The last couple of days have been blazing hot- which has solved some problems and exposed some others.
But for the giant zucchini factory the blast of heat seems to have just gotten the proverbial motor going, to my delight.
Ah- a beautiful sight.
While the leaves here obviously have some lingering mildew issues from the winter- the alpine strawberries themselves are loving the change in the weather.
Once the white alpines start fruiting my garden snacks might actually be prolific enough for some baking projects which is nice.
Slowly but surely the beans climb ever upward.
Spike and Julia are glorious shrubby messes, but they look very healthy to me and are well on their way to giving me some gloriously weird tomatoes.
The Petaluma hill purple is also a glory to behold.
No set fruit yet- but plenty of blooms. Reminds me that it’s time to use some bloom fertilizer and mix into the soil some egg shells to fend off blossom end rot.
The tree collard looks amazing, even if I have some serious de-bugging to do to it. That’s the only problem with the warmer weather- besides having to water a ton. While heat is good to combat some bugs, others take it as a signal to be fruitful and multiply. While I have enough native ladybugs to hold off the worst, I am having to intervene more than I’d like.
This is a tale of two sages- equal in dignity but unequal in longevity. This one, in a wide open bed, bit the dust.
This one in a crowded herb pot is thriving.
No I have no idea what happened either- nor at this point do I care. Will I have enough sage for cooking later in the year? Yes. Do I care what pot it’s in, no. Is this annoying however? YES.
The potatoes are loving their new bed- but in hilarious news one of the back potatoes was listing to the side a bit. Turns out something in the rodent family had nibbled the stem a bit. Not all the way through- just like maybe a 1/4 of the way before abandoning ship. Why?
Because like most nightshades potato plants are super duper toxic to mammals! I had a good laugh at a silly rodent and put my cat repelling forks to good use to discourage any more nibbles. The plant itself isn’t any worse for wear so I don’t really care. I’ll be mounding up more dirt around the plants soon anyways.
Some rodent had a nasty poisoning experience and I hope it got taught some manners!
The squash from my squash angel is growing quite vigorously, so by the time my mustard goes fully to seed the plants will be ready to take over the space which is nice.
But oh gosh am I going to have winter squash to plant soon. My eyes were bigger then my planting space on this one for sure.
Same with my dinky sunflowers- but that’s no hardship. I could put them out in pots in front of the house maybe to take advantage of it’s southern exposure- cheer up the street a bit.
Moving the peppers to the greenhouse was the correct decision- they’re happy as clams.
As is my accidental basil, which is also a happy camper.
As is my mizuna which will need a bed to plant in soon- which is a whole other story.
I am going to be drowning in blackberries- which is also a good problem to have.
Also in spinach and lettuce- which again, not a problem.
My zombie comfrey has flowered which is nice- never seen a comfrey flower before.
The delightful cilantro flowers are right on schedule and I am loving it. Coriander incoming!
I had been hoping to get some garlic scapes from my fancy german garlic but it seems the only thing enjoying the greens is the scale. That is a huge disappointment of course. The bulbs themselves should be fine but grrr scale.
While the ball squash is doing well underneath the trellis by the Yerba Buena, it’s getting those little nibbles that killed the various cucumbers. So I’m putting down a slug trap to see if that’s the issue- stay tuned.
The picked beautiful sight- and a tasty treat.
The first of many I suspect.
I will put up today the new garden layout- Which of course in the matter of a few more days is likely to be out of date. This is how things have always worked- why should isolation make anything different.
In other typical things, while yesterday when this log was photographed the daytime temps for the last two days were in the blazing 80’s- today when I’m posting this log the temperatures are down to barely cracking 60 and overcast.
Because there are two constants in life- San Francisco weather will always screw you- and I will be late posting garden layouts.
Some things have to make sense right?
The Neanderthal Gardens 
Oh my! Your garden is so much more advanced than mine is! I know I got a late start and all, but I did not expect to be so far behind, especially relative to San Francisco! I know it is May now, but this is embarrassing. I have not gotten a singe zucchini yet. In fact, only the first flowers are blooming. It may be a while before a fruiting flower blooms. Goodness! I should get out there to weed now.
I take seasonal suggestions as suggestions not rules though so I tend to just go through my seed box and be like- hmmm what could I start now just in case the weather’s warmer than average… Some years this backfires, some years it does this.
I sort of do the same with old seed if I suspect that it is not viable anyway. This year, I got more than I expected, although most happens to be late.