MacGyvering the Garden

We call my wife Momgyver because she's always coming up with little solutions for problems that pop up. Today, I did a little Dadgyvering in the garden.

Inspecting my spray patterns, I noticed that the water was going right over the top of my onion plant. I tried to get the leaves of that bougainvillea to cover the sprayer but it would not stay there.

No problem, I got this little fly swatter someone gave us that is completely useless for killing flies but it makes a great screen to catch the water and direct it to the onion's roots.

Also, easy propagation...

When a branch breaks off the plumeria, instead of throwing in in the green waste can...

...just stick it in the ground or a pot.

After filling with potting soil, I stick the branch in.

Watered in, it will soon sprout and become a new plant.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This Vine Needs Our Support

It's time to start gardening again in our back patio. I let it go a bit fallow this fall, we had some home improvement projects we needed to get done, and now it's time to get back into the dirt.

While we were successful in keeping the birds away from a good portion of our grape crop this year, the trellis I built for it years ago is straining under the weight of this now mature vine.

It's listing a good 20 degrees and the crossbars have become detached.  The wood is still good thanks to the decision to use redwood when I originally constructed it. Redwood is pretty resistant to rot and I use it when I can, especially in a wet gardening environment.

Pretty simple in execution, I just pull the wood out of the ground, trim up the grape vine a bit, and use a mallet to hammer them back in as deep as I can get them. Then, just screw in the crossbars and I'm done.

The plumeria is a great grower but it goes in some directions I don't want it to go.  I've trimmed them up and tried to point out the way I do want them to go. We'll see what they look like this summer.

I've already pruned the front yard roses. Easy job as the deer have been keeping them in check for me. I've only got a little room left in the green waste bin so I can only prune one of the backyard roses this week. It'll be Mr. Lincoln.

That's it for this weekend, next week I'll see about tilling in some amendments for this year's vegetable garden.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Hit Hard by the Drought but Not Quite a Knockout

Driest year on record. That was 2014. Already in January and February, we've had just about as much rain as we had all last year. Still, we're under mandatory 20% reduction and orders not to water our lawns more than twice a week.

Luckily, there are some plants in the garden that thrived even without all that water. The plumeria, at the top, bloomed better than ever. We even had strangers sneak up and pick the flowers.

Cherry tomatoes came alive in their hanging basket.

The chiles produced way more than we could ever eat and are still going strong.

Put them together and I've got a great salsa to use as a base for making chilequiles and eggs.
 

Orchids are a lot tougher than people give them credit for...

...and, of course, you can't really kill bougainvillea.

Mr. Lincoln proves that roses are also a great drought-tolerant plant, although the deer coming down from the dry mountains found the blooms irresistible.

Darryl

Copyright 2015 - All Rights Reserved

Not All Pests Are Animals or Insects...

Well, I want to start off the post with something pretty. The Dragonfruit, which go very quickly from bloom to ripe, are ready. I picked this one and another one this weekend. This particular variety has a deep, dark, hot-pink flesh inside its fruit.

I wish it would produce more. The plants, a cacti, have little thorns that keep the animal pests off so I don't have to worry about the squirrels or deer getting to them. They also are very drought tolerant, which would make them ideal if they produced more fruit.

Speaking of pests, this morning I saw a lady come down to our back wall and snatch a large cluster of flowers from our plumeria tree. As you can see above, it grows a bit over our back wall. There's a public jogging trail on the other side.

I guess, I don't mind them taking whatever grows over to the other side, I just hope they don't harm the plants or think they can reach over the wall and take whatever they want. 

How do you feel about parts of your plants that grow beyond your property?  Is is open season on whatever grows there?

In other parts of the garden, you might have heard that California is in the worst drought of our history. The state has announced fines of up to $500 per day for visible water wasting. That's in addition to a conservation rate of 20%...we must cut back 20% on our water use.

I wonder about that last one. I've been trying to cut back for years. In fact, I qualified for a lower sewer service rate because we cut back 20% years ago. Do I now need to cut back another 20%?  What about those around me who haven't cut back at all.  Do they get to waste more water than me?

I tell you, the more I think about it the deeper the confusion is. 

Here's our lawn, which I have on a timer. You can tell it's suffering from lack of water, I'm just trying to keep it alive enough to come back when the rains do. It gets 10 minutes of water very, very early in the morning so that all the water is soaked in before the sun comes up. 

This is typical of what the lawns in our neighborhood look like right now.

A couple of people have stopped watering altogether but that brings up a lot of dust. What to do?  I think I might swing by the city hall someday and see what they will allow me to grow there instead of grass but that also might cost quite a bit.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

More pruning adventures for this week. The plumeria, beautiful as it is, is invading our space.

I get my big loppers and take off the canes that are intruding into our walkway. The Cheapskate and his family only have so much room. The plants have to learn to share.

The grapevine has been trimmed back as well. I hope I didn't stunt the crop later on by cutting off the second biggest cane.

All is now ready for the season save the sideyard. I just have to till in some amendment and start some vegetable seedlings to plant here.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved.

Winter's Burdens

One thing those of you who live on those frigid tundras up to the north or back east...you can skip a lot of gardening chores during the winter. 

Here in Southern California, gardening season may take a short break but it never really stops.

The roses in the front yard have decided they'll have one more hurrah before pruning time starts.  Since they look so happy, I'll start at the other end...the far side of the backyard...and work my way towards these, letting them be last on the pruning schedule.

I thought I'd taken a before picture of this Angel Face and Moonstone before pruning, but I guess I was mistaken.  You can see more about how I prune in this pruning post from last year.

The plumerias, tender as they are, are shedding their leaves as the cooler evenings set in.  I'll sweep these up.

This one, in front of Mr. Lincoln, has gone completely bald for the winter.

Finally, I'm waiting for the grapevine to shed it's leaves completely, as it will when the temps drop into the 20's later this month, so I can give it a trim. The wife and I are currently debating exactly where those cuts will go.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Zeroing Out the Zucchini

While my tomatoes were a bust, the zucchini this year was a success. My plan was to move their plot over by our bedroom window and winnow them down to two plants so we have just enough squash, not be swimming in it and getting sick and tired of it before the summer's over.

I have to say our plan worked just about perfect. The only flaw is that the two plants left were both zucchini. I had also planted some summer squash but none of those plants made it.

All summer long, we could go out and harvest just enough of it to last us until the next set of gourds ripened.

Great plants. Love them but after they're done, they become a bit of a mess.

I gave them three weeks since our last harvest. They were still flowering but producing no fruit. You can also see they were getting rangy and out of control.

It was with a heavy heart that I uprooted them.

The zucchini story is not over yet, however.

Last week, when I chopped some up for an omelet, I threw some seed here and there including in the whiskey barrel holding this plumeria.

Looks like we're in for some more zucchini treats soon.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Thoughtful Thursday

Not a lot of words today. Just sitting and enjoying the fruits of my labors. 

I'm sitting in my patio chair, listening to some tunes, and enjoying a cool cocktail. I've got a camera with a nice zoom lens.  Let's see what I can see from here, starting with the hanging basket at the top.

The grapes will be ripe soon, I can't wait to taste them.

This red bougainvillea is on it's second bloom...

...as is our newest bougainvillea member, this coral colored guy.

Finally, as usual, the yard is surrounded by these fragrant, white plumerias.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Seasons of Bounty

After finishing the chores this weekend, I had some time to reflect on the upcoming harvest.   I nabbed some zucchini for the evening's barbecue. I think I'll get about a fruit a day from the plants the way they're going now.  What else can I see...

I counted 13 ears of corn on the 7 stalks in our 4-foot long cornfield. We'll have some with the coming weekend's barbecue...I'm going to smoke a tri-tip in my new smoker. I think there will be more than that as the season progresses, too.

The chiles are showing fruit...

...while the plumerias bloom.

Our heirloom tomato is climbing in its cage while the sweet onions are maturing to the right.

For a long time, I didn't think this jalapeño was going to make it but we'll have some good salsa after all.

The guava tree is in bloom, we're hoping for our first crop in three years.

On the flower front, this epidendrum is back in bloom...

Mr. Lincoln is going on his third bloom of the season, with backing from the Lincolnettes...

...and this unnamed yellow rose is on its second.

 

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved