Signs of Hope

Chewed Up Avocado Leaves

We love avocados.  We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE avocados.  So it was a natural that we would plant an avocado tree in the garden.

Cindy planted it last year, but the poor thing has been struggling ever since.  Some kind of insect has been chewing on the leaves, and the leaves themselves were drooping so badly that Cindy was thinking she might have to just pull it out and start over with another tree.

However, she decided to give it a little more time to see if it could recover.

That turned out to be a good decision so far, because the next time we looked at it there were new buds coming on the tips of the stems.

So maybe there's a chance for the tree after all.

New Buds!

Little Red Wagon

The San Diego Master Gardeners have a silent auction during their December meeting, and one of the items in the last auction was a folding garden cart.

It caught Cindy's eye and she ended up with the winning bid for it.   It reminded me of the little red wagon we had as kids.

It's compact when it's folded up, but quite spacious when expanded and she's been using it to cart bags of fertilizer and mulch all over the yard.  It seems like it's going to be a very useful item.

Even adults sometimes need a little red wagon.

The Dedicated Gardener

Cindy was out in the front butterfly garden yesterday, intent on pulling up some weeds that had had the temerity to spring up, when her knee collapsed on her and she suddenly found herself on the ground.

The knee problem is related to an incident that happened two weeks ago; she was at the grocery store early Sunday morning buying a newspaper when she saw a man get into his pickup truck and pull out of the parking lot.  What the man didn't know was that his dog had jumped or fallen out of the bed of the truck and was being dragged down the street behind the truck. 

Cindy heroically went into high gear, racing after them, yelling and waving the newspaper.  The truck stopped at a stoplight half a block away and the man fortunately heard her screaming at him.  He got out of the truck, saw the dog and put it safely into the cab of the truck after thanking her for stopping him.

At that point, she realized that, although the dog was apparently uninjured, she was in a lot of pain from a strained hamstring in her leg.

And, of course, the weather has been absolutely beautiful lately for gardening, which doesn't make it any easier for her to wait patiently for the injury to heal.

So what does the dedicated gardener do when she finds herself unexpectedly on the ground?  Does she yell for help?  Does she flag down a passer-by?  Does she try to see if her leg will support her weight?

No, of course not:  she CRAWLS over to the weeds, yanks them all out of the ground first and then tries to stand up.

Now that's a dedicated gardener.

Progeny of the World's Most Beautiful Garden Shed

Garden Shed

When Cindy, her dad Lou and I built the World's Most Beautiful Garden Shed five years ago, there was a slight misunderstanding; when I went to buy the polycarbonate for the sides and doors of the shed, I initially bought clear polycarbonate.

However, it turned out that Cindy wanted an opaque polycarbonate because she didn't want anyone to be able to see into the shed from the street and see her garden tools.  So it was back to the store to buy more of it.  We couldn't return the material we had already bought because they had cut it for us.

So we've had a LOT of clear polycarbonate just sitting around for the last five years and no idea what to do with it.

That is, until we went to see the Butterflies of Malaysia exhibit at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne, Indiana last April.  While we were there, Cindy spotted a mini-greenhouse made from clear polycarbonate, just like the stuff we had left over.  Of course, that led to an "ah-ha" moment and a project added to the "to do" list.

Son of Garden Shed

However, as it turned out, I also needed to build a smaller container for the propane tank I use to make  flameworked glass beads.  Although the garage where I make the beads is detached from the house, it's not safe to keep propane tanks inside a structure.

So I enlisted Engineer Lou once again to help me devise a small box that would hold the tank but make it easily accessible when I need to hook it up to make beads.

Ease of use was an essential element, as was protection of the tank and especially the regulator from the weather, so we designed it to allow both the front side and the top to be hinged so that both pieces can be lifted at once to get the tank in and out when it needs to be refilled, or just lift the front to connect the hose when I just want to turn on the tank and work.

With the Propane Tank

That led to some creative work with the continuous hinges, but we did finally get it together and I think it's going to work just fine.

And--Preview of Coming Attractions-- Cindy's new mini-greenhouse is currently under construction and should be completed just before she's ready to start her tomato seedlings.  

Sweet Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea Blossoms

Cindy planted a cover crop, including Sweet Peas, Bell Beans, Vetch and other plants in a couple of the raised beds this winter to prepare them for spring gardening.

I love the delicate pink and purple colors of the Sweet Pea blossoms; it's a nice burst of color in the San Diego winter landscape.

O.K., I know what you're thinking:  San Diego's winter landscape isn't nearly as gray and depressing as say, Oregon, Minnesota, Indiana or Colorado in February, so enjoy the photos if you live in one of those places.

It's nice to have them around for a while, but now it's time to take them down, chop up all the green stuff and add it back into the soil and the compost heap to create soil amendment.