western sun. I added a few inches of MM to all the tomatoes in buckets. Maybe I didn't put enough Mix to keep them watered. The Iraqi tomatoes are about 2 1/2 3" and just starting to blush. I get a few Tomas and Yellow Pears to munch on in the garden. Beans still doing good after their Neem spray. My favorite 3rd year garlic should be ready within a month.

I have some questions for anyone:
1. If I wrap the white tom buckets with aluminum foil, it will keep the sunshine out, but, will it heat up the soil?? Making cardboard wraps is a pain. Just wondering if the foil would work.
2. Is it too late to sow cilantro seeds?
3. Is it too late to sow butternut seeds? Average FF is Nov 15.

Thanks

The foil should act reflectively not absorb the heat.  I would give it a try.

Cilantro will grow just about any time including in the winter.  I grow it all winter long in my green house and it was unheated this year.  It's pretty much a weed.  I scattered the seed 2 years ago and they just pop up here and there now.  I don't even plant them intentionally just let them grow and harvest what little I need.

Butternut should be fine.  I've planted a second planting and had success.  They grow very fast when the temps have risen.  Within a few weeks they'll be taking off at this time of year!

Your yard looks gorgeous, nicely done!

+1 on the foil.

Butternut time to maturity is 110-120 days, so you have lots of time left. I'm guessing they grow OK in the heat of your summers.

Boffer, yes they can struggle in our heat!  Last year's crop: