My First Garden

After set up our new furniture and stocking the kitchen we decided to make use of our (fairly small) balcony and start a miniature garden. This started as a trip to get just the most basic cooking herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano. From there we decided to look for a couple of house plants and maybe some flowers. It's possible we got a little carried away, but we ended up with 8 herbs: basil, lemon basil, oregano, French thyme, sage, parsley, cilantro, and rosemary. Although some may be unnecessary, we're both excited to incorporate these fresh homegrown herbs into our cooking. Here are the many herbs we picked out: (to be transplanted to various pots this weekend)

I picked out one flower to sit on our outside table (visible in the picture) but I'm not really sure of it's name. I love the deep purple and delicate flower but admit to being concerned that I have no idea how big this will get or how needy it'll become. At this point it looks nice on the table, which is all I'm asking for.



Lastly, we picked out 2 things for inside the apartment. Both are very small and will hopefully grow fairly well over the next year that we're here. We'd like to have a few bigger house plants but right now they don't fit into our budget... so we're counting on these growing into the plants we had in mind.

The weather has been low to mid 80s all week and we're getting a lot of afternoon sun on the balcony. As long as we keep them watered I think we'll be set. Maybe we should have started with 1 and waited to see if we could keep it alive before buying a dozen plants but so far they're looking pretty good. Any advice?

The First Party on the Deck

Last night we had the first party on the deck, with the barbeque, the umbrella all lit up, candles in hurricane glass, the fire pit in the patio area below, 28 people altogether. Way too much food. Kids roasted marshmallows and made smores.

I'm 50 and it's the first time I've really done this. How did that happen.

Anyway, it's devastation out there this morning. :)

The only real problem is I need serving/side table for occasions like that, a folding table with a white tablecloth, because the food took up all the room on the table, even with a couple of smaller tables holding the chips and dip, the baker's rack holding the watermelon and incidentals and the serving cart holding the drinks, plates and cups etc.

All in all, a good day the whole family together including my sister and her family and my parents, all of our kids, with two of them leaving for LA today.

Progress

of sorts. Once again I find I am digging my way out of the backyard disaster - Last year it was stripped and clear and ready for sod, and we didn't do it and now it is growing in, the nice clover has dried out in the heat and been replaced with what I call knotweed, with berry vines and tall grass, too tall to cut with the mower, a job for the weedeater. Not as bad as it was last year prior to the stripping, but on its way.

I have control over a small area, and I am starting from the deck and moving out. With a hoe, shovel and rake. At this point, my plan is to clear out the edges, and get the Nursery landscapers in to take care of stripping the center, laying the sprinkler system, putting in the perimeter (sidewalks or mowing strip) and laying sod.

THEN, it will be done and be a simple matter of mowing, something I used to be able to keep under control.

THEN, I can tackle each of the side areas, the garden by the greenhouse, the area a round the playset, the back area where the secret garden will someday go, and little by little, it will become what I have envisioned and planned for.

Today, I re-cleared the area which will be a patio just below the deck where the firepit and chairs will sit. I bought benderboard (expensive sh-t) and blocked it off.

The skies are still hazy from smoke, though it seemed the inversion layer lifted late in the day and we actually had clear blue sky. Temps up to 80 in the shade again. No records were set.

What's blooming? - roses, the styrax, watsonias are about done, poppies, daylilies, passionvine, the mockorange... crocosmia is starting...

(Update: I got sidetracked and it got away from me again, so I'm digging it out AGAIN, years later)

Beauty.

I have Pink jasmine planted all over. Climbing fences, on the shed... evergreen, flowers profusely, smells amazing.
from Wikipedia: Jasminum polyanthum is well-known as a house plant in the USA and Europe. It can also grow in the garden, when climate conditions are good. USDA hardiness zones: 8 - 11. It grows fast and easy and flowers nicely[1]. Outside it can be used to cover walls and fences etc. It can grow in sun and light shade as well. It is propagated by seed and by suckers. Jasminum polyanthum was given the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the RHS in 1993[2]. It was chosen on the Bicentenary list of 200 plants for the RHS: “This popular houseplant is an easily-grown, evergreen, half-hardy climber with loose panicles in summer of many strongly-fragrant pink-backed, white, trumpet-shaped flowers. It does not suffer pest or disease problems and is simple to propagate.”[3]

I wouldn't have believed that at first, then one day I found I had a bunch of layered rootings in the bark around the kids play structure, which was cool, because it meant a bunch of baby jasmine for friends...now a few years later as I am weeding I find not only layered rootings but what resembles extensive electrical wiring - like cables funning along the fence line, just tons and tons of shooting runners, very difficult to control. I don't know if it's just due to benign neglect, and that if you stayed on top of it you wouldn't have this problem, or whether it is, as they say, hugely invasive.

I still love it, it's just not as simple to control either the top growth or the runners as it seems at first.

Nice and hot.

Still hazy smokey, but 80 degrees in the shade. (I know it sounds cool to you when it it 114 in some areas, but this is really hot for us.

Matilija Poppy, The Fried Egg Plant

(Romneya Coulteri, native to California) Looks like crepe paper, absolutely beautiful huge blooms. This one's still in the pot, thinking of planting it near the deck because I want to SEE it - AND they are very fragrant, I hadn't realized that before. I have another one planted in the far back, and it has migrated under the fence into the alley, so near the deck might not be such a good idea. A little further out...
Care - Once established, Matilija poppy doesn't need fertilizing or extra water.
Cut old stems back to the ground in late spring using bypass pruners. Propagate by dividing the rootball or, from seed; direct sow outdoors in fall. Bag seedheads to capture ripening seed. Allow pods to dry on plant; break open to collect seeds.
Interesting note, though - Very much a Fire plant, this native of dry, California canyons is often found in burned areas. These seeds are a challenge to germinate. Since this plant's seeds are triggered to germinate by smoke, one way to get them to germinate faster is to sprinkle them lightly with moist soil, cover that with pine sawdust, and light the covering (don't use any accelerants). Burning that continues for at least 15 minutes is best. Water when the fire is out to wash the smoke chemicals down to the seeds, since it is the smoke rather than the fire that induces germination. A less effective way is to burn pine sawdust, mix it with potting soil, moisten, and plant seeds in this mixture. A third method is to smoke the planting medium with burning pine sawdust.

Passion flower!

Homegrown, no attribution necessary. Planted a couple of weeks ago. Need to train it up the fence.

A few years later and it has taken over. Covered the fence, and climbing up the house. Going to cut it back severely. See what happens. It's beautiful, though. Lush and the flowers are awesome.

Cutting back the jasmine has been a massive undertaking, it has sent out cables almost the entire length of the property.

An inspirational place

The Inn of the Seventh Ray as inspiration.

Maybe this is the answer to my lighting dilemma. Nothin' like twinkly white Christmas lights. And white panels...

Monkey Sea, Monkey Dunes

M, K, and friend J - winner today, Sandcastle Contest

Smokey, hot & sultry

Looks like fog, but it is not. It's smoke from the hundreds of fires that fabulous lightning storm caused. The lightning storm that raged over the weekend had over 6000 strikes according to a spokesperson at Calfire this morning in Shasta County. 602 fires consuming thousands of acres range from Santa Cruz to the Oregon border and from the Coast to Nevada but the states to the North and East of California also had their share of strikes and resulting blazes. This leaves fire crews “spread thin all over.” CalFire Report for entire state of California
Total Fires: 1,032
Acres involved: 132,235
Structures Destroyed: 17 residences, 1 commercial, 19 outbuildings to date.

Beauty, but with a real down side. Smoke so thick up and down the state that visibility in some places is almost zero. People being told to stay indoors.

Dividing water lilies

Water lilies can spread from seeds or the rhizomes. And mine has definitely spread. At first I had it in the pond in its pot, but the dog kept pulling the pot out of the water and chewing on the rootballs. So I took it out of the pot and let it naturalize. It's been in there for years and blooms more each year.

Today we cut a chunk of the rhizome off for my neighbor who is putting in a pond. I wasn't sure how it would go, but, I'm not worried anymore.

Best LIGHTNING Storm we've ever had

Found this shot by Destiny Young/Boonville this looks like what we saw.

Started last evening (SUMMER SOLSTICE), still light out, strange and fabulous cloud structures, the simultaneous sunset, thunder, flashes and streaks of lightning over the ocean. Everyone on the street came out to watch in awe. None of us had cameras. A few drops of rain, but a very dry storm. The lightning came and went all night, further away, so we saw the flashes but didn't hear the thunder. Awesome!

Roses

John F. Kennedy. (J&P?) Catalog says it has the strongest fragrance of any white rose - the flourishing scent of fresh fruit, the soft vanilla hues and the play of greens. It's pretty hard to mistake this rose for any other, with its hourglass form, sculpted ivory petals and the way it unfolds as gracefully as a good story, the effect is classic elegance.



Blooms 5-6" (and they weren't kidding, the roses are HUGE!) I bought this January 24, 1998. It's planted by the front window, very healthy, huge blooms, great scent - a definite FAVORITE. I'm thinking a few more in the back yard are in order. If cuttings of this one are as successful as Madame Leonie, it will be great.

(Note: Some online forum discussions question how JFK Rose does, with varied reports. Mine flourishes, tall, at least 6 feet, blooms reliably, huge creamy white blooms, great fragrance, has tolerated this coastal air, fog, cooler temps. Enough that I'm looking for another 1 or 2, and will also propagate by cuttings)

Albertine is another great rambler, planted starts from a friend, always puts on a good show. I still like Madame Leonie better, but Albertine blooms longer and more often.

Front Yard, New Bed

Solution

blurb.com
Free bookmaking software for Mac and PC
Softcover, Hardcover with a dust jacket or Hardcover with images printed on it.
$19.95 - $95.95 for 8x10 inches (20x25 centimeters)
An alternative to trying to rebind the journal.