Summer Review - Fall Update

Notes on the Summer season, looking towards Fall

I haven't done anything with this page for awhile, so I figure it's about time that I get it updated. The summer season here in Central California was absolutely brutal. I dont remember the exact stats, but at one point the high temperature was between 112 and 113 for five days straight. Needless to say, with weather like that, there were alot of special tasks related to gardening that I needed to address.

My front lawn put up a good fight over the summer, but no matter how I watered or carefully cut higher and less frequently, it ended up saturated with weeds. The weather was just too much for it to handle. Fortunately, my roses are planted in partial shade, so they did not suffer too much from exposure to the roasting sun - unlike the roses in one of the yards I care for - those roses had some moderate to severe burning on their branches.

One task I was able to fit in before the weather turned too hot was beautifying my backyard with a small vegetable garden and three small trees. I hadn't had a vegetable garden since I was a young girl, so I figured it would be more of a learning experience than a success - I was partially right. My tomatoes did very well, but I did't have the proper supports for the plants so they ended up falling over and having branches break. (I found about 10 tomato cages thrown out at neighborhood cleanup at the end of the season, so I'll be able to use them next year) A couple cucumbers made it to my dinner table, but no melons were able to join them.

The three small trees that I planted are: Dwarf Citrus (Orange), Avocado, and White Kadota Fig. They are all doing well. The dogs have not destroyed them, knocked them over, eaten them, etc. While the avocado and orange are still a ways from bearing fruit, the fig tree has at least 2 dozen well developed figs growing on it's little branches.

I still have alot of work to do in my yard, but hopefully I'll have more time to do it now that the weather is more mild and growth has slowed down. Having a garden/yard is a never-ending job, but is so worth it in the long run.

I'm sure I've bored you enough with my personal updates, so I'll close out this post and begin writing on more applicable gardening topics (more frequently too!).




About the Author
Me - I actually wrote the entire post on my own :-)