Notes

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. 

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

Grapes in July

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

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. 

Jasmine Everywhere!

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

What is this plant?

PLEASE HELP! I have taken this pic and an actual leaf to multiple garden centers. No one can give me an answer.

what is this plant?

I have recently moved into a home that has plants unusual for our area (upper midwest, USA). This plant is near the house foundation. The feathery leaves are very soft, not stiff like a pine needle. Any ideas what it is? The snow is mostly gone here on 4/30/2018.  Uncertain how the center buds ...

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. 

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.

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 ...

New Entrance to Our Garden: Garden Owl

We added an owl to our garden entrance cicular sign blocks.

Fruitless Tangerine Tree Intertwining with California Lilac Bush

All these bees are buzzing around the tangerine tree, now that the lilac bush is close by-- swarming with bees. Could this help pollinate our tangerine tree?

Tiny Grapes Growing Close Up

Our tiny grapes are progressing nicely. 

Lizard Garden in an Empty Pot

This is a cute picture of a lizard in our garden sunning himself in an empty pot.

Crooked Neck Squash

We planted this crooked neck squash this week. We hope that it yields a good crop with the recent onset of some rains.

New Crops Under the Grapevine

We planted new crops under the grape vine a few days ago. The new crops are: peppers, tomatoes, crookneck squash, and zucchi. We hope that our weather becomes more moderate, with less drought. Perhaps we will get a sprinkle of rain here and there. This should produce a better crop for this year.

Grapes Cluster's Tiny Grapes Forming

This is a better close up of our grape vine's new crop of grapes.  The tiny grapes are beginning to grow.There are a bunch of clusters throughout the vine! We are so very pleased.

Close- Up of Grape Cluster

The is is close-up of the new life from our two year old grape vine. It has many tiny grape clusters beginning to form. This is good news, since last year we only had one grape bunch on the whole tree. This year we have had more rain, thus our drought might have officially ended here in Southern ...

Grape Vine-New Growth for Spring

This is our grape vine from last year. Now it has new growth for this season.

Orchid Buds Bloom

This orchid plant was a gift two years ago. Now it has fully bloomed a third time. It is fun to watch day by day its progress, especially noting the beautiful color designs.

Cassia Desert Plant

Looks like our Cassia desert plant is blooming again. It has very nice bright- yellow colored flowers.

Up Close Backyard Tree Leaves and Bark

This is a close up of how dense some of our trees have gotten in our backyard. I think the tree on the right is a tabacco trees, however it is not the scientific name for it.I just looked it up, and it is the nicotiana glauca tree.