On the weekends I get somewhat serious about my gardens. I went out with my flashlight after dark tonight and checked on the strawberries, which need weeding. Each of my Sequoia plants have between three and five big ripening berries at the end of nice thick green stems. I get a kick out of growing strawberries. I don't particularly like eating them, but a lot of my family can really scarf them down. I thought I'd pick 20 or 30 berries Sunday morning an take them up to my mom's in Azusa as a treat.
May is my cutoff date for planting things like tomatoes. So this morning, i yanked out two sickly Goliath tomato plants that were damaged in a hail storm and replaced them with a beefsteak hybrid I germinated from seed. I have a couple of tricks for growing big fruits and keeping young vines vigorous. First, I dig deep bell shaped holes so the roots will have plenty of room to effortlessly expand; Second, i mix potting material with excavated earth and plant the vines very deep; Third, I thoroughly mix about 3/4 cups of aged steer manure in about seven cups of planting mixture and then hold off feeding the plants again until they are thoroughly established and have grown seven to nine inches. Big tomatoes like Goliaths, Beefsteaks and related hybrids seem to thrive with this treatment, particularly if you don't over water (which I've done in years past).
Now that the weather is getting warmer, most of my plants are thriving and beginning to crank out new vegetative growth. I've been most surprised by my potatoes, which are really doing quite well. I increased the height of my mounds by about three inches his week, thanks to some finely sifted loose soil gophers and voles had provided on the northern edge of my orchard plot. No gophers or voles survive in my upper plot. I sent three to Valhalla earlier this week, while they were still on the periphery of my garden.
Oh potatoes, they're starting to blossom, which means that down in the mounds tasty tubers are forming. I've already noticed a couple of cracks forming in the mounds about 8 inches up from the base of the mound, so tomorrow I need to pack the sides of the mounds with more dirt and feed the vines. Potatoes take up a lot of room but are very productive. Potatoes also take a lot of water, which I do early in the mornings before the day really begins. My potato coach--who is something of a wizard with Yukon Golds told me to expect between 80 and 120 pounds of tubers when I excavate the mounds late this summer. He also suggested i grab some kelp the next time I take my boat out after yellowtail in the kelp beds off LaJolla. I'm not sure about this kelp mulch thing, but several people have advised me to try it in late May. The trick will be rinsing the kelp enough to remove as much salt as possible before I work the compost into the mound tops and around the tomato plants.
Kelp?? What next, special spud songs and magical incantations sung on full moons as I dance naked in my garden? Nothing I hear from members of the compost cult surprises me anymore. But what the hell, i do enjoy my gardens.
I have a Havana tobacco crop coming up. I started the plants from seed and they're now about two feet tall with big leaves. I have yet to find one bug on the plants, which is good since I'm using the tobacco as an insect barrier in my upper and lower gardens.
The really good news this week is that my preying mantis hatched and quickly devoured the white flies and aphids that were beginning to appear in my garden. The really bad new is that on Thursday a group of four stellar jays visited my garden, found and ate all but one of the mantis. But they also got most of the horned worms ( Luna moth caterpillars aka "Rebeccapillars") that were beginning to infest my tomato plants. I really wish I could have chickens here. They're great at insect pest control and they keep the soil lose. I bet the coyotes, foxes and the lady redtail hawk here on my hill also wish I had chickens.
I figure I'll work about two hours in the garden tomorrow, then hook up the boat to my massively manly SUV and try my luck with the halibut around the bait barge in San Diego harbor and under the Coronado Bridge.
And to you technologists in Silicon Valley I say this: "There is life after technology and it's fun, here in rural northern San Diego County, where you live in sync with the seasons and put on sunscreen every day." --Jim Forbes
Below is an image of a horned tomato worm. It's not a worm, really. It's a Luna Moth caterpillar or as my lovley and ever imaginative daughter, Amanda Forbes says "it's a RebeccaPillar."--jmf
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