Who's nuts now?

I spotted him on Sunday, slinking across the yard, not looking anywhere but at the almond tree. As I flung open the back door, I roared as loud as I could, then ran out gingerly in my bare feet, waving my arms and trying to look ferocious. The squirrel merely sat up on two legs, front paws tucked into chest (was he casting his eyes?) and with a quick look back at the tree, flicked his tail and scampered much too nonchalantly up to and over the fence. I ow-owed my way back to the house, picking stones and debris out of the soles of my feet!

And where was squirrel patrol? Probably terrorizing some poor birds nest. I'm not a cat person. The three mangy moggies who make up squirrel patrol ignore me (at best) and I choose to let them walk hassle free in my yard so long as I see some benefit to me. So far the benefit has been a distinct lack of squirrels... until this morning.

This time last year the almonds were intact. But then I went to Ireland. When I got home three weeks later, all that was left was a pile of shells beneath the tree.

This year things are going to be different. I wrapped the tree up in a strong plastic net.

I made sure to secure it at the bottom so the squirrels could not get up the trunk of the tree.

I do worry that the large mesh size will only help them climb up the tree and that they'll figure out how to put their arms in and still steal the almonds. But it's the best I can do - like many aspects of gardening - it's an experiment.

So for now the nuts are safe and looking squirrel-enticingly good.

Now I've got to stop the squirrel patrol from pooping in my raised beds. So the backdoor is flung open and I go charging out when I see a cat in the yard. I really must remember to keep shoes by the backdoor!

Byddi Lee

Why buy broccoli when you can grow your own?

Listening to people talking on the radio when you are driving rather than blasting music and singing along is sign of getting old, I reckon. But I was listening to a talk show the other day about the health care vote thinggy-majiggy here in the US. As far as I can make out the question is about making everyone buy health insurance, and an analogy has been drawn along the lines of forcing people to buy broccoli.  However, this is not a political blog, and I don't really want to air any comment on the health insurance issue as I feel ill equipped to make a call on it either way (Can I get health insurance for being ill equipped?) But I thought it was a great title for a blog post.

I've been agonizing about what to write in my blog these days. The very nature of gardening is cyclical, so I could end up covering the same topics year in and year out which gets too repetitive for my liking. I could post lots more "How to"s but there is very little out there that hasn't been done, that can't be googled and it feels too much like my work as a gardening coach.

So this week I decided  to give you a "Spring Garden Tour" sponsored by all the lovely rain we finally and gratefully received. And there is actually no pictures of the broccoli which I've largely allowed to go to seed for next years crop! But I do buy health insurance - can't rely on good health setting seed year after year unfortunately.

The order of the photos is fairly random - Enjoy!

First stop the bulb garden.

Having bought a few dozen tulip bulbs before I knew just how high maintenance they were purported to be in California, I decided that I couldn't go through the rigmarole of keeping them in my fridge for eight weeks and then have them probably only ever blossom that one time. Unwilling to throw out what looked like perfectly good bulbs after they had bloomed and died back, I buried them in the bulb garden only to be wonderfully surprised by blooms this year.

Not the most spectacular tulips ever but hey, better than a kick in the nuts. (I'll show you my nuts later in the tour.)

 

This shot captures the gogi-berry bush in the foreground. It still hasn't produced berries. And a fence lizard - tip-toeing through the tulips!

My containers are spewing forth blossom left, right and center.

Regular deadheading and fertilizing is the key to beautiful pots.

I love lettuce - its so easy, so forgiving, and oh so colorful...

Some are still in the six packs where I planted their tiny wee seeds and never got round to transplanting them. I'm harvesting them straight from here.

I have about a dozen varieties of lettuce - the ultimate ornamental edible - say that quickly five times!

 

These are from seeds saved last year.

  

Even better are the plants that save you the bother of saving their seeds and just reseed themselves. The winter arugula crop decided to go for it again.

 

And in the native garden the Hooker's Evening Primrose had put out one brave little seedling. A disappointing amount of reseeding but lets see if the rain brings forth any more. I'm maintaining the "prime directive"  as far as I can in the native garden, until they get warp speed of course!

It works for the poppies.

For the checkerbloom too.

And for the blue eyed grass - which has yellow 'eyes' and is not a grass but a petite iris.

And the succulent garden delivered a sweet surprise. My stone plant blossomed practically before my eyes.

And an hour later I walked past and it was doing this...

Blooming gorgeous is the name of the game for this drift of candy tuft - amazing for a plant that gets absolutely no attention (including irrigation) from me.

My spoon petaled daisy (given to me by a Master Gardener buddy last year) blossomed in abundance.

The artichoke given to me by my friend Lisa is coming along nicely too. I just have to figure out to to cook these things!

Propagation is ongoing in the garden, sometimes on purpose - I need to fill these new raised beds.

 

Here are some of the warm season seeding results.

Other propagation is accidental - nature finding a way to keep going.

My neighbor Laurie gave me a Christmas Cactus and one of the "leaves" (actually it's a segment of stem) came off. It seems to be growing.

I lost one of the Dracaena marginata in this pot but it seems to have left behind a baby!

Outside, I'm protecting the new seedlings from the nasty birds.

Having run out of bird netting I had to get creative.

As promised - a picture of my nuts. Almonds to be precise.

I just hope I get to harvest them before the squirrels get there. Nothing worse than the squirrels sinking their teeth into your .... harvest!

Byddi Lee

Eco Gardening Coach

It's never that simple

There are many challenges in gardening, especially when you are gardening in a climate that is different to what you are used to. I like to try growing new things. I managed to get a sweet potato from the supermarket to sprout and grow. I've kept it in a large pot to limit any possible damage that may arise from viruses and other diseases with the supermarket bought root. 

First, I was surprised by the beautiful leaves, until I saw the flowers! They are lovely, but do I cut them off to send the energy to the root? I decided not to bother. I've given this project ornamental status. If I eat from it, then I eat!

In many cases, it is recommend that you cut off the flowers to strengthen root crops. This year I discovered Garlic scapes. These are the flowering shoots of the garlic and should be removed at an early stage. The good news is they are edible - great in a stir-fry. In fact, all parts of any of the Allium family are edible. Mine developed when I was in Ireland and were quite advanced when I got home. But chop it up and fry it in a wee pan and they are delicious.

The bulbs did suffer from being left with the flowers developing too long, but the only variety that had produced scapes was the Chinese purple. I think it was a fairly decent crop. I wish I'd planted more! Now, I've just got to let these dry out in a shady spot with the leaves on so they can take in that last wee bit of goodness.

Of course, another challenge is competing with the small furry natives. While we were in Ireland, the squirrels had themselves an almond party! Not a single one left on the tree, but lots of shells on the ground.

Timing is all important in the garden. Right now I'm waiting for my lettuce to set seed so that I can collect it for the next crop. It seems to take forever and it looks so unsightly, like I'm a lazy gardner who hasn't cleared away the rubbish!

But if anything has shown holes in my gardening prowess it has to be the tomatoes.  They just are not growing. At least not compared to my neighbor Al's - who is the king of the giant tomato! Last year it was the same story. This year, my garden is doing better that it was last year. The mulching with compost helps, as does the fish emulsion, the bat guano and the Dr. Earth fertilizer. But still those tomatoes are not filling up those big cages I bought for them.

 

I was tempted to phone the Master Gardeners hotline. But wait a minute - I am a Master Gardener - I can figure this out myself.

As I sat out by my tomatoes, with my Master Gardener Handbook open on my knee, I had a serious pep-talk with my tomatoes.

"Listen up guys," I began. "What's going on? I bought you the best cages I could find - beautiful Texas tomato cages, the biggest I could get and you hardly fill them.

"I'm giving you the best of organic fertilizers.

"I've taken a magnifying glass to search for russet mite and found none.

"If you had nematode worms you'd probably be in worse shape than this and you aren't wilted.

"Sure you have a tiny amount of aphids but come on. Guys, I'm supposed to be a Master Gardener and you lot are making me look bad!"

I heard Al on the other side of the fence working in his yard. He's probably one of the few people who won't think it strange that I talk to my tomatoes. I asked him what he does with his. Perhaps he does amend his soil a little more than me. And his use of miracle grow will not cause that difference - nitrates are nitrates to the plants - they don't care about the source of the molecule. But then he asked was I watering them enough.

"Oh yes," I said, fairly confident that I had this one right. I see the damp soil every morning when I go out to say hi to my plants. It might be a dessert here, but my veggies are never denied water. So I replied, "thirty minutes, every morning."

"Hmmm," Al said, "I water mine for ten minutes every second day."

Mystery possibly solved! I researched it a little more on the internet and found the symptoms for overwatering exactly describing my tomatoes.

"Over watered tomato plants can not take up iron. The leaves will start coming in pale green or yellow. The lower leaves will fall off and the plants will grow and fruit poorly."

I'm so used to plants growing in the rain soaked soil of Irish gardens, that I panic a little at the scorching sun here and perhaps have overcompensated by giving too much water. I really hope that this is what is happening. The new watering regime kicks in today - fifteen minutes, three times a week. I'm happier to spend less on water, but I won't believe it grows bigger tomatoes until I see it!

Byddi