I am cutting out and eating heads of lettuce whenever I need it. The red romaine can be slightly bitter, but at least the slugs stay away. I did get to enjoy two heads of Butter Crunch, (so far).

July WEATHER: Update: cloudy and cool. We got a freak thunder storm on July 29th.

 

 

Finally, consistent great weather. All plants are flourishing with exception to the Opium poppies in the flower bed.

Pest Update:

The poppy foliage has been attacked by little caterpillars and they have done incredible damage. Lots of buds are coming up, but one has already been eaten.

The Oregon Spring Tomato has been attacked by large green caterpillars, who managed to put holes in nearly every tomato the plant grew. Fortunately, the pests have stayed to the Oregon spring, and left the Sun Gold and Better Girls to grow in peace.

Some of the Yellow Gold Rush zuccinis are rotting at the blossom end before they can mature. Some manage to grow. Could it be poor pollenation?

 

The ground cover in the marble is looking good in the shade, but I think the Scotch moss was a bad pick. It is time to fill the sunny part in with the creeping thyme, it is beautiful and compact.

 

White Boganvilla bloomed at the beginning of August. (just a note) As well the second run of roses.

 

I am finding that the photos on this site are difficult to understand later into the season when the plants get so overgrown. You will have to take my word for it that there is alot of food in there!

 

 

I will plant some pea seeds direct, along with kale seed, cilantro, and more arugala.

 

The summer crop in bolting, so I need to start another round for winter.

 

Along with the seeds, I will also plant some starts from the nursery, that way it is stagered and we will have some to eat sooner and later.

 

 

Jessica helped take out the zuc.s and plant Kale starts from the nursery. I then planted carrots, chard, and spinach by seed. I see Chard sprouts now (Oct 6). Two zuc.s by the compost are still producing, so they will stay in a little longer. When they come out, I will trasplant the chard so it can have more space.

 

September WEATHER:  Has been clear and getting cooler. The fog comes in later in the day, but isn't very noticeable in our neighborhood. We just have an awesome view of the massive fog wall coming over Twin Peaks. Mostly, we get ripping winds for part of the early evening.

 

The change of daylight is also very notable. Shadows are getting longer once again.

 

 

Made a big tomato harvest today, and got some zuccinis, too! I think there could be one more small harvest before winter.

 

The Kale babies look ok. The chard sprouts got devoured by snails, but I have managed to save about 6-8 with plastic bottles acting as cloches. All it takes is two plants getting full size to get enough food for the season.

 

The wild flowers are making me very happy. I just cleared out the weeds to make room for spring sprouting seeds (more poppies) that go in during Fall.

 

Jessica mailed lambs ear from here home and I got it planted all around my garden and in the flower beds.

 

October WEATHER:  cool in the a.m. and warm during the day. Getting into the high 70s in SF areas, and 90's east bay! On Oct. 26 the temp.s dropped and we are beginning to get light rains. We put the clocks back, so it turned dark and cold over one night.

 

October To Do:  plant poppy seeds, clear out dead foliage. Protect sunflower seeds.

 

October Highlights:  the white boganvilla is still in bloom. The Echinacea bloomed in the last week. The Marigolds are on fire. And, there is one cucumber still growing. White sunflowers are still growing, as well as the other old-fashioned flower mix flowers.

 

 

It was a rainy winter, and I did't do a bit of work in the yard, besides picking up the occational pile of molding squishy lemons.

All of the fruit trees got Pruned in January. First time in 5 or more years.

Sadly, Despina had the Apricot graft cut off. Boo Hoo. The one branch only produced about 5/year, but they were a good and tasty five.

 

 

March has once again brought the warmth and sun, only two weeks early this year.

It has been good for some weeding that has to be done before I prep the soil.

Despina did not have her workers do the top garden for me this year, so I have a big job ahead. Rebecca says she will help.

 

One or two more storms ahead, and lots of snail killing to do.

 

Mild, very windy at times, and June was mostly grey with some sun later in the days.

 

A lot of time has passed since I checked in with the Journal. A lot has happened of course. I have just been lazy with the site because it is really more of the same as last year.

Exception: The veggies are fruiting quicker this year. I  was eating zuc.s and cukes in June this year! I think the soil has improved year after year, so that helps. I have lots of Swiss Chard, but continue to battle the leaf miners.

Rick from World Courier gave me lots of Romaine and Bib babies. I will plant them July 5th.

The perimeter of the garden has plenty of Amaranth, Sunflowers, and Foxglove this year. The strawberries were moved before fruiting season, and I think it works better. The tomatoes are in a different location (3 year going now, different spots, I will put them in the first year spot next year). I defeated the mice this year, and the snap peas are doing very well.

New for this year are Pole Beans dispursed in the ground crawling Zuc plants.

Bush bean are by the compost again and doing quite well.

Peaches!!!! Mid to Late June the peach tree showed how happy it was to be pruned, and it has been making the biggest, juiciest, fruits. Sadly, Despina had the Apricot branch cut off.