Green and Growing

The garden is coming along nice in spite of being started so late in the season. Of course, in this climate we can grow all year long and some of the more delicate plants can be wintered in the greenhouse. Corn is pretty high now--as tall or taller than I am but the flowers haven't shown themselves yet.  I do hope we will get a good crop as corn is very popular in our household. But we really don't know the first thing about growing sweet corn.

My Tumbling Tom tomatoes, both in the greenhouse and outdoors had blossom end rot last week and I sprayed them with blossom rot spray (calcium) and they are doing fine this week.  None of the other kinds of tomatoes displayed the problem.  I wonder why?

I just ate one of the first tomatoes (didn't notice which variety) and it tasted quite good but was very watery. This seems to be a character of tomatoes grown in this area.  California tomatoes just are not as good as tomatoes grown on the East Coast.

Load of load of squash naturally!! This is a hardy species and if nothing else will grown I know that we can count on the squash and zucchini to make a dramatic appearance.  Anyone have some good recipes? Anyone? Can I send you some squash in the mail?

Tomatoes in my garden- To Prune or Not to Prune

I was very happy to find the above video on YouTube as I was very concerned about how to go about pruning my tomato plants. I have no idea which plant is determinate and which are indeterminate, designations which determine pruning or not.

I am starting to get a bunch of green tomatoes and loads of yellow flowers. I have been pollinating the flowers with an electric toothbrush to help shake the pollen lose and get the ball rolling. Let's see if this action results in loads of delicious fruits.

What Can We Do About the Moles

See the picture above? I didn't what you to think that I was making up a wild story about hundreds of moles and thousands of mole holes. See them for yourself. There is about half acre of these holes making it difficult to walk without turning an ankle. They ate all my vegetables in my garden last year. Veggies just disappeared like magic. The little beasts just pulled them down into their tunnels--entire beds of onions, radishes and all my root vegetables.

Until I can the entire propery dug up and have chicken wire put down and fresh top soil trucked in I have to grow what I can in containers.

Callfornia Tomatoes

California oranges--we all heard about those--yummy citrus fruits that look wonderful while stll on the trees dotting the green leaves and brown branches with their color. And those fabulous artichokes! Nothing like them. But what about tomatoes. No one boasts about California tomatoes. I don't know why. Californians don't know anything about the sweet tart taste of a juicy New Jersey tomato. Why can't we grow them here? I haven't found the secret. Still I soldier on with various tomato plants, manures, fertilizers, composts and all the rest. Still have to find a really good local tomato.

My Tiny Red Rose

So far this year I haven't done much with flower gardening. My African violets are doing nicely. Only 2 of my orchards are still living while the unliving still populate my very expensive orchard pots. I buy the best of everything for my orchards and they reward me drying up and dying. I don't know what I do wrong--probably everything. I spray. I water. I feed. I change potting mixtures.

For companions for my tomatoes I planted marigolds. Good old faithful marigolds. Decorative and useful.

My miniature rose that I got as a gift is outside in its container and is sporting a beautiful red rose the size of a half dollar. Another bud is getting ready to open. Hope it makes it. My once green thumb of which I was very proud is now a dusty brown. When I first got the rose plant it was full of buds and was lovely until it took one look at me and started to go downhill. Moving it out into the sun I hoped to revive it. So far, so good.

Now about my latest present--a gardenia plant. It was also full of buds when I got it for Mother's Day. One did open and bloom. Alas, just the one. Even back in the days when my thumb was magnificently green gardenia plants did not take to me. Maybe I can still coax this one along.

Temperature has gotten hot as it does in Southern California, but with this crazy weather these days one can never predict what will happen. I wish it would rain the way it does back East or the way I hear it does on the Northwest coast.

Clouds, More Clouds and Still a Drought

Does anyone understand the strange weather we have here in Southern California? It's been 5 years since we had a good rainfall and now we are sadly on the brink of running out of water. Our reserves are way down and beginning to enter the red danger zone. Overhead the sky is heavy with fluffy white clouds and black storm clouds. Sometimes at night there is a tiny sprinkle but any H2O evaporates as soon at it hits the ground. TV weathermen "warn" us about the impending thunder storm but have yet to see a true example. I would delight in a summer thunder storm like the ones we have back on the East Coast. You know --the ones that leave that wonderful clean smell in the air when it is all over.
My garden and my thirsty plants would appreciate it as well.

Plague of the Grasshoppers

Once again I will try to grow some veggies and perhaps some posies before the flying hopping critters get to them. Previously I grew a fantastic crop of green lace. I had spent the winter in the greenhouse starting an entire vegetable farm from seed. My results were close to miraculous considering that due to apartment dwelling I hadn't touched a seed catalog for decades. All my seedlings were set out in their peat pots to grow happily in the garden. My little green wards grew and thrived until the enemy divisions arrived. They came in full force with horrific appetites.

My gorgeous artichokes were so laden with ants that they were not eatable. Neither boiling water, nor heavy shaking could rid these beautiful vegetables of the little black critters. I had to let the plants go to seed. They were only good for decorating the garden.

Then came hordes of grasshoppers. They ate everything in sight. Not a leaf was untouched. Everything became green lace. And there was no way to get rid of the creatures. I put out a birdbath trying to seduce our feathered friends to come to the rescue. No luck. I wished for a flock of seagulls but they didn't want to come 12 miles inland.

Plants roots were delicately nibbled by thousands of grubs that had found their way under the beds. And you know what came next---swarms of gofers. They do love those grubs. Now the garden is like a mine field --- but with ankle breaking holes instead of exploding devices.

I took the next summer off to recover. In the meantime weeds in the garden have grown taller than I am. Now I am getting back into the battle-- but am growing mostly in raised beds and pots--can't face that garden yet.