k. abbreviated post as garden update or it'll never happen.

  

33 dF this a.m.

ONE degree above freezing.

In June.

In inland California! So odd.

Poor little tomatoes and peppers and basil.

But, hey, it's better than 32 or 31 or 30, so I'll take it.

Visual garden update 'cause the longer post is not getting done.

Been dealing with household crisis/pet illness/vet/petdeath (last 1.5 days, don't get me started) & must work (only worked 4hrs so far this week!!), so longer post re: gardening progress for this WEIRD spring of 2011 is just NOT getting done--when have more time and am better healed later will probably post 'cause I like some of the messages.

Meanwhile, back at the 3400 ft elevation garden

May 15th

May 23

Whattanighmareofnon-nativegrassyhell.

Just looking at it makes the conservation biologist in me wither.

May 31

 

Ah, much better. Still lotsa nasties, but much progress.

Oh, now that I think of it, this may be partly why I've inexplicably shrunk a bit, lately. 10,000 hrs of work for sick pet & healthy chickens & drowning garden & 2 weeks of laundry from fieldwork.

Orientation:  Plots named 1-5, starting with closest-to-garden-door/furthest south

• Closest plot (in photo above) on right is Plot 1
• next is non-plot/possible arch site, Plot 2 (looks like log & one shrub)
• Plot 3 is the nest one out, planted (see below)
• Plots 4 and 5 are beyond.

Plot 1

In the back is tomatoes & peppers, basil plants sprinkled here & there.

Foreground is rattlesnake pole beans planted in a circle.

The beans'll become a tepee when they sprout and I add long bamboo poles. It'll be SO COOL! I've never done it.

Plot 2 is abandoned until I get state folks notified of the arrowhead I found.

Plot 3

 Tomatoes & basil & peppers in foreground

Middle is my 1st perma-plot:

chives (pretty blooms), chrysanthemum, & mint.

Back is broccoli from last fall & petunias.

Plot 4

This will be roots this year.

Was "miscellaneous" last year (squash/melon)

The middle is where I chucked a bunch of

cilantro seeds I got tired of holding in a jar

on the kitchen counter, late last fall. WOW.

Plot 5

Peas in back on left (caged) and planted 2 rows

of rattlesnake pole beans 2 days ago.

Still plan on planting soybeans on right (s) end of plot.

Really need to put something OVER all the beans I planted so they don't get eaten by squirrels, jays, etc. Soon. But v. busy lately. Jeeze.

The rotation system I (sorta) follow is PLMR:

• Potatoes (and tomatoes, peppers, e.g. nightshade family)
• Legumes (& brassica)
• Miscellaneous (squash, etc.)
• Roots.

The way I remember it is Planters Like More Rows.

Nice lighting on irises that the gopher's not yet eaten

These were virtually invisible before last weekend.

Covered in grasses and vetch.

Better.
NOW I need to add fertilizer some time.

And from the forecast for our area, courtesy of NOAA, of course, a hazardous weather notice today:

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

A LARGE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE SOUTH ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST EARLY THIS WEEKEND...THEN SHIFT INLAND SUNDAY. ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH THIS SYSTEM...THERE IS A CHANCE OF RAIN AND HIGHER ELEVATION SNOW AS WELL AS WINDY CONDITIONS FOR MUCH OF THE AREA. THE HEAVIER AND MORE WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED NORTH OF KINGS CANYON AND THE CENTRAL SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY.


WEIRDEST spring ever.

xo

bb