Today is a Gift

Road Trip With Me - San Diego to Palm Spring

The Route.

We had a great time heading out to Palm Spring. We took the scenic route from San Diego, through Temecula and Anza to get to the Palms to Pines highway and drop into Palm Desert - and if you have not been on that road, it really is a drop into the desert. As you can see it is switchbacks all the way down from the lookout point - it is well worth the drive.

I used to say screaming tires are happy tires on this drive, but that was before the SUV.

Exercise With Me - Leg Routine

Who would of thought that the largest muscles on your body could get so stiff after just one workout!

In other words, I figured out my leg routine; it is a very simple one using body weight or just dumbbells.
- Squats
- Lunges
- Dead lifts
- Toe lifts
- Hip raises
- Butt kick-up
- Steps

It is both simple and also somewhat effective at causing muscle stiffness the next day. But at 56, what can you expect.

Ah, next set of pain will be shoulders! Wish me luck.

Out and About With Me - Bar Signs

Was out for an afternoon adult beverage and saw these two signs...had to share.

Road Trip With Me - Mount Whitney

My cousin just did a road trip to Mt. Whitney and took this shot - I want to go!

Geeky Tech Stuff With Me - Dimable LEDs

I saw the geekiest thing the other day Wi-Fi Enabled LED lights - I want to get some!

Full information on the bulb is at the Insteon website

Garden With Me - Tomato overview

This year's tomatoes included:

2 yellow plums

1 sweet cherry

2 San Marzano Roma
1 Beefmaster

And a volunteer cherry tomato from last year's "100"

The prep:

This year we dug out 1/2 of the large raised bed and and added amendments. We also turned the soil down to 3 feet to break up the hard rocky clay - this also gave us more rocks for our walls. The other bed was also worked over from the installation of power and sound out to the barbecue patio 

The results:

It took a while for the plants to set, I threw some fertilizer on them after 2 weeks in the ground and that made them put on a growth spurt that produced big stems and leaves, but no flowers. I also pinched of lateral buds to get the plants to grow taller which they did...they topped out at about 6 feet and lifted their cages out of the ground which I remedied by using some rebar and small trellises like a true DIY'er

The humid weather took its toll on the plants, their leaves mildewed and turned brown.

The Lessons:

The yellow plums are not resistant to a fungus or nematode and die quickly.

In this yard no more yellow plums - love the taste, but dead plants are no fun.
Give the cherry tomatoes more room - they filled their 3 x 3 area and invaded the Mexican sage.

Pay attention to the strains of plants and their resistance to mildew, fungus and nematodes.

Start with fewer plants or learn to make tomato sauce - the 5 plants gave us to many to eat.

Fertilize less but more often for a balance between growth and fruit.

Stagger planting for longer producing season.
Plant bell peppers on east side of tomatoes to keep the peppers from sunburning in the late afternoon.

Garden With Me - The Year of the Tomato, part 2

Just as the tomatoes had reached 6 feet tall we took a road trip to Oregon. It was a great; 10 days, with stops at Crater Lake, Rouge River Gorge, and Lake Tahoe...but more about that another time, back to the tomatoes.

A friend was coming by to looks after the plants, and as luck would have it, the weather warmed up and the plants decided to fruit. Well the ripe fruit came quick and was more that he could eat so he bagged some up and gave them out to the neighbors. 

When we got back, there were a few ripe  tomatoes on the plants - and they were tasty - and it appeared that the ripe ones would be coming soon. Unfortunatly the yellow plums had subcomed to a root fungus and were not looking so good.

I was out in the yard one morning taking care of the yard and my neighbor - who I had not seen in weeks, leaned over the fence and yelled "Thanks for the tomatoes! We had them sliced with our morning eggs, they were delicious" - he kind-of caught me off-gaurd as I had a chance to eat a couple by that point. If it's not the squirrels and birds, it's the neighbors was running through my mind.

But my chance came soon, within a few days we were picking bowls full of the cherry tomatoes. The big beef and romas were not far behind. As were the bell peppers and yellow banana peppers - did I mention those? There is also a mis-marked pepper, it was supposed to be a yellow banana pepper, but turned out to be HOT! That was a nice surprise.
So far we have had fresh tomatoes, tomatoes in salad, tomatoes on sandwiches, tomatoes on pizza and tomatoes in kabobs...all in all very tasty.

Garden With Me - Irreverant comments about tall tomatoes

6 foot tall tomatoes.  If I hadn't seen the photos I would have thought it was a joke and some upcoming reference to The Attack of the Killer Tomato movie from the 50's (or 60's).

I used to try and grow tomatoes when I lived in the UK, and they never ever grew that tall, even inside a greenhouse.  I guess the difference is called sunshine!

Garden With Me - The Year of the Tomato - Part 1

This year I decided to try tomatoes, again. For the last two years the plants had fed the local squirrels and birds so this year it was my turn.
I had recently added a couple of more raised beds and had turned the soil under another - turning soil means taking a jackhammer and digging down 2 to 3 feet into the hard clay soil and removing big rounded river rocks that are pervasive here.

Rocks from digging in the yard

The jackhammer, a Makita HM1214C, has really changed gardening in this yard. It is a bit heavy, but with the clay spade it cuts down into the soil/clay and through the rocks...But I digress.
After a trip to the local nursery I had:
- 2 yellow plums
- 1 sweet cherry
- 2 San Marzano (an Italian friend said were the best for sauce)
- 1 Big Beef
Those and an unknown volunteer from the past year were going to supply the crop.
Remembering that tomatoes like their space and our damp mornings I planted them about 3 feet apart and put cages around most of them - 6 plants, 5 cages.

About a week or two in I fertilized the plants, well over fertilized them, and they shot up and soon they were about about 6 feet tall. Unfortunately, while they were doing this amazing growth spurt they were not setting fruit - note to self, be conservative with fertilizer in the future. So, I now had beautiful tall, strong, big stemmed and leaved plants, with no flowers.


Tomatoes after fertilizer

Next: Fruit and plenty of it