!!$#%@#%!! The rats are back. On the bright side, they only gnawed two of my black cherry tomatoes, but still……….sigh….
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July 2010
The garden is in full swing right now, bordering on a little out of control. The cherry tomato volunteers have completely taken over one side of the garden.
The grape vine I found in the garbage last year has grown all the way down the fence in both directions. I will harvest a few clusters of grapes, but I think I’m more excited about the grape vines I’ll be able to harvest for making grape vine wreaths.
I need to tidy up in the center of the garden. The recycle bin container of potatoes is right in the middle of everything and I’ve got pots sitting around in an untidy fashion. Quite ungardenlady-like.
If you do an about face from the above view, you will see my latest handiwork. I bought some bamboo from Home Depot and created a nice wall behind my strawberry patch. I’m prepping the space behind the bamboo for my chicken project. 
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Busy time in the garden. I’ve been piddling along out there lately, doing little jobs and thinking strategy for the fall. This past week I had some time, the weather cooled down, and I was on a roll.
I have lots of potted plants, mostly succulents, that are tired and need to be repotted or pitched out. I consolidated some of them into bigger pots and I think I might have a little plant sale with the plants I’m not in love with anymore.
I’m trying to make a space so I can get a couple of chickens, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me before that’s going to happen. The big cedar tree in the front will provide one perimeter of the chicken enclosure, but right now the tree is surrounded by bicycles so I have to move some things around out there. I bought a bamboo fence and Mi Esposo helped me get it placed today. I filled in a big space with more gravel which cleaned up the area tremendously. I love crushed gravel! Instant fix.
Last weekend I got a lot of flowerbed cleanup and fertilizing done. The climbing rose beds got raked out and I applied Ada Perry’s Rose Fertilizer. I think Ada Perry’s fertilizer has been the secret to the big difference I see in the health of the rose bushes since I’ve started applying it. Walter Andersen’s Nursery is the exclusive nursery to buy Ada Perry’s if you are in the market for it. Anyway, I finished off the beds with worm castings from my own compost bins! Nice!
I still have things to move around out there but it was a good start. I’m loving the cool weather because I know it’s not going to last. It stayed cool like this last year until mid-August, then the heat hit with a vengeance for a few months. Threw my whole gardening calendar out of whack. Keeps things interesting, that’s for sure!
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Lest you think I’m taking the blog in a racier direction, I should tell you I’m just quoting gardener-extraordinaire, Pat Welsh. Pat is an icon in the gardening world, and I have had the privilege to hear her speak a few times. I always learn a ton because she is full of practical, no-nonsense information. This YouTube video of her creation of a children’s dinosaur garden probably sounds like something that won’t interest a lot of readers, but if you take a pass at watching, you’re going to miss some good ‘dirt’ because she interjects a lot of interesting tidbits, she’s very entertaining, and she’s also cute as a button! Plus you’ll be able to put the blog post title into context.
Pat Welsh’s books are great, too. Her latest book, ‘Southern California Organic Gardening,’ was immediately added to my collection of her books this past spring. ‘Southern California Gardening’ has been one of my go-to books for years. The ‘Smart Garden Regional Guide’ came out a few years ago and I use it for reference constantly, as well. ‘All My Edens’, a memoir by Ms Welsh, is harder to find, but I love reading her observations and stories of her gardening life. It’s a little treasure on my book shelf.
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Last week I had a question about a crape myrtle tree. The gentleman lives on the coast and said that the leaves on his crape myrtle looked burned on the edges near the tip and he thought there was some kind of bug eating it. He described the bug as white, roundish, and when he squished it between his fingers, it was kind of gritty and rubbed away to nothing.
After doing a little research I came to the conclusion that the “bug” was actually salt crystals that had been pushed out by the plant and collected at the leaf tips. Crape myrtle trees have a low tolerance for salt, and trees living near the coast struggle with salinity issues from salty sea air. It’s a common problem on the coast, so crape myrtle trees never look as prime near the beach as they do inland, but having said that, even on the coast, they are spectacular in bloom!
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I’m growing Momotaro tomatoes, a Japanese varietal, this year. Oh, I can’t wait to sink my teeth into this one!!!
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