Summer is around the bend for us.  106º in the sun and 85º in the shade.  A/C running for the good wife @ 66º,   :o  so I will be spending more time out side.  ;D  Green beans are coming up, Tomato 1.5ft tall, Roses buding big time.  Flowers looking good and the 10 new lavender plants are doing great that we put in last Fall.  They all came through the winter just great  8)   

Hmmmm....Did I say it way nice out today?   :))   :))   :))

Quote from: walkstall on May 10, 2011, 04:37:35 PM
Summer is around the bend for us.  106º in the sun and 85º in the shade.  A/C running for the good wife @ 66º,   :o  so I will be spending more time out side.  ;D  Green beans are coming up, Tomato 1.5ft tall, Roses buding big time.  Flowers looking good and the 10 new lavender plants are doing great that we put in last Fall.  They all came through the winter just great  8)   

Hmmmm....Did I say it way nice out today?   :))   :))   :))

Sounds wonderful Walks... I am jealous as I have got nothing in yet...running out of time.  :o

90 yesterday here and 88 for today...

Quote from: Elfie on May 11, 2011, 08:51:16 AM
90 yesterday here and 88 for today...

Hope your A/C is working lol

In the nineties here, we badly need rain, everything is looking good except there's no substitute for rain no matter how often a garden is watered. Spring has indeed sprung.  :)

Quote from: Mighty_Mouse on May 11, 2011, 04:30:46 PM
In the nineties here, we badly need rain, everything is looking good except there's no substitute for rain no matter how often a garden is watered. Spring has indeed sprung.  :)

Yes in about 20 to 30 days we will need to start watering the yard 1 Hr. per day.  I am watering 20 every other day right now.  But when it starts hitting 80+º everyday I will need to water everyday.

I've started the gardens. Haven't really been around to much so I am late...  I was told by a guy thats been gardening for well my whole life,lol, that if ya take a 5 gal bucket, cut it in half and put it around the tomaote plants, once it gets set in you only have to water that bucket once a week and it gets all the water it needs for the week.... time to experiment...

Quote from: Elfie on May 18, 2011, 07:34:48 AM
I've started the gardens. Haven't really been around to much so I am late...  I was told by a guy thats been gardening for well my whole life,lol, that if ya take a 5 gal bucket, cut it in half and put it around the tomaote plants, once it gets set in you only have to water that bucket once a week and it gets all the water it needs for the week.... time to experiment...

At our old place we could do that. This new place has very little dirt (soil) on top of the rock formation we are sitting on.  So if you don't water every day in the Summer time eveything will go brown or die off in not time. I also like my grass 5" long, so it feel like a carpet when you walk on it.

Quote from: walkstall on May 18, 2011, 08:48:49 AM

At our old place we could do that. This new place has very little dirt (soil) on top of the rock formation we are sitting on.  So if you don't water every day in the Summer time eveything will go brown or die off in not time. I also like my grass 5" long, so it feel like a carpet when you walk on it.

We have the same issue here, very little natural topsoil, and what little soil we do have is high clay mixed with acid from all the conifer trees in the forest.
I've been working for more than twenty years trying to build topsoil, now I know why it takes Mother Nature so damned long. :o :))

Quote from: Solar on May 18, 2011, 09:04:31 AM
We have the same issue here, very little natural topsoil, and what little soil we do have is high clay mixed with acid from all the conifer trees in the forest.
I've been working for more than twenty years trying to build topsoil, now I know why it takes Mother Nature so damned long. :o :))

Just under our topsoil we have sand and dirt mixed so the water does not last long.

Quote from: walkstall on May 18, 2011, 09:10:55 AM

Just under our topsoil we have sand and dirt mixed so the water does not last long.

We have fractured shale standing vertically, acts like a sieve, the topsoil acts like a filter to clean the water, only to run right through the fractured rock.

I'm familiar with your soil, I think they refer to it as loam, we refer to ours as Sierra cement, if it dries out, its like rock, and impermeable to water till Winter. ???

Quote from: Solar on May 18, 2011, 09:23:44 AM
We have fractured shale standing vertically, acts like a sieve, the topsoil acts like a filter to clean the water, only to run right through the fractured rock.

I'm familiar with your soil, I think they refer to it as loam, we refer to ours as Sierra cement, if it dries out, its like rock, and impermeable to water till Winter. ???

Yes, the further you go back for the edge of the clif the more soil you have.  So back about 1mile it is great farming land. 

Quote from: walkstall on May 18, 2011, 09:55:29 AM

Yes, the further you go back for the edge of the clif the more soil you have.  So back about 1mile it is great farming land. 

Same here, I live on the mountain top, but the best soil is down by the creeks, which get very little sun, so even if I were to plant down there, the critters would get it all anyway.

We have the best wild strawberries I've ever tasted down near the creek, they are about the size of a pea, but just when they're ready to pick, the critters get them first. >:(

Quote from: Solar on May 18, 2011, 10:15:52 AM
Same here, I live on the mountain top, but the best soil is down by the creeks, which get very little sun, so even if I were to plant down there, the critters would get it all anyway.

We have the best wild strawberries I've ever tasted down near the creek, they are about the size of a pea, but just when they're ready to pick, the critters get them first. >:(

We get wild blackberries down on the lower farm that is right on the Columbia river.  There are 5 circle on the lower farm.  each circle is around 700 acres. and they grow on the outside circle next to the water and around the old farm house.

Quote from: walkstall on May 18, 2011, 11:32:01 AM

We get wild blackberries down on the lower farm that is right on the Columbia river.  There are 5 circle on the lower farm.  each circle is around 700 acres. and they grow on the outside circle next to the water and around the old farm house.

When I first bought my land, I had to battle that crap for years, I finally have it isolated to one area about 1/4 acre, and was about to finish them off, when ST said, "Noooo, I want them".

I can see it in a few years, another three acres out of control.