The Fix Is In

The back room conspiracy to slow down my gardening efforts is upon me. Frost was on the windshield of the truck as I left for work at 5:00 a.m.. Kind of snuck up on me, even though it is late November, since the unseasonably warm weather lulled me to sleep, apparently. And, I had just planted out some lettuces, v. Mervailles du Quatre Sassons (?), I believe it is called. Four Seasons Lettuce. They were tucked into a space that came open  after we picked and processed part of a bed of carrots last week. Looking rather pathetic in the cold. Hopefully the frost does not do them in. If they have recovered by this evening when I arrive home, they'll receive some sort of protection. Glad that I had planted more than half of the lettuces inside the greenhouse.

I also stashed some beet seeds in a corner, and will need to replant a few short rows of beets which failed to germinate properly, plenty of seed remaining for that. Last weekend, planted out anouther 50 or so red onion sets. Yesterday, also in the greenhouse, planted a few of both red and yellow Dutch shallots. What a generic marketing term, eh? About one fourth of them gott tossed because of mold or sponginess.

My wife helped me remove all the remaining greenhouse plants, prior to amending and replanting. The tomatoe and pepper plants went into the greenwaste bin, not into our compost pile, due to the potential to contaminate the compost with disease. Normally, not a bit of crop residue, weeds, or kitchen waste leaves the property, but rather is composted, their nutrients going back into the garden. Albeit slower than I'd like, things are getting done. 

More space is available for planting both outdoors and in the greenhouse, and will be planted out successionally. Care  and thinking has to go into choosing varieties, as the winter sunlight declines. Some plants are more light-sensitive than others, and cannot easily be grown at this time of year - not due to lack of heat because it's  still warm enough, especially if providing a bit ofprotection - but rather because of the low path of the sun in winter. Aggravating this, is the fact that I am in the mountains, surrounded by some tall redwoods. Where I am at is the same lattitude as parts of Sicily, so  day length is sufficient.

Tonight, going to finally pot-on another of the dwarf citrus trees, which are an experiment. There are five,  a  Washington naval orange, a Myers lemon, Satsuma ( orange or Mandarin?), a lime of some sort, and a red grapefruit, also cannot recall the variety. All of these can be grown here in the Santa Cruz Mountains with varying degrees of success. I am sure the key is proper siting, and protection during the coldest weather, with the grapefruit and lime trees being the most needy. I will have to provide them with protection during the coldest spells, using Agribond(fleece) and/or plastic to wrap them during the worst frosts. So much, though, depends upon the local microclimate.  As of now, with no fruit cages, citrus are the only fruit trees that won't be subject to destruction by squirrels, racoons, birds, skunks, etc. . Building a proper fruit cage is on my winter time agenda, as time and funds allow.