The last few weeks my garden has transformed from a tidy raised beds to overgrown lettuce, and arugula going to seed. It’s actually very pretty to see everything looking a little wild out there!
While I’m sad to watch my fresh salad greens depart until the fall, I’m excited to get the next batch of veggies going for the summer. Kizzy is ready to supervise!
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This guy makes so much sense and I’d like to meet him – and I’d bring my shovel.
“South Central Los Angeles [is the] home of the drive-thru and the drive-by. Funny thing is, the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys.” Ron Finley
“Gardening is the most therapeutic and defiant act you can do, especially in the inner city. Plus, you get strawberries.” Ron Finley
“We gotta flip the script on what a gangster is — if you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangster.” Ron Finley
“If kids grow kale, kids eat kale. If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes. But when none of this is presented to them, if they’re not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever you put in front of them.”
Ron Finley
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Here’s a nice article about planting garlic and a helpful video, Planting Garlic, too. I planted garlic cloves that a neighbor shared with me in the new beds around the dead redbud tree. The planting area is at the bottom that looks like bare dirt right now. There were a few different varieties, but I mixed them all up so it will be mystery garlic!
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I find Japanese beetles fascinating. Their colors are beautiful. They are pretty clumsy and I like to catch them when they fly by me. They seem pretty benign, but I have saw the pesky side to these little jewels.
I went to my friends’ house to gather some figs and found this action going on. The tree was crawling with beetles and lots of fruit was damaged. I was able to collect a fair amount of figs, but the potential for damage to the fig crop is pretty high.
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This is information that’s going to need to be repeated over and over again. Serious stuff. The following information is from the U.C. San Diego Cooperative Extension. Pass it on!!!
Many of you may have seen the recent article in the North County Times addressing the Asian Citrus Psyllid/Haugnlongbing issue.
With the publication of this article I’m sure we will receive an increase in calls and questions through our hotline and various community Ask a Master Gardener events about this pest/disease. With that in mind, it’s probably a good time to brush up on this issue. The following links will take you to the latest info available from UC, State and Federal agencies.
UC IPM Pest Note Asian Citrus Psyllid/Haunglongbing (May 2012) http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74155.html
UC IPM Quick Tip Card (English) http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/QT/asiancitruscard.html
UC IPM Quick Tip Card (Spanish) http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/QT/asiancitruscardsp.html
UC Publication 8205 Asian Citrus Psyllid(June 2006) http://www.anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8205.pdf
UC IPM Green Bulletin August 2012 http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/greenbulletin/index.html
California Department of Food and Agriculture web site http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/acp/
California Citrus Research Board Web Site http://www.californiacitrusthreat.com/
California Citrus Research Board Spanish Web Page http://www.peligrancitricosencalifornia.com/
USDA (English) http://www.saveourcitrus.org/
USDA (Spanish) http://salveloscitricos.org/
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Are you growing blueberries? I do and I LOVE being able to go out to the garden and pick a handful of really fresh berries. Blue sunshine! Living in coastal Southern California, the best kind for us to grow here are Southern Highbush blueberries. There are a number of varieties available to grow, so you have lots of choices.
My blueberries have, for the most part, have finished producing fruit so I’m leaving them alone for the time being. They aren’t really resting, though, because the growth of my bushes is booming! It’s tempting to prune, but my reading tells me to wait until the dormant season, after the leaves have fallen off the bushes. But how to prune? That is the question. Here are a few links that describe the proper care of blueberry bushes:
Four Winds Growers | University of Florida | University of Georgia | Clemson University
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I’ve failed miserably with my tomatoes so far this year. Fungus on the leaves has been my biggest problem and although I have been harvesting some tomatoes, it’s a paltry harvest. Two weeks ago I’d had it and chopped a bunch of tomato plants down but never got around to pulling them completely out. That would go against my usual policy of never finishing a project I start. 
Well, guess what. My procrastination paid off for a change. I was wandering around in my garden this morning and discovered that two of my bushes are sprouting out new leaves. Okay, I’m going to give it another go. Wish me luck!
I’m assuming if these want to keep growing that they are both indeterminate tomatoes.
Most heirloom and cherry tomatoes are of the indeterminate variety so I’m pretty sure these plants will continue growing.
This plant above is a cherry tomato that was a volunteer.
This tomato plant is an heirloom.
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