Can You Find These in Your City's Downtown?

Remnants of Rural Life in Downtown Paso Robles

My hairdresser gave me a late appointment Thursday afternoon. When she finished cutting my hair she invited me to stick around for a few minutes until she closed so we could take a walk downtown together. She knows I like to walk. We're almost neighbors in Templeton, but we only see each other during my haircuts. I welcomed the chance to walk with her.

A Full Size Pomegranate Tree on Pine Street Across from the Train Depot

From Uptown Hair on 7th Street, we walked down Pine toward the City Park. I had been curious about seeing the new senior residential care center near 7th and Pine, across from the train station. Margaret knows a lot of the residents because she takes care of their hair. We didn't go in, but one of the residents thought we wanted to come in so she opened the door. Before we knew it one of the caregivers was behind her, making sure we were not up to anything nefarious.

Love to You Greeting with Pomegranate

When we got to the corner we saw the pomegranate tree. I've seen my residential neighbors plant both dwarf trees with inedible fruits and full size pomegranate trees in their yards, but I've never seen one this large around the neighborhood. This one was huge. As you can see some of the fruit is beginning to turn red, but much is still green. I wonder if the homeless folks have discovered this healthy food source yet.

Large Pomegranate Tree in Downtown Paso Robles

A Pumpkin Plant on a Commercial Lot?

Or might it be a squash plant? I couldn't get any closer to it since it was behind a fence on private property. In any case, it seemed a bit out of place so close to the center of town, but that's Paso Robles for you. There are still single family homes right downtown.

These urban gardens and fruit trees remind me that Paso Robles is still a city in the north end of an agricultural county. If I remember correctly the pomegranate tree is in front of a single family home. Now the area is mostly commercial. Still, there's an old almond orchard almost right across from the Marriott Hotel and the Gateway Center on Vine Street. And I've even seen deer use the crosswalks on 12th and Vine downtown


Grow Your Own Urban Garden!



Do you see fruits and vegetables growing in your downtown?

Heat Wave, Planting, Maintenance and Attack

This past week has seen temperatures rise  into the triple digits on more than one day, and high nineties on most of the rest. I have watered faithfully each morning. Sunday morning, against all moon planting advice, I planted one of my green pepper seedlings. Monday morning I planted the other two.


On Sunday my first group of radishes in the ground by the Patty Pan Squash was overtaking the radishes in the raised beds in size.  When I went out to water this morning, they had all disappeared and were replaced by a large gopher mound. The good news is that the other Patty Pan seeds had sprouted. It appears that a cople of nasturtiums are in the process of sprouting, as well. We'll see when morning comes.

Vegetables planted in the two oldest raised beds are still struggling and not growing much. I gave them some more fish emulsion to encourage them. The two weakest zucchini plants are on the right on either side of the wire cage in the middle. The two strongest in this bed are in the corners on the left. You can see the difference in size, though all were planted at the same time. The eggplant sits squarely in the middle of this picture, and it appears no bigger than when I first planted it.


The gophers have rejected my bubble gum and throw it out of the holes. I have put it back and plugged the holes from my end.

This Week's Notes on Growth and Problems in the Garden

Events inside and outside the garden have kept me too busy to keep up with this blog since the last post, but that doesn't mean nothing has happened. The temperatures are rising and have been approaching or in the nineties for the past three days after cooler temperatures at the beginning of the week and a light rain on May 27.


 That was the day I planted another batch of radishes close to the ones that had sprouted both in the ground and in raised beds. I also planted lots of seeds that evening, including nasturtiums in various pots and beds. I broadcast assorted flower seeds on the ground, as well, just to see if they would grow and to provide habitat for beneficial insects and added beauty. They may or may not grow, since it's hard to keep them moist all the time in this weather. I might have planted more, but the rain intervened and sent me inside. 


I do't know if I noted it here before, but one of the four Patty Pan squash seeds I planted a couple of weeks ago has sprouted. It appears it will be the only one of the four that will. 


I have been concerned that many of the plants in the  two older raised beds are not thriving as are the plants in the new bed. Here are three of the sickest plants in the middle and most shallow raised bed. the first is a Simpson lettuce, and the last two are Yellow Summer Squash.

The next plants are from the deepest and oldest bed. The ailing plants are mostly tomatoes. I have always grown tomatoes in this bed, and that might be part of the problem. The first picture is the Cherokee Purple. The second is the Brandywine, which appears to be getting worse.

After doing some reading, I decided not enough nitrogen might be the problem, so I poured a fish emulsion solution over the ailing plants (except for the lettuce, which I just poured around them), letting a good amount go into the soil. Then I watered everything in. We'll see if there is any improvement. Almost all of the tomatoes in this bed, including the Amana Orange, Oxheart and the Hillbilly, are having problems. The only one thriving at the moment is the Japanese Black Truffle

I'm not sure what's wrong with the squashes, since they look wilted. Maybe tonight I'll check for insect problems, but I also gave them some fish emulsion. 

Experiments and Outwitting the Jays and Gophers

When all other things are equal, I try to plant by the moon. My husband is razzing me about this. He's a scientist and thinks it's all based on superstition. Because the people I talk to in nurseries and at farmers market are divided on the issue, I have tried to stay on the safe side. If there's nothing to it, I haven't lost anything. But to humor my husband without risking too much, I decided to plant the remaining three lemon cucumbers in a six-pack tonight (Actually May 22, since I'm writing this after midnight), not a great day for moon planting. These three plants were in dire need of planting, and were already beginning to yellow, so I felt they would gain more by being set into more nutritious soil than they would lose by being planted on the wrong day. Time will tell. 

When I was at Farmers market this morning, one of my favorite vendors who supplies many of my tomato and pepper seedlings, Ralph Johnson, confirmed something I'd read about getting rid of gophers. He says he killed eight large ones by putting bubble gum down the gopher holes. I immediately went out to buy some, and put it in a lot of holes this evening. Time will tell whether this experiment will work. 

Today my first borage seeds have sprouted and so did a couple of radish seeds. I knew if they are to remain, I would have to protect them from the hungry blue jay (See picture)who has been supervising my planting from the top of the fence. I contrived a way to prop an old screen door over the largest seed bed, and I propped a couple of flat gopher cages over the radishes about to sprout in the raised beds. I'm hoping these measures will insure that we will actually get some radishes this year. 

What I'm Growing This Year

Every new season I am eager to try new varieties of tomato, as well as the ones I've been happy with in the past. Since nothing -- not even tried and true varieties -- grew for me last year, I'm not counting their failure against this year. So once again I'm growing one each of these: Cherokee Purple, Principe Borghese, Yellow Pear, and Anna Russian. I'm going to give Brandywine another chance, even though I've had trouble with it two years in a row and it's so far not looking as healthy as the other plants this year.



Note: For the first time this year I am going to keep a photo record of each important plant about every two weeks. This will help me not only record progress, but should give me a basis of comparison at each stage of growth with the last so I can catch problems early and begin to deal withe them. The Brandywine has only been in the ground for about ten days. I am watching it carefully and trying to understand why it is not seeming to thrive as the other tomatoes are. 


Tomato varieties I'm trying for the first time this year are Royal Hillbilly, Amana Orange, Japanese Black Truffle, Oxheart, Tigerella, Zapotee Pink Ribbed, Moskvich Red, Taxi Yellow, Korkik Red, Ace 55 Red, Roma Rio Grande, and New Big Dwarf Pink. The ones I'm growing in containers include Taxi Yellow, Korlik Red (which is an early cluster tomato, Anna Russian (which did well in a container in a previous year), Ace 55 Rd, Roma Rio Grande (I've grown other Romas in containers successfully), and New Big Dwarf Pink. The rest of the tomatoes are in the raised beds. 


Traditionally, tomatoes grown in the raised beds have not produced as much as those in the containers. I'm blaming the soil, since I've normally used a potting soil in the containers, but a mixture of soil, compost, steer manure, and sand in the raised beds. Although I've not emptied and replaced all the soil in the raised beds this year, I am adding plenty of Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting soil to each raised bed and mixing it with whatever is there. The one that has the least room for amendments is the middle and most shallow of the raised beds. I have not put any tomatoes in that bed this year. 

I am also trying to make the most of companion planting in the raised beds. Here's what's in them. First, the oldest raised bed, and the deepest. It contains these tomatoes: Cherokee Purple, Royal Hillbilly, Amana Orange, Japanese Black Truffle, Oxheart, and Brandywine. At the near end of this bed you will see a stone between the two tomato plants marking where I've planted some borage, which should be sprouting soon. This bed also contains two Simspon lettuce (not yet in bed when picture was taken), two French marigolds, and two Italian sweet basil plants. 

In the middle bed, which I believe has the worst soil mix, is a clump of chives that is left over from previous years, four Yellow Summer Squash, one Melrose sweet pepper, one Italian Sweet Basit, two marigolds, two Simspon lettuce, two rows of seeds for French Breakfast Radishes, and two very tiny Calendula transplants from the herb garden. 

We added a new bed this year, though it was mostly filled last summer after the planting had been done. I noticed the man we hired did not mix the soil well as he was instructed and most of the potting soil was on top with almost a one-to-two-inch layer of sand underneath. I mixed as best I could as I went along. This bed now contains one Burpless Cucumber, one Principe Borghese tomato, one Lemon Cucumber, one Tigerella tomato, one Zapotee Pink Ribbed Tomato, one Moskvich Red, and one Yellow Pear tomato. Companions include two marigolds, one basil, and two of the tiny Calendula transplants. 


Although the potting soil is supposed to feed the plants for two months, on the advice of nurserymen, I also added a shake or two of Natural and Organic Dynamite Mater Magic in the hole of each tomato and a a tablespoon or two of Whitney Farms Tomato and Vegetable Food (Organic) to the hole of each squash, cucumber or pepper plant in the raised beds and more if in the pots. 


Weather has been mild since I planted. Lowest night tempertures were in the high 30s, but averaging in the 40's, whereas lowest day temperatures were in the high fifties, but averaging in the 70's, hitting low 80s on a couple of days. Today is in the mid seventies. I'm hoping for a great season this year. If I get it, I'll need this mug. You can get yours by clicking on it.

Homegrown Tomato Garden Slogan by thegardenpages
custom imprinted mug on Zazzle

It's been a very busy week in the garden.

I have made new beds on the level land at the top of the slope and planted cosmos, chamomile, green onions and Oriental greens. I doubt if any will come up, since the three days of sudden hot weather made it almost impossible to keep the seeds moist at all times. And the seeds weren't new either. The idea was to throw the seeds away somewhere and let God decide if they should grow.

I also planted some spinach and lettuce in my chard / artichoke bed, and that did sprout. You can see the small rows between the chard and lemon balm in the middle. The small rows of rocks separate the spouted spinach from the sprouted lettuce. The chard appears to be about to reseed. If you look very closely you will see a few of its children from last year. The tiny ones are between the lemon balm and the red pot. There are also a couple tucked on either side of the large artichoke. But they are hard to see.

I also transplanted a few of my baby tomatoes into their permanent homes in the raised beds and tonight I transplanted a few flowers at the other house. It remains to see how these baby plants will grow in their new homes.