California - What are you doing this month?

Starts from independent nursery.

No shame in that :-)  I'd do it if I remembered to look when I'm down the mountain, LOL!

A few carrots and parnips have sprouted! Do they need freeze protection? There are 2 new baby tomatoes in the greenhouse. This is a fun experiment.

Oranges! So pretty!

Carrots and parsnips don't need frost protection. In my garden, the only protection needed is from house finches that seem to come in flocks ahead of Northwestern storms. Those feathered locusts will strip everything: My squash and been plants, parsley, chard, kale and carrots are picked clean of any greenery. They even eat the rye grass lawn faster than it can grow, leaving bald patches. Seems like the only greens they leave alone are the tree Kale (they haven't touched it...yet.)

Thanks, YS

Just started to rain, so I'm just going to relax and wait for more weeds to pop up. I just finished cleaning the gutters, so let it pour

We had a nice rain yesterday, also. 0.15"

I haven't been online much for a couple days.  That dang molar got another infection so I had to get it pulled and a bone graft yesterday.  The appointment was for next Tuesday but I couldn't do a darn thing because of the pain, the sinus and ear infections, so they fit me in.  I still have the sinus and ear infections but the throbbing  pain is gone. Yeah!  We will have Thanksgiving dinner on Friday in Sac.  At least I only have the side dishes this year.

Before I got sick, i fooled around with the hanging baskets.  This morning I noticed that something has been tearing up the baskets.  I asked the cat and she said it wasn't her.  So I guess it's the birds pecking for the fibers.

One of the green totes of sweet potatoes can be seen in the photo.  The plants have died down this week so I guess it's time to dump one and see what's in there.  The 2 little grandsons are supposed to spend the next Friday with us I and I thought dumping the totes could be one project to do.  Maybe plant some pansies in a couple hanging baskets?  Just trying to figure out how to keep Knee High and Short Stuff entertained for 8 hours while mom and dad attend a conference here in town.

Wow sanderson, that tooth problem sounds brutal.  Hope the infections clear up very soon.

Sanderson, I cringe when I think of your tooth, sinus and ear problems. I'm so sorry to hear your ailing. The last "toothache" I went to my dentist for was actually a sinus infection that ultimately led to some nasty surgery. Seems that my sinus and ear problems were the result of allergies that left me vulnerable to the germs that my nieces and nephews brought along on one of their visits. I broke the cycle by getting allergy shots, and the MD says he doesn't foresee any need for more surgery or any more tubes in my ears( I had to have tubes put in my ears 4X- I thought only kids had those- but they were a great relief, and not much pain involved). I do hope you are feeling better soon so you can shoo away those birds that are picking your planters apart. I had the same thing happen and it was blue jays and towhees the were the offending parties.

Thanks, folks. I can only get better and better, now. I looked up towhees - cute little birds. I have mocking birds, occasional blue jay, finches ??, and lots of hummingbirds.

It was close to freezing last night. A lot of frost. The tomatoes in the green house are still alive even though I haven't set up a heat source on timers yet. Bad thing about being sick is not being able to do things that should be done. The little baby tomatoes are growing bigger. I can only imagine what it would be like to walk through Audrey's green house with tomatoes and peppers growing.

I feel for you, Sanderson. I have had a ton of work done in my mouth. Awful. Expensive. Hope you feel better and get a resolution to the issues!

+1, Sanderson!  I haven't had to have a lot done, but DH has...  I can see how miserable he feels sometimes...

Feel better soon!!!!

My total empathy (and sympathy) for any one with teeth problems. For me, each day I feel better and better.

My Christmas greenhouse.

I pruned and watered the tomato plants inside, and, snip! there went the biggest tom. There are 4 other toms but they are still small.

sanderson ... that is very cute.

Oops!  As long as you didn't snip it to the ground!

Looks pretty, Sanderson...!

Thanks. I snipped the stem on which the big tom was growing, not the whole plant.

I haven't been doing all that much this week. Picked some Green Lance Kale for dinner. It's one of 3 varieties growing and it was very mild. The others are Russian and Curly. All of the garlic, onions, lettuce, carrots, snow peas, bok choy, cabbage and parsnips are doing good. The greenhouse tomatoes have 5 baby toms! No Cal is expecting rain tomorrow. I gathered 5 33-gal bags of leaves from 4 neighbors on Monday and meant to gather pear and Chinese Pistachio from the elementary school today before the rain, but ran out of daylight. Maybe on Sat if there is a break in the rain/sprinkles. I want to get them all shredded before they go in the leaf bins so we won't have to deal with mowing moldy leaves in the spring.

What are the rest of you folks doing? Braced for the rain?

Love your Christmas greenhouse!

Thanks, SR.

Today I raked and bagged 14 33-gallon bags of wet pear and Chinese Pistachio leaves at 4 neighbors. Then husband double-mowed the leaves into nice confetti! 462 gallons of wet leaves reduced to 105 gallons of confetti. I'm hoping to have some nice leaf mold come spring! I learned this spring (2015) that I really need a lot of leaves, double mowed, to make one batch of nice, finished compost. Windy rain is expected tomorrow and it just feels good to have all those leaves in their cages and covered. The 6 bags of dried leaves can wait to be mowed until after the rain.

Well done, sanderson. Next spring you will be glad you did it in the fall.  I still have   leaves in bags, but the leaves are dray so will be easy to shred when I get round to it. I ran out of time this year. but the beauty of it is that they are not lost. Will be ready to add to grass clipping next year, whenever that day arrives.

I found out that my husband packed the wet shredded leaves into their cages!  I wanted them all fluffy with air space so they didn't packed into impossible thick sheets/layers.  Hard to explain.  So I need to get out there Monday or Tuesday and transfer and fluff them into another large cage.  Dry leaves can wait until spring if necessary, right?

0.22" of rain Sunday.

Sometimes the best of intentions...... Got to get some air and some green material in there soon or you'll be dealing with a stinky anaerobic mess. I still shovel out mats of leaf material that was too wet and not the right combo for good composting. They are just chunks of spore- laden fibers that don't crumble and mix well in the beds. Thank goodness I didn't leave any old blighted tomato debris from last year, because I have a hunch those spores are not just from mushrooms!. I hope you can get a batch to heat up enough to kill any pathogens- this season's temps are pretty low right now. The worms are bedding down in the center of the pile to stay warm.

"Mats of leaf material" That's exactly what I was trying to explain. He meant well, but it was counter productive. The leaves are for future Berkeley hot compost so there isn't anything else mixed with them. I do bury the few kitchen veggie/fruit scraps in the center but that's just because I don't have freezer space for them, so I give them to Nature instead. Yes, it looks like we are headed into freeze temps in the next few days.