Blessed Are The Pollinators

Ah, the sweetest smell of spring. I'm talking about citrus flowers, or orange blossoms if you will. Nothing smells like it and it's heavenly.

Our little citrus grove is in full bloom. Well, the orange and lemon, anyway. The tangelo is still just in bud. 

The Cara Cara orange has these gorgeous white flowers.

While the Meyer lemon isn't to be outdone with its pink-tinged flowers.

Last week, I planted some lavender nearby to attract bees.

It may be working. Let's hope these busy pollinators give us a lot of fruit this year.

Darryl 
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Lavender: It's the Bees Knees!

Storm clouds are on the horizon for this Oscar's Sunday here in Southern California. While the rich and beautiful crowd undoubtedly have some poor production assistant to hold an umbrella over their freshly coiffed head, I have no such assistance so I'd better get what little gardening I have to do done.

I should also turn off the sprinkler timers until drier weather arrives to save on our precious water in this dry region.

I'm trying to fix my poor citrus production dilemma. My three-tree citrus grove just doesn't produce the way I want it to. I get hundreds, may thousands, of very fragrant blossoms each year but just a few fruit from each tree.

When I say few, I mean hardly any...two from the cara cara orange; three tangelos; and about ten Meyer lemons.

During the blooming period, I rarely see bees on the plants. You'd think such fragrant flowers would really attract the little honeymakers.

One place I do see them...tons of them, actually...is on the lavender plants.  Last summer, our backyard lavender  plant died so this year, I need to replace it.

I bought two small plants like this a Lowe's.

I dig an appropriately sized hole, knock the plastic pot off, and just stick it in the ground.  I planted a lavender between each citrus tree to attract the bees and, hopefully, they will notice the nice looking plants next door and go looking to do a little pollinating, if you know what I mean and I think you do. 

Dirt tamped down and plants watered in, we'll keep our fingers crossed for a better citrus crop this year.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Bees Knees

After cutting it back to form a somewhat globe shape last year, our lavender never bloomed again. Recently, I saw what looked like buds on the plant but my wife said "no," those were just more leaves.

Proving I can be right sometimes too, the lavender went ahead and agreed with me. Now, the blooms are opening up spectacularly.

I like lavender for it's beauty and fragrance. People keep telling me you can use it in recipes. When I ask how, I always get "there are lot's of ways you can use it." OK, please tell me at least one...I'm all ears.

My biggest reason for having it, though, is that it attracts pollinators...especially honey bees.  While some shy away from these stinger-equipped insects, I want all I can get so they can wander over to my vegetable garden and help me bring in a good harvest there, too.

This week, we're also experiencing bud break on our grape vine although it never went completely dormant like it usually does. This extremely dry and warm winter means the plants think it's spring. So do the birds...we saw a jay hunting for nesting material and the first swallow of the season over the weekend.

Our camellia bushes are doing well, like this pink one...

...and this red one at the opposite end of the patio.

I'll show you some more flowers popping open a little later this week.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
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A New Month and Some Old Chores

A touch late today but worked up a nice sweat in the garden this weekend, starting with mowing the lawn. I like to do the hardest chore first. Then, each chore after that get progressively easier and more enjoyable.

The lavender is getting rangy so I need to give it a trim.

No big trick to it except that you want to try to avoid the bees that swarm all over it. Luckily, most of the bloom is done so no bees today. In bloom, you'd want to do it early in the morning before the bees start their pollen runs.

The zucchini is putting out fruit. Need more? Wait a few hours and we'll harvest again.

Not only do we grow veggies and fruit but we've got quite a few herbs in the garden too. Here, you see the oregano overflowing into the walkway.

I trim it back, put it on top of our fire pit's grate, and let it sit in the sun a few days to dry out.

It's also time to treat the grapes and the front yard roses with sulfur dust again to fight off mold and fungus. Soon, I'll be draping the wildlife netting over the grapes to keep the critters from eating them.

Lastly, I'll fertilize before calling it a day.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

This Week In The Cheapskate's Garden...

A few chores and more blooms. As the heat is getting up there...91 degrees today...more plants are coming back to life...

I had wanted to shape this lavender plant during the off season but never got around to it. For now, it'll just be a free form shape.

When we first bought this lantern vine, the nursery told us "full sun." It never really did well there.

We've since seen other lantern vines in shade gardens, so my wife transplanted this one to the shade. We'll see how it does.

More camellias in bloom. With this heat, they'll soon be done.

This burnt-copper color bougainvillea is a newcomer to the garden, we're hoping it'll do well. It's first flush of flower bracts is promising. 

And we'll end it with our bright red bougainvillea. In a couple of months, these thorny vines will provide most of the background color to our back wall garden.

 

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors...I Need a Better Fence

This is not my garden. It's my neighbor's garden. It is, however, my driveway. Very pretty salvia plants but I wish they'd stay on her side of the fence.

The problem is this is where we park our car. The driver's door ends up right next to these plants, meaning we have to wade through them to open the door not to mention the scraping sounds we hear when we drive up.  Those aren't the biggest problems, though. 

All those pretty flowers attract hordes of bees and wasps. I'm not against bees and wasps in my garden but I do have a problem wading through a cloud of agitated, stinging insects when all I want to do is get into my car. Especially when I'm on my side of the fence.

 

I don't want to sound like I don't like my neighbor. I do. She's a nice lady but she's like a pirate...property boundaries are more like "guidelines" to her. I'm constantly pushing her stuff back over the line when she stores her junk in the crawlway behind my garage and her plants encroach into my space bringing the bees with them.

I've told her my problem with the plants and once in a great while she has her gardener come over and cut them back bu, at least a couple of times a year, I have to take it upon myself.

Luckily, salvia branches snap off rather easily so I can go out and just yank out the branches leaning over my side of the line. Here is the plant by the driver's side door after I did just that.

A cleanup afterward (another chore I shouldn't have to do but I do) and I've got the prettiest yard clipping bin in the neighborhood. What doesn't fit in here I spread over my lawn, then mow it in, and let the grass feast of the finely chopped up organic matter.

Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
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