Multiple tropical storms out of Baja California have been rolling across the area. Overnight we're only dipping into the 70° range and during the day it's in the mid-90's. Oh and 93% humidity. It's basically like living in a bathtub. The one upside is some absolutely spectacular sunsets. This one is looking over the San Luis Rey river valley toward the Pacific.
The woodpeckers that occupy one of the giant agave stalks out front have been trying to get their chick out of the nest for at least a week. Actually, it's not really a "chick" anymore since its as large as its parents. It's more like a 26 year-old millenial that won't move out and expects mom to keep the fridge stocked. He's probably got an XBox in that nest.
It's mid-summer and the second round of sweet corn is coming in nicely. This variety is Incredible, an F1 Hybrid SE variety. At 84 days it's a little longer to maturity than the Honey Select we harvested back at the beginning of the month, but it's well-worth the wait.
Forget those $6 all natural luffa sponges from the store. It's super easy to grow a whole bathtub's worth for less than $2 (they're even edible!). Here's how:
Let's back up to March Back in mid-March I set up a camera to record our cleaning out of the winter garden in preparation of spring planting. What I ended up with was about 9 hours of super boring video of my daughter and I (along with an occasional visit from a dog and my wife) wandering around pulling, weeding and cleaning. So I dumped the video into a folder on my computer and pretty much forgot about it. Fast [keep reading...]
It's easy to make an sturdy and attractive garden bench in a weekend for around $30 Out front we have a patio area where a wood bench about decade past its prime sat rotting away. I knew I had to replace it, but I'm cheap, so rather than spending $100 or more to buy a new one, I'd just make my own. Aside from being cheap, I'm also image-conscious and lazy, so I wanted something that would look nice [keep reading...]
Golden poppies that blew in and made themselves comfortable Its pretty hard to find a plant that's easier to grow than one that turn up at random and proceed to takeover. Bonus points when it's not an invasive weed but a native flower you actually. Last year we had a few golden poppies blow in here from who knows where and put on a nice early spring display before disappearing again. This past rainy season (basically November to [keep reading...]
Basil, Peas, loose leaf lettuces, cucumbers and some ball cabbage transplanted April rolled in and we've got plants in the beds. Of the stuff we planted back in March, here's what went in the ground this weekend: Oregon Sugar Pod Peas Genovese Basil (pesto) Danish Ball Head Cabbage Loose Leaf Lettuce Mix National Pickling Cucumber The tomatoes broccoli and cauliflower aren't ready to go quite yet, but hopefully they will be in a week or so. It's warm [keep reading...]
That's what it looks like to me anyway
I used to take that "start indoors 4 to 6 weeks before last frost" stuff on the back of seed packets pretty seriously. It took me about 5 years and umpteen dead seedlings before I figured out, regardless of what the weather tables say about my climate zone, that "last frost" could be anywhere from mid-February to late April. So now, rather than trying to figure out when the last frost might be and working backwards, I always plant my [keep reading...]
