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Tag Archive for Southern California

I Need a Garden Plan.

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Renee Spindle

Yes folks we are presently heading into the third week of February. I live in Southern California, the land of sunshine and warm weather. I have got to get my garden plan together early this year. Got to!! Last year I had a pitiful tomato harvest, and I’m sure one of the reasons this happened was just because I started way too late. I have vowed, mostly to myself, that this year I WILL get my garden going earlier, get the tomatoes started earlier, and cross my fingers for a bountiful harvest.

After quite a few rainfalls over past month or so, this is what my garden plot currently looks like. There are a few raised garden beds off to the right of this photo, and they are the only thing weedless in the garden right now.

The weeds, of course, have completely taken over and dashed any hopes I may have had of making this an easy Spring clean up. I say Spring because it’s Southern California, and as soon as the rain slows down for us it is Spring. Flowers are blooming, weeds are bustling, the time is right for getting ready to plant.

My plan for this Spring is to try to add one more raised bed, and of course the weeds will be obliterated before any other activities can begin. My favorite veggies to plant are; zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, butternut squash, bell peppers, and jalapenos. We had a bumper crop of jalapenos last year, and they make for great cooking all year round. Oh and I will definitely be adding some cucumber plants for making our yummy homemade pickles.

Getting the soil ready for planting is definitely the most time-consuming part of the gardening process. Over the next two weeks Travel Man and I will be rototilling, digging and raking all of those rotten weeds out-of-the-way. We have a fairly good-sized composter that will have some pretty magnificent dirt in it right about now. This premium dirt will get added to one of the existing raised beds to make the soil all healthy and wonderful for the new garden. Then we’ll finish making all the dirt really pretty and smooth so we can get the planting going.

I’m looking forward to getting this year’s garden going, and getting some dirt under my fingernails. There’s something so refreshing about digging in the dirt.

Are you planting a garden this year?

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Gardening

Sometimes It Does Rain in Southern California

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Last Thursday we had a rare thunderstorm here in SoCal. There was a little thunder, a little lightning, and a rainbow. Evan was with me after school, right in the heart of the thunder-storm. He doesn’t get to see or feel the rain very often, so he got his “garden” boots on, asked if he could use my new umbrella, and off he went prancing or should I say stomping in the rain.

This umbrella is like a tent. Such a boy!!

This just makes me want to watch “Singing in the Rain”

We have had a hot summer here in SoCal, in fact today it was still almost 100 degrees. So it’s nice to have an afternoon of rain, a little thunder, and some awesome clouds after the fact. I’m glad we got to share this with Evan, because he’s a boy, and he loves to get wet and muddy whenever possible. I have to dig out my “Singing in the Rain” dvd and watch it with Evan. It’s a good rainy day movie.

What’s your favorite rainy day movie to watch? Happy Wednesday everyone.

No comments Posted in Around the House, Family

We’ve been Resting, Recuperating, and Recharging

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Last Monday afternoon Travel Man and I were enjoying a glorious day at a local beach here in Southern California. The temperature at the beach was a balmy 82°, and the water temperature was even better 69°. Beautiful, picture perfect day. We took our lunch with us, and had planned to stay until close to dinner time. However, our day had a different plan for us.

The waves were cresting at about 6-7 feet that day, which is unusual for Corona del Mar. It’s a beach that’s a little inlet next to the Newport Beach jetty. I swam a couple of times, and Travel Man brought the boogie board with him so he could “catch some waves”. Around 3pm Travel Man went out with the boogie board, and was having fun riding the waves. I was on the beach reading, and could see him bopping around in the water.

Then about 15 minutes later my Travel Man comes staggering out of the water, and he’s using the boogie board to hold himself up. I could tell something wasn’t right with him, so I went right down to the shore to see if he was ok. He definitely was not ok. He had some blood running down his face, and had a nasty scrape on top of his head, and he was hurting. I got him back to our chairs in the sand, and was looking at the cut on his head to see how serious it was. A swimmer who had seen Travel Man stagger out of the water came over to see how he was doing and offered to get the lifeguard for us.

The lifeguard checked him out, and cleaned out the cut on his head. He was having a tremendous amount of pain in his neck. The lifeguard told Travel Man he should have his neck and back checked out. The kind of crash he had taken to the ocean floor is characterized as “going over the falls”. Meaning he was at the very top of the crest of the wave, and the momentum slammed him to the ocean floor. The choices for getting medical attention were; call for an ambulance, or go the doctor on our own. We opted for no ambulance, and got the Injured Man in the car first. Before this a very kind woman sitting near us came over to see if we needed help loading up the car. Of course, being the fathead that I am I said, “No, we’re fine. I think we can manage.” Of course I was not fine, I was racked with fear that my husband had seriously injured himself. In hindsight, I should have insisted that Travel Man be transported by ambulance. We had no idea how seriously he was injured.

We actually started to drive towards home to go to our family doctor, and Travel Man was in so much pain we opted for the emergency room two miles from the hospital. Travel Man called my parents, as they had been in the area earlier in the day. We got checked in to the ER, and I called my brother and asked him to come and sit with me. And he did. He was at the hospital within half an hour, and my parents arrived about an hour later. My family is awesome like that. If there’s an emergency or you need their help, they are ALWAYS there for you. I just love my family.

Travel Man went through some painful moments waiting to be checked out by the doctors; getting a CT scan, and getting an x-ray. Then he got some pain meds and he was able to relax a little. Once we got the results that there was nothing fractured, he got released to go home. This was about 4½ hours after we had initially arrived in the ER.

And my brother, he stayed with us the whole time, until we got Travel Man back in the car to go home. He’s just awesome like that. We sent my parents home earlier in the evening, as they had a long drive home. I was ever so thankful for their presence while Tom was getting checked out. Otherwise my worry gene kicks in, my mind wanders, and I imagine the worst.

Since last Monday, Travel Man has been resting and recuperating. He’s not too happy about this arrangement, but he knows it is necessary. And I am happy to report that he is feeling much better. The abrasion on his scalp has already healed, and his black eye is nearly gone. He was quite a sight. We’re both looking forward to our batteries getting recharged from the resting and recuperating, and moving on to the next adventure. But you all should know, there will be no more boogie boarding in Travel Man’s world.

One other reminder from this story is that there are kind and warm-hearted people everywhere you go. The generosity of the people on the beach was amazing. Travel Man and I always tell each other if we see a chance to be helpful to someone we always will, because you never know when you might need the next “Pay It Forward”.

4 comments Posted in Family

The Tomatoes are Growing

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Hello neighbors. Yes I’m still here and no I haven’t gone anywhere. You see Travel Man got home from his second international trip last Saturday, and we’ve been spending some much-needed time together. He’s only been home 8 days in the last 30, and now he’s home all of this week (anxiously keeping my fingers crossed). We’ve been having some great meals together, and working in the garden together. Always a lot to do in the garden.

This year I planted 5 tomatoes plants. The varieties I purchased from Lowe’s and Home Depot were; Roma, Better Boy, Big Boy, and Celebrity. A pretty ambitious effort for me, because at the end of last summer I had proclaimed I would only plant two tomato plants this year. I’m crazy like that, sometimes I just like to go for the gusto! So I had intended to share these pictures with all of you about a month ago, and somehow they got lost in the “Camp Grandma” menagerie of pictures.

This little contraption is what I am using to water the tomatoes this summer. Of course in Southern California we have some extreme heat in the summer. Travel Man found these for me at one of his favorite hardware stores, and I was readily willing to try them. The spike holds a two liter soda bottle. It has little holes down each side of the spike to allow the water to flow through to the roots. With the heat we are having right now I am filling the bottles up twice a day. In the morning and again in the early evening. So far so good as the tomatoes are thriving.

This picture of the Roma tomato plant is from a month ago.

And this is the same plant today. I finally added the cages and staking to all of the tomato plants last weekend. Now it’s just keeping up with the watering and weeding, and waiting for the arrival of the first tomato!! I cannot wait to have my first BLT with a garden tomato!

We (meaning Travel Man and I) are having an ongoing discussion about the best way to let the tomatoes grow. My mindset has always been to just put the cages up and let them go to town. Travel Man’s theory is we should keep them pruned inside of the cages to get a better crop of tomatoes. I am trying it Travel Man’s way this summer, so I can see how the plants to in the raised bed they are growing in. And I have to give his idea a chance too. I like to try to see things from all sides, and not be the “fathead”. So that being said it brings me to my question for all of you who garden or have gardened in the past. “To prune the tomatoes, or not prune the tomatoes?” That is my question to all of you. Looking forward to hearing some great gardening opinions. Happy Wednesday to everyone!