ISTR there used to be a NG devoted to So. Calif gardening. I just did a search under All Groups, but did not find. Anybody know/remember such a NG?

It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of year. Would be nice to schmooze with gardeners just sowing their "winter" crops. Not that I don't love rec.gardens but..

So far I have snow peas racing up the vines. Radishes going gang busters. Which is interesting, because I have always had terrible luck with this easiest, kindergarten-level veg! Trying broccoli again after many years. Also Brussels sprouts. Green onions. Beets. Spinach. Lettuce. Dunno why I am sowing the latter; I never seem to use it. Prefer "chopped" salads. Oh well, can always give to neighbors.

Finished the yellow/gold peppers on the Home Depot vine. Didn't quite amortise the $10.98 I paid for that planter, but whatthehell. However, next year, if I am spared, I will plant a thinner-skinned variety.

Thus endeth the lesson.

HB

Higgs Boson wrote:
....
It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of
year. Would be nice to schmooze with gardeners
just sowing their "winter" crops. Not that I
don't love rec.gardens but..

there are times when i'm too busy doing and don't
have much energy when done to write much. today was
one of those days.

picked dry beans yesterday from one garden and
shelled some of them, leaving an empty garden with
debris needing to be put under so i could plant
the fall/winter cover crop. today was digging
day, as i'm still chugging along on half power i
was able to get everything buried, but not get
it planted, so that will be tomorrow's chore.
garlic, winter rye, winter wheat will be the crops
for that garden. when i was taking a break between
bouts of digging i shelled beans.

we've already had some light frosts, but the
daytime weather has been perfect for being outside
and getting things done. four more days in the
forecast without rain. i'm good with that, i hope
i can get at least two more of the larger gardens
picked by then, but nothing more than the one
garden tomorrow will likely be planted as it is
more important to get things picked now that they
are dry. the winter crops can wait a week or two
before being planted. most of them are cover
crops anyways.

the one garden i planted with winter rye, winter
wheat and oats (yes, i know the oats will not
survive long) a while ago is already up and the
sprouts are about 8"-12" tall. this stuff grows
quick! it's so nice to have green growing in that
garden again. i'll enjoy looking at it all winter
when there isn't enough snow to cover...


songbird

On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 6:18:32 PM UTC-7, songbird wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

...

It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of

year. Would be nice to schmooze with gardeners

just sowing their "winter" crops. Not that I

don't love rec.gardens but..



there are times when i'm too busy doing and don't

have much energy when done to write much. today was

one of those days.



picked dry beans yesterday from one garden and

shelled some of them, leaving an empty garden with

debris needing to be put under so i could plant

the fall/winter cover crop. today was digging

day, as i'm still chugging along on half power i

was able to get everything buried, but not get

it planted, so that will be tomorrow's chore.

garlic, winter rye, winter wheat will be the crops

for that garden. when i was taking a break between

bouts of digging i shelled beans.



we've already had some light frosts, but the

daytime weather has been perfect for being outside

and getting things done. four more days in the

forecast without rain. i'm good with that, i hope

i can get at least two more of the larger gardens

picked by then, but nothing more than the one

garden tomorrow will likely be planted as it is

more important to get things picked now that they

are dry. the winter crops can wait a week or two

before being planted. most of them are cover

crops anyways.



the one garden i planted with winter rye, winter

wheat and oats (yes, i know the oats will not

survive long) a while ago is already up and the

sprouts are about 8"-12" tall. this stuff grows

quick! it's so nice to have green growing in that

garden again. i'll enjoy looking at it all winter

when there isn't enough snow to cover...

Enjoyed your account beaucoup!

Where are you located, if I may ask?

Also, looks like you're dealing with vastly more acreage than my little backyard garden. Kudos!

HB

On 9/24/13 5:46 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
ISTR there used to be a NG devoted to So. Calif gardening. I just did
a search under All Groups, but did not find. Anybody know/remember
such a NG?

It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of year. Would be
nice to schmooze with gardeners just sowing their "winter" crops.
Not that I don't love rec.gardens but..

So far I have snow peas racing up the vines. Radishes going gang
busters. Which is interesting, because I have always had terrible
luck with this easiest, kindergarten-level veg! Trying broccoli
again after many years. Also Brussels sprouts. Green onions.
Beets. Spinach. Lettuce. Dunno why I am sowing the latter; I never
seem to use it. Prefer "chopped" salads. Oh well, can always give
to neighbors.

Finished the yellow/gold peppers on the Home Depot vine. Didn't
quite amortise the $10.98 I paid for that planter, but whatthehell.
However, next year, if I am spared, I will plant a thinner-skinned
variety.

Thus endeth the lesson.
HB


I don't recall ever seeing a So. Cal. gardening newsgroup. I have
always lived within a 35 mile radius of the Sepulvida Pass and have been
gardening since 1966.

Most of my musings about gardening are found in my garden diary. See
the link in my signature block at the bottom of this message.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

Higgs Boson wrote:

It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of
year. Would be nice to schmooze with gardeners
just sowing their "winter" crops. Not that I
don't love rec.gardens but..

Garden clubs abound... most every neighborhood in the US has at least
one... check at your local library. And garden clubs are constantly
seeking volunteers to maintain town parks, etc.

Higgs Boson wrote:
....
Enjoyed your account beaucoup!

Where are you located, if I may ask?

mid-Michigan, USoA, Saginaw River Valley.


Also, looks like you're dealing with vastly more
acreage than my little backyard garden. Kudos!

80,000sq ft (1.84 acres), most of it mulched or
planted with low maintenance perennials. a few
gardens are slated for replacement each year and
some get new mulch or different plants added.

the grass is about 5% of what it used to be.
eventually i'll likely get rid of that too.

veggie gardens are pretty low maintenance as
once they are in and weeded once or twice they
are thickly planted so not much else gets going
other than a few weeds here or there. any empty
spaces i plant peas or beans. mulch in some
gardens. a few thousand square feet of these.

several mixed and semi-wild gardens that are
fairly established. a few days a season spent
weeding or planting or trimming/harvesting green
manure and mulch.

the strawberry patches, mostly established and
only needing some spot weeding or thinning to
restore growth. some of the green manure harvested
in other places goes onto these. after the mid-
summer harvest of strawberries i plant peas, beans,
soybeans scattered on them and then mulch lightly
and water if needed. the peas/beans provide shade
and perk up the soil until the frosts take them
out. the ever-bearing strawberries keep blooming
and setting fruit right up until the frosts.

other wild spaces like the north hedge and the
east side on the other side of the large drainage
ditch are very low maint places. i put about 1
day each into those during the growing season.

i spent more time weeding out morning glory
plants this season. trying to head them off
before they get worse. and once in a while i pick
an area in the limestone mulch and get the weeds
out. not usually too many, but it has to be spot
checked/weeded.


songbird

On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 10:29:57 PM UTC-7, David E. Ross wrote:
On 9/24/13 5:46 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:

ISTR there used to be a NG devoted to So. Calif gardening. I just did

a search under All Groups, but did not find. Anybody know/remember

such a NG?



It gets awfully quiet on rec.gardens this time of year. Would be

nice to schmooze with gardeners just sowing their "winter" crops.

Not that I don't love rec.gardens but..



So far I have snow peas racing up the vines. Radishes going gang

busters. Which is interesting, because I have always had terrible

luck with this easiest, kindergarten-level veg! Trying broccoli

again after many years. Also Brussels sprouts. Green onions.

Beets. Spinach. Lettuce. Dunno why I am sowing the latter; I never

seem to use it. Prefer "chopped" salads. Oh well, can always give

to neighbors.



Finished the yellow/gold peppers on the Home Depot vine. Didn't

quite amortise the $10.98 I paid for that planter, but whatthehell.

However, next year, if I am spared, I will plant a thinner-skinned

variety.



Thus endeth the lesson.

HB





I don't recall ever seeing a So. Cal. gardening newsgroup. I have

always lived within a 35 mile radius of the Sepulvida Pass and have been

gardening since 1966.



Most of my musings about gardening are found in my garden diary. See

the link in my signature block at the bottom of this message.


Yes, I have visited and will again. You are so awesomely organized!!

I'm about to make another try at creating a watering schedule. So far, it's been "uh, guess I haven't watered here lately"... With climate change, unusual summer heat, etc. time to get organized.

I checked a few sites on-line for "watering diagran" but just found instructions. I know I can do it myself (lazy-busy)was just wondering whether anyone knows of such a diagram to download.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6404860_desi...ng-system.html

For the info of those in different areas, this "Mediterranean" climate is also basically a desert. Rainy season -- in theory -- November - March. Actually inadequate. Dependent on imported water.

If water had not been brought in from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada (Northern mountain range)* via several historical and colorful efforts, LA could never have grown into a mega-blob (oops, "city".) Santa Monica, where I garden, is a tiny city between LA and the Pacific.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6404860_desi...ng-system.html
en/climate.html


HB

On 9/25/13 12:15 PM, Higgs Boson wrote [in part]:

For the info of those in different areas, this "Mediterranean"
climate is also basically a desert. Rainy season -- in theory --
November - March. Actually inadequate. Dependent on imported water.

I often describe our climate as having a dry season and a not-so-dry
season. There have been 142 consecutive days without measurable rain in
the current "rain year" (October through September). We sometimes go
more than 200 days. On the average, more than 2/3 of our rain falls in
December, January, and February.

In the rain year now ending, we got a total of 5.2 inches (13.2 cm)
measurable rain in my area. In Malibu about 10 miles away, the total
has been 9.1 inches (23.1 cm). In some areas of California, this is a
record-breaking dry rain year; but my local area's recent most dry rain
year was 2006-2007, when only 4.4 inches (11.2 cm) of rain fell. Unlike
then, when a state-wide drought emergency was declared, we started the
current rain year with reservoirs holding above-average amounts of water.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On Wednesday, September 25, 2013 10:18:39 AM UTC-7, songbird wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

...

Enjoyed your account beaucoup!



Where are you located, if I may ask?



mid-Michigan, USoA, Saginaw River Valley.

[..incredible endeavours snipped...]

I always wanted to visit the UP. Sounds like it's still somewhat "wild".
Ever been there?

HB





songbird

Higgs Boson wrote:
....
I always wanted to visit the UP. Sounds like it's still somewhat "wild".
Ever been there?

i lived in Houghton-Hancock for 15 years.

parts of the UP are still very wild. i've
fished many of the rivers up there. now i
would not live there again as the snow and
cold can hang on late into the spring and start
up again fairly early in the fall. i much
prefer where i am now, we get enough of a
winter and that is good enough for me.

we go back to visit once every few years for
a few days as we are both fans of beach rock
picking and i like to see what is new in the
town and the campus (Michigan Technological
University).


songbird