I’ve been spending some time in the gardens. Now that it’s October the weather has cooled down enough where I can actually do something without killing little seedlings. Now is the time in Southern CA to plant CA natives. I love the idea of natives but I really want edible stuff and to establish a food forest. That is my dream.

For my birthday this year, I bought an arbor and trellis. I planted a passion fruit vine I bought from a fellow gardener.

The passion fruit looks really good and I hope it flourishes.

The strawberry patch is filling in the holes. During the heat of summer it continued to fruit but the strawberries would shrivel up as soon as we got our 100+ degree heat waves. And I’ve not had a good strawberry since June. Even though our weather has cooled a bit we still have enough 90 degree days to dry those little babies up. I leave them for the birds and bugs and whatever else likes to come for them.

I propagated this fig tree from a friends cutting. Propagating is an adventure for me. I never know what will work. This fig tree was my second batch of about a dozen cuttings from fall 2021. It was the only one that took. And over time I transplanted it into a 5 gallon pot. This spring I was awarded with 3 figs. They were really good. So when the weather cooled, I decided it needed a better home. I hope it likes its new home and I get more figs next season.

My dad started eating papaya this past summer because it’s good and it has a lot of health benefits. When I saw Papaya trees at one of my local nurseries I had to buy a couple of them. This is mine. I have since delivered his and both of ours are thriving. Since then I’ve seen papaya trees all over the place in my neighborhood while driving. I’ve seen quite a few with papayas waiting to be harvested. So I know it can be done in SoCal. Im not so sure about their area in NorCal as it is much cooler where they are than my home.

Happy gardening.

Melanie