[fidelis]

Continued warm and sunny here, around 82. We're expecting a slight temp drop this weekend to the high 70's. The garden plots (and the weeds, unfortunately) are busting out. We're getting green beans and just had to harvest the swiss char. We also had to cut back the cilantro. The wife got two new trees for her birthday-- a fig and a calmandi. She also picked up some basil and tomatillo.

On the flower side, every thing is blooming or on the verge of blooming (except the bulbs, snapdragons and zinias). The marigolds I grew from seeds for the first time are almost blooming. Put some color bowls together with salvia, dusty miller, alyssum, and marigold. I also put up some simple 6 foot long plant shelves made of cinder blocks and 2 x 4's. The hummingbirds are starting to visit our big aloe which is now blooming, pretty much abandoning the feeder for now.

We learned a valuable lesson this year: in a raised bed, do no scrimp on quality soil. We used cheapie $5 soil from Lowe's and almost lost our tomatoes and moringa. Wifey replaced all the cheap soil with good soil and mixed in fertilizer and now everyone is looking green again.

[fidelis]

Some of the new color bowls:

>

[greeneyes]

Yep soils got to be what’s needed. I might not call it “good” though. There’s another work that a local used telling me that great veggies and grapes require S***ty soil, so they converted the cow paddock into a garden.