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June 29, 2006
The vegetable area.
Hopi Amaranth and sunflowers on the right. New peppers and tomatoes in back of them. Raspberries and blackberries in the middle. Tomatoes to the left of them. Eggplant and more peppers on the left.
Posted by Bob at 01:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 28, 2006
Roses and new trees
Sue intends to rid the backyard of grass. "It's evil, and it hogs water!" she says. Soon, this area will be filled with roses. The grass doesn't stand a chance.
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June 26, 2006
Progress report
It used to be 1/4 acre of bermuda grass lawn. "My condolences," said Eloi at Santa Monica Armstrong Nursery.
Bob's response to the picture: How pretty.
My response: Oh! I have so much work to do!
But not today: the forecast is for near 100F. It's hot, humid and smoky from a wildfire in the Los Padres Mountains.
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June 25, 2006
Tomatoes blog!
Check out Growing Tomates 2006, "Life and times of a (small time) tomato farm."
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June 24, 2006
Garden hoses and nozzles
We go through a lot of garden hoses and nozzles here in our back yard garden. It's got to be the heat. If we don't drain the hose after using it, the water will be extremely hot after the hose filled with water has baked in the 90-100 degree sun. Plus, heat makes water expand, causing hoses to split.
Even when we turn off the water and drain the hoses, the hoses and nozzles seem to have too short a life. Maybe we need to buy commercial grade hoses?
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June 23, 2006
Leafcutting bees at work
And when we spot the culprit, it will be reported here!
Posted by Sue at 11:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
First tomatoes
These are growing in an Earth Box, and today the plant was seriously wilted, due to the blast furnace heat and competition by its much bigger neighbor also in the same Earth Box. Sue and I are thinking maybe the Earth Box doesn't do as well in hot, dry climates like the San Fernando Valley.
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June 21, 2006
Hopi Amaranth spikes
The spikes are grains, the leaves are also edible. We haven't tried eating either yet but plan to. It's a beautitul plant, this one is about 6 feet tall.
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A big cactus
Sandi brought this by for us.Thanks, Sandi! I transplanted it today
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June 19, 2006
Spectacular colors
Reddish Hopi Amaranth in the foreground, sunflowers in the back. Not sure what the flowering tree in the top right is..
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June 17, 2006
Queen Pandora Bunny Cat
Sue nicknamed Pandora "Bunny Cat" because she hopped like a bunny when she was a kitten. She was the queen, other cats deferred to her. She was also deeply faithful and loyal. Sue had Pandora for seventeen years and today, sadly, we had to put Pandora down as she'd stopped eating and drinking and her kidneys had shut down.
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June 16, 2006
It was 100 today
Even the sage plantlings were wilting under the heat, I had to soak them with water a couple of times so get them to perk up. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Even the cats aren't going outside much.
The tomatoes are growing and ripening, I've got about 12 species growing plus several volunteers (as mentioned below.) The japanese eggplants are already producing, and will be prodigious in output, if last year was any judge. The beets and onions are also ready, with lots of peppers coming in a month or so.
Posted by Bob at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 14, 2006
Volunteer tomatoes
We've been composting, using old plants from last year as compost, along with kitchen scraps, etc. Well, it appears tomato seeds can survive almost anything, including the heat of composting. This year, we've been getting volunteer tomatoes popping up everywhere, next to strawberries, mingled in with hot peppers, and just out of nowhere like these three. Some are so hardy, we've decided to let them grow and see what they produce.
Posted by Bob at 11:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 11, 2006
Quinalt strawberries (I think)
I bought 2 kinds - mediocre tasteless things from Home Depot, and Quinalt bareroots from a mail order supplier. The Quinalts are much better. The strawberries and the blueberries are pals -- they both like the elevated bed, heavy on the peat moss. A mockingbird swoops down from the top of a telephone pole and grabs berries. It's a contest between Bob and the bird as to who eats the most.
Posted by Sue at 09:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Hot Cocoa Rose
Va-Voom. Roses love the SFV.
Posted by Sue at 12:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 09, 2006
99 Cent Rose Progress Report
50% leafing out.
38% still working on it.
10% iffy.
2% DOA.
Posted by Sue at 12:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 07, 2006
Sunflowers
Not sure what species the sunflowers are. We only planted one species, but this one doesn't look like the rest of them. It's much shorter, for one thing. Hmm.
Pepper and sage seedlings to the left, cactus behind them, tomatoes in back.
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June 06, 2006
Dahlia: Cheeky Glow
I like the dwarf "Glow" Series. Compact, attractive plants and pretty, bright flowers.
Posted by Sue at 09:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Strangely Dr. Seussian
4 Columnar Apples, in their 2nd year.
Posted by Sue at 09:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Cactus flower - Utah style
You'd think it would be too cold and snowy for cactus up here. But last Thursday I made a trip up on Jackrabbit Mountain (yes, that's it's real name) and the cactii was in bloom!
Posted by DJSueellen at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chipmunks Attack
Yesterday this was a hot Italian pepper plant. Today it's a stick. A family of chipmunks, living under our house, stripped six pepper plants down to nothing. They also dug up two rows of corn. And when we ask our friends how to get rid of chipmunks, the only answer we get is, "But they're so cute!" Yeah, real cute, when they're eating your garden.
This morning I asked Suellen, "Do you think it would be overkill to use the 12 gauge on the chipmunks ?" She said it probably would be. So we are still on a quest for a solution.
Posted by DJSueellen at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 05, 2006
Bear's Breeches
The oddly named Bear's Breeches are on the left, Blueberry Hill (the little mound) is on the right, replete with strawberries and blueberries. Under the canopy are the 100 Jackson and Perkins bare root roses Sue snagged at the 99 Cent store for, you guessed it, 99 cents each. We'll give some to friends, plant some in the back, and use the rest to create a hedge in the front yard.
Posted by Bob at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June gloom, maybe
Today it appears the heat wave has ended, and we're having June Gloom instead. That's the local name for the overcast, cooler conditions that often occur in Los Angeles this time of year. The past two-three days were near 100, today was supposed to be the same, but thanks to the cloud cover, it'll only by 85 here. Whew.
Our prize old man cactus, which was about six feet tall, was lying on its side this morning. It must have gotten top heavy and unrooted itself. So, we trimmed it back, and will plant the pups elsewhere.
Posted by Bob at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 04, 2006
How hot is it?
Last night, at 10:30 pm, it was still 84 degrees. Yesterday was about 100. Today and tomorrow will be about the same. This is early in the year for such heat. Even one of the white sage seedlings keeled over yesterday afternoon from the heat. (Lots of water revived it quickly) The cactus, of course, love the heat. For them, 100 isn't even particularly hot... Oddly, the baby hot pepper seedlings seem unaffected too. Ditto for all the tomatoes.
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June 03, 2006
Yellow rose
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June 01, 2006
Disneyland Rose
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Dahlia
This was a volunteer from last year, just popped up unexpectedly.
Posted by Bob at 09:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack