California - What are you doing this month?

Scorpio Rising wrote:That rain had to help the drought situation!  Seems like (fingers and toes crossed) you might have turned the corner on the extreme drought?

Last year at this time we were at "exceptional" which is even worse than "extreme." Now we're up 2 more categories to "moderate" even before all this rain. Unfortunately, that's just our little area up near the Oregon border. Much of the state is still in serious trouble. 

It can't go on forever....glad you at least got a break.

Scorpio Rising wrote:It can't go on forever....glad you at least got a break.  

Sadly, it could outlive me. Some experts think it could last 35 years, and this is just a respite for El Nino. Pray that they're WRONG! 

I was sick-tired by bedtime last night and slept for 10 hours. I think it's time for a day off.

countrynaturals wrote:I was sick-tired by bedtime last night and slept for 10 hours. I think it's time for a day off.

I know exactly how you feel.  I slept for about 11 hours and I still felt tired. I should take two days off as I did. I feel OK once again.

sanderson wrote:It's cloudy and windy, but only 35% chance of rain.  The poly tubing was delivered today!  It fell out of the box like a slippy snake, all 200' of it. I knew it was a remnant but thought it would be on a roll.  Nevertheless, it was what I wanted and husband said he would roll it up for me, all 200'.

I love dipping in another regional thread when I have time. I am always keeping my fingers crossed that California's normal rainfall returns, sooner rather  than later.

That was some remnant, sanderson.

Pity you left out the shredder in the rain. :-)  I hope it does not rust or seize up. You say you think  the previous owner rode it hard.  Backs up my mention to treat machines well below their supposed capacity.

DH rolled the whole roll for me. I just finished bagging the seedling frame for storage. Sealed one end with the Food Saver unit and tied the open end. I even wrote what it was with permanent marker. No gardening yesterday but today I can get some things crossed off the list I had to make. Photos after the rain: Never mind, still can't find my downloaded photos.

Big lightning and thunderstorm tonight with some intermittent large rain.  I had left the lawn tractor out and hubby had to make a mad dash to get it covered up!!!  I knew I should have stopped and covered it right when I thought about it, but got busy elsewhere 

I got a lot done today.  Cleaned out lettuce and other plants that are bolting leaving a few to go to seed.  I dispersed my first Berkeley hot compost pile filling my beds up to the top.  Because I just layer it on top it's not that time consuming.  I am waiting on the second batch of seedlings so I'm letting it rest on the actual beds.  There were a lot of worms in it so they'll continue to break it down and mix it in. It was 4 wheelbarrow loads full and topped off the boxes between 2-3 inches.  It's super fine compost, mixed with semi-broken down hay straw.  So top dressing/mulching works really well.  

I put some trellises and pvc pipes for overhead green bean growth that will shade the beds under them.  I added shade cloth to two of my 4x8 table tops and the beans will actually grow over the top of the shade cloth by about 18 inches or so.  It's full, hot sun and our plants do much better when semi-shaded.

Oh, sure, make me feel like a slacker. I did get a lot of PVC frames bagged in the new 7" poly sleeves. Whoopie I used the Food Saver to seal one end of the sleeves.

Lets see if I can finally upload photos I took Friday, 4-22-16.  Tomato bed for determinants.  The little one is Snow Fairy that was seeded after the others. Today I interplanted with 2 sweet basil, a pepper, Molten Fire amaranth, and a couple other plants I can't remember at this moment.    

Pepper bed.

Not finished with modifications but here are2 "Mel's" metal trellises with homemade green twine trellises in the middle for KY Wonder beans.  I bought new poly trellis so they will reach all the way down to the top of the bed.  



Seedlings I either have to plant or toss.  This afternoon I did get quite a few planted, but there are still lots of tomatoes and some peppers, flowers, etc.

Dragon tongue beans 2' x 3'.

Transplanted cucumbers.  Only one died but I had spares for replacement.

Lastly, Sweetie's cash crop.  She has a couple of "buyers" in Sac.

Today, I managed to finish modifying the KY Wonder bean trellis to it's full height. I also tied green stretchy garden tape to the top of the tomato trellis/cage and started wrapping the main stems. I will let some of the suckers grow and tie them also. Yesterday's transplants seem be doing well.

Forecast is for possible thunderstorms Wednesday at dinner time.

Double Mel's trellises for the cucumbers.  The parallel trellises are joined with 3-way fittings at the top and secured tightly with twine.  Same with the overhead tomato support frame.  Down the center is a V-shaped string trellis.  I still have to trim the plastic ties.

These determinant tomatoes were seeded March 9 and are going crazy in the new TT bed.  The main stems of 6 varieties are being wrapped in green stretchy garden tape.  I'll train 2-4 suckers of each plant the same way.  The 7th tomato, Snow Fairy, doesn't really need to be trellised.  It kind of sprawls.  

Today was kind of depressing with Mel's passing, so I stayed in the garden working with the SFG beds.

Warm weather expected for the weekend.

I discovered a 4th variety in my grab bag tomato seedlings.  All my seeds have sprouted except bunching onions and green peppers, but I bought red & yellow pepper plants and chives, so if the others want to pout, who needs 'em? 

Today we finished fencing the new sfg garden. I actually used a power tool and stapled half the fence. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? 

Pipevine swallowtail caterpillars are starting to wander. (That's what they do when it's time to pupate.) I had to rescue 7-8 of them from underfoot while working on the garden. Now I'm in the house, listening to the lovely rain and making plans for tomorrow -- mulch the pathways, reshape the butterfly host garden. LIFE IS GOOD! 

I could use a little advice.

YS or anyone in hot zones with oranges,  You have orange trees.  I didn't get it pruned before it flowered and now there are some green "peas" set.  Can I go a head a prune small branches that don't have fruit, especially suckers at the top where we can't reach?

Yellow bell peppers - I have 2 varieties of yellow bells and both plants are sickly yellow, but the other hots and bells are green.  Is this normal?  Both yellow bells are visible in the first photo.


I planted Spanish onion sets in late October.  They all sent up flower stalks this spring.  I cut the leaves shorter but this is all I got when I finally pulled them 5-6-16.  (need the bed for melons)  When should I plant sets or start seeds for CA climate in order for them to be full size and store-able?  

Thanks in advance.

Moving on, here is a tall volunteer Kiss-me-over-the garden-gate half way down this side yard.  Last summer the one seedling I raised only got a foot or so tall.  You can see the hanging baskets (a la Jimmy Cee) that I just finished yesterday.  Well, I still need to put straw on them.  With the hot dry summer winds, it is impossible to keep the MM moist so I lined the coir baskets with plastic this year and poked a hole in each about 2" from the bottom.  Petunias and snap dragons are rather puny now.

Larkspur?  I had to remove it from the 3' x 3' color spot at the back corner of the fence in the above photo.  It looks like it was going to put on a good color show.  The thing is, I grew it from seeds LAST summer.  It proved to be a good sacrificial plant for grass hoppers so I hated to pull it out yesterday.  

This is compost from the cold compost cage I made last fall with green leaves, straw, city compost (yuk), manure, coffee, rotted veggies etc.  I called it my junk pile, turned it twice and designated any product for flower beds.  Crawling with worms.    Native dirt on the right.  When I severely pruned the 3' x 3' petunia, I threw the trimmings back on top to discourage visiting kitties until I get it planted.

No rain forecast for today. Of course, once I get into a messy project outside, it's bound to rain!

Bump. I could use some help.

I planted 5 different kinds of peppers inside. They are desperate to be up-potted (too cold for them outside yet), but I won't have room until the tomatoes go out, but first I have to... ANYHOW -- There are definite differences in the different peppers responses to 'starving' in the same potting mix. One kind looks great, two are so-so, another is unhappy, and the fifth is heading towards pitiful with yellowing and even brown spots. Same with my eggplant seedlings (yellowing due to needing more room/nutrients.) My guess is that some varieties of peppers are heavier feeders, even though my seedlings are all about the same size. But I don't know whether your pepper wants calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, or what -- or whether it has what it needs, but can't get to it due to pH issues.... or more/less water.... or whether the problem is something else altogether. I bought all but one of my peppers last year, and purchased half of them this year, so I don't have much experience.

I'm pretty new to growing onions, and I'm not familiar with CA growing conditions, but if I recall correctly the 'magic' temperature is 45-F: If they are anything but tiny seedlings, below 45 for awhile and then warm again makes them bolt. Do you know whether you should be growing long-day, short-day, or neutral-day onions - and which kind your Spanish onions are? (Don't assume your local store sells the right kind like I did....) I started my onions from seed, inside, 10-12 weeks BLF (before last frost). I'm doing better than last year in terms of germination, survival, and size at transplant. The general range to maturity listed on onion seed packets seemed to be 100-120 days.

On the Orange, you want to do dead wood pruning before growth season. For water sprouts or suckers snip'em when you see them.  If they've gotten a little thick on you treat them like a small branch and leave a little nub.  Keep the sprout pruning light though. 

For the onions, thanks for the question.  I reread Pat Welsh's "Southern California Organic Gardening". She's been quite accurate for me in the past. She's very specific on Onions down here.    Short day variety only and from seed. Plant seed between November 1 - 10 directly to ground. 

Transplants from short day variety starts in ground early January.  

Not sure how tiur micro zone compares to the SoCal coastal-ish sunset Zone 22/23 which is what most of her advise is geared towards

Apparently strawberries are the same.

Thanks guys. I have 16 varieties of peppers in the bed 2 in pots and only the 2 yellow bells in the bed have yellow leaves. I'm on the 8B-9A border regarding zones. Hot and dry summers, cool/cold/frost winters. I forget So Cal is so "semi-tropical."

I've also been jarred to remember I have "California fruit & Vegetable Gardening" book. I could read about onions in that. Duh

I'll be careful on pruning the citrus tree. I'll just prune out dead stuff, crossing suckers and leave some leaf coverage on the top to prevent sunburn.

sanderson wrote:I have 16 varieties of peppers in the bed 2 in pots ...

Boy, somebody likes her peppers!

CC

Peppers are good for seasonings, and colored veggies in the summer. Cayenne, red chili and pimento for drying and grinding into powders. Colored bells for health, fresh and frozen. Poblamo for stuffing and freezing, Jimmy and mini bells for snacking.

Read some of Veggie subjects in the "California" book last night, like until 3:30 AM, and I think I am growing the wrong onions here. Should be short day, or med at the most. I need to continue reading because there are some things I should tweak or out right change. Humble me

sanderson wrote:Peppers are good for seasonings, and colored veggies in the summer.  Cayenne, red chili and pimento for drying and grinding into powders.  Colored bells for health, fresh and frozen.  Poblamo for stuffing and freezing, Jimmy and mini bells for snacking.  

Read some of Veggie subjects in the "California" book last night, like until 3:30 AM, and I think I am growing the wrong onions here.    Should be short day, or med at the most.  I need to continue reading because there are some things I should tweak or out right change.  Humble me  

I don't know what the right answers are, but it sounds like I asked the right questions... I've got a square of the wrong day onions in my garden right now. It was easier to just go with it than try to return the seeds. One year the CSA I used to be part of had a LOT of green onions one year, and not much else, so I learned how to cook with them. I figure I can use non-bulbing onions as green onions. Especially since my first round of direct seeded scallions didn't germinate.

You've got me beat on peppers - I only have 10 kinds. Two kinds of bells, Fish, Tollio, Carmen, Round of Hungary, Leutschau for paprika, poblanos, Thai, and jalapeños, I skipped the cayennes because I haven't gone through the ones from last year. I've been told by a friend that I must grow Aleppo peppers next year, and I'll probably add a sweet paprika pepper if I add more growing space.

I forgot about the paprika and jalapenos. I have those as part of the hots. It sounds like the right variety for the latitude and climate is more important than I knew. Back to the book for more information for my area.

Saturday it rained all day, so I did some much-needed "house gardening" (harvested dust bunnies -- weeded the laundry basket -- transplanted a whole bushel of clutter).

Sunday (Mother's Day) -- went to the inlaws for BBQ where I was given a nice bunch of onions to transplant (which I did yesterday).

Today I transplanted chives and planted 4 large containers of tomatoes. Whew! I got it all done, but I'm pooped. 

countrynaturals wrote:Saturday it rained all day, so I did some much-needed "house gardening" (harvested dust bunnies -- weeded the laundry basket -- transplanted a whole bushel of clutter).

95*F forecast for Wednesday! I still don't have all of the sun shades in place and still need to seed the melons, string up the indeterminant tomatoes, and try to get some replacement herbs started. Why is it taking me forever to get squared away this year?