Define cool. In San Jose, the average summer nighttime temperature is in the upper 50's. Higher elevations (above the marine layer) will be warmer at night. Locations further from the bay get cooler at night (e.g. almaden will be in the lower 50's) and warmer during the day.
While it's all complex, I think you summarized the problem set pretty well, which is the more diverse you can make the soil, the better because all sorts of "minor" good things happen, and most bad things are diluted, so to speak.
Ah, the *other* end of Coleman.
I go to that Costco on Coleman/De La Cruz all the time, but I do know what you mean on the "other" little Coleman, off by Blossom Hill Road. It's a small side street, as compared to the two and three lane (and sometimes four, by the airport) Coleman off of 880 where my favorite Lowes is.
I remember the signs at the little Coleman saying that the landfill is there, and the dump trucks, but I never went to the place myself.
I called them 'em up and pressed 6 for "Earth Care" and left a message. (408) 268-1670 (8am to 4pm, M-Sa)
I tried again, and pressed 4 to get a human being. The lady says they sell compost for $32.43 per cubic yard.
When I told her I didn't have a truck, she said they sell 2 cubic foot bags of compost for $5.50 each.
Thanks!
I sneak food scraps into the wife's potting soil when she's not looking, and these pepper plants grew, but no peppers came out of them yet (and it has been a few months).
It seems almost *all* the food scraps grow infertile plants. I keep telling her that her bees aren't doing their job.
So it's an ugly carrot. I guess if it were being sold, it would matter. Thanks for edifying me.
I looked up ugly carrots, and found some pretty scary pictures!
Apparently it's 1/3 clay, 1/3 silt, and 1/3 sand.
I can see San Jose from my kitchen window so I'm within 25 miles of the center of San Jose. I'm just up on the hills.
So, my weather is essentially the same as yours only a bit cooler in the summer and a bit warmer in the winter by a few degrees each.
NOTE: I would have thought it would be the *other* way around, but in the winter, we're about 10 degrees warmer in the day because, I guess, we get a
*lot* more sunlight than you do because you're covered in fog when we're in blue sky (the clouds are below us almost always).I'm not sure why it's cooler in the summer. Maybe the wind but there's not much wind, even up here, in the summer.
It cuz yer close to a large body of water! Duh.
I lived in the Try-Valley (Ptown/Livermore) and commuted to to Santa Clara for over 15 yrs. It was always 10 degrees hotter, "over the hill" (Fremont Grade), than in the SFBA proper.
The "marine layer" comes in, at night, and cools everything. UNLESS! ....there's a "high pressure" center over the SFBA. Then, the prevailing winds all move from onshore to offshore, giving us those dreaded "hot spells".
I usta have a link to a SFBA wind map, but it appears that has been shut down. OTOH, I no longer suffer from these problems cuz I moved to the CO Rockies. :)
nb
Check out the Master Gardeners program:
Cindy Hamilton
If it is time release fertilizer it works because the fertilizer is encapsulated in water soluble beads; water from rain or sprinklers dissolve the beads - they dissolve at different rates - and the water carries the fertilizer downward.
The Costco at 85 & almaden may be closer for you. They're building a new one at 85 & 101.
The coleman in ssj is completely unrelated to the coleman that runs behind the airport.
Food scraps = NOT meat, I hope = are of no value to plants until they (the food scraps) decompose and that takes quite a while.
It depends on _which_ hills you're up on, and on the current marine layer height. If you're up off quimby or mt hamilton road, it's likely warmer in the summer than downtown. On the coast range side, it varies, but consider that Los Gatos is frequently 5 to 10 degrees warmer than downtown SJC.
Partially the height, makes working on them easier, but mostly because you can create the type of growning medium you want. The lack of ground contact also keeps undesireable critters like nematodes out.
Year round. 32 inches per year, almost evenly distributed at
3 inches per month (a little less in January and February, since cold air doesn't hold as much moisture).Not really a good place for gardening, then. Even I have to water; stuff in planters with that moisture control potting mix gets watered every other day.
It needs to be "former plant material". If you put in uncomposted kitchen waste, it could well result in anaerobic digestion, producing methane, hydrogen sulfide, and similar unappealing odors. Probably not what your grands want in a gardening experience.
If it starts to sprout in your kitchen--or wherever you store it-- (a green shoot in the middle of the clove) then it's viable. Garlic grows underground, and it likes fluffy soil, which is not what you've got.
I don't know squat about growing garlic in places where it doesn't get cold in the winter. I plant mine in September or October, mulch it with leaves or grass clippings (so it doesn't heave out of the ground when it freezes solid), and next spring it pokes up through the ground. By June or July it has formed heads and is ready to harvest.
Frankly, your conditions are suited to weedy plants like oregano, rosemary, thyme. Lettuce might work, although it doesn't like the heat. It gets hot, and the plants go to seed, which makes the leaves bitter. There's something called amaranth that's supposed to be better in the heat.
Cindy Hamilton
Tomatoes are prima donnas; practically any little thing will either kill the plant outright or make the fruit rot on the vine. I've tried it growing them in pots and I've given up on it.
If it came from your mountaains it is the same stuff albeit lacking your rocks and finer.
BTW, did you notice all the stuff busily growing on your chert in the pix you linked? Just add water...:)
Pile them up, wet it down with cow tea (cow poop in water), keep it damp, turn it on a regular basis (move top down to an adjacent area) and it should heat up and turn into compost while you are still mobile. If you add a bunch of worms it may go even faster.
If she waters from the top, the fertilizer dissolves slowly, providing a constant, small dose of its ingredients. Too much fertilizer will burn the plants, just like what happens when the dog always pees on the same patch of grass and kills it.
Cindy Hamilton
Hybrids.
Cindy Hamilton
You need to compost them first, same with sawdust. If you just dig them in will use up most of the nitrogen already in the soil or added by you and your plants won't be happy.
In Florida, we set out the tomato plants as soon as possible after there is no danger of frost; wait too long and no tomatos. Second crop can be set out in the fall.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.