Notes

8 Feb

Succulent Flowers

This is a sample of the Agave aka foxtail agave "flowering truck" flower. The scientific name is "attenuata".

5 Jan

Winter Next in tangerine tree

We found this abbandoned bird nest in our front yard's tangerine tree. It was found in late December.

1 Jul

Grapes Glowing

OUr grapes are getting bigger and have a bit of a blush and glow. The picture was taken on June 30th, 2020

9 Mar

Garden Grape Vine- New Grape Leaves for an Early Spring

These new grape leaves are growing on last year's grape vine. I hope that we get a wonderful grape yield again this year. The picture was taken in early March.

5 Mar

Garden Rosemary and Lavender

Our back garden is doing better since we have had more rain this past fall and winter. I also like the little red clay chimney. It actually works too.

3 Aug

Grapes in August, 2019

Our grapes are turning from green to red. In a week or two I think we will be enjoying them for dessert.

30 May

Grape clusters for May 30, 2019

So far, our grapes are progressing nicely. This is a picture of our grape clusters for May 30, 2019. We did cut a few clusters horizontally at the ends, because we read that this would yield stronger, bigger grapes. We left most of the grapes uncut, as the picture posted. By late July or August, I ...

21 Apr

Grapes, April 20th

Our grapes are back! We hope they make it through the summer for harvest. We had a lot of rain this year for January and February. Maybe this will make a nice difference.

26 Feb

Spring is Coming

Spring is coming. Our annual flowers keep blooming. They are a happy sign for us. A friend gave me these about 7-8 years ago and they still look beautiful every spring.

2 Feb

February 2019 Lawn

Here's how our lawn looks like this February. It has gotten much greener, because of the recent rains in December and January. It still has some patches of brown dirt. Hopefully, I can cultivate the lawn with some grass seed or patches of grass sod. Obviously, our drought has ended for this year.

17 Jan

Oranges in Mid-January, 2019

This is our orange tree. Fianlly, I have been watering a bit more, thus the fruit hasn't split down the middle. It also seems that the drought must definitely be over in Southern Califonria. This has helped all of the struggling plants and grass. Actually, this whole week has been very rainy.

1 Dec

Grapes in December

Such a surprise to walk out in the garden for December 1st, and see little grapes growing on the vine! I thought I would have to wait until spring or summer. I hope they make it through the coming winter months, even if our temperature is generally moderate for the winter.

13 Oct

Front Yard, Grass Improvement

Last night It rained, thundered, and the sky lite up with lightening! This is so unusual in Southern California. I wonder if we are still in a drought. Perhaps our lawn will be greener before January or February. I was thinking we had to take out the whole lawn area and replace it with red bark ...

26 Sep

Tomatoes in Autumn

Although our summer tomatoes are gone, this bush seems to have one last harvest! The tomatoes are green thus far, but I hope they ripen. I last counted 25 of them.

20 Sep

Grape Harvest Coming to an End

We were so very happy with our grapes this year! They were sweet and tender, with a melt in your mouth skin. We will have to get used to store bought grapes again, until we try planting and harvesting grapes again.

15 Sep

Greener Lawn Days

Red Dog is sitting on our green lawn. We are trying to get this lawn back to greener days after these few years of water rationing and drought in many Southern California cities.

30 Jul

Grapes in July

These grapes have been ready since mid July. We have been blessed this year with a great crop.

7 Jun

Grape Ladder Make-Shift Trellis

Here is the ladder my husband put in as a make-shift trellis to allow the grapes to have a wider span. (Also to not interude on the neighbor's fence.) Thus far, this seems to be working.

24 May

Jasmine Everywhere!

This time of year, we are seeing our jasmine thrive! It smells wondeful, especially in the early evening.

24 Apr

New Orchid Bulbs

I have noticed this past week that I have two more new orchid bulbs! This will be the third year these orchids keep producing.

24 Apr

Yellow Crooked Squash First Flower

I am so happy to see the first flower growth on the crooked yellow squash. We bought the plant from a garden center about two weeks ago and planted it in our back yard garden.

22 Apr

Collard Greens in the Crock Pot Stew

Just harvested some of our collard greens. We cooked a stew of red beans and ham in the crock pot and added cut-up pieces of the greens to the stew the last two hours of cooking time. It worked out great! Next time we might try doing it with kale. We are trying to develop some better eating ...

20 Apr

Roxana