Another Success

Tomatoes galore! There is so much more I haven't picked as there is no way we can eat it all!!

                      

And ta-da!! I picked these guys yesterday!! My first cucumbers ever! So proud. Even my husband would go to the yard to look at these with me. He's a big fan of cucumbers.

Sand Storm

Overnight the wind picked up and along with it, all the sand around. Our backyard is a messy sand box!! We've been in Palm Desert for almost a year and this is the craziest it's been!

                            

On another note, my cucumber plants not only made it through the sand storm, but I have 2 newly discovered baby cucumbers!!

Cucumber Escape

What a huge difference in just a couple weeks! The cucumber and watermelon plants are starting to crawl out of the planter boxes. Here's a a before and after.

And my new tree!! A yellow guava tree I found at Home Depot, meeting the max growth requirements of our HOA not to go over the 8 feet limit.

Toasted

Well, what did I expect after being away for almost 2 weeks, right?? It apparently got up to almost 100 degrees here! The plants that were left under the sprinklers got fried under the sun without proper watering and shade. About half of my flowers in the front yard have died and my poor tomato plants are all shades of yellow and wilting in every direction.

Surprisingly, the celery and cucumber plants have sprouted nicely. I will have to inspect closer tomorrow... On a random note, can I mention that I am really not a fan of airports?! Thank goodness we are finally home!!

Experimenting with how to water plants while you're away

I found some tips online on how to water your plants when you're away for vacation... Using a plastic bottle filled with water and pricking a hole in the lid. Then simply place the bottle upside down with poked hole cap down into a well saturated soil and there you have it! The hopes is that this method will give a few days worth of watering. I'm experimenting right now but it doest seem to last more than a whole day at best. :(

Citrus Surprise

When we moved into our current home 3 1/2 months ago our backyard was full of sand and weeds. Interestingly the previous owner of the house had planted one lonely tree against the side wall. Being a new enthusiast to gardening and having no idea what kind of tree it was, I figured I would continue watering it and see what would grow. As nerdy as it sounds I tried describing to my mom what it looked like over the phone to see if she had any idea. My poor mama, as patient as she is but not a friend of Internet or phone texting, guessed that it was some kind of citrus tree without actually seeing it.

Low and behold!! It is flowering!! It smells citrusy... but honestly, I could just be imagining it. I looked up some pictures on google but since I've never inspected a citrus tree in detail, even comparing pictures online isn't helpful. So now I am patiently waiting for my citrus surprise..

Picked

I'm like a proud mama!! :)