Marigolds

This morning it was a nice fall day. The temperature started out in the 60's and warmed up in the mid-80's. I removed four of my blueberry plants from the wine barrel containers to a spot in the ground. I had too much peat moss in the container and the roots start to strangle each other. Two of my plants of out six had died. After planting, I also fertilized them with used Starbucks coffee grounds, blueberry plants like acidity.
I dumped out one of my huge compost bin on the ground. I use a place with hard, near cement, like ground into which the worms can't escape. I have too many worms so if I lost some it wouldn't matter. All the compost bins are nearly full. I needed space to pull my marigold plants. These plants are planted to deter pest for the tomato plants. They smell very strong, definitely not one of my favorite smells, but they help to deter pests. Marigolds grow into all sort of different shape flowers.

Another picture of the moth on an orange marigold


I like the more open type flower type here in butter yellow

I also know what to do with the hot peppers. I made lamb Korma, a very spicy dish, dahl with malabar spinach, served with brown basmati rice. It was delicious, especially when washed down with beer.

Raspberries

It's officially fall in Southern Cal with temperature in the low 60's. This morning as usual, I did an inspection of my yard.
The second crop of raspberries are ripe, here is evidence that was destroyed after this picture was taken. They were yummy, soooo sweet.

The leaves of my blackberries have turned red


The roses are blooming nicely

The onions I planted a while back have came up nicely.

It's so cold (relatively) that the moth couldn't move and it let me get closer.

Lattice flower.


Surprisingly enough, I still have cucumbers on the vine, here is one that I might be able to pick in a few days.

Watercress

This morning it was really cold for Southern Cal, around the mid 40's. Luckily, my tomato plants are still ok. When it's cold, it's a perfect time to pick watercress. I moved the watercress plants that I had in a container to the wettest part of my garden. They seem to be thriving. This is what we are going to have with dinner as well as baked potato and some grass-fed steaks. Yummy!

Lettuce & kale

This morning the temperature was in the low 50's, that's pretty nippy for Southern Cal. It's perfect for picking peas, the cold weather seems to bring out their sweetness. I also picked some lettuce, baby kale and one radish for dinner. The lettuce is so fresh that I was thinking if I can get these to local chefs they might make a fanstatic salad dish.

I inspected the collard bed and it turned out what I thought was a collard plant was actually a kohlrabi plant.


See the bulbing up of the stem below


Hence, I had to sow some seeds for collards and swiss chard in a hurry. I don't know if they will come up in time for Thanksgiving but I think I will have plenty of lettuce and peas for vegetables.

Marianna's Peace tomato

Finally, my Marianna's Peace tomato is ripened. I accidentally picked it this morning while trying to take a picture. I have picked lots of hot peppers, although I'm not sure what to do with them all.

Basil, Marianna's Peace tomato, and hot peppers


I still have one European cucumber on the vine


Another picture of yellow cosmos


Another picture of pink cosmos

Roses

I've always looked forward to Saturdays and Sundays, that's when I get to play in my garden the whole day, or almost the whole day. As my usual Saturday morning routine, I went around my garden with a camera. I snapped a few pictures in the morning light, it seems to bring out the best colors in flowers. Later I inspected my vegetables.

Drat, I discovered that the peas I sowed last week had all been eaten by small birds. This, despite the fact that I did cover them with a nylon net. I had hung it too high off the ground and it detered the crows but not the little birds. I normally welcome these birds in my garden, they are absolutely adorable and cute, but cuteness can only admit them so far. I let them eat my tomatoes but not my peas. Luckily, I did order a lot of peas from Shumways, so I had replacements.

I then watered my garden especially the spots that the watering system does not reach. I sow my seeds very densely so a drip system might not work too well, but it does help when I go on vacation.

I picked fresh lettuce for lunch, we usually have fresh fish from the farmers market and the lettuce are just absolutely fresh. I picked some New Zealand spinach as well as regular spinach. I also picked some peas to add to the lettuce for crunch. I wash garden lettuce three times under running water to ensure bugs and other matter are dislodged. After that, it's sufficiently clean, besides these lettuces are growing in container so there isn't a lot of dirt splashed on them by the watering system.

Here is a close-up picture of aragula, spinach,and New Zealand spinach among leaf lettuce.



Lettuce


Rose picture, a dreamy romatic look, I tried to focus on the tendrils and not the petals, the petals are supposed to be out of focus, but it did not work

The same rose with the tendrils and petals in focus

Took this one early in the morning


Splash some water on this rose, I pretend it was dew and took this early in the morning


Rose tree

Cosmos

I've been reading my two new close-up/macro photography books. They give me ideas to experiment with different ways of taking picture of flowers in my garden.

Here is an example of a cosmos flower

from a cosmos plant that has tons of flowers

Garden Flowers

This morning, the temperature outside is in the mid 80s, it's pretty sunny and warm. The close-up photography books that I ordered from Amazon have arrived. A quick browsing tells me that I need to get a new photo lens to take better pictures of the garden flowers. Below are the flower pictures from my garden.

Borage


Snapdragon


Yellow Cosmos


Pink Cosmos


Below are the vegetable pictures from my garden.

Pea

Red kale transplanted from another bed


Collard

Fava Bean

It's a nice and sunny morning. The temperature is about mid 80s middle of the afternoon. I went outside this morning and picked up some lettuce for dinner and some red Malabar spinach, Malabar spinach is also known as Basella_alba.

Fava bean bed


Big tomatoes


Smaller tomatoes


Naturalized yellow cosmos

After The Rain

It has been dry and sunny in the last few days. The first chance I had I went out to my garden with the camera.

The rain before the recent sun caused my peppers to grow much bigger than the normal size. In the photo the normal size (small) and after-rain size (large) are shown side by side to demonstrate the point.


These red raspberries are so sweet. I picked them this morning for breakfast. I plan to move them out of the container they're in as they seem crowded.


I picked these lettuce for lunch with John Dory fish from Australia, it was delicious.


The second pea bed that I planted is doing really well, so many blossoms. I think in a few weeks I should be able to pick some peas. I'm counting on this bed to provide me with fresh peas until Thanksgiving.


This third bed of peas did not do so well because of the rain and I forgot to cover them before going to jury duty so the crows managed to eat some young seedlings. I had to resow some of the peas in this bed.

Here Comes The Sun

This week, I was selected to be a juror in a criminal trial, the downside is that I have to be at the courthouse very early and only have an hour and a half for lunch. I don't have time for my garden, the weather is in the 80's.
So before I go back to the courthouse, so it's appropriate that I leave you with this song.

Rain & Birds

We had a Bona Fide rain today. I came back from Jury Duty selection around lunch time and saw the yellow birds in my garden having fun with a puddle of water. Taking this picture inside a glass door.


Here is a picture of the tomato plants after the rain, they are looking like a jungle.

Close-up picture of Tumbling Tom, a cherry tomato variety



Back to the courthouse.

It Rained But It Did Not Pour

We had a light shower this morning, although it was not bad enough that you needed an umbrella. Everytime it rains, this song pops into my head.


I did manage to go outside when the sun came out briefly and took some pictures of my garden. This pea bed is looking good, a few flowers. I believe this is the Sugar Sugar Baby, a 'mange tout' variety, "mange tout" in French stands for eat all or eat everything including the shell.

I tried not to use the flash, now that I'm relearning everything about photography, because the flash sometimes drown out the subject.

Pink Cosmos

Bi-color snapdragon

Another plant of sweet pink dianthus

The leaf lettuce is coming up nicely

My tomato batch is growing very strong, it goes to show that good soil preparation is key to growing nice healthy plants.


Baby tomatoes that are growing really fast.