Controlled Chaos?

I used to think that I liked my flowerbeds to be controlled-chaos--is there really such a thing? I liked it when plants grew into each other, and still do to a certain point. I also treated the plants like I do my spoiled kitties--let them do what they wanted! That lead the plants to be more chaos than controlled, and I am paying the price. Most of my yard is in chaos, and I can't get control of it. With our summer heat, it is difficult to get out into the yard any length of time so I can get it back in shape, but I keep working at it. These pictures show one flower bed that I got control over last May and have kept it looking nice.
Sometimes I am oblivious to the obvious, and have had some really, "Well, Duh!" moments; it's just the way I am! I was visiting a special friend of mine, who has been working on her small yard for 10 years, and has gotten it to the point of gorgeousness. Every day she goes out and prunes back anything that is getting a little too energetic, so it looks beautiful and well groomed all the time. It is the most tranquil garden I have ever been in, and I am trying to imitate her methods--that's how this bed has stayed so nice! This flower bed has lantana (plus, a Gala apple tree), which grows vigorously. I used to prune the lantana back once and expect it to stay in place. My husband would complain when the lantana covered our pool decking nearly to the edge of the pool! I would finally get it pruned back, if he was lucky, and then it would get out of control, again. Now, I get it! I will do a post of her yard in a week or two, so you can see what I mean about it being so well groomed!

More Trouble . . .

It looks like my cherry tomato has fusarium wilt, too. Plus, the closest cucumber plants to the first tomato plant with the wilt are also showing signs of wilt. I'm glad that our springs are usually warmer and dryer than it was this year, so we don't have to deal with this problem too often.

A Short Break . . .

I may not be able to post for a few days, although I will try! Three of my grandchildren will be here for a week, and they are quite active! It will be fun, and tiring, but I will love every minute of it! I will be back the second Monday in August, for certain!

Growing Garlic

Growing garlic is really easy! If you have some garlic that you bought at the market, and it is starting to grow, just stick it in the ground so that the very tip of the pointed end is sticking out of the soil. Then, make sure it gets watered regularly. Garlic generally doesn't have trouble with pests or diseases, but sometimes aphids will attack the leaves (just wash them off with a stream of water from the hose). Last month the leaves of my garlic started drying out. Once they were mostly dry, I pulled the garlic out of the ground and let it dry completely in my garage. In the picture above, the garlic on the left is how that garlic looked (after I cut off the leaves). The garlic on the right is after I trimmed off the roots, and pulled off the first, and dirty, layer of skin. Now it looks like the garlic you buy in the market!
This is how my garlic looks in my kitchen. It sits on the counter all the rest of the year. It is close at hand for cooking, and out of the way, too. This year my garlic was small--I believe the long cool spring we had stunted its growth. No problem! I can use two cloves of garlic instead of one when I cook--I have more than enough!

Citrus Trees

A while back I was talking (whining, actually!) about how my citrus trees were so over-loaded at the last harvest, that they wouldn't produce for next year. Well, I was wrong, at least about two of my three trees. Above is a picture of my new crop of tangerines! They will be ready for picking in February.
Here are my navel oranges--they look like they are doing just fine! They will ripen around Christmas. I searched my Valencia orange tree, but didn't find any small green fruits, so I guess it is in the cycle of lots of fruit one year and nothing the next.

Fusarium Wilt

You thought I forgot about my tomato problem, didn't you?!? I took closer pictures of my tomato plant, so you can see what the damage looks like.
This is on one side of the plant, right in the middle. It is western facing, and the afternoon sun was cooking the newly exposed green tomatoes, so I put up some sun cloth to protect the fruit--hopefully, I will be able to harvest good tomatoes before the plant completely dies.
After looking into this problem, I believe this is Fusarium Wilt (FW). It probably came in with the plant from the nursery, as I have never had this problem before. The best prevention of FW is to grow FW resistant varieties. Generally, commercially grown plants are free of viruses and wilts, but maybe not this time. I was really impressed with this tomato plant up until this time--it had a lot of fruit and healthy growth. Now, I need to be careful and not grow tomatoes here for 5-7 years, as the FW will live in the ground that long.

Too Many Tomaotes?

I picked these Roma tomatoes yesterday. In the picture, the large colander is sitting on the path between two of my veggie boxes, which are 18" apart. The tomatoes weighed in at 30 pounds, minus the colander. Mmmmm . . . good sauce!