The weather has turned warm and balmy and it's hard not to want to be outside every second. Never mind the laundry piling up and the cobwebs draping the ceiling corners.



Yesterday I drove into San Luis to service my seed account at Farm Supply. Steve, one of the staff and a dedicated plantsman, encouraged me to stop by this weekend's Cactus and Succulent Show & Sale at the Santa Rosa St Senior Center, so I did.



What a treat! Lots of local experts and growers from all over the state. At the sale, beautiful and affordable (as well as more spendy and collectable) specimens filled tables which covered the basketball court. Additional backstock waited in flats unerneath the tables, though I'm sure all the really rare items were gone within minutes of the doors opening. The show itself had some real stunners in size, age, and rarity. It was especially nice to be able to talk to the growers in the casual setting, and to ask cultural advice of the Central Coast Cactus & Succulent Society members who were acting as salespeople. I was really happy to see the show in a building with such great natural light.


Since collecting my first succulent in the early 70's, the geometric forms and patterns continue to fascinate me. How neatly the rows of leaves or dimples fit into each other, growing larger slowly and manageably. Flowers are a short-lived bonus, often beautifully contrasting the plant in form, shape, or color. With lineal curving and swaying stems, they act as dramatic counterpoints to the regular rythmic presentation of folial parts. Easy to grow and manage and living for years in tidy containers or slowly increasing in the permanent landscape, succulents supply both modest dependability and geometric punctuation in the frost-free garden.









I came away with a small flatful of succulents along with a small pot for a new kalanchoe, K. rhombopilosa. The dark chocolate brown clay of the stoneware will pick up the flecks of brown in the blue-grey leaf. It's supposed to be of compact habit, so hopefully will stay in the new pot for a few more years.


Leaving the show, a quick stop at nearby El Taco de Mexico netted some great $2 tacos, and I headed out Highway 1 to the 'Art In The Park' show in Morro Bay. Held by the Morro Bay Art Association for many decades now, it occurs every Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day weekend. Some vendors have returned for 10 or 15 years and tell me it's their favorite art show venue. It's fun to check in with artists, watching their styles mature or change as the case may be. As always, it was a pleasure to experience the wit and charm of Joann Page, and marvel at her beautifully-detailed cowhide and lambskin handbags. Diana Gabriel was there with her delicate and lovely handknotted and strung bead jewelry. I love Diana's subtle colorways and use of repetition and balance of materials.


I met a new (to me)vendor, Unique Lapidary Designs. Fred and his wife have beautiful turquoise and jasper earrings, pendants and cabachons (undrilled polished pieces suitable for setting or wire-wrapping). Some was American turquoise but what caught my eye were the dramatically-colored stones from Tibet. The blue turquoise appears in seams with other minerals, creating a mottled effect of blue/brown/green/black. Fred leaves most of the stones unset; he cuts, polishes and drills them for pendants or earrings and leaves some in a cabachon shape. His emphasis is to allow the simple shapes and natural coloring of the stones to make the statement.






example of Tibetan turquoise coloring


I added a few bits to my jewelery trove and ended the day with a stop at one of my favorite Central Coast sitting spots: outside the Back Bay Inn in Baywood park. There's a convenient wooden boardwalk that runs a short distance along the bay from the pier to the end of the BBI property, with a good view of the bay and dunes on one side and the interesting and ever-changing gardens of the Inn on the other. Add a few benches and you have Contentment, realized.

Tomatoes, ergo Tomato Cages!

(Tomato what? is that some sort of horticultural torture device?)

Since most tomatoes have the 'indeterminate' growth habit of a tender, warm-season vine, they grow quickly, producing flowers and fruits until knocked down by frost in the fall.

Most indeterminate-variety tomatoes can grow to a length of 6 to 8 feet or more, and if not suspended on some type of trellising system, the ripening tomatoes will rest on ground, becoming easy prey for slugs, ground squirrels, quail, and other garden raiders. Additionally, soil-borne wilt diseases like early and late blights contaminate tomato foliage and fruits when water splashes onto the plant during irrigation.

Trellising tomatoes lifts them off the ground, and there's several ways to go about it. The easiest and least expensive are homemade wire cages. Concrete Reinforcing Wire makes lightweight, easily stored cages which last through years of use. (the lightweight 3-ring cages sold at the hardware store do fine for determinate, or 'bush' tomatoes, peppers, and sprawling or weak-stemmed ornnamentals)

Sturdy and yet not unmanageable, concrete reinforcing wire comes in a standard roll width of 7 feet at lumber yards and full-service hardware stores. You need 5 feet of roll length to make a sturdy 3' diameter cage. I prefer a lower center of gravity on my cages, so cut them down to a 5' height and use the leftover bits to make small tunnel or hoop-house supports for a covered winter garden . If using the entire 7' width, a firmly-anchored steel T-post will keep the cage from toppling from the weight of ripening fruit.

The mesh on the concrete wire is about 7"x7". Using bolt cutters to cut panels, cut flush against the outside of the width-wise wire every 5 feet. (store personnel may do this for you if you ask nicely) This automatically creates 7" prongs on the opposite end of the panel. When ready to set up cages, bend the prongs inward at somewhat less than 90 degrees to make "tabs". The cut panels will rebound back to their rolled shape; simply thread the prong ends through the open slots to grab securely. The tension in the wire mesh will hold the panel in a tubular shape. Don't close by bending the prongs completely; this will fatigue the wire and it will break off eventually. (...how do I know this?)

I plant one tomato per cage, but others plant several--two or three--to good result. (maybe they faithfully removes suckers; I'm too lazy to do that) I create wide watering basins and water slowly by using a bubbler hose attachment to minimize splashing. Because most plants in the garden require different watering schedules, I tend to hand water. If I had a large dedicated spot for tomatoes, drip irrigation would be best, but for now I'll keep hand watering.

This year I'm growing five tomatoes, one in tub near the house, and four out in the raised beds of my veg garden. I'm trialing several cold-resistant tomatoes grown by my friend Chris at Tiber Canyon from her selection of 85 heirloom varieties. Got my fingers crossed for decent weather.

Since tomatoes 'set' their flowers at minimum night temperatures of 55 degrees, and ours routinely fall to below that, I wrap the cages in clear plastic up the sides while the plants are young, and use water-filled sheet plastic cloches (aka "Wall-o-Water" systems) to enclose the just-transplanted tomatoes in a sort of solar greenhouse. When the plants are larger, I remove the outer plastic but leave the WOW's up all season. I may try muching with black palstic this year to see if it helps enhance blossom set by maintaining warmer night soil temperatures. Calcium is also needed for blossom set, so I'll keep applying supplements either in a foliar spray or as a soil top dressing.

Let's hope for a clear summer with good tomato weather. We've already had plenty of unusual coastal weather this winter and spring, so let the heat begin!

Blogging Day 1: Garden notes

It's supposed to be clear but windy again today. At least it's to be a Northwesterly, so it will be carrying cool moist air from the Pacific, a few miles to the west. We're supposed to get an offshore flow later this week--if so, I've got my fingers crossed= no wind. Offshores mean hot dry air from the desert West's Great Basin, and they mean trouble to all the new tender foliage exposed at this time of Spring.

This morning I spent a lovely hour out in the veg garden which Keith built me. Seven raised beds built of reclaimed windfall Monterey Cypress from a local harvester; it will be a challenge to get them all looking vibrant with growth. It's just me and the cat (Ms. Tuckie Paws) and she doesn't eat veggies, so I'll likely add more flowers this year to fill in. What to plant?

Lately, I've fallen back in love with zinnias and bearded iris. Since we moved to this location in the summer fog belt about 20 years ago, I gave up on them due to problems with mildew and snails, respectively. Grew them years ago when I lived in a hot & dry summer climate, and they were fool proof (isn't that right, teejay?) But last year I tried both, and they did fairly well. So this year I'll plant them from 6-packs (Clearwater Color of Los Osos) and from seed (Botanical Interests). Couldn't resist the purple and lime green combo, but also all the pinks and yellows. The soil in the raised beds is finally warm enough to direct seed, so will check the Planting by the Moon guide and plant accordingly. (coming up on a new moon). Till then, more weeding.