California - What are you doing this month?

We have 4 perfect gardening days coming before the next rain, so I'll be spending it seed-starting and building up the soil levels in the Salad Bar. It doesn't sound like much, but I let things get out of control, so I'm really playing catch up. I have some kale plants that want to be in the ground, now, so I may have to up-pot them while I'm getting their beds ready.

Planted 10 Snow Fairy tomatoes, 5 eggplants and 12 peppers in 2 beds.  Nine indeterminate tomatoes went in the BTE strips.  Sungold and paste went into buckets and pots.  Dragon Tongues and bush Blue Lake beans have been direct sown.  Tomorrow the cucumbers, cantaloupe, winter squash and some of the flowers will be planted. Oh, and I planted 12 strawberry plants this year. I haven't grown strawberries since I started in 2013.

It's supposed to rain for 3 days starting Saturday night, so I will have to get out the pre-cut plastic sheets for the beds in case it rains hard.

Good job, S. I'm waiting for 2 more cold, nasty, rainy days, then it will be my turn.

You have been busy.  Looking good.

Sanderson wrote:Planted 10 Snow Fairy tomatoes, 5 eggplants and 12 peppers in 2 beds.  Nine indeterminate tomatoes went in the BTE strips.  Sungold and paste went into buckets and pots.  Dragon Tongues and bush Blue Lake beans have been direct sown.  Tomorrow the cucumbers, cantaloupe, winter squash and some of the flowers will be planted. Oh, and I planted 12 strawberry plants this year. I haven't grown strawberries since I started in 2013.

I checked your 10-day, and you have 2 nights in the low to mid 40s. I thought we had to wait for all 50s before putting out the maters, etc. What gives, Girlfriend?

 I took a gamble and planted ALL of the starts.  The tomatoes do have a touch of purple today, but should recover later this week.  Starting Wednesday, the temps should be good.  We received a full inch of rain yesterday which is needed in this area.

The next thing I have to do is lightly sprinkle some more Sluggo PLUS around the starts. Besides the usually sow bugs and earwigs, the slugs will come out with all this moisture.

Moved a ton of compost, to raise the soil level in one wing of the Salad Bar, then planted kale and Sugar Snap peas in it. Put my shirt in the dirt.

I know how big your salad bar is so you must be exhausted!

I have 95% of everything planted or sowed.  It's been rather chilly, windy and wet with the 1.2" of rain we have received.  So, last night, I got out the rain covers for the two beds planted with tomato, eggplant and pepper.  I have been wondering where some of the large binder clips went.  I forgot that some were clipped to the various labeled plastic covers.



Some of the red potatoes in 5-gallon buckets just popped up today.  When summer is underway, I will wrap them, and the other buckets, with aluminum foil to keep the MM cool.

Transplanting tomato starts into planter bags.

I've been acclimating my seedlings for transplanting later (hopefully) this week. Doing a tree Kale pruning so I can get to the veggie beds easier. The Kale jumped the beds and hit the ground running after the winter rains gave them a boost. They spread out like a giant octopus. There's so much Kale, I've been giving my friends a tall garbage full bag every week so they can juice it. They will take all I can give them, but I personally can't stomach the green goo 

Yardslave wrote:There's so much Kale, I've been giving my friends a tall garbage full bag every week so they can juice it. They will take all I can give them, but I personally can't stomach the green goo 

I give a lot of Kale to neighbors for juicing - I'd rather eat the Kale than just the juice - and, then they give me back pulp for my compost tumbler. The Kale always outgrows what the two of us can eat, so I don't mind sharing it with them.

The plants are finally growing vigorously with the warm/hot weather.  Some of the beans failed to sprout, probably because of the rainy cool period we got, so replacements are soaking on the counter.

We have been working on replacing a 2'x3' bed built in April 2013.  As with any project, there is a glitch.  A PVC fitting has been leaking underground where the bed was.  That fixed, today will be filling and tamping the hole, leveling the ground, and moving 12"x12" pavers from the old compost bin area to this area as a foundation against invasive roots.

Some of the trellises need repairing, the support paracord strung for June sunshade, drip lines checked for leaks or plugs and the EZ Straw with Tack applied as mulch.

Getting further and further behind -- that's what I'm doing! The a/c is on for the first time, and I'm stuck in the house, watching the thermostat hit 90 for the first time this year.

I did get a lot done on the balcony this morning, planting onions and pulling weeds, so the day isn't a total waste.

Hi all,
Just checking in - been out of the loop for quite a while since evacuating from the 2 fires (both within spitting distance from my home). The fires were quite a setback for my gardening as it was impossible to water the beds due to access restrictions. The Village was spared, but my plants were not. Right in the middle of it all, a heat wave struck and high, dry winds continued to burn the plants. They were in poor shape when I returned, so I've been trying to nurse them along. The squash, peppers, beets, and parsnips came back to life, but the tomatoes are toast. It's been so hot that the fruit set is not developing, I'm just waiting for the existing fruit to turn red so I can harvest the last of them. Meanwhile, the varmints are raising havoc with the lower hanging tomatoes- eating as much as they can at night. I set traps out and caught a lot of rats, two ground squirrels, and two skunks so far, and haven't been able to scare off the rototilling raccoons. I caught the dumb ones; the smart ones have learned to avoid the baited traps and just go about eating anything green. I would like to get going on a fall planting, but with the record heat, I can't keep the seedlings wet enough to keep them sprouting. Oh well, at least I have a home, I'm healthy, and don't have to worry about everything going up in smoke- but ash from the fires South of me continues to fall, leaving everything coated with a grey powder that smells like a campfire when things get watered. (On the positive side, everything is getting a healthy dose of potassium from the wood ash.)

YS,  You're back!   I'm so sorry you have had to go through with everything you mentioned.  I'm glad the village was spared.  Is there a gas station there?  I read where one community lost their gas station/mini mart, which is very important for isolated communities.

On a much lesser scale than you:  fine, stinky ash everywhere, Red and Maroon zone air quality, 3 UV out of 10, slow ripening of fruits, persistent hot weather and a pesky rat that has found the ground raised bed of peppers and tomatoes.  It took 3 days to clean out a 2'x7' bed for winter crops.  Just too miserable for me to work outside this week.  I'll be buying starts this year for the winter garden.  We snap-trapped 2 rats in August and one night in September, I saw one on the fence.  Skat, the squirrel, is burying nuts in the back yard and beds.  He's cleaned out all of the old coir liners I left for the birds this spring.  Good news is that a hummingbird has shown up, adding cheer to the backyard.


PS  I'm curious how you relocated the 2 skunks  

PS Did the orange trees survive?

The citrus trees dropped a lot of scorched leaves and the smaller fruit dropped in an effort to save the trees. I am giving them frequent deep waterings, then I'll start upping the feedings as soon as they can take it. It's strange, but the dwarf lime which always seem to lag behind the others has actually been the least affected, and it is even showing signs of pushing up blossoms. The skunks I released a mile away in a wooded area beside the Carmel River. I had a tarp over the trap to reduce the chances of me getting sprayed and to calm them down before I released them. The first on out of the trap just ambled out, got it's bearings and walked comly into the brush. The second one released didn't go well. It never settled down and, as much as I tried not to agitate it, it came out very upset. I tried to take cover behind the tarp but after a few handstands, the skunk's aim improved and I went back home smelling pretty bad. I didn't want to dash off to the store for a case of tomato juice, so I jumped in the shower and scrubbed down with some of the foofiest smelling shampoo I could get hold of, worked it on like I was trying to remove a few layers of skin, and it worked! No more stink!

Yardslave wrote:The first one out of the trap just ambled out, got it's bearings and walked comly into the brush. The second one released didn't go well. It never settled down and, as much as I tried not to agitate it, it came out very upset. I tried to take cover behind the tarp but after a few handstands, the skunk's aim improved and I went back home smelling pretty bad. I didn't want to dash off to the store for a case of tomato juice, so I jumped in the shower and scrubbed down with some of the foofiest smelling shampoo I could get hold of, worked it on like I was trying to remove a few layers of skin, and it worked! No more stink!

Thank you for an Honest response.

Looks like Fall is finally arrived, as did a $400 water bill for last month's effort to keep things watered during the incredible heat waves. Along with the Fall leaves, the crowned sparrows have arrived just in time to mow down most of the bok choy and parsley seedlings I planted. I am also harvesting a bumper crop of eggplants and trying to figure out what to do with them besides making a huge batch of eggplant Parm and BabaGanoush. It's like truing to pawn off all the zucchini I (over)grew this year.

What is everyone doing in their garden?  It looks like the major heat (+100*F) is over and the final flush of summer crops is here, that is, if the plants survived!  It's also the time to plan and prep for the winter crops.

I've been pulling out the last of the summer plants as one pest or another ruined them. I bought cauliflower, broccoli, Swiss chard and lettuce starts last week.  They are currently sitting outside under bridal tulle, waiting for the cooler weather to plant.  They will have to come inside for the next 3 days as the temps will be in the high 90s.  The peas will be sowed starting tomorrow and continue as their beds are cleaned and amended.  Carrots, radishes, toy choy and beets will be sowed now that their bed is amended and re-hydrated.  All of the productive winter beds will get a light sprinkle of Sluggo PLUS to give the starts a fighting chance.

I'm sitting it out on trying to find a window to plant. It's still too hot to try to set things out.