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My Garden Diary

March and April 2022

Copyright © 2022 by David E. Ross

Many years ago, when I first started my Web site, I created an online diary of my gardening activities and observations. However, with work and the commute from Hell, I was often so tired I had to choose between maintaining my garden and maintaining my diary. Sometimes, I did neither. In 1998, I stopped my diary and removed the pages from my Web site.

Now I am retired. I am well-rested and have plenty of time to both garden and maintain a diary. This diary is primarily for my own benefit, so that I can look back upon what I did and when. But I thought others might also be interested, so here it is.

Also see What's Blooming in My Garden Now?

Diary entries for 2004 through 2014

Entries below are in reverse order (latest at the top). Daily, I might stoop to pull a weed or use a hose to water some potted plants; however, I don't consider those significant gardening activities. Thus, you will not see daily entries. Also, I might accumulate a few entries before updating this page on the Web.

When plants have well-known common names, their scientific names are given only the first time they appear on this page (entry closest to the bottom). There, the common name is in bold or appears as a link to another Web page.

Unless a different year is given, dates refer to other entries in the same year as the entry in which they appear, including entries on prior pages for the same year.

Date and Weather	Observations and Activities
29 Apr Clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 48-77 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 34% Wind: 1-13	Trimmed the eugenia growing in front of the garage. It had grown so tall that it was hiding the brick veneer on the wall in back of the smaller side of the front lawn. I then trimmed the fern pine (some type of Podocarpus) growing at the right edge of the veneer, removing some branches that interfered with the eugenia. Rain — This rain-year: 11.90 Days since last: 7
24 Apr Clear, sunny, and warm Temp: 60-80 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 15% Wind: 7-16 Rain — This rain-year: 11.90 The past week: 0.31	Yes, locally we have had above average rainfall this rain-year. However, our water supply is from northern Caliofrnia, where the snow pack is significantly below average. Thus, the drought remains serious. Note that local soils are so mineralized that local well and spring water replenished by the rain is unsafe to drink. Two days ago (Friday), I hung shade cloth outside the greenhouse window. I do this every April as the morning sun shines longer on the "north" side of the house. ("North" is in quotes because the house is not square on the compass.) I will remove the shade cloth in late October. While grooming the roses and hanging the shade cloth that Friday, I decided it was too cold to do anything else in my garden. The high that day was 59°F, and that lasted less than an hour. Today, climbed My Hill to groom the lower grape vines. I tied some long branches to the spporting wire and headed others (mostly those without flower buds). Picked three loquats to have with lunch. Two otherw were damaged (possibly by wasps). I pealed and seeded them and fed them plus rose petals to Cleopatra. My loquats are ripening early this year.
17 Apr Clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 49-74 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 50% Wind: 3-16 Rain — This rain-year: 11.59 Days since last: 19	Fed the dwarf citrus with a commercial citrus food plus two pinches of zinc sulfate. I also fed the gardenia with a more generous amount of both. As I feed the citrus, I occasionally do minor pruning, primarily removing dead growth and crossing branches. The peach tree has finished blooming, so I treated it with a systemic insecticide drench to prevent bark borers. The insecticide has been tested and proven to be harmless to mammals and birds, but I had to wait until blooming was over because it is quite harmful to bees. The foxglove cutting (27 Mar) is thoroughly infested with mealy bugs, meaning it is not viable. This also means the parent plant must have had mealy bugs. I treated both foxglove plants with the same fertilizer containing a systemic insecticide that I usually use on my roses. Instead of merely broadcasting the fertilizer around the foxglove as I do with my roses, however, I used a metal spike to make some holes around each plant and filled those holes with the fertilizer to speed it to the roots.
10 Apr Clear, sunny, and warm Temp: 51-74 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 50% Wind: 1-10 Rain — This rain-year: 11.59 Days since last: 12	Fed the pineapple guava with 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer. Although I already fed that entire bed (13 Mar), I generally feed again any shrubs I prune. Fed the roses in front and back with 21-0-0 ammonium sulfate. Trimmed the pink clover along edges of the brick path that runs from the public sidewalk to the front door. Cleopatra is awake. She slowly crawled out of her house into the back yard, where she eagerly munched on weed grasses. Now I will have to be careful not to leave open the side gate or the adjacent door into the garage.
1 Apr Some clouds but most clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 50-73 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 53% Wind: 0-13 Rain — This rain-year: 11.59 The past week: 0.76	Finally finished pruning the pineapple guava (16 & 25 Mar). In a few days, I will give it some extra fertilizer. Trimmed the pink clover in front, finishing along the driveway (27 Mar) and then trimmed along the public sidewalk. I still have to trim along the brick walk to the front door. Removed two tall branches of a eugenia (Syzygium paniculatum) growing next to the overhead door of the garage. They were blocking the light fixture there. Soon, I will trim all those eugenias as they are hiding the brick trim behind them.
27 Mar Clear, sunny, and cool Temp: 47-66 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 22% Wind: 4-12 Rain — This rain-year: 10.83 Days since last: 7	The dwarf Burford holly cutting (Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana', 8 Oct 2021) finally developed sufficient roots to plant it in front, under the living room window. First, I had to dig out the small shrub that my favorite landscape contractor planted when he could not find dwarf Burford hollies to replace those that died. This required quite an effort. Then, I had to replace the soil the remained with that shrub's tangled roots. I was finally able to plant the holly. Its neighbor (planted last October) has new growth but is still only a few inches tall. Put up cuttings of more dwarf Burford holly, hoping to plant one of them as the third under the living room window. I also put up a cutting of 'Illumination Flame' foxglove (Digitalis purpurea × canariensis). If the latter roots, I plan to donate it to Gardens of the World (where I am a docent) for their English perennial garden. Started trimming the edges of the front lawn, snipping away pink clover (Persicaria capitata) that was growing out over the driveway. However, the effort to remove the shrub before planting the rooted holly cutting finally got to me; and I did not get very far.
25 Mar Clear, sunny, and hot Temp: 65-90 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 19% Wind: 0-11 Rain — This rain-year: 10.83 The past week: 0.06	Fed the dwarf citrus with ammonium, iron, and zinc sulfates. I also gave the gardenia a larger amount of all three. Pruned two more limbs of the pineapple guava (16 Mar). Severely pruned five of the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (A. arborescens × absinthium) along both sides of the path on the west side of the back yard. I do this every spring. New shoots sprout from the bare branches. Two others did not survive the winter. When the pruned survivors develop new growth, I will take cuttings to root and replace the dead ones.
21 Mar High, thin clouds; hazy sun; and mild Temp: 60-78 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 24% Wind: 4-28 Rain — This rain-year: 10.83 The past week: 0.06	Removed weeds from between the bricks in the panel in front, where I planted 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) and where utilities for electricity, phone, and cable have their junction boxes. This involved working on my hands and knees with a paring knife, which I inserted between bricks to lift out the weeds. Over the years, utility companies working on their junctions managed to break some of the bricks and leave an uneven surface. The Tree in back and the valley white oak (Quercus lobata) in front both have flowers that are not showy or even noticeable. When the flowers fade, they fall as a brown fluff that is a very noticeable mess. Today, I swept oak fluff off the driveway, but I still have to deal with oak fluff on the brick path to the front door and The Tree's fluff on the patio in back.
20 Mar Partially cloudy, mostly sunny, and mild Temp: 46-65 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 43% Wind: 3-25 Rain — This rain-year: 10.83 The past week: 0.06	Potted the rooted cuttings of pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum 'Aureum') and nephthytis (Syngonium podophyllum) (31 Oct 2021). Mixing the potting mix for those cuttings, I included a soggy handful of compost. Since it rained last night, the compost barrel contained more water (18 Mar), so I had to cover it before it became a breeding place for mosquitoes. Put up cuttings of the all-green pothos pothos (E. pinnatum 'Jade') that is growing (over-grown) in my breakfast room. Trimmed the weeping Chinese banyans (Ficus benjamina) on the front porch. I reduced the height and width. I used two of the trimmings in an attempt to root cuttings, which I want for potting in my living room. Picked six ripe lemons from my dwarf tree. Using an electric juice extractor, I got over a pint of lemon juice. There remain several large lemons on the tree that are not yet truly ripe.
18 Mar Clear, sunny, and warm Temp: 60-81 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 22% Wind: 3-16 Rain — This rain-year: 10.77 Days since last: 32	Fed the rose bed in back with the same 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer that I used for the rest of my garden (13 Mar). However, I skipped the roses themselves and the Camellia sasanquas, which receive special fertilizers at other times. Moved a few loads of leaves from a garden path into my compost pile, covering them with leaves that were already decomposing. I then watered the pile with some of the accumulated water in the compost barrel (20 & 27 Feb). That left the water level low enough that I am no longer concerned about mosquitoes and left the barrel's cover off.
16 Mar Clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 58-75 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 33% Wind: 6-17	Fed the roses in back with the same fertilizer I used in front (13 Mar). The pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) in back was quite overgrown, with crossing and hanging branches and foliage so dense no sun reached the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) or candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) struggling to grow underneath. today, I pruned two of the six major limbs. Rain — This rain-year: 10.77 Days since last: 30
13 Mar Clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 56-71 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 26% Wind: 1-13 Rain — This rain-year: 10.77 Days since last: 27	Bought two 50-pound bags of 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer this past Friday. This is partially fast-acting and partially slow-acting, which is just what I wanted. I would have preferred not having the 7% phosphorus; because it does not dissolve to reach roots, it is generally wasted. However, no fertilizer that was otherwise suitable was available without phosphorus. Finished feeding the front yard (9 Mar). Then I fed the east, west, and teardrop beds in back as well as the back lawn and the perennials in the lawn. Fed the roses in front with a commercial fertilizer that contains a systemic insecticide. First, I gave the potted Hippeastrum very small amounts because they seem to be infested with mealy bugs. (Much of the foliage in the rose bed in back is quite wet from the sprinklers on My Hill, which ran yesterday and today, so I will have to wait a few days before feeding the roses there.) After feeding the roses, I gave a large amount of the same fertilizer — four times the amount I gave each rose — to the Japanese zelkova (Z. serrata) by pouring it into the vertical irrigation pipes on either side. The tree has been damaged by woodpeckers seeking bark grubs, and the systemic insecticide should remove that attraction. The dwarf English ivy cuttings (Hedera helix 'Hahn's', 26 Dec 2021) have developed good roots. I planted them at the base of the mailbox in front. I am not sure the drip irrigation for that location is functioning, so I will have to check in a few days.
9 Mar Clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 48-72 Winter chill: 218.1 Humidity: 33% Wind: 1-13	Fed the small, west part of the front yard — the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) ground cover and the Rhaphiolepis indica shrubs at the sidewalk — with a 27-0-2 fertilizer, which meant that I ran out of fertilizer before I could feed the large, west part. Rain — This rain-year: 10.77 Days since last: 23
4 Mar Shifting between cloudy and mostly clear; sunny, often hazy; cool Temp: 46-61 Winter chill: 193.9 Humidity: 71% Wind: 1-19 Rain — This rain-year: 10.77 Days since last: 18	The azaleas (Rhododendron indica) in the circular bed look poorly. Instead of green, their leaves are mostly yellow. That could be a sign of poor drainage, alkaline soil, or a lack of iron. To correct all three, I gave them gypsum, soil sulfur, and iron sulfate. The dwarf citrus are starting to show new spring growth. Both the 'Minneola' tangelo (Citrus reticulata × paradisi) and navel orange (Citrus sinensis 'Robertson') even have flower buds. So I fed them with commercial fertilizer and very small amounts of zinc sulfate. I also fed the gardenia (G. jasminoides 'Veitchii') the same but with much more of the zinc. The tangelo shows more signs of leaf miner (20 Feb). The standard treatment involves a systemic insecticide. Since that is toxic to bees, however, I cannot use that until after the tangelo blooms. Fortunately, the insecticide is harmless to mammals (including humans).

Date and Weather

Observations and Activities

29 Apr

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 48-77
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 34%
Wind: 1-13

Trimmed the eugenia growing in front of the garage. It had grown so tall that it was hiding the brick veneer on the wall in back of the smaller side of the front lawn. I then trimmed the fern pine (some type of Podocarpus) growing at the right edge of the veneer, removing some branches that interfered with the eugenia.

Rain —
This rain-year: 11.90
Days since last: 7

24 Apr

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 60-80
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 15%
Wind: 7-16

Rain —
This rain-year: 11.90
The past week: 0.31

Yes, locally we have had above average rainfall this rain-year. However, our water supply is from northern Caliofrnia, where the snow pack is significantly below average. Thus, the drought remains serious. Note that local soils are so mineralized that local well and spring water replenished by the rain is unsafe to drink.

Two days ago (Friday), I hung shade cloth outside the greenhouse window. I do this every April as the morning sun shines longer on the "north" side of the house. ("North" is in quotes because the house is not square on the compass.) I will remove the shade cloth in late October.

While grooming the roses and hanging the shade cloth that Friday, I decided it was too cold to do anything else in my garden. The high that day was 59°F, and that lasted less than an hour.

Today, climbed My Hill to groom the lower grape vines. I tied some long branches to the spporting wire and headed others (mostly those without flower buds).

Picked three loquats to have with lunch. Two otherw were damaged (possibly by wasps). I pealed and seeded them and fed them plus rose petals to Cleopatra. My loquats are ripening early this year.

17 Apr

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 49-74
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 50%
Wind: 3-16

Rain —
This rain-year: 11.59
Days since last: 19

Fed the dwarf citrus with a commercial citrus food plus two pinches of zinc sulfate. I also fed the gardenia with a more generous amount of both. As I feed the citrus, I occasionally do minor pruning, primarily removing dead growth and crossing branches.

The peach tree has finished blooming, so I treated it with a systemic insecticide drench to prevent bark borers. The insecticide has been tested and proven to be harmless to mammals and birds, but I had to wait until blooming was over because it is quite harmful to bees.

The foxglove cutting (27 Mar) is thoroughly infested with mealy bugs, meaning it is not viable. This also means the parent plant must have had mealy bugs. I treated both foxglove plants with the same fertilizer containing a systemic insecticide that I usually use on my roses. Instead of merely broadcasting the fertilizer around the foxglove as I do with my roses, however, I used a metal spike to make some holes around each plant and filled those holes with the fertilizer to speed it to the roots.

10 Apr

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 51-74
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 50%
Wind: 1-10

Rain —
This rain-year: 11.59
Days since last: 12

Fed the pineapple guava with 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer. Although I already fed that entire bed (13 Mar), I generally feed again any shrubs I prune.

Fed the roses in front and back with 21-0-0 ammonium sulfate.

Trimmed the pink clover along edges of the brick path that runs from the public sidewalk to the front door.

Cleopatra is awake. She slowly crawled out of her house into the back yard, where she eagerly munched on weed grasses. Now I will have to be careful not to leave open the side gate or the adjacent door into the garage.

1 Apr

Some clouds but most clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 50-73
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 53%
Wind: 0-13

Rain —
This rain-year: 11.59
The past week: 0.76

Finally finished pruning the pineapple guava (16 & 25 Mar). In a few days, I will give it some extra fertilizer.

Trimmed the pink clover in front, finishing along the driveway (27 Mar) and then trimmed along the public sidewalk. I still have to trim along the brick walk to the front door.

Removed two tall branches of a eugenia (Syzygium paniculatum) growing next to the overhead door of the garage. They were blocking the light fixture there. Soon, I will trim all those eugenias as they are hiding the brick trim behind them.

27 Mar

Clear, sunny, and cool

Temp: 47-66
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 22%
Wind: 4-12

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.83
Days since last: 7

The dwarf Burford holly cutting (Ilex cornuta 'Burfordii Nana', 8 Oct 2021) finally developed sufficient roots to plant it in front, under the living room window. First, I had to dig out the small shrub that my favorite landscape contractor planted when he could not find dwarf Burford hollies to replace those that died. This required quite an effort. Then, I had to replace the soil the remained with that shrub's tangled roots. I was finally able to plant the holly. Its neighbor (planted last October) has new growth but is still only a few inches tall.

Put up cuttings of more dwarf Burford holly, hoping to plant one of them as the third under the living room window. I also put up a cutting of 'Illumination Flame' foxglove (Digitalis purpurea × canariensis). If the latter roots, I plan to donate it to Gardens of the World (where I am a docent) for their English perennial garden.

Started trimming the edges of the front lawn, snipping away pink clover (Persicaria capitata) that was growing out over the driveway. However, the effort to remove the shrub before planting the rooted holly cutting finally got to me; and I did not get very far.

25 Mar

Clear, sunny, and hot

Temp: 65-90
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 19%
Wind: 0-11

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.83
The past week: 0.06

Fed the dwarf citrus with ammonium, iron, and zinc sulfates. I also gave the gardenia a larger amount of all three.

Pruned two more limbs of the pineapple guava (16 Mar).

Severely pruned five of the Artemisia 'Powis Castle' (A. arborescens × absinthium) along both sides of the path on the west side of the back yard. I do this every spring. New shoots sprout from the bare branches. Two others did not survive the winter. When the pruned survivors develop new growth, I will take cuttings to root and replace the dead ones.

21 Mar

High, thin clouds; hazy sun; and mild

Temp: 60-78
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 24%
Wind: 4-28

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.83
The past week: 0.06

Removed weeds from between the bricks in the panel in front camera icon

, where I planted 'Goodwin Creek Grey' lavender (Lavandula lanata × dentata) and where utilities for electricity, phone, and cable have their junction boxes. This involved working on my hands and knees with a paring knife, which I inserted between bricks to lift out the weeds. Over the years, utility companies working on their junctions managed to break some of the bricks and leave an uneven surface.

The Tree in back and the valley white oak (Quercus lobata) in front both have flowers that are not showy or even noticeable. When the flowers fade, they fall as a brown fluff that is a very noticeable mess. Today, I swept oak fluff off the driveway, but I still have to deal with oak fluff on the brick path to the front door and The Tree's fluff on the patio in back.

20 Mar

Partially cloudy, mostly sunny, and mild

Temp: 46-65
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 43%
Wind: 3-25

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.83
The past week: 0.06

Potted the rooted cuttings of pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum 'Aureum') and nephthytis (Syngonium podophyllum) (31 Oct 2021). Mixing the potting mix for those cuttings, I included a soggy handful of compost. Since it rained last night, the compost barrel contained more water (18 Mar), so I had to cover it before it became a breeding place for mosquitoes.

Put up cuttings of the all-green pothos pothos (E. pinnatum 'Jade') that is growing (over-grown) in my breakfast room.

Trimmed the weeping Chinese banyans (Ficus benjamina) on the front porch. I reduced the height and width. I used two of the trimmings in an attempt to root cuttings, which I want for potting in my living room.

Picked six ripe lemons from my dwarf tree. Using an electric juice extractor, I got over a pint of lemon juice. There remain several large lemons on the tree that are not yet truly ripe.

18 Mar

Clear, sunny, and warm

Temp: 60-81
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 22%
Wind: 3-16

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.77
Days since last: 32

Fed the rose bed in back with the same 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer that I used for the rest of my garden (13 Mar). However, I skipped the roses themselves and the Camellia sasanquas, which receive special fertilizers at other times.

Moved a few loads of leaves from a garden path into my compost pile, covering them with leaves that were already decomposing. I then watered the pile with some of the accumulated water in the compost barrel (20 & 27 Feb). That left the water level low enough that I am no longer concerned about mosquitoes and left the barrel's cover off.

16 Mar

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 58-75
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 33%
Wind: 6-17

Fed the roses in back with the same fertilizer I used in front (13 Mar).

The pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) in back was quite overgrown, with crossing and hanging branches and foliage so dense no sun reached the cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) or candytuft (Iberis sempervirens) struggling to grow underneath. today, I pruned two of the six major limbs.

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.77
Days since last: 30

13 Mar

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 56-71
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 26%
Wind: 1-13

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.77
Days since last: 27

Bought two 50-pound bags of 21-7-14 lawn fertilizer this past Friday. This is partially fast-acting and partially slow-acting, which is just what I wanted. I would have preferred not having the 7% phosphorus; because it does not dissolve to reach roots, it is generally wasted. However, no fertilizer that was otherwise suitable was available without phosphorus.

Finished feeding the front yard (9 Mar). Then I fed the east, west, and teardrop beds in back as well as the back lawn and the perennials in the lawn.

Fed the roses in front with a commercial fertilizer that contains a systemic insecticide. First, I gave the potted Hippeastrum very small amounts because they seem to be infested with mealy bugs. (Much of the foliage in the rose bed in back is quite wet from the sprinklers on My Hill, which ran yesterday and today, so I will have to wait a few days before feeding the roses there.)

After feeding the roses, I gave a large amount of the same fertilizer — four times the amount I gave each rose — to the Japanese zelkova (Z. serrata) by pouring it into the vertical irrigation pipes on either side. The tree has been damaged by woodpeckers seeking bark grubs, and the systemic insecticide should remove that attraction.

The dwarf English ivy cuttings (Hedera helix 'Hahn's', 26 Dec 2021) have developed good roots. I planted them at the base of the mailbox in front. I am not sure the drip irrigation for that location is functioning, so I will have to check in a few days.

9 Mar

Clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 48-72
Winter chill: 218.1
Humidity: 33%
Wind: 1-13

Fed the small, west part of the front yard — the pink clover (Persicaria capitata) ground cover and the Rhaphiolepis indica shrubs at the sidewalk — with a 27-0-2 fertilizer, which meant that I ran out of fertilizer before I could feed the large, west part.

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.77
Days since last: 23

4 Mar

Shifting between cloudy and mostly clear; sunny, often hazy; cool

Temp: 46-61
Winter chill: 193.9
Humidity: 71%
Wind: 1-19

Rain —
This rain-year: 10.77
Days since last: 18

The azaleas (Rhododendron indica) in the circular bed look poorly. Instead of green, their leaves are mostly yellow. That could be a sign of poor drainage, alkaline soil, or a lack of iron. To correct all three, I gave them gypsum, soil sulfur, and iron sulfate.

The dwarf citrus are starting to show new spring growth. Both the 'Minneola' tangelo (Citrus reticulata × paradisi) and navel orange (Citrus sinensis 'Robertson') even have flower buds. So I fed them with commercial fertilizer and very small amounts of zinc sulfate. I also fed the gardenia (G. jasminoides 'Veitchii') the same but with much more of the zinc.

The tangelo shows more signs of leaf miner (20 Feb). The standard treatment involves a systemic insecticide. Since that is toxic to bees, however, I cannot use that until after the tangelo blooms. Fortunately, the insecticide is harmless to mammals (including humans).

Weather data are from the Cheeseboro (CHE) weather station, about 2 miles ENE of my house.

The high temperature (°F) is daytime for the indicated date; the low temperature (°F) is for the previous night.

Winter chill is the cumulative hours of temperatures at or below 45°F from 1 November through 31 March. It is reported during that period and through April.

The relative humidity is at noon. (In my garden, it is likely higher than reported, a result of regular irrigation.)

Wind speeds (mph) are average (not peak) low and high, midnight to midnight (subject to later correction for diary entries posted before the end of the day). I also indicate peak wind gusts parenthetically when they are significantly high.

Rain is in inches. Rain-year is the cumulative amount of rainfall from 1 October until 30 September of the following year (our "rain-year"). Week is the cumulative amount of measurable rainfall from noon seven days ago until noon of the indicated date. If no measurable rain fell in that period, Days since last is reported.

Characterization of the weather (e.g., Clear, sunny, and warm) is purely subjective; for example, "warm" might occur with higher temperatures than "hot" if the former occurs with lower humidity and more breezes than the latter. Also, a day that would normally be characterized as "mild" might instead be "warm" if the immediately previous days were quite cold. Finally, such characterization reflects when I was actually outside and gardening and ignores changes that occur while I am inside.

The signature line I use when writing messages about my garden includes the following:

Climate:  California Mediterranean

Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)