Freesias

I planted my freesias today.  They will be my parent breeding stock.  Will replant the small ones next springand sell the large one this fall or spring.   They are mixed colors - double flowers.  I will take pictures as things start blooming.

Planting Time - Bearded Iris

Finally get to start planting.  Planted some German Bearded Irises.  These will be my parent stock and will sell rhizomes from them this fall or the following spring depending on how big they get.   I planted Devils Riot and Epicenter.   They are dormant and will start sprouting shortly.   I will be selling them on Ebay and Amazon.    

Gopher Guard

There are gopher holes everywhere on the nearby land and gophers love bulbs.   I looked at a roll of tight mesh wire to line the bed but a roll is $70.00 and would only fill 3 bed.  I noticed these sheets of wire that are used to apply stucco to a wall.  They are $5.50 a sheet and two will fill the bottom of a bed and will keep the gophers out.   Here is my father holding a sheet before we placed it in the bottom of a bed.

A pile of Dirt

I received a truckload of planter mix.  Its a nice mix of compost, topsoil, and sand.   I think it will work great in my raised bed.  The soil was warm and smelled very earthy.   The stray dogs that live next door decided they liked the warmth and had dug out a little impression and were lying in the pile.   My parents from South Dakota are visiting and were helping fill the beds with soil with use of a wagon that dumps.   They are in their 70's but still very active and were a great help.

Water - the most precious resource.

I am installing low pressure drip and sprinklers to minimize waste and control the watering more precisely than I could with regular sprinklers.   I am plumbing each bed with 2 risers and will connect a manifold to each one and then run tubing to low pressure sprinklers that all spray towards the center of the bed to minimize any watering outside of the bed.   If anyone has any suggestions that will improve my watering, I would be happy to hear about it.

Some dirt - the backbone of a good garden

I picked up a pickup load of compost/topsoil blend at a landscaping supplies company in Menifee CA.   It was 25.00 for a cubic yard of the mix and if filled up the bed of my ford ranger.   It would take $150.00 of bagged compost and top soil to fill up my truck if I purchased it at a home improvement store.  It looks like a nice mix but I am going to add some soil that is piled up on site to give it some more texture.  They advised me to add some fertilizer with nitrogen because the mix is still composting.  

2 More Raised Beds

I have build two more raised beds.  Now have a total of 4.  Hopefully I will have 10 by spring.   Building them as I can afford to buy the lumber.