It Has Been A While

I have not taken a break from gardening. I have taken time off from blogging. Now it is December and the weather has considerably turned cold. It should be cold but just 10 days ago, it was unseasonably warm. I planted all the cool  weather crops. The warm weather has helped with the germination. The cold weather has slowed the growth.

In my school garden, the monarch caterpillars got a real late start in life! Fortunately, most of them survived but a few did not. It was amazing to see the transformation. The students were just so amazed. We need to plant more milkweed in our gardens! They are voracious eaters. The more the better.

The dill has taken off and the sugar snap peas are still taking their time. I am looking forward to pruning my David Austin roses. It is going to be a lot of work but it has to be done. 

I am going to miss my bouquets of the week. Everything is slowing down. I look forward to spring. I still have a month of David Austin roses to look forward to.

Happy Halloween

It was a warm, sunny day in the Valley. I headed straight for my community garden to water the pea seedlings and the greens I planted. The plumeria that I bought 3 months ago had root rot so I had to cut 4 inches off. I will be drying the stem for a whole. It looks so battered. On the coast it has been cool. I am just making sure the plants don't dry out. The red roses are just blooming in profusion right now.

Did It Rain?

Did it really rain yesterday? I visited the garden today and the snap peas were coming up. The David Austin roses were blooming and I was not going to pick them but I had my pruners so I did.

Yesterday, we made kale chips out of the pound of the kale that I picked on Sunday. As the weather gets cooler the lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and kale are doing really well. I have a cilantro that is about 2 feet tall. The monarch butterfly was depositing an egg on the milkweed plant.

Cool Weather is Here

Okay, I have been really busy just watering and taking care of my garden. I really haven't had the time to just sit and contribute to my blog but I think that I not have been neglecting my gardening duties. Last Sunday, I planted all the kale, lettuce, cabbage and sowed the sugar snap peas. The weather warmed up a little but it has been really cool and foggy in the morning. The roses seem to be really happy because the petals are not getting burned by the heat. Yesterday I went to the grand opening of the Pasadena Community Garden. It's so great to see a community finally get a garden of their own. A garden is so important because it really helps us to stop and think about what is really important in our lives. We really need to slow down and enjoy nature, be able to eat what we grow, and just feel positive and successful!

I have indeed been very busy....

Curly Kale

The winds are back and there a bit of chill in the air. Last weekend, I pulled out the cucumber vines and the borage plant. The roses are getting ready for their fall blooming. The buds are steadily getting eaten by the snails. I rush to the garden after school to water and the traffic has been bad. The dill has reseeded itself and I am ready to plant some more greens. The one lone tomato plant has fruit on it but who know what the fruit will taste like. We have started a few trays of kale and cabbage seedlings. The trick is always to use FRESH seeds.

Cabbage

You never know what the donated seeds had to go through. Sun, wind, fluctuating temperatures, and moisture. Sometimes you have to pay the extra bucks to ensure that your seeds are 90% viable. I am not going to guarantee 100% percent but as long as you sow them throughout the growing season, you can really maximize the growing potential just by storing the seeds in a cool, dark , and dry place when opened. I can't just go to the nursery and plop like 5 dollars for a few plants. It is not about the money but my ability to plan and start my own seedlings.

Lacinato Kale

 The weather has gotten so inconsistent lately. I don't even know what is going on. The Santa Anas? The air is dry and leaves are getting crispy. The bagrada bugs have not made an appearance on my kale yet I have every reason to believe that they will be here soon.

DA roses are just in always in season...

Bok Choy 

How Many Days of Summer are Left?

As a gardener, you consider all your plants to be your children regardless of it being an annual or perennial. You want the best for your plants. The weather has been soaring in the high 80's and low 90's lately. It is not normal to wake up and feel very warm outside when you are only 2.5 miles away from the ocean. What is going on? I used to water every 4 days and now I have to water almost every other day. It has been scorchingly hot. My plumeria tree even has a sunburn. We are facing a drought. I try to water early in the day or late in the afternoon. You can see what happens when you skip watering. The roses start to look unhappy because they are at the peak right now.
The David Austin roses are heavy drinkers. I mean they need to get drunk! The cucumbers need a lot of water as well or their fruit gets stunted. It is really interesting how water plays such a crucial role in our garden. Without water, we can't garden at all. Sometimes I get worried about not getting rain. I also think about all the residue that gets left on the leaves and the fruit. I occasionally hose down all the plants but I try to limit watering over the plants. Mulching is such an important role as a gardener. It minimizes the watering because the the mulch prevents the soil from drying out. I even mulch the roses in the pots. I layer on the composted horse manure. The next time you water, you should really think about how you water your garden. Good soil with a lot of organic material will retain water.

Missing My Garden

 It is hard to be on vacation when you know your garden is in producing bountiful of food. It is also nice to know that there is someone who will water and look out for your garden when you are away. I love going on vacation but my garden is always in the back of my mind. My Big Rainbow is still not dead. It is coming back after a severe prune because the blight has taken over our community garden this year. The weather has been very cool which means that our harvests will be meager at best. The roses look like they missed tlc while I was away. The deadheading is a laborious job when you have so many. The kale, herbs, and the cucumber are doing extremely well. I saw little cuc's dangling on the wire trellis. Work starts on Monday and I have been watering the school garden every two weeks over the summer to keep all the buddleia bushes alive. It has not been climbing up the to 100 degree mark yet and I fear that in October and November, the weather will be pretty hot. All the plants are acting strange. The O'Neal blueberries are starting to flower and it is still producing big clusters of berries. Such a nice treat.
While on vacation, it was nice to visit a few community gardens. They were all small and full of life. Just being with the trees and nature was enough for me to realize how important green space is regardless of how small it can be. Seeing the coastal redwoods makes you feel insignificant in life because nature rules. Nature is greater than man's will because it will take all that we have in a second. It makes me want to protect it even more and I feel sorry for what man has done to the environment in such a short period of time.


Sunflower Fields

The sunflowers fields were incredible. There different fields of growth. I don't know what the flowers are used for. Maybe feed or for seeds to eat. It was just spectacular I have never seen such a beautiful sight. This trip commemorated my ten year wedding anniversary. We spent our time eating great local food and visiting the state parks. There is a lot to do and see in California.  The blackberry picking was a little iffy due to the fact that the best ones were growing amongst poison oak.

wild blackberries near the Smith River

Ripe Gala Apples

Oysters are yucky



Organic Corn from Mendocino

Banana Slugs in Love

Climbing a Nursery Log

 

Wonderful Summer Weather

The joy of summer is looking into your garden and seeing all the beautiful tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and other vegetables ready to be harvested. The weather has been really warm and sunny, meaning that the marine layer is nowhere to be seen. I have not been watering as much but have been checking to see that the cucumber seedlings are not getting eaten. The roses are at their peak and they are constantly blooming...at different times. The red roses come and get scorched easily but all the apricot, pink, white, and yellow ones are just looking fantastic. All the hard work is paying off. Gardening is really easy. All you need is some time to take care of your garden. Maintenance is necessary to keep your garden at its optimum growing capacity. No one can tell you what to do, you just follow your instincts. My elbow is getting better. It still hurts to use a pruner and I have to do some exercises to relieve the stress on the tendons. I have never had this much pain before in one place.

The school harvest looks amazing! Picking it was fun too!

Today's bouquet

Sungold tomatoes are just so tasty!

Monday's harvest at McKinley ES

I saw the craziest berry patch in my community garden.

The most beautiful plumeria I have ever seen!

Visited a plumeria farm on Saturday

I am really getting into plumerias once again. My mom has a few and I chose to go to Kauai just to look at the plumerias during my vacation a long time ago. There are so many varieties.
It is hard to choose! I have to be very careful about what I want. I spent some time this weekend looking at the Thai varieties. Some are them are just outstanding! I already went crazy over David Austin roses. I need to draw the line somewhere.





My Elbow is Still...

 My elbow has not been healing properly because of me. At the first sign of "oh, I feel better", I have been working again the the garden with the pruners. The pruners are bad! But I have to groom all the plants and lately the July gloom has just made my tomato plants look really sad. One tomato plant to had to be pulled out of the ground. Good bye to my Aunt German Green. The Big Rainbow is hanging on and so is Sungold. I can't believe that I thought it was a Sweet Million. I have a lot of tomatoes on the Sungold but I had to strip most of the leaves. I have not been watering it but someone else is not watering properly. Now I know why I do not like to grow tomatoes. The cucumbers are looking good. I am going to check on them today to make sure some survived the cut worms, snails, and the slugs. The kale has been producing. I see the aphids starting to emerge from the tips. That means it is getting warm and the plant is getting a little stressed.




Stripped Plant

The dill is taking off!





Seeing a lot of caterpillars and a swallowtail butterfly depositing an egg

My tomato patch

Too Much of a Good Thing

Sometimes when I get started on something, I need to finish my projects. I put my 100% into it. Well, I did it. I really strained my elbow and I have to not use it. I can type but I can't really use too many fingers. It all started with gardening a few weeks ago. I used the Korean hoe-mi like a madwoman hacking through all the damn narcissus bulbs at John Muir High School. Then in my own garden, I was pruning and using a my elbow a lot. The plumbing issues of this last week caused even more inflammation. I was cleaning the bathroom and lifting heavy things. So I am sitting here with a knee brace on my elbow. I can't do any lifting or do any repetitive motions. I miss my Felco pruners already! My elbow finally told me last night it was done with all the stuff I have been doing to it!

The Heat Is On!

It was cool and cloudy a few days ago and now it is really hot. I took the girls to see my mom before I headed out to Pasadena. I dropped off two roses that are prone to rust near the coast. Only time will tell if the rust is due to the weather. I have been cutting the blighted leaves on the tomatoes. Now the weather pattern has dramatically changed for the better. When the eggplant is growing very rapidly then you know that your tomatoes are also doing very well. I also planted some cucumber seeds and put a trellis around them. My plans are to plant my blueberry bush and make sure that the tomato plants are getting enough air circulation. The tomatoes were given a dose of Dr. Earth fertilizer. The fruits are getting bigger but something is nibbling on a few of them.

Busy Thursday

It was a sunny Thursday. No marine layer. The girls and I drove to John Muir High School in Pasadena. It was the CSA distribution day. The girls helped to fill the bags while I worked in the rose beds. Yikes, it was a lot of clearing I had to do. Why am I doing this? Who am I doing this for? I did the same thing yesterday but I was not able to stay long because I got here at 11am. The damn narcissus! Why? I made water wells for all the roses and I could not get myself to finish one section of it. It was just densely packed with amaranth and more narcissus. I had to pull out a few dead rose bushes. It was sad. I had to stop and get myself out of there because I was not going to sit in traffic like yesterday. It was a lot of traffic going there today. I am never going to escape the traffic in Los Angeles.

We drove to Koreatown, got some lunch and drove to my own garden. I watered all the roses and harvested another zucchini. I am taking the plant out this weekend for sure. I am already done with eating zucchini. The girls picked the last of the blackberries and blueberries.

There is a lot of zucchini at the school garden!