winter
The Decisions Ducks Make
A week of rain, 3 inches of cold mud and slop. The ducks couldn't be happier.
February Friday Sunset
A painted sunset on a mid-February Friday evening looking due west. Spectacular colors courtesy of high clouds over the Pacific Ocean (about 10 miles away).
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.
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.
Happy First Day of Winter
Yes, this is the actual temperature in San Diego just before noon on December 21, 2020. The temperature just before noon on the first day of winter.
Peppers are Pooped Out
It has come to my attention that my Central American "Culebra Negra" peppers are not at all happy about the cold weather. It's the end of November so we've had a couple of near-freezing nights with 34° to 37°F lows right before dawn, but nothing that I would consider a hard frost. The Hidden Lake Hot Cayenne/Thai hybrids are still flowering and fruiting quite a bit, but the Culebra Negras are a different story. Seems these poor plants, with their burned and shriveled leaves, have a lot less tolerance for the near frosty temps.
Red Ripe Ruby Perfection Cabbage
Coming to the last of the winter veggies in the keyhole garden. This sexy beast is a ruby perfection red cabbage. Absolutely gorgeous, full-sized plant with a nice tight purple ball in the center. Ruby Perfection red ball cabbage - a full-sized red cabbage It's supposed to be sunny and warm all week, so this is going to make some great coleslaw this weekend.
Keyhole Garden Progress – March 26, 2020
The keyhole garden is in that awkward transitional stage between Winter and Spring. Winter veggies and herbs are petering out while spring plants like tomatillos, peppers, cucumbers and onions are just getting started.
Keyhole Garden Progress – March 17, 2020
Warm weather followed by a week of rain has really kicked the leafy greens into high gear. On the front left you can see the remainder of the romaine heads giving one last push. Meanwhile on the right, it's a motley assortment of loose leaf greens, spinach and cilantro. One head of broccoli remains as does the red cabbage (back and center right). The dill I have planted around the perimeter of the compost bin (center) is thick, leafy and deep green. Way in the back is the garlic and cucumbers now in need of trellising. If you look at [keep reading...]
Keyhole Garden Progress – March 4, 2020
The winter crops continue their rotation out of the bed. Broccoli is all done (save 1 plant), and the Romaine lettuce and peas are calling it quits as well. We cut the cilantro down to an inch high to keep it leafy and stop it from bolting. I replaced the broccoli with cucumbers (National Pickling) over this past weekend and infilled some of the empty spot in the lettuces with spinach (Space) I'd been holding in the greenhouse. Just a couple more weeks and the keyhole garden will have been in continuous production for a whole year and the soil [keep reading...]