Fish Emulsion to Citrus and Apple, Summer Garden

 A few more times this spring, twice in March and twice in June, I've applied fish emulsion to the citrus and apple trees. I wonder if it is helping my smallest mandarin a bit, but it is hard to tell if it is just normal spring growth. 

In the meantime, I'm harvesting delicious grape and cherry tomatoes that are mostly volunteers from the compost I spread near the trees or in pots. I planted some Celebrity tomatoes and Annie Oakley II okra starts in pots and at the community garden in June. 

The aphids and bagrada bugs have put a halt to the amazing swiss chard from this spring and really slowed down the kale. This seems to be a pretty normal cycle each year, so I'm just moving on.

At the garden, I planted seeds saved from kabocha squash and also planted whole mini pumpkins that are the descendants of the ones my daughters got at school 4.5 years ago. Like last year, I'm getting some bizarre squash from those that I didn't actually plant in addition to the mini pumpkins and kabocha I desired. At this point, there are some pumpkins although they look rounder. There's one that looks exactly like a golden acorn. And there's the omnipresent zucchini/random summer squash thing that's chubbier than a zucchini and more oval. Time will tell on the squash project, although it is fun to watch them and guess what's coming. For the record, some years I do grow squash from actual seed packets. I just didn't do it this year or last. 

Anyway, Happy Summer!

Fish Emulsion and Citrus Grower's Blend

 I'm still trying to use the fish emulsion repeatedly on the fruit trees, so I did that again today. I also applied Citrus Grower's Blend for the first time to the citrus trees. Also, I used a general, slow release fertilizer on some landscape plants and flowers.

Fish Emulsion to Fruit Trees

 The soil around the citrus dried out. We turned off the water to the citrus trees for a couple weeks, and we've had some dry weather. Now, the water is back on. Today, I watered each of the fruit trees with some fish emulsion, hoping to give them a shot of nitrogen to spur growth. The leaves and blossoms are starting the bud out on the apple tree, so I'm hoping it is a good time. Maybe I'll repeat some this spring. I'd like to help the newer citrus trees get well established. I recall the most successful and fastest citrus to establish for me were 2 houses ago, about 8 miles from here. It could have been the location, obviously, but at the time I used a lot of fish emulsion in my gardening. So, I'm trying to replicate that. 

Harvested Worm Castings

At home, we harvested the worm castings from our vermicomposter.  I used the castings in a pot near the front door that had some white fly problems, plus gave some to the roses, apple tree, valencia, and peach.  Giving the worm tea regularly to the roses seems to keep at bay the bugs that want to eat it.  I also gave a good dose of fish emulsion to the struggling bougainvillea on the west side.

At the community garden, I continue to harvest kale, tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, and green beans.  I really should remove the tomatoes to make room for fall planting, but I hate to do it when I'm still getting fruit off them.  Having put in more chicken manure, steer manure, and bags of coffee grounds recently really gave things a second wind.  The yellow crookneck was from a mixed seed pack that in theory had zucchini and pattypan as well, but none of those came up.

Community Garden and Home Garden Updates

I've been getting a great harvest of yellow crookneck squash, which I'd planted from an old seed pack that, in theory, contained 4 different types of summer squash.  But each plant that took was yellow crookneck.  We like it most roasted with garlic cloves, crimini mushrooms, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

We're also eating tons of tomatoes - I think they were Celebrity.  They are plenty tasty and are resistant enough that they're doing reasonably well.

I had the pleasure of trying a friend's plum tomato called Enchantment that was incredible!  I hope to track down a source for that one in the future.  Wonderful flavor.

At home today I used fish emulsion on our trees: apple, navel, valencia, peach, pomegranate.  Also gave some to the roses and bougainvillea.  I'm hoping it will perk up the latter, which has surprisingly few leaves.

Soil Sulfur, Citrus, and Solarizing

Those poor citrus - I can seem some teensy, tiny little green shoots coming up off low on the trunk, but not a lot of other action.  I put more soil sulfur in the wells today and clawed it in.  Then I watered it in with a bit of the prior mix of ferrous sulfate and fish emulsion.  Crossing fingers for the distressed trees.

The plastic sheeting that I put on last fall, I'd initially planned to leave on to solarize the North and West garden beds for about 6 weeks.  But then the weather turned cooler, and I thought it should stay on longer.  Then I decided I might as well leave it on until Julyish to really cook the soil.  Alas, it has cooked enough - the plastic has begun disintigrating into little, tiny, hard-to-pick-up plastic bits.  Thus, I removed the plastic sheeting today from those beds.  Since I'm busy, I'll leave the beds fallow for now.

Fertilized pots

It was past time to give the pots in the back yard a kick, so I gave them the granular vegetable fertilizer.  

The citrus have not looked better or worse since the recent changes.  I've been spraying them every day or so with the combo fish emulsion/ferrous sulfate hoping to keep them going.

Acidifying Mandarins' Soil

After last week's pH test of the upper mandarin at 7.5, I went to the nursery and got two products to address that.  The first is E. B. Stone Naturuals Soil Sulfur.  The quantity instructions on the box are very confusing, but mostly it seems to be an imprecise science anyway.  The amount to add depends on the type of soil (mine is clay-ish) and seems to also depend on how buffered the soil is.  So, I winged it and sprinkled the sulfur granules generously over the top of the well and worked it in with a claw.  I did this project while wearing gardening clothes because I'd read elsewhere that sulfur can stain clothes badly.  My understanding is that this soil sulfur could take months to break down since it requires certain bacteria in the soil to work on it, and that they are most active in soil temperatures above 80 degrees F.  So, I'm not counting on that working fast.

Once I had the granules worked in, I got out my trusty foliar spray pump.  Into the canister I put a few tablespoons of Bonide Liquid Iron + Micronutrients.  I'm trying this product because it is a liquid with multiple ingredients, most of which involve "sulfate".  The principle ingredient is ferrous sulfate, which is another way to quickly lower pH in soil.  I also added to the canister some Fish Emulsion to give some nitrogen kick to these poor plants.  We need leaves!  So, I sprayed the few leaves they have with this concoction.  I made a similar blend in a watering can and watered the well thoroughly with it.



Also, I've continued to work on the watering for these trees.  Feeling it was dry, I basically doubled the watering time and went from every 5 days to every 4 days.  Then, I've been checking it more often and still wonder if it is slightly dry.  Today we changed it to every other day.  I know this may not let it dry well in between, but so far, I haven't felt the soil was soggy.  When we had some very rare rain, that did coincide with the lower tree blooming and creating a few leaves, so I wonder if the rain influenced that.

While we were out there, DH also did some shredding to add to the compost pile.  Go DH!

I planted some dill and basil in pots from seed.  I put little plastic domes over them to create a greenhouse to aid sprouting.

The kids and I also put about 18 jade pieces into pots for the fun of starting more jade plants.

Citrus Help and Fertilizing

The poor mandarins that I planted on on our back slope a few years ago continue to suffer.  I've fertilized, I've rechecked irrigation.  The slope faces West into the canyon, so they get strong afternoon sun and a fair bit of wind.  Today I upped the ante and got out the paint.  I used outside, whitish, latex paint and painted the trunks and lower branches in an attempt to give them some sun protection.  In Arizona (where I grew up), this is a common practice, but you don't see it so much here.  I sure hope this helps them.  I also gave the citrus some Dr. Earth's Citrus Fertilizer.

Years ago I planted about 4 citrus at a different home of ours nearby and they all did fabulously, so I'm shocked at how these are struggling.

The carrotwood tree in back that was very unhappy last year and is slightly better this year got a good dose of fish emulsion today.

DH shredded our accumulated yard trimmings and put it in the compost pile with plenty of coffee grounds from Starbucks.  The pile should be really cooking soon.,

Home garden update

The upper mandarin's water was a little low, although we ran the irrigation to check it before I got to assess how dry the soil was relative to when it last ran, so hard to tell if that was the issue.  Anyway, adjusted the drippers so the upper mandarin is getting more water.  Also added compost to its well.

Used fish emulsion to fertilize the two mandarins, the back lemon, the North bed, the West bed, the carrotwood tree, and the front hedge.  Used Grow Power Plus on the carrotwood and hedge.  Also used Organic Citrus fertilizer on the two mandarins and back lemon.  Used organic veg fertilizer on the North and West beds and pots.  Finally, DD put old commercial worm castings in the North bed, West bed, and pots.

I saved seed from our cauliflower and broccoli and tore out the old plants.  I planted cucumber seeds in the West bed, and zucchini and pumpkin seeds in the North bed, plus some nasturtiums for fun.

Planted and Fertilized at home

Ah!  Spring is definitely here, and I've go the bug!  I spent almost the whole day in the garden, after starting the morning at Zumba.  I pulled out some old veggies and gathered fennel and basil seeds before planting.  I put in basil, dill, and chive seeds.  Plus I had starts of Celebrity Tomatoes that I planted, which are VFNT resistant.  If anything can survive my diseased home garden beds, they seem the most likely candidates.  They went in the North and West beds.  I hope they at least taste decent.  Also, I planted marigolds (for looks and to discourage nematodes), snapdragons, and celosia.  The latter I've never grown before.  The flowers went in North, West and South beds, plus pots.  DH harvested the worm bin and put the castings in the North and West beds.  Finally I gave a very thorough fish fertilizing to the Carrotwood tree and the hedge on the North side of the house that I'm hoping will pep them up, along with the deep watering they've been getting.

Fertilized Community Garden

Used fish emulsion to fertilize at the community garden.  Picking lots of lettuce, kale, broccoli greens, celeriac.  Planted some strawberry plants that I found in the compost bin last week, more lettuce from seed, plus transplanted in excess broccoli starts from friend.  Thanks friend!

Fertilized and applied compost at home

Today I used the fish emulsion to fertilize the N. and W. garden beds at home, plus pots and citrus trees (except missed one on the side yard).  I also applied compost to the two lower mandarins.  The lowest one is still looking less than thrilled with life.  When we planted it initially (was it only a year ago?) the dirt there was shockingly pale and whitish/chalky.  I wonder if that is impacting the tree.

Fertilized at Community Garden

Today I fertilized with Fish Emulsion at the Community Garden.  I also planted the rest of my onion starts.  I harvested a good bit of lettuce.

Fertilized at home, Carrotwood Tree

Today I used seaweed and fish emulsion deeply on the citrus trees.  Trying to perk up a little mandarin in back.  Used this on a quetionable apple tree on the back slope to see if it would leaf out better this year.

Also used the seaweed and fish emulsion on the N. Bed, S. Bed, W. Bed, and pots.

Still trying to help the Northern part of the Carrotwood Tree.  Used the seaweed and fish emulsion deeply there, then wound a new soaker hose around the back area and watered deeply.  Please let this help!

Finally, took that seaweed and fish emulsion to the front yard and fertilized the North hedge.  Somewhere on that hedge the dial-a-sprayer must have clogged, so I don't know how much fertilizer that hedge actually got.

Fertilized Community Garden plot

I fertilized the community garden plot with fish fertilizer on 1/14 and sprayed the asphids again with horticultural oil there on 1/16.

We've had several weeks of warm, Santa Ana conditions.  Today I noticed that tomato plants still in the ground are blooming.  They think its spring.

Fertilized with Fish Emulsion at home, Pruned Roses

I fertilized the South, North and West garden beds with Fish Emulsion today.  The lettuce and beet seeds that I planted in my nematode-infested North bed are hardly germinating.

Pruned all the roses, so now my house is littered with vases of roses that were still on the bushes.  What do other people do in warm climates?  You have to prune sometime, right?  But it always seems a shame to cut off so many flowers.

While pruning roses, I found more raccoon scat.  That thing loves my garden.  DH was kind enough to clean it up for me, wearing gloves and mask and such.  Nasty diseases in that stuff.

Fertilized with Fish Emulsion at home

Used the Fish Emulsion on the North, South and West Beds, plus pots, front and roses.

Seaweed and Fish Emulsion at Community Garden

Back from a trip, so seeing the community garden bed for the first time in about 1.5 weeks.  Overall the growth looks good.  The squash had a nice growth spurt, as did the kale.  The squash does have a lot of powder mildew, so I cut off more leaves.  A few tomatoes are seriously wilting and I'm wondering if the issues I've had at home especially with the tomatoes is the same as what is going on at the Comm garden.  Considering taking full plant samples into County Ag.

Fertilized again with the Neptune's Seaweed and Fish Emulsion.

Here are some updated pics.

Notice the sorry looking tomato plant next to the great looking kid.

Seaweed and Fish Emulsion at Community Garden and planted cucs

Today at the PQ Garden I used my first spraying of Neptune's Seaweed and Fish Emulsion.

I also planted some "slicing" cucumber starts that I purchased at the nursery.

Plus here are a few pictures of what's growing.  The squash we ate tonight for dinner.  The kale I used to make socca with many little onions from the garden.