Oct 5, 2025

Days Getting Shorter

Another page on the calendar turned.. feels like summer is over..days getting shorter..early mornings now are cool, not "brisk" yet, but there's a different feel now. The sun is going down a little bit earlier every day as we slide inexorably towards winter, or what we call winter, here in southern Cal.

                                 

Just for fun, I'm growing a couple of Hatch Chili plants; although it's not necessarily the correct time of year to be starting plants, they seem to be doing fine. Grown from seed, ordered from Sandia Seed in New Mexico, these are the "real deal".. Hatch Chili's have a near-cult like following among affectianados of the sweet spice that is acclaimed across the spectrum of chili-pepper enthusiasts.

I germinated the seeds in peat pots (my go-to since discovering them during my cannabis-growing stage in the 70's & 80's) & transplanted to 3" plastic pots..I will probably transplant them to terra-cotta once they've achieved near-mature size. 

Speaking of "potting"...

Yesterday I potted the only cutting from my Monterey Cypress, that survived..he is only 2 1/2" but it took 6 months or more to get there..I got a chance to see his root structure, which is not much larger than his top-side, but looks healthy & reaching out. The cutting is from the Wilma Goldstreet that was badly burned by an accidental chemical application of full-strength liquid fertilizer (Liquid SeaWeed) & I was not sure if the "Wilma" would survive, but she did survive & is now slowly recovering. At any rate, regardless of what happens, I have another Dwarf Cypress for the collection.