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My Garden Diary

April 2024

Copyright © 2024 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 2018

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
19 Apr Mostly clear, sunny, and mild Temp: 54-76 Winter chill: 165.1 Humidity: 56% Wind: 1-10 Rain — This rain-year: 28.93 The past week: 0.98	I am finally back to working in my garden. During much of 2023, a bad back and extreme heat made me sedentary. Near the end of December, I had surgery on my lower spine, which gave me much (but not yet total) relief. I was not cleared by the surgeon to lift anything heavy or to bend down to pull a weed until the end of last month. In the meantime, I picked over a dozen lemons from my lemon tree and got about a quart of juice. At my wife's insistence, I also hired a gardener, who pruned the Santa Barbara peach tree and also climbed my hill to prune the grape vines. Today, I pruned three of the roses in front of my house. I am reporting winter chill in this diary entry, the first entry since the end of the chill season. The reported rainfall is estimated based on measured rainfall at weather stations that are relatively local but not as close as CHE. The rain gauge at CHE was clogged in March by wind-blown leaves and failed to measure significant rainfall that month.

Date and Weather

Observations and Activities

19 Apr

Mostly clear, sunny, and mild

Temp: 54-76
Winter chill: 165.1
Humidity: 56%
Wind: 1-10

Rain —
This rain-year: 28.93
The past week: 0.98

I am finally back to working in my garden. During much of 2023, a bad back and extreme heat made me sedentary. Near the end of December, I had surgery on my lower spine, which gave me much (but not yet total) relief. I was not cleared by the surgeon to lift anything heavy or to bend down to pull a weed until the end of last month.

In the meantime, I picked over a dozen lemons from my lemon tree and got about a quart of juice. At my wife's insistence, I also hired a gardener, who pruned the Santa Barbara peach tree and also climbed my hill to prune the grape vines.

Today, I pruned three of the roses in front of my house.

I am reporting winter chill in this diary entry, the first entry since the end of the chill season. The reported rainfall is estimated based on measured rainfall at weather stations that are relatively local but not as close as CHE. The rain gauge at CHE was clogged in March by wind-blown leaves and failed to measure significant rainfall that month.

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)