Gardening

5/5/26 →

Our cultivated native California grapes have a bumper crop this year. The house Northern Mockingbird pair will be very pleased this fall. And there should be enough for us to make a delightful syrup that goes well with vanilla ice cream #NativeGarden #GrapesA bunches of freshly set grapes hang from a vine that's overly dense with leaves. The grapes are very green and small but spread out and ready to swell.

5/3/26 →

This year, our Bacon Avocado has the best fruit-set ever, after its complimentary Mexicola Avocado bloomed in parallel. I’m guessing 75% of the currently pea-sized fruit will drop over the summer #Avocado #HomeOrchard #GardeningTwo baby pea-sized Bacon Avocados are visible with the front of a flat hand behind them for scale. There are a few avocado stems that end in nothing, and that's where fruit failed to set.

5/2/26 →

I think this sphinx moth had just pupated since it wasn’t in any mood to fly off. I disturbed it while weeding a clump of native California fuchsias (I’ve been busy gardening before upcoming travel) #SphinxMoth #NativeGarden

A Sphinx moth sits on a ledge among some brown to light green vegetation. It has many shades of brown with stripes running parallel and orthogonal to its body parts.

4/26/26 →

These are really smart ladybugs feasting on pesky oleander aphids that are in our milkweed #Ladybugs #Milkweed #NativeGardenA cluster of ladybugs are in the center of a milkweed, where new tender growth has attracted oleander aphids. The milkweed leaves, some of which are chewed up from the previous day's hail, are broad and full of veins.

4/21/26 →

The hail today, somewhere between pea to marble sized, has been intense. Our poor trees and young garden vegetable plants #CaWx #Hail

Mound of hail that accumulated below a gutter down spout

A small garden plant that got its leaves pelted and damaged by hail. Hail sits on the ground unmelted

A half shredded avocado leaf with a human hand cradling it. There’s a hail stone stuck to the leaf. Hail covers the ground below.

3/15/26 →

My wife seeded these tomatoes indoors February 1st 😍 #Gardening #Yarden

Four juvenile tomato plants, about 6-8” tall, in medium compostable pots green to teas leaves. Some leaves are narrower than others as they’re all different varieties

3/14/26 →

After over a year of being fallowed (b/c life), our crop rows are now dressed with compost & fresh drip tape deployed. In a few weeks, planting our seedlings of peppers, tomato, eggplant, & holy basil will begin #Yarden #Gardening

Three crop rows, separated by about 1.5 feet of gravel, have fresh drip tape down their centers. A corrugated shed is open in the distance. The yard is surrounded by wood fencing and shrubs

3/13/26 →

Now blooming: Type-B “Bacon” Avocado tree. I think this is the male flower. We also have a Type-A “Mexicola” Avocado but it isn’t blooming yet. When the “Bacon” has male flowers open, the “Mexicola” has female flowers open and vice versa. Avocado tree flowers are neat #Yarden #Avocado #BloomScrollingA photo of a single avocado flower among clusters of flower buds. It is all within a thickly foliated canopy with dark greens, reds, and light yellows. The flower itself is rather understated, with tiny yellow-orange anthers in the center

2/21/26 →

This is my accidental winter moss garden. Our rear fence and winter-happy native shrubs (ceanothus and elderberry) provide ample shade & the ground rarely dries out in the winter #Moss #Yarden #Mosstodon 

A 1-2 foot wide and longer area of ground covered by moss and surrounded by small rocks. There's various pieces of wood and smaller amounts of rock in the moss.Green long stemmed moss with blunt ends grow on the ground, with various sticks and rock interspersed. There's a fly resting on a rock and there's a tiny brown mushroom just in view.

2/6/26 →

It is almost asparagus season! Last year we had enough for a snack. Perhaps this year we’ll have a nice side dish #Asparagus #Gardening #Yarden

A reddish green asparagus spear about 1/2” thick is in front of a hand. It is about twice as wide as the hand.

2/5/26 →

I wasn’t home but a hawk visited our backyard this morning AND the eggplant seeds sprouted (talk about spring-loaded) #RedTailedHawk #Gardening

A photo from under an awning, looking past grave vines toward a red tail hawk about 20 feet away, in a tree, with a bit of morning glow upon its feathers. A tiny green sprout in the center of a seed starting tray sugg moist soil. It’s brightly lit and the back of the plastic cover can be seen in the distance with condensation dripping down

11/5/25 →

We were gifted some daffodil bulbs! The instructions recommended seven inches deep, but I only have the patience to dig to five, just deeper than the trowel. I helped them along by mixing in some fresh wormy compost. #Yarden

A triangular garden patch, surrounded by river rock, just planted with a paper label with "Dutch Mill Bulbs" and "A Mixed Daffodils". Some tree stakes can be vaguely seen in the background.

7/20/25 →

Started our Nectarine harvest. Last year they got bug infested but not this year. So far. One branch got majorly overloaded 😬 so I harvested it first. #HomeOrchard #Yarden

A metal colander filled with ripe red to yellow nectarines and a few green leaves.A tree laden with nectarines stands in a rocky garden area. One branch, the closest one, is seriously overloaded.

6/3/25 →

We’ve a bumper crop of volunteer Holy Basil plants and we’re extremely pleased #Yarden Young Holy Basil plants growing in a garden with a drip irrigation system. Orange pin flags are placed at almost each plant. The ground has soil with small rocks and other organic matter.

5/26/25 →

Today we suspended shade cloth over the avocado trees. The trees will now survive 100°F+ temperatures coming later this week. Heatwaves are on the way to California!

A shade cloth covering a small area of trees. A wheelbarrow is partially visible to the right, and ropes are stretched across to keep the cloth from resting on the small trees. The ground is covered with wood chips and gravel.

Two short avocado trees with a shade cloth suspended overhead and attached by rope to a fence. There is a gravel path along the far fence and close to the camera with wood chips inbetween. A drip hose snakes between the two trees. The sun is already shaded out with the cloth’s shadow projected along the fence.

#Yarden #Gardening #AvocadoTrees #HomeOrchard #California #CaWx

5/24/25 →

Yarden pool season has begun. Rubber ducks (and more elsewhere) serve as life rafts for insects. Most of this water was carried over from last year. Under a canopy, an above-ground pool with clear blue water, a metal ladder, and a towel hanging on the edge. There's a garden in the background with a shed, grapes, elderberry, various trees, and a horrible sunshade nextdoor. Little sun bleached rubber ducks float by.

4/26/25 →

Backyard trees have decent fruit set. New Century Asian Pears, Hosui Asian Pears, and a Nectarine Green leaves and an unripe, small unripe green New Century Asian Pear fruit growing on a tree branch with a cloudy sky in the background.

A young tree with small, green Hosui Asian Pear fruits growing among glossy green leaves. The tree is supported by a stake. The background is a blurred garden setting.

A fruit tree with green leaves and reddish unripe nectarines, growing among the foliage. The ground is covered in gravel, and a shed is partially visible in the background.

#HomeOrchard #Yarden

4/12/25 →

Okay, dilapidated front yard sprinkler valve assembly is removed and system capped off. The water line diverged before the valve assembly so I simply capped it off after the T so the backyard assembly and hose bib still gets water. PVC primer & cement hardly used and will go bad before next need 😜The image shows a cluster of irrigation valves partially buried in the ground, surrounded by soil and gravel. Wires are connected to the valves, which are part of a lawn or garden sprinkler system. The wires are disconnected from the sprinkler line.A removed irrigation valve assembly next to a house foundation, surrounded by dirt and rocks. A shallow pit where the sssembly was is nearby, and an irrigation box lid leans against a wooden fence. A red PVC cutter tool and a hand trowel on the ground.The image shows a pit with cut PVC piping connections, surrounded by dirt and gravel. A red pipe cutter is lying on the ground nearby. A disconnected sprinkler valve assembly is discarded to the right. A PVC cutter tool is visible.A small, muddy excavation pit next to a building with exposed pipes and finished clean (compared to older pipes) white cap fittings. There are tools and work gloves nearby, along with gravel and a trashed valve assembly.

1/4/25 →

I’m stoked that our asparagus bed, now in its third home over the last ten years, is beginning to produce enough to harvest. It’s been a long road with many years of our not caring but they persisted anyway and thus eventually regained our affection #Yarden #Gardening Young asparagus spears growing in a garden bed amidst scattered rocks, next to a wooden fence. Small green sprouts and a drip hose are visible in the background. Five stalks of fresh cut asparagus on a paper towel in a metal baking tray. They fade dark green to light purple at the bottom.

12/14/24 →

Only 9am and already there’s an inch of rain for the day! Gotta pump the closed basin in our backyard again (it’s a couple meters from the house) #CaWx

A pump foot is attached to a garden hose. It’s submerged in a 1” deep puddle overlaying gravel. There seems to be rain drop waves in the puddle.

6/5/24 →

Our resident scrub jays didn’t have much of a green thumb this year. Or they did a great job eating their cache. This is the only sunflower they grew A single sunflower with a bright yellow bloom and green leaves stands in a garden. A wooden fence and various green foliage are visible in the blurred background. The ground around the sunflower is covered with small pebbles and sparse grass.

4/26/24 →

I’ve had a lot of gardening to do with sharp implements so finally got my TDAP booster. I’m ready for a sore arm.

4/20/24 →

We’re planting only one row this year. Just tomatoes, various peppers, basil, and an overwintered thyme. All prepped, just need to plant! #gardening A sunlit garden with a pile of branches, green shrubs, flowering white clover, a drip irrigation hose, gravel paths, and small orange flags marking a planting locations.

2/19/24 →

If the sun can keep breaking through the clouds today, we may see some thunderstorms in the northern Sacramento Valley… looking promising for weather nerds #CaWx A backyard with gravel ground cover, leafless shrubs, a few young trees, and a metal garden shed. In the background, there’s a house with a carport. There is also garden equipment scattered around, heavy clouds above suggesting impending rain. Puddles of rain and roofs are bright as sunshine has broken through the clouds.

7/4/23 →

Volunteer Sunflowers in the backyard. The scrub jays garden really well. I continue to be impressed with the new Fujifilm XApp for transferring photos from my X-T5. #Fujifilm #Sunflowers #BloomScrolling

Two sun flowers, one at the bottom and nearby and one about 15 feet away. There’s vegetation surrounding the flowers and a weather station behind the forest Sunflower. The flowers are extremely yellow and well lit.A close up of a sunflower, brightly lit by the sun.

4/23/23 →

Our native plant garden in the front yard. It looks unmaintained but I swear it is! Nearly everything is flowering including sage, Ceanothus, globe gilia, & manzanita (nearly done flowering). Our Clarkias will be blooming soon. Bees (native & European) and ladybug larva are insane this year.

A blue house with golden poppies amidst bushy green plants including Ceanothus with blue flowers, flowering sage, light pink Manzanita flowers, and in the middle a very happy blue oak.

10/10/22 →

Cleared out the pepper plants that were vigorously revived from rain ~18 days ago & put some clover seed down. The garden is ready for winter. I’ve got a pile for drying out leaves on stems so I’ve got a supply of compost browns without clearing leaves on the ground. 🌱

7/5/22 →

All is not great in our garden though. We still have a heck of a time with end rot on our tomatoes despite amendments with calcium. Into the compost these went! 🌱

7/4/22 →

Pepper garden update🌱

garden path with ripening peppers on both sides and a glorious sunflower at the end of the trail

6/8/22 →

Obligatory photo of surfers at the Eisbachwelle in Munich’s English Garden.