2008-03-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

Mother Nature made rainy days, so gardeners can get housework done!

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MY BIRDCAM is working now! A Logitech Quickcam is hooked to a laptop by USB cable out to the balcony. The camera is taped to a tripod. Not elegant, but it works. The feeders are hung with clamp hooks, ordered from http://www.bestnest.com/. I placed an umbrella over the feeders for shade. My first issue was the minimal settings Quickcam offered. Video was too bright and blownout. I discovered http://www.ebirdseed.com/ and the blog described taping sunglass lenses over the camera lens to better control the outside glare! eureka! I leave my $39 Quickcam outside on the sheltered balcony. It is a cheap, rough setup, but it is working.

Check out my other blogs! http://theenglishhome.blogspot.com/, my decorating blog and http://christysmemoirs.blogspot.com/ the story of my young life in England.

This is Bucky...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWlWS5xuzcA My daughter took this video on a visit here in May!

Check out my article 'Deer, Oh Deer' in the
Monterey Bay Master Gardener's Winter Newsletter, Pg 5
http://www.montereybaymastergardeners.org/newsletters/GOTE133.pdf

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: My property was certified as a wildlife habitat by the NWF. http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/certify.cfm

FEBRUARY, 2009 - lawn repair today! Lawn repair is essential now, as the wildlife literally make a mess out of it each fall and winter. Today I cut the lawn, put down some good soil in bare spots, and used my Scotts whirly bird applicator to put down grass seed, and then fertilizer. Last step- heavy watering, which I will have to continue so I turned on my timed sprinklers.

Oops, bad tick bite. Sent me to the Doc's. I was worried about lyme disease as we have so many deer in the area. Took the critter in a baggy and the Doc told me it was not a deer tick and probably not a carrier of lyme disease.

May, 2009...WAR ON THISTLES!!! Crikey! Check Youtube 'Sunnygardener' channel for the video of this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUyciuD3qQg Since I had my pathway done, the thistles have taken over! They were literally 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide and stretched 100 feet along the pathway!! This is how I got rid of them: 1: Hedge trimmers cut them down as far as possible. Stalks were as thick as small tree trunks. Next, clippers, and a tree saw. 2: Piled them along the path, trying not to let the flower seed fly and walked the area to pick up any remaining seed heads. 3: String trimmer cleaned up the area. 4: Hauled the debris away. 5: Roundup herbicide on any emerging thistle over the next year. (update August...no further growth at this point)

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June, 2009...and the main lawn is green and lush, a stark difference from the muddy mess the deer made of it over the winter. I seed and fertilize regularly, with a Whirly bird Scotts spreader. Cutting frequently ensures that weeds don't pop up and it makes the grass thicker.

Rattle Snake!...a youngster, next to the hose I keep at the front of the house. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmxLjCWTl4&feature=channel_page I started to pick up the hose and got quite a surprise and so did he! He rattled and hissed at me. My neighbor, Bruce, came walking by and he used a rake and put him in a box and we carried him over to release in the orchard across the street. I put the video on Youtube. I have seen several large gopher snakes, they are easy to deal with and not confrontational nor excitable like the rattlers!

July, 2009 and it is time for a little cleanup! The little backgarden is overgrown with nasturtium. They have taken over everything, tumbling in and out of the pots of roses and over the little rock pathway. The sweetpeas grew to 6' tall! Alas, the vines with their delicate tendrils are dried out. It's a good time for a cutdown and cleanup!

How do you tell a weed from a valuable plant? Pull hard on it, if it comes out of the ground, it is a valuable plant!

Backyard composting finally started! At the urging of Elanor, in Oklahoma, also on rural property, I have set up a system that includes a small container to fill with kitchen scraps, and 2 plastic garbage cans, with air holes and secure lids at the back of the house. Once again Youtube was a great source of instruction on composting at home. So far so good!

Grapevines are in! I purchased two grapevines to train over the wire archway in the rear of the house. They have made incredible progress, planted in 1/2 barrels on each side of the arch, they have fruited already! Update: August 3rd. What happened to the grapes??? They're gone!! I think the birds got to them.

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The British TV series The Good Life can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZ--z8RpOI The show features Felicity Kendall of Rosemary&Thyme, the PBS garden/mystery show. The Good Life a 1970's Brit TV series, is about a couple that decide to abandon corporate life and turn their upscale suburban home into a self-sustaining 'farm', much to the irritation of their neighbors!

Recently I researched water collection systems. I have since decided that the cost to do a meaningful rain cachment system outweighed the benefits. In otherwords, I do not think it would be cost effective at this time to spend the time and effort. Currently I am on a 40 family well in the immediate area and we have not had any restrictions.

August 17, 2009 The roses have been cut back a bit and fertilized again. I am using Miracle Grow for Roses and I just chuck a handful of the pink 'fairy dust' onto the base of each plant, then water in well.

My pumpkin plants are doing well, as is the squash and my tomato plants, and beans are fab! What I like to do is 'underplant', and it seems to work. I have a prospering, 6' tall tomato plant, healthy, planted in the same barrel as my dwarf Avacado, they enjoy the companionship and are growing abundantly. I planted a pumpkin vine in both barrels which now hold my new Grape vines, and a lovely, hearty, cherry tomato plant in the tube with my dwarf Lemon tree. But that is not all...I underplanted one rose bush in a pot with zinnias, both happy, and in a couple rose tubs I have planted begonias at the base of the bush or tree. This method seems to work, as does nasturtium and alyssum intermingled in the pots. I plant most of my garden in the rear of the house in pots, as the gophers are annoying, and sooner than kill them off, I just work around them! .

Check out Jamie Oliver's beautiful old country garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJJi8ROrvZE I love it! If anyone sees this, and wants to go to England with me and share a country home like that one, just let me know, I will pull up stakes in the blink of an eye.

TOMATO PLANTS! I want to talk about tomato plants and give you a tip about growing abundant fruit, not abundant greenery...My plants do very, very well. I have seen plants that are so thick and tall you can't see the tomatoes for the foliage, and given the size of the plant, the tomatoes don't seem as abundant as they should be...Tomato plants produce stems, foliage, flowers, then fruit, correct? In order for there to be lots of tomatoes, you have to limit the foliage production! Additionally, the sun must get to the fruit for it to ripen, and if the plant keeps producing unproductive branches and foliage you will get fewer tomatoes and the branches will shade the fruit too much and it will be slow to mature! So I recommend that you thin the branches and leaves out and you will get more tomatoes and they will ripen better! In addition, if you can grow them horizontally, like anything else, climbing roses, grapes, etc., you will see more off shoots and branches producing more fruit. I found this trick on the web, and it works. I would sooner see a plant heavy with tomatoes, than thick with green growth!

September 24, 2009 and we are experiencing an Indian Summer heat wave. It was so hot, I decided to buy an air conditioner for the bedroom and a couple weeks later, I am enjoying it fully! How about the garden? It is getting very hard to keep up with the watering, so I am letting some things go as it is the end of the season. I will soon pick off most of my tomatoes and ripen them in the kitchen, as they are simply boiling in their skins outside! I am enjoying herbs, rosemary, parsely, and watching my pumpkin vines sprawl outward as they head toward water and shade! Hope I get some fruit, as there seems to be plently of flowers. The flowers on a pumpkin vine are very exotic and the leaf structure is almost tropical.

October 12, 2009, the first big storm of the season is on its way, ahead of schedule! Usually we get our first rain around Halloween, but this year we are expecting a pretty good rain storm tomorrow! In prep, I cleaned out fountains and brought in the pumps for a cleaning. I cleared the deck of anything that will blow off, took in the rug and seat cushions, and today I will put the umbrellas down. I usually get my transistor radios out and my flashlights and storm candles, as inevitably the power will go out! Living in the woods, it is common for tree branches to take out lines very quickly. It is also hazardous to drive down our mountain roads as branches fall at will! So I plan to hunker down and enjoy our first storm, enjoying the fire and just watching out the windows!

New York Trip Oct. 21st to the 26th for Fall Color...and to visit my beautiful daughter. Take note of the photo on the right, we see some fall color here in California, but upstate NY is gorgeous at this time of year. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, but I am playing catch up now, cutting grass, raking, trimming in the garden. I really hope the rain gets here again soon, so I can relax!

The Sunny Garden