Singing in the rain

Nothing beats planting and cleaning in the garden at night while it's gently drizzling. So fresh and peaceful.
Also, planted all my snaps, violas and stock. Early. We'll see how they do.

Rain, unseasonable cold and now Santa Ana winds

I have unfortunately not been able to do much gardening lately due to time constraints and weather... can't work that clay when it's wet! Oh and I just found a place in my long border where I thought I had amended the clay enough but oh boy... it is still gray and sticky and horrid.

I planted 6 broccoli plants yesterday. 4 went into 5 gal pots with E.B. Stone potting soil, 1 went into the horrid clay and 1 went into the border in the back garden. A bit of experiments going on.

I found 1 monarch chrysalis hanging on our cinder-block wall. It seemed to have died just before emerging as a butterfly. Kinda sad. It had made it through life this far and died at the very last moment. I was hoping we'd get to see at least one... the other caterpillars have disappeared and turned to chrysalises out of view.

Now the Santa Ana winds are blowing and time to do some watering.

Itchy fingers

I can't WAIT until the weather is a bit more favorable for gardening! I have soooo much to do!

The Hair-dryer Effect

I lost only a few things over the last couple of days during our heatwave... not as bad as I had thought. Even the potted stuff was mostly ok, except for a lovely pink Bacoba that looks like someone took a blowtorch to it. Even if I watered it sufficiently, its poor leaves just couldn't take the heat! I have to say that our soaker-hoses and timers really make watering easy-peasy, all I have to do is take care of my 8.000 pots! ...they're not really 8.000 but after one of my lovely neighbors was given the task of watering them all while we went on our road trip, he's convinced I have thousands of potted plants! :) Yes, I am a plantaholic. I collect plants. And greedily so.

My rhododendron is bearing lots of buds, promises for a beautiful spring! 

-- Sent from my Palm Prē

The Beginning

My husband and I bought our first home almost a year ago. The soil had never been worked. When I started the first digs, I found no signs of life. Not a pillbug or an earthworm in sight. It was a typical mow/blow/Miracle-Grow garden, where large chunks of bark lay thick on top of a landscape cloth, keeping the unsightly, gray clay out of view. Just as well, I thought! And then began the work. I have gotten rid of a large chunk of the crab-grass lawn that was in the front. I still have a bit to go, but it's looking quite different from the day we moved in. I replaced the 'lawn' with perennials and shrubs but for now it is a higgledy-pickledy mess. At the beginning of the summer I was in a time-crunch and had to 'just get them in' before the temperatures started rising. So, there is many a change on the horizon!
So stay tuned....