More Daylight But Less Time

 

I have been very busy just tending to my own garden and getting the school garden ready for spring. There's so much to do like pulling out some of the plants that are just overgrown and making sure everything is nicely mulched. The weather keeps on changing. It is cool one day, then a little bit warmer, then hot, and it goes back to cool again. My sugar snap peas are really confused.

My David Austin roses are blooming in mass profusion but the blooms don't look as nice since they didn't really get enough rest this past winter. Some of the roses that I have are very old too and are still in pots. The roots have gone deep down into the ground and I cannot pull them out. The pot is literally stuck to the soil.

There is a lot of kale and cabbage but the slugs and snails seem to be having more fun than I am because they are just leaving a lot of holes behind.

This cabbage is shaped like a football. So weird! I thought the tarragon died but it is coming back from dormancy. I totally forgot about it. It was a good three dollar investment. I'll have that herb for the rest of my life. Not sure if I will need so much of it though.

For some reason when I scattered my frisée seeds, I didn't expect my whole half of the garden to become a big salad bowl. The slugs love hanging around the frisée. 

Overall, this week it is suppose to drizzle. We had that mega rain that came down like cats and dogs a few weeks ago. We sure need more rain. It's a mixed blessing. If our streets were not so dirty all the time, I am all for the rain but there is so much trash and stuff just mixed with all the water that flows into our storm drains! Our air us just as bad. We need to do our part and keep our trash picked up. 

Busy as a Bee

The week is almost over and the last time I visited my community garden plot was on Sunday. Now I am trying to make my school garden nice and tidy for spring because I was so busy the last couple of weeks with report cards and portfolios. The garden looks bare but the buddleia plants are looking very healthy. The milkweed has recovered from all the monarch caterpillars. I planted a few lavender seedlings and some Mexican sage. I moved my pots near my classroom so I can water my freesia that I had for over 15 years. Over the years I lost some but that was to due to my neglect. The weather is once again warming up. I think winter completely skipped us here in Los Angeles. I look foward to visiting my garden soon.

First Day Of MG Class

Today was the first day of the Master Gardener Training Class. It rained pretty much the whole day. I can't believe I am finally doing this! I have been gardening at my school for the last 15 years. I have been gardening at community garden for 10 years. It is true that I am married to the biggest gardener! It is a big commitment but I look forward to volunteering in the community and in schools. Gardening has always been a part of my life ever since I was a little girl in Seoul. I loved examining plants and trees. The insects fascinated me. When I accidentally dug up peanuts, I was just so curious to know how something so tasty grew under the ground. My girls have been gardening with me since they started to walk. It something that we should all do, not only to grow food but to celebrate life. Regardless of where we live and what we do, it is so important to find time to grow something big or small.

It finally rained!

The anticipation for rain was great and it finally materialized. On Thursday, it poured in the late afternoon.
All the dirt, gunk, trash, debris, and whatever was clinging on to dear life got washed away. It was good and bad depending on your how you feel about the state of the environment. The freeways were a mess but that is to be expected. Seriously for once, the air seemed to be clean and clear.

The day before, I had my students help me with cleaning up the school garden, It was just a dusty mess! The plants were covered in a layer of grime. I knew it was time to get the pruners out to trim all the butterfly bushes.

Now it is cloudy and cool, just perfect for all the cabbages, sugar snap peas, carrots, kale, and other vegetables that need cool weather so that their flavors will develop!

Happy Groundhog Day

It just rained a few minutes ago! Six more weeks of winter. It has been nothing close to winter in Los Angeles. There was barely any rain only a tease here and there of a short drizzle or sprinkle.

I love this weather but a gardener depends on the change of weather for growing. Sunshine is great all the time but we also need the rain, wind, and the occasional gray day.

I picked my last large romanesco broccoli today. I still have a few baby romanesco plants right now. The peas are just a crazy tangle of a mess. The lettuce area is looking great. I have some frisée growing. I need to check my seed packets. Just like the plants I am confused about what is happening to the weather and our environment.

Rain Rain, Please Come Our Way!

A gardener's worst nightmare is lack of rain and drought. State of California has declared a state of emergency. Are those words supposed to be capitalized? 

My water conservation methods have been improving over the years. The key to water conservation is knowing what crops to plant, amending the soil, and mulching. Water retention is a big factor here. Water should seep right in and go deep. Plants should be watered deeply so their roots go deep in the ground and not so much on the surface or midway. Then comes the mulch. If you turn your soil after a hot day and see that the soil is still moist under that mulch then you got it right. The mulch will help with the evaporation rate. You don't want your soil to be muddy inside your mulch either. Then you are watering too much and your soil sucks! Worms are a good indicator of good soil. What worm would want to live in soil that lacks organic matter and moisture? The soil should be airy. Compacted soil is just terrible. It is good to turn the soil once in awhile but not too often or it will disturb the soil balance. The key is not to water too frequently so you can save on water usage. Plants can tolerate it. You just have to experiment with your soil and see what works best for your garden. Just because we are facing drought and lack of rain does not mean I can't garden. People have been gardening in deserts and other desolate places. It just makes us realize how precious water is.

Going Back To Work

It has been great

three weeks of gardening. The weather was mild...almost unnaturally warm. I was able to weed, feed, prune, and see the awesome growing in my garden. I visited the school gardens too. They are all thriving. The only sad event was the death of my plumeria stick. Besides that I don't usually kill anything. It was a shock to me when I saw the stick all shriveled up at school. I am looking forward to the romanesco broccoli harvest.

The cabbages are forming their heads. So excited! One head got eaten by something.

 I am so lucky to live in an area where you can just grow about anything all year around.

The worms are happy in the compost bin. In my 13x13 space, I can do just about anything except have an orchard. I will leave that up to the garden at my folks. Good dirt makes me happy. Growing something makes me happy. Going back to work means that I won't have a lot of time after work to take care of my garden. I will be looking forward to daylight savings!

The New Year

I have been pruning all the roses and keeping the garden tidy. The last few days, I have been working feverishly to get the garden ready for some more winter crops.

This romanesco broccoli is such a freak of nature. I have about 4 more of them just doing well but the snails love to hide in there!

The seedling in the middle is already bolting! The weather has been really strange lately! Warm and cold,  then cool again. It can't make up its mind. I have been watering the garden at my daughters' school while my husband is away.

The rose hedge is now gone. I pruned it back for the winter. I am really happy about keeping this my permanent rose area.

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.