Worm castings and composted steer manure

Our worm bin was full, so we harvested the castings and switched the tiers. There are tons of happy worms in there! We spread the castings, along with the composted steer manure I bought months ago, on the fruit trees. There's been plenty of rain this week and more is in the forecast. Hopefully, that will help soak these into the soil, not wash them away.

Our tiny Gold Nugget Mandarin tree has ripe fruit now that we're enjoying. I love the fruit, but I'd like to see this tree grow more this coming year.

Happy New Year 2022 is almost here. Hang in there everyone. 

Cleared community garden plot of tomatoes and zucchini, planted parsley seeds

 This past weekend we cleared all of the remaining tomato and squash plants from the community garden bed. It is always hard to decide to pull out the tomatoes because so many green ones remain, but they just stop ripening. We will put down composted manure (this time only steer, as the garden center was out of chicken) and plant more soon.

Here's the last tomato harvest of the year (except some cherry gold tomatoes at home in a pot that are still producing).

Also the final overgrown zucchini-ish squash and some zoodles I made from them. I'm getting sick of zoodles. I think I need to make a LOT more zucchini bread.

At home, I planted some parsley seeds in a pot. They're pretty old, so I'm curious if they will grow.

Fertilized garden; Pumpkin and squash harvest; Hawk

 Today, I used organic fruit tree fertilizer on all of the fruit trees in our yard. I also used an all purpose fertilizer on several landscape plants and pots, including the star jasmine that seems to get reddish leaves less if it has a boost of fertilizer.

We had a great harvest this summer of tomatoes such that we were eating them three times a day for weeks. They've slowed a lot, although we're still getting a few here and there. We did plant my daughter's baby pumpkin that's descended from a few (maybe 3?) she "bought" in a classroom auction 4 years ago. Some years she's had a handful, one year just one, and this year over 25!

Also, I don't recall planting zucchini, although I might have planted some old seeds. We ended up with many overgrown summer squash things that never really looked like zucchini, even when caught young, but they tasted about the same. One day, DD and I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread from one of them. With the remaining shredded squash from the one, I then made several pans of vegetable falafel-ish patties. I've given away some of the squash but still have a few left. I think next will be zoodles. 

This lovely hawk showed up for my birthday this year to help celebrate. 😏 I'm not sure what type it is, but it doesn't appear to be the usual red tailed hawk that we see frequently.

Planting seeds

 Today at the community garden plot, I tore out the rest of the old, aphid-infested kale that had been there a long time. The plants were big and woody, although they did provide new leaves that were fine. But they were so large that they were all over the place and felt like they took up half the space. In that area, I planted new seeds for kale, chard, carrots, beets and lima beans. The tomato plants from last week look fine and the newly replaced irrigation timer appears to be working. 

Wildlife this year in San Diego

May 9, 2021 

Spring is here and so are the animals! There's a hummingbird nest in our carrotwood tree that's been there in prior years. Currently the bird is sitting on the nest. It is very hard to notice unless you look carefully, which I did yesterday when I was considering trimming the branch. So glad I saw it!

We've seen a lot of snakes recently. We've been working methodically to reduce the shrubs on our back slope to reduce our fire risk. Yesterday, at the start of our work, DH spotted this rattlesnake, which we caught and relocated. It had been sitting docilly under a shrub that we were walking past repeatedly. When we started to catch it, it woke right up and moved fast!  Growing up in Arizona and spending a lot of time outdoors (including actively looking for reptiles), I'm surprised how few rattlesnakes I saw there. Not so here in San Diego! We see more rattlesnakes here than all of the other snake types combined. I'm pretty certain the ones we see most regularly are Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes. (Another Link) Here is the one we found yesterday, once it was caught and in the trash can. 

My neighbor sent this picture to me of the rattlesnake curled up outside her front door last week.

This season we've seen more non-rattlesnakes than usual for our San Diego experience. I've only seen a few Ring-necked Snakes before. This one was in the yard 2 weeks ago.

Last weekend, while walking in the park we spotted another but didn't get a picture. It was fast! At first I thought it was a Garter Snake but now I think it was a California Striped Racer. We did not see its belly, but the stripes were vivid like the Racer and it was very slim.

A neighbor also sent this picture of a California Kingsnake outsider her garage this week. I have a soft spot for these snakes, as we had them as pets growing up. About 8-10 years ago, I caught one of these in a neighbor's yard that she was alarmed to find and did not want. We kept it for a few weeks before letting it go. I wonder if this one is the same one or related. They can live 40 years!

The lizards are also plentiful. I've seen more Whiptails this year than in prior ones. Plus we have many of the usual Western Fence Lizards, which are the same genus as the Spiny Lizards that I saw more of in my youth in Arizona. This is a Fence Lizard, right?

Most evenings for years we hear an owl hooting, although I've not heard it as much lately. I don't know where it lives during the day, but rarely we've seen it in the carrotwood tree or on the back fence. More often, we find owl pellets on the back patio or in the yard. It likes to sit on the peak of our roof when depositing them on the patio. Gross, yet interesting. Some years, I've gathered the owl pellets and brought them to the elementary school for a class to dissect. 

Also, most nights we hear packs of coyotes yipping in the canyon. Very rarely do we see them, so I have no picture to attach hear. 

Deer are common in the canyon. Most years, I feel like we see them rarely, mostly at dusk. This year are they more populous? We've seen them several times on the trails, ridges, or relaxing in the shade near the creek. We hiked this afternoon and saw one crossing the trail. Can you see them in these photos?

We see many hawks like these ones often.

In prior years, we've seen an occasional Bobcat. In the last month, we've seen the same one repeatedly. In the afternoons or evenings, it strolls out from our side yard, right past our back window and out the back gate, including this evening (DH says he arranged for it to walk through the yard this evening as part of our Mother's Day Celebration!). In the mornings, it reverses it's path. I've looked in the side yard for its day spot, but have not found it. Likely, it just walks through and beds down elsewhere.

I've been enjoying the wildlife so much this year and wanted to put together a blog post about it. This is my Mother's Day gift to myself and to you! Happy Mother's Day!

6/5/2021 Since posting this last month, one evening when we were eating dinner, the bobcat hopped up from the canyon and through the gate. It strolled toward us quite happily with a good sized rat in its mouth for dinner! It took its usual route and went to the east side of the house with its prize.

Also, now I've got a better picture of the very common lizard we see. Western Fence Lizard, I think. I'm not sure how it differs from a Spiny.

We keep seeing these very cute, fuzzy, reddish ant-like things. It turns out they're wasps. Red-haired Velvet Ants: "Velvet Ants – What appear to be small wingless bumblebees having reddish to whitish hair are sometimes seen wandering about on the trails. While called velvet ants (see also Sacken’s Velvet Ant below) because of their appearance, they are actually female wasps in one wasp family. The males, which have wings, are seldom seen. Don’t handle these insects, for they can give a painful sting."

Planting tomatoes

 Yesterday we planted Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes in pots at our house. We added in compost from the bin and organic fertilizer. It was a nice family project for Mother's Day weekend. This week, I will plant the Champion tomato 6 pack that I bought at the same time at the community garden. We're still not going into stores, so these were both selected over the phone at a place that offers curbside pick up. I grew Sun Gold last year and actually prefer some red cherry tomatoes, but this is what they had. The plants in the packs look nice and healthy, which is better than I'd expected for curbside pickup. Kudos to Armstrong Nursery.

Citrus gets composted chicken manure as Country gets some good stuff too

 To celebrate the Inauguration yesterday of our new President and Vice President, our citrus trees today were the lucky recipients of celebratory compost chicken manure! A new era deserves some prime sh**.  Actually, the timing has mostly to do with a kind friend ordering extra bags and bringing some to me and with me wanting it on the trees before the rain anticipated for this weekend. (Thank you, kind friend!) Yesterday, I spent most of the day watching the Inauguration, so the trees had to wait. I found the Inauguration very moving with a message of unity and hope, an especially reassuring contrast after the Capitol Insurrection 2 weeks ago. I hope it is a better year for our country and my citrus.

Fertilized Citrus, White Fly, Citrus Psyllid

 It's that time of year again! Citrus fertilizing time! So did them and the other fruit trees (apple, peach, pomegranate) today with an organic fruit tree fertilizer. Sadly, there's no rain in the forecast to help get it into the soil.

Also, just recently there was the first CLas-positive Asian citrus psyllid found in San Diego County on 12/31/2020. I hope they're able to contain that. Sad for home growers and potentially devastating for commercial growers.

I have noticed some lingering white fly on the citrus this winter, but it isn't too bad. I'll continue to keep my eye on that.