Today I got one clear day after some rain, with over a weeks worth of more rain to come. I was just gonna pull the dead basil, maybe weed a bit, water where the pea seeds have yet to sprout… and then I got carried away.
Rip Basil. I thought the added water would help it bounce back but it was basically a twiggy spider factory. Like most woody plants it was an absolute bear to pull.
I had two pairs of good work gloves that actually fit me, and one pair got a little funky and since they’re super cheap I threw out the messed-up pair. Only… I somehow threw out two lefts. Leaving me with two right gloves.
I’m a dingbat.
Once that task was taken care of I checked on the lovage pots.
Not great! But last time I rummaged through my seed box I found a packet of lovage seeds. Getting the nasty plants out of their pots was the hardest part. Lovage, for an herb, has some pretty tough roots, so I had to sort of slide the plants into the compost bin.
Then I got distracted.
Look! A mushroom!
I put some potting soil and some sure start in the pots, and once I was done lying on wet grass in order to get a good picture of a fungus, I sowed a few seeds per pot.
Absolutely no guarantee they’ll sprout in the cold- but it’s worth a shot.
I mean it’s chilly, but it’s San Francisco. So it’s not like we’re getting frosts.
There is a possibility however, depending on how much rain comes starting tomorrow, and how hard it comes down, that the lovage pots are going to be less “well watered” and more “soil soup”.
I still have to figure out exactly what I’m doing with the old bench. Wood chipper still an option. While I was again distracted by taking an arty picture of a weed in the sun, I decided to tackle the peppers.
Never got a good shishito. It was a mess from day one. It was put in too late, the ripened weird and too quick, and not a single one grew to full size. So it was time to yeet the dang thing into the compost.
They all got squishy to touch too, like every last one was rotting. Ick.
I uprooted a roly-poly so I wasted yet more time to get a glamour shot of the little dude.
These guys are super cool. They’re isopods- terrestrial crustaceans! Also they have the coolest scientific name: Armadillidiidae.
I’m always careful not to kill these guys. I’m pretty sure they are eating my plants a bit but I just love watching them move.
Unfortunately there are non-pill bug bugs in my garden too- and it seemed like half of them were living in my hatch peppers.
I did get a few that were intact and un-infested which should be good eating, but after I fumbled a few because someone was peeking out of their little homes and I didn’t want grubs climbing up my sleeves, I tossed the long suffering hatch plant into the compost too.
Of course now I have two empty pots filled with really well fertilized soil and I won’t need those two pots for tomatoes til tomato season, so I figured I’d throw a few Swiss chard seeds in the now empty pots and call it a day.
Ooh a centipede! Neat! Nearly crawled up my hand. Not neat! Centipedes are a pretty beneficial insect, garden wise- they eat a lot of the bad bugs. Depending on the species they can be a little venomous though, so definitely not a critter you want climbing on you, just in case.
There. Two new Swiss chard pots for the winter months then I can plant tomatoes or peppers come late March or April.
Of course- this means the new garden layout I drew and posted 4 days ago is now… out of date.
Goddamnit.
The Neanderthal Gardens 