Keyhole Garden Mid-Winter Maintenance
Mid-winter is rough on vegetables, even the ones in the keyhole garden. The secret to keeping the bed productive is a happy compost bin in the middle. Today we checked on how the compost was doing.
Winter in San Diego
A week of hot Santa Ana winds followed by a brutal storm with high winds, heavy rain and, just to top it off, freezing temperatures. Welcome to San Diego.
Chickcam is Dead. Long Live Chickencam!
My old live stream camera, Chickencam finally died, so I built a new one with a Raspberry Pi . Now I've got a HD live feed from the poultry yard and it cost just $53. Check it out for all the details.
Video: Stampede!
Way out West where the skies are big and the poultry run free, an excitement builds each dawn. Join us for the thrilling adventure of Stampede!
Video: Windy Day
We've got some pretty strong Santa Anas blowing today. It's hard to tell from this video, but those fan palms are close to 60 feet tall and swaying more than 20 feet in either direction in the gusts.
Warm is a Relative Term
Southeast Idaho at 6,500ft in elevation about 70 miles west of Jackson, Wyoming. It's 10am and it's 15° F. I was told by a local resident that they were having an "unusually warm" winter just like we are down in San Diego wheres it's 77° F. "Warm" is obviously a relative term.
Baby Aeonium
Here's a baby aeonium I found in some rocks. Hard to believe that it's had no water or soil for nearly four months, because it looks absolutely radiant.
Video: Gopher vs Banana Tree
Gophers may be small, but that doesn't mean their damage is. Here's what one did to a 20 foot tall banana stalk.
Last Sunset of 2020
Looking west-southwest just before 5PM Pacific, the suns sets for the last time in 2020 on December 31. The other side of those hills is the Pacific Ocean.
Christmas Rescue 2020
In keeping with a long tradition of saving post-Christmas plants from the trash bin, this year's rescue is a 93 cent bargain. It's 4-inch tall poinsettia in a silver 2-inch pot that's definitely seen better days. It has one green leaf and a few red bracts still hanging on, probably because they've been sprayed with glitter glue. The glue has also attracted what looks like cat hair (or worse). My record's pretty good when it comes to nursing abused poinsettias back to health, but I have to admit, I think this one's iffy at best. We'll see how it goes. [keep reading...]
Keyhole Garden Mid-Winter Maintenance
Mid-winter is rough on vegetables, even the ones in the keyhole garden. The secret to keeping the bed productive is a happy compost bin in the middle. Today we checked on how the compost was doing.
Winter in San Diego
A week of hot Santa Ana winds followed by a brutal storm with high winds, heavy rain and, just to top it off, freezing temperatures. Welcome to San Diego.
Chickcam is Dead. Long Live Chickencam!
My old live stream camera, Chickencam finally died, so I built a new one with a Raspberry Pi . Now I've got a HD live feed from the poultry yard and it cost just $53. Check it out for all the details.
Video: Stampede!
Way out West where the skies are big and the poultry run free, an excitement builds each dawn. Join us for the thrilling adventure of Stampede!
Video: Windy Day
We've got some pretty strong Santa Anas blowing today. It's hard to tell from this video, but those fan palms are close to 60 feet tall and swaying more than 20 feet in either direction in the gusts.
Warm is a Relative Term
Southeast Idaho at 6,500ft in elevation about 70 miles west of Jackson, Wyoming. It's 10am and it's 15° F. I was told by a local resident that they were having an "unusually warm" winter just like we are down in San Diego wheres it's 77° F. "Warm" is obviously a relative term.
Baby Aeonium
Here's a baby aeonium I found in some rocks. Hard to believe that it's had no water or soil for nearly four months, because it looks absolutely radiant.
Video: Gopher vs Banana Tree
Gophers may be small, but that doesn't mean their damage is. Here's what one did to a 20 foot tall banana stalk.
Last Sunset of 2020
Looking west-southwest just before 5PM Pacific, the suns sets for the last time in 2020 on December 31. The other side of those hills is the Pacific Ocean.
Christmas Rescue 2020
In keeping with a long tradition of saving post-Christmas plants from the trash bin, this year's rescue is a 93 cent bargain. It's 4-inch tall poinsettia in a silver 2-inch pot that's definitely seen better days. It has one green leaf and a few red bracts still hanging on, probably because they've been sprayed with glitter glue. The glue has also attracted what looks like cat hair (or worse). My record's pretty good when it comes to nursing abused poinsettias back to health, but I have to admit, I think this one's iffy at best. We'll see how it goes. [keep reading...]