Weather

Weekend Updates

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read395 views

Lovely weekend here in the High Desert and I am so thankful for the cooler temperatures we’re having late in the afternoon.

I haven’t gardened in a very long time as the plants seem to do just fine when left alone.
The ground squirrels seem to be on their best behavior; they must have realized that we are unto them and we are not backing down. Besides, all the plants now have chicken wire around their base as well as the plant itself. Some neighbors are starting to destroy their burrows, which hopefully will drive them away from this side of the neighborhood. How great would it be if everyone was working hard to eradicate this problem!

Seven months after being planted, my son’s tiny Pumpkin from his field trip has emerged and is fast growing. My son, of course, is thrilled. I almost dug it out by mistake, until I saw the familiar large leaves. Not many plants have their leaves larger than the plant themselves. Everything has been going really well until last Saturday. As we went to the Beach for the day, little did we know that we would return home to find our young pumpkin plant half eaten. We’ve enclosed the raised bed with chicken wire to prevent the squirrels from causing further damages to the young plant. I can’t tell if we’ll be getting any good sized pumpkin out of it.

Pumpkin Sprout.
Pumpkin Sprout.

On Friday night we took a trip to Lowe’s and purchased more Privacy Fence Slats which we put in on Saturday morning. I like and respect my neighbors and I really don’t need to know what’s going on in their side of the fence. Some are neat, others not so much. Without fence privacy a neighbor’s pile of trash can make your yard look unpleasant as well. Our yard is huge, spacious and we enjoy spending time outdoors. Therefore for us, adding some privacy gives us some peace of mind and helps us maintain a peaceful and healthy relation with our neighbors. Like the saying goes, “good fences make good neighbors”.

Happy Gardening!

Succulent Leaf Propagation

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read895 views

The weather is at its best today and I am so grateful. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat watch in effect from last Friday through Sunday evening (with temperatures as high as 106° Fahrenheit). I hope that just like us, everyone else is making plans for the upcoming days. Be it a trip to the Beach, Lake, Book Store, the Mall or just staying indoors and cooling off. Though I am not fond of High Winds, these are the times I really wish for them as they always help alleviate the hot weather conditions.

Succulent Leaf Propagation.
Succulent Leaf Propagation.

My garden looks lovely and the plants are thriving in this hot weather. I deadheaded some Roses and some Petunias. After going around the property searching for Squirrels holes (none so far) and making sure that no plants have been disturbed/damaged on the Raised Garden Beds; I checked on some of my Succulents to see if the leaves I planted a couple of weeks ago had sprouted roots. And what a pleasant surprise!

I use two methods to propagate my leaves:
1.  Setting the leaves on top of the soil
2. Sticking them into the ground.
The second method is the one I use when propagating my Succulents outdoors. I made the mistake of setting some leaves on top of the soil, just to find out that they had all disappeared the following day. I blamed the disappearance on the Wind. I can’t say for sure that some Squirrels ate them; however, I have seen one gnawing on my Aptenia Cordifolia (Baby Sun Rose), Portulaca Oleracea (Purslane) and Portulaca Grandiflora (Moss-Rose).

After that unfortunate incidence, I decided to stick a few leaves in the ground, all disappeared except for one. As I gently pulled it out, I was happy to see that it’s been busy growing roots and what appears to be leaves? I moved it to a bigger planter along with my Sedum Morganianum (Donkey Tail). I will continue to water it regularly while allowing the soil to dry a little between watering (to avoid killing the plant).

Happy Gardening!

Patio Clean Up & Some Finds

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read620 views

Today is officially the first day of Summer and so far, so good. I am particularly thankful that it’s the start of the weekend, as it might be our last chance to set up the drip irrigation for some trees we planted at the far end of our backyard before the heat wave hits us. We loaded up the last of the Pine Tree branches into the trash cans and I am so grateful for a job well done and knowing that there will be no more cleaning and needle poking.

I haven’t done much Gardening all week, other than moving a miniature Rose bush from a pot to a large homemade primitive planter. The plants are thriving and the Ground Squirrels are keeping their distances as well as their activities at a minimum. I found time to clean the Patio and move some furniture around. This weekend I’m planning to clean the barbecue Grill as well as the patio furniture to have them ready for those Summer BBQs. I will be using Mr. Clean Outdoor Pro Spray and I hope it’s as good as I heard.

Yesterday we took a drive to Oro Grande to check out some of the treasures at Linda Marie’s Enchanted Treasures. It’s always a delight visiting this Shop. I bought one of a kind Wire Urn, which I absolutely love. Urns serve many purposes such as holding fruits, floral arrangements, potpourri or you could just have it sitting with nothing in it. When it comes to decorating with Urns, possibilities are endless. After a thorough cleaning (and perhaps some spray paint), mine will be sitting with nothing in it as it looks lovely as a plain, stand-alone piece.

Large Wire Urn.
Large Wire Urn.

We made our last stop at the Antique Station, which is next to Linda Marie and it was our second visit to this location. It’s huge with a lot of inventory and you really have to make time to visit. I bought a gorgeous chair with a comfortable padded seat and gently curved back. It is beautifully upholstered with a full-length skirt and double-needle stitching. It’s more of a dining chair; however, since it’s single, I decided to use it as an office chair.

Gladiolus Bulbs & Squirrels

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read2.4K views

As the weather gets warmer (hotter, for those of us living in the High Desert), every one scrambles to the stores to stock up on cool drinks, snacks and others items to stay at home. The same scenario applies to animals as they search for their stores of stashed seeds, nuts and whatever they can find. I have seen Squirrels running in my neighbors backyard and just a couple ran across ours to get to the other side. There are just too many of them this year and they are starting to dig around. From the single squirrel I’ve seen on our property, they are now two.

Ground Squirrels.
Ground Squirrels digging and playing.

This morning, I found a bunch of holes in my children’s raised garden beds. I was saddened to see some of the Gladiolus bulbs pulled out, lying on the ground, partially eaten and the stems cut off. We had stunning Gladiolus blooms (Fiorentina, Pears, Star, Yellow and Orange) the last couple of years and I can’t say the same for this year. We have two more larger raised garden beds (not pictured) next to the ones below. One of which has Pink Tulips bulbs and the other Onions; both sustained damages as well.

Chicken Wire on Garden Bed.
Chicken Wire on Garden Bed.

To give me some peace of mind and to prevent further damages until we find a permanent solution, my husband decided to wrap some chicken wire around the top of the garden beds.

How Can You Fight Back?

  • Build Raised Garden Bed Fencing
  • Use Chicken Wire on your Garden Beds
  • Mulch with dried out Pine Needle
  • Sprinkle Coffee Ground around bulbs/base of your plants

The first two options are the best as a hungry squirrel will take high risks to get to its food source.

Hungry Squirrel in The Garden

JM Perez By JM Perez2 min read491 views

The weather has been unpredictable and unstable these past days. I have been spending so much time at the Windows, watching the wind move dead leaves around. I am amazed at how much needles from our Pine Needle Tree have fallen and spread all over the ground. Such a sight is a reminder that we need to cut down the Pine tree, which will give us additional room to extend our deck.

I have missed going outside and tending to my plants.
While preparing lunch early in the afternoon, I took a minute to look out the window to my surprise. Mr. Squirrel had made his way to my front yard in search of something.  Food, I presume. Ground Squirrels eat insects such as ants, grasshoppers and termites. They also eat seeds and vegetation (especially in Summer). They have numerous burrows which are surrounded by hills of dirt in my next door neighbor’s backyard and they seems to come to my property for food. This is the first time they have come this close and we know something has to be done.

Hungry Squirrel in The Garden.
Hungry Squirrel in The Garden.

Together with the family, we watched FernGully: The Last Rainforest and FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue. We are looking forward to the release of Epic, tomorrow. Also on our movie list today were Ponyo, The Castle of Cagliostro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Porco Rosso, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Steamboy as well as other movies from the legendary anime film makers Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo. These are awesome animated movies and a few of my kids favorite.