So, Calif NG?

ISTR there used to be a NG devoted to So. Calif gardening. I just did a sea rch 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 s chmooze 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 ea siest, kindergarten-level veg! Trying broccoli again after many years. Al so 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 amor tise the $10.98 I paid for that planter, but whatthehell. However, next yea r, if I am spared, I will plant a thinner-skinned variety.

Thus endeth the lesson.

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson
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Higgs Boson wrote: ...

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

Reply to
songbird

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

Reply to
Higgs Boson

You might find a California-centered discussion group on Gardenweb or Dave's Garde, both web forums, but they ain't newsgroups and the software sucks.

That would be me except that I am in peninsular Florida, USA, with similarly warm winters but with nowhere near a "Mediterranean" climate. The only flowers I fool with are native wildflowers; no "landscaping" shrubs, at all. Strongly anti-"lawn" and avoid save-the-worlders whenever possible but try not to be too blatant. Since I garden only vegetables, my personal interests are in rec.gardens.edible and the majority of my posts, by far, turn up there.

Spring/summer stuff is pretty much done here in this part of Florida. Cowpeas (zipper cream) finishing up; late green beans just coming in well; tomatoes ready to start back up (fingers crossed); fall yellow squash and cucumbers growing apace. Preparing beds for onions, garlic, garden peas, mustard greens, turnips, collards, carrots, lettuce, cauliflower and, maybe, spinach. Test driving additional varieties of carrots and lettuce, as well as bok choy, Swiss chard (white beets), rapinni (broccoli raab), celery. Waiting for temperatures to moderate a bit more before planting cool weather crops. First autumnal cold front has brought a second day of rain, with more to come, and a chance of cooler weather, although, we still will have many 80-degree days before Christmas. Temperatures just get up there later in the day.

Oh, no. That's a waste. Compost and return it to the garden, not to the sewer system. Your neighbors never will miss what they never had and you'll be conserving the fruits of yours and Mother's efforts.

...and the planter is good for a few more years, right?

Reply to
Derald

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.

Reply to
David E. Ross

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.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

Higgs Boson wrote: ...

mid-Michigan, USoA, Saginaw River Valley.

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

Reply to
songbird

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, u nusual summer heat, etc. time to get organized.

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

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

If water had not been brought in from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada (No rthern mountain range)* via several historical and colorful efforts, LA cou ld never have grown into a mega-blob (oops, "city".) Santa Monica, where I garden, is a tiny city between LA and the Pacific.

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HB

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Reply to
Higgs Boson

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

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.

Reply to
David E. Ross

[..incredible endeavours snipped...]

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

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

Higgs Boson wrote: ...

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

Reply to
songbird

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