WinterGreen

Well hello there! Long time no.....blog. ;) This is the newly laid brick path to the front door with solar lights. We park our cars in a completely different direction now and can't fathom why we didn't think of it sooner! We did try a more meandering path that swung to the left but found we always took this short cut. So being more practical than artistic, we redid the path. Someday where the car is there will be a wall running to the right. But for now that is just a fancy.

As some of you may remember, the north swale was a great disappointment to us. We prepared it much the same as the south swale, sowing seeds, covering with straw mulch and laying jute netting over the whole thing. We irrigated it and planted olives, scotch broom and bottle brush. I would estimate over 80% of the perennials died. But now with the rains some of the annual peas etc. are starting to come out. The mulberries we planted here did survive both the deer and the grasshoppers. So we plan on getting more of them. No more olives though for the time being.



Yesterday at HomeDepot we got some Arroyo Lupine seed (nitrogen fixers) and a California Native flower seed mix. We are going to sow this onto the north swale. Last October a small area next to the north swale was back-filled with extra soil, very hard clay soil, to shore up the pump house. This area was sown with a similar seed mix and weed seeds I purposefully collected and threw there. The flower mix did fabulously well and was a real boon to the butterflies and bees. So we figured build on what works. Here is a picture of it going strong a month ago.

Ok. With the rains have come the winter greens. We get spring very early here. The swales have come alive withe peas, beans, clover, oats, and vetch all scrambling to gain a foot hold. In some areas the clover is winning and in some areas the definite winner is the oats. Better soil = clovers, not so great soil = oats, really crappy soil = nothing yet.



These two pictures above are the south swale in all its abundance. Many of the radishes have bounced back, and we have parsely, cilantro, and wild carrot all over the place. The Russian Olives that did survive are getting huge with intimidating thorns. I talked to Kathy at Goodins and we are planning on getting Silk Mimosas, Mulberries, Cherries and some Pecans in Jan. in bareroot. She also mentioned purple leafed locust which we are going to try out. We planted a Chinese Pistachio on the southwest. It was half off at Home Depot so $12 and since I wanted some tough but pretty fall color we got it. Luckily it was turning color when we bought it so I could make sure it turns a nice variety of reds and oranges. Buying struggling plants from big box stores or anywhere is a bit of a gamble; there is a reason they are reduced. But I like to take the risk every once in a while for something unusual. It is placed near the Vitex which also turns a pretty reddish color.

For the first time since we have lived here we have been visited by many Western Bluebirds. They behave much like other fly-catchers but usually come in pairs or more. I am so happy to welcome a new addition to our bird family. The Black Phoebes are back and I love listening to their distinctive call. We moved the chickens back up into the garden. They are turning my lazy compost pile and picking out many bugs at the same time. We really enjoy seeing them. After they finish with this area we are going to move them next to the out buildings to keep the grass down. I tried to put a rock mulch around the apple tree which is in the new chicken run. The little buggers flipped the rocks over. Bigger rocks I guess, though these were orange sized rocks mind you. So there. All the news on the farm.