Where is everyone!?!!??

How great to have a shared work day with gardening friends. It's a terriffic idea.

And jkom, your gardens are certainly beautiful. Thanks for posting the link.

This message was edited Mar 15, 2008 9:05 AM

I love the work day idea, too. Just remember what a character builder it is and it will soon come your way, too! Hope the other work load eases off for you soon, though.

Wow Donna, what an amazing number of accomplishments in just 2 weeks! Great photos Jkom. I love the combo's in the front.

Today was blustery but the rain held off. I was able to get a portion of the slope weeded and I started to make the border. I've got about another 3 days of work before I can start planting and the forecast says 70% chance of rain tomorrow. boo hoo It's NOT FAIR that the rain comes on the weekend. Yes, whining...

I hope you are right JD. There isn't much rain showing on the radar yet. We'll see. If it does, I just might get out in the rain.

Hi Doss, I am having fun 'trying' to decide what to plant. If only I had your experience and half of your talent. This is a southwest facing slope and it gets very toasty in the summer. In this section of the slope, I am going for succulents. I have no idea what I'm doing however. With only a few years under my belt, my gardening is very much 'a practice'. Fun practice. :)

jkom51, Fantastic! I'm SO impressed you actually know the names and varities of the plants you grow! I'm near you in Berkeley. Does anyone know where I can purchase straw in the Bay Area?

I don't exactly know dun1kirk but do a google search of feed stores near Berkeley. Make sure that it doesn't have seeds in it though. Anyplace that sells horse stuff should have straw. I use gorilla hair (a form of redwood bark) instead of straw and like it very much.

Well, I'll tell you where I was today...it was to be a little cold and dreary here today, not the best kinda day to want to work outside. So, I had a choice of staying home, inside, cleaning....or going somewhere in search of snow. We opted for the snow search and lunch in Julian. Snow was supposed to be down to 2,500', so we went out through Warner Springs toward Anza Borrego, not much snow...then on to Julian, little snow left on rooftops and shadowed spots (had great lunch), then back through Pauma Valley and seeing a dark cloud over Palomar Mountain, decided to go take a look....Yay!! Snow! Trees still ice-encrusted and lots of snow on ground, best of all, started snowing while we were there. So peaceful, so calm.....no big deal to those of you who have snow all of the time, but to me it's a wonder and joy. It never fails to amaze me that in 40 minutes we can go from here to the mountain top and be in a different world entirely...or the desert. Or ocean. Not bad.....We have so many choices here.

We are lucky to have so much variety so close aren't we?
Fed the daylilies today and the roses. Also started deadheading the daffodils and I'm going to order some coleus to grow with the hostas.

We have an incredible amount of variety...really blessed. Almost every inch of this state has fantastic things to offer, so diverse. We lived in Contra Costa County many years ago and from there it was constantly on the road to Mendocino, Guerneville, Tahoe, Eureka, Santa Cruz...I love them all. I miss Northern California and given my druthers I'd be there, but where we are is pretty darn good also. From here we go 4 miles to I-15, cross it and we're heading into the back country. Of course, we have to keep fighting to try to keep it that way, inevitably it will change at some point.
If I could, I'd just spend all of my time going from one great California spot to another........See it while it's still here, folks, it's disappearing and what's here now is sadly not what it once was........

Hey, nice gardens Jim, beautiful - I can't believe how far ahead CA is.

So we are leaving Friday afternoon to come down for Spring Break, make sure the rain is all done by then would you? I am so looking forward to looking around, seeing a few houses, etc.,

redtootsiepop, you'll be fine - forecast is for the high 60's, sunny. Have fun!

tootsie, which job did your DH end up taking? I may have missed some stuff while I've been "out".

He went with Intel, and has been there for 3 weeks now - he takes their shuttle to the Hillsboro airport (pretty close to our house here) every Friday night, then flies back Mon. morning early. That has been really convenient.

So our house just went on the market Friday, most houses are sitting 80-90 days before selling right now so we are really hoping it's sold by the end of the school year, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being nervous about that!! Although Oregon is still doing ok in the housing market. Keeping it clean every day with 3 kids is a challenge, plus the only gardening I can do is weeding.

Can't wait to come down, it is pouring here.

I'll bet that's a challenge. Here's hoping that your house gets sold in good time and you are on your way down here!

Fed the roses and daylilies yesterday. It's still too early for the camellias. They are still blooming. I need to do the clematis this week too and the hostas. Better get on with it.

Cool---hope he likes the job! BEST of luck with the house sale----I know it's a scary/crazy market to be selling in. My DH does electrical work for a lot of the real estate agents in our area, and it's tough times right now. But it may work out well for you as a buyer in CA! My friend who's moving from Pleasanton to Washington had to drop the price considerably, but when she did her house suddenly sold in about 3 days after sitting on the market for 3 months. And of course the house she wanted in WA was taken off the market the day after hers sold......

oh thats bad luck! Timing is so tricky, we certainly want to use the equity from this house for the next, so we can't buy until we've sold - but that hasn't stopped me from looking around. : ) Has she found anything else in WA, what city is she looking in?

*Good reminder Doss - I need to spread some more fertilizer around myself.

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Calif_Sue mentioned mulching too so I need to get to the nursery and buy some mulch and spread it around here. Home Depot used to carry the stuff I liked but they don't anymore so I have to pay local nursery prices for it. I always tell myself that I should be supporting them anyway.

Your home depot doesn't carry mulch?? I usually buy my compost and composted manure at Home Depot (when I need alot, new bed or project) the price is good.

We get ours by the truck or trailer load. ;-)

I like the bagged redwood compost from Orchard Supply; I've used it for years, and it breaks down into a nice crumbly texture. It's a good price, too---especially when you can get it on one of their no-tax weekends!

My kids love when I get a truckload from grimm's - they like to watch the truck dump it. (They don't think about how wheelbarrows full it is !!)

I'll remember Orchard Supply

I like the gorilla hair because it doesn't get caught in my dogs coats. Otherwise they are continually dragging the mulch into the house. The redwood drippings are bad enough.

We used gorilla hair at first, but it doesn't stay put on our slopes and costs a fortune in the amounts we needed. We ended up with free tree clippings on the unplanted areas (very thick) and we're using a composted mixture on the rest. Didn't know a thing about mulch when we moved here, but boy are we learning!