California Gardening: Hellllooooo?, 1 by WormsLovSharon

WormsLovSharon wrote:
Well, when I walked out into the back landscape early this morning, it felt like I had walked into a sauna. Wow, was it muggy.

We have three different air conditioning units. One for the master bedroom, one for upstairs and one for the kitchen/great room area. We have the bedroom air on at night and the rest turned off. But that is because we are the only people living here. The downstairs air conditioner very seldom comes on because the cold air from upstairs floats down. We built the home so we have major over hangs to prevent heat entering the house. We also had plywood on the East and West side of the house on the roof with a high reflective foil to reflect the heat away. In all the bedrooms and our master bathroom we have ceiling fans. That makes it feel cooler. We keep the house at 78 and it is comfortable. We also have very large trees in the front and back of the home and two story homes on the other sides. Our neighbor to the south has very large pine trees that shade that total side of our home. Our square footage is the same and our power bill is $300 cheaper than theirs. But I also invested in new pool and Koi pond filter motors that used less energy.

I also have a portable fan that is blowing on me right now on low just to make me comfortable. I want to spend money on plants, not electricity.

I got 1/4 of the irises planted. The rest are ready to go tomorrow. All the pre work is done. All the tags are sorted so it should not take to long. But I have a hair appointment in the early am and then walking a property with a neighbor to see what ideas I can give her to make her more happy with her landscape.

The first photo I have attached is a photo of tomato I picked yesterday and made DH and myself a great summer sandwich and still had 1/3 left. It weighted 11oz. And was delicious.