In article ,
songbird wrote:

Billy wrote:
songbird wrote:
Billy wrote:
...
Looking like it will be near impossible to grow a garden this year, if
we don't get some rain soon.

where do you get your liquid gold (water)?
...

Unfortunately, the Colorado River water is partitioned between 8 states.
Usually none of it reaches Mexico to quench the thirst of Mexicans, or
to flush out the Gulf of California.

About 60% of the water in the lower Colorado (7.5 million acre·ft/year)
water goes to California for agriculture in the Mojave Desert, and for
tap water for the inhabitants of Southern California. I'm unaware of any
of it finding its way to Northern California, or California's Central
Valley.

ah, i wasn't aware it only went to south CA.


The Central Valley, and Northern California rely on a melting snow pack
to feed our rivers which provide our water. Water diverted from the Eel
River for hydro-electric power provides most of the water in the Russian
Rivers, which in turn services the coastal counties of Mendocino,
Sonoma, and Marin (North Bay). San Francisco receives its water from The
Hetch Hetchy Project which transports Tuolumne River water 156 miles
from the Central Sierra to San Francisco and peninsula cities (South
Bay).

Local cities are taking up the question of water rationing, which was on
the to do list at the Healdsburg City council tonight.

seems like a wise thing to do, along with many other
things to reduce water consumption and encourage
recycling.


At present, there is no rain in our future. February and March are
usually our wettest months (but not last year).

The silver-lining is that there should be fewer mosquitos this year.

never free of them here once the season warms
up. i found one inside a few days ago. and yesterday
a lady bug which i moved to one of the few houseplants
(which hasn't started regrowing again yet for the
spring flowering).

today it is windy and blowing snow around. i was
surprised to see a squirrel out in the wind picking
and eating berries off one of the bushes in the
north hedge/treeline. it would sit with it's tail
up to the wind using it to protect the rest of it's
body from the cold. i'd not seen one do that before
here. with these really cold temperatures for this
long it must be a challenge even if you hibernate
part of the season... no fresh bunny tracks seen
yesterday or today, they're hunkered down, like us...


songbird

I'm not sure what's on our squirrels menu, but with 70 F days they are
acting as if it were spring, when a young squirrels fancy turns to,
well, you know. We are on the side of a hill, with our bedroom window
looking int the canopy of an oak forest. Seems there is always a
squirrel in pursuit of another squirrel, ah, to be young again.

Sadly our library doesn't have the Firefox book on distilling. If you
can make booze, everything else will flow to you.

Some of the herbs are pushing already. THe "mothers wort" is up. I
wouldn't be surprised to see bud break on the grape vines in February.
There are still a lot of unpruned vineyards waiting for the shears.

The big news is that there is a 50% chance of showers on thur. Keeping
my fingers crossed. I'd like one more garden from here. I think by Fall
we will have moved on.

You heard of grafted tomatoes?

http://blog.oregonlive.com/kympokorn...toes_grab_atte
ntio.html
Unveiled last year in limited release by Log House Plants in Cottage
Grove, the first crop of grafted tomatoes took off like a caped
crusader. Portland Nursery, one of only four garden centers in the
country to carry them, sold out quickly. As soon
agraftcloseup.jpgView full sizeCourtesy of Greg Lee/Log House Plants Log
House Plants did extensive research in the exacting art of grafting
vegetables such as tomato, pepper and eggplant. The scion (the top part
of the plant) must be the same size as the rootstock (the bottom part of
the plant) and the two stems must meet perfectly.

as people hear about the altogether-different tomatoes, they line up at
the checkout counter. Who doesn't want the promise of a plant that
produces more fruit for a longer season on a disease- and
pest-resistant, vigorous plant that needs less water and fertilizer and
adapts to poor soils?

SOURCES
Garden centers throughout the Northwest supplied by Log House Plants.
Store locator on website.

Territorial Seed Co., 2 1/2-inch plants for $6.95

GardenLife, 4-inch plants for $11.95

TIme to go toes up now. Gotta get up early. I don't quite understand it,
but when we should be winding down the lab work, I find myself doing 40
hour weeks. What's up with that?
--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg