Baja.Beaches Backyard Playground

[Old ST1R]

After 30 years, and many of that blackmarket, I find myself finally starting to relax some. I only have my six outdoors and limited to 30g so they dont go too far over the fence tops. I know how to get them to blow up but I don't need that since I only do it for my terminally ill niece. I get 2+ off of each in that size and that is just fine.

The one neighbor that would complain saw them two years ago and is fine with it. I was friendly about it all and invited him over to look at them. I wonder how he and his wife really feel come October when it is cool enough for windows to open. LOL

Even though I am urban/suburban I am on a 1/3 acre. I have a normal sized fenced yard that contains them and about 1/4 acre behind me to help shelter nosey nellies. The veggie garden is in the far back.

Back in the day the rule was to plant four for every plant you wanted. One for the animals, one for the ripper, one for the cop, and one for me. Jah bless California!

Edit: Not quite as welcoming as yours but it is what it is for a rental. Two Granny Skunk, Two Golden Goat, one Blue Orca Haze, and one Cherry Vanilla Skunk.

Wow, that one on the right looks like a beast.

 

[Turpman]

Lovely lady’s Baja.

 

[SCJedi]

Wow, that one on the right looks like a beast.

That is Dominion's Granny Skunk. It has super dense foilage

 

[Baja.Beaches]

After 30 years, and many of that blackmarket, I find myself finally starting to relax some. I only have my six outdoors and limited to 30g so they dont go too far over the fence tops. I know how to get them to blow up but I don't need that since I only do it for my terminally ill niece. I get 2+ off of each in that size and that is just fine.

The one neighbor that would complain saw them two years ago and is fine with it. I was friendly about it all and invited him over to look at them. I wonder how he and his wife really feel come October when it is cool enough for windows to open. LOL

Even though I am urban/suburban I am on a 1/3 acre. I have a normal sized fenced yard that contains them and about 1/4 acre behind me to help shelter nosey nellies. The veggie garden is in the far back.

Back in the day the rule was to plant four for every plant you wanted. One for the animals, one for the ripper, one for the cop, and one for me. Jah bless California!

Edit: Not quite as welcoming as yours but it is what it is for a rental. Two Granny Skunk, Two Golden Goat, one Blue Orca Haze, and one Cherry Vanilla Skunk.

Thanks for sharing your yard! I love seeing other solutions.

Looks like you have some early flowering there too, were those moved from indoors? What do you expect from them?

Good choice of genetics. How big are those pots? I have been going no larger than 10 gal. for containment.

I have lost my share over the years to thieves especially early on in Hawaii. I probably would not have finished college had my whole crop not gotten ripped off 1976, it was devastating for my young self, I had all me eggs in that basket. Fuck that. I protect my privacy.

Plant enough sunflowers & that is what people notice. This pic is my back lot line. Can’t see much from the alley behind.

Nice to have a private setting in the city.

 

[SCJedi]

The two Granny Skunks were part of a six pack a friend was sexing for me. All of a sudden he decided to put his house up for sale so got back six 3' plants with no space for them so those were outside back in early May. I'm hoping that as we get closer to the 21st of June that they begin to revert to vegetative a little bit.

I typically get 2 lb a piece off of each 30 gallon smartpot. What you can't see is that all six plants are watered from an elevated 55 gallon drum (hidden behind the bamboo shade) with blumats and blusoak tape so I never have to water. I just add teas weekly. They need autowatering because this is all sun on full tilt boogie.

Three of the other four were put out around 5/15 with the final Golden Goat going in about 10 days later. Everything was started inside.

My primary pressure is that this is a rental property and the county requires a full property inspection once a year. It's normally in December and I was told this year their inspector is having foot surgery so I got them to push it as late as possible to the end of October. So, I'm glad they are staggered a bit. I'm not sure about the Golden Goats though.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

You have done a lot on a rental property, indoors & out. Yearly inspections don’t sound good, I can’t imagine, do you hide everything? It is legal but…

It’s surprising the similarities in our grows. All organic here too, lots of compost teas & good soil mixes.

This is my water source, 865 gals. Been a wet year so right now it is nearly full of rainwater. My city water has chloromine. When this tank nears empty I will fill it using a chlorine/chloromine filter.



You are ahead of me with the Blumats tho . I must lead a sheltered life but I only heard of them a few months ago. My plants are on drippers controlled by a Rachio wifi sprinkler controller. It is easy to run extra cycles from my iPhone on dry days, no matter where I am, but it is not completely automatic, I have to initiate extra runs beyond the scheduled automation.

I am just starting to research Blumats but am reluctant to change things that work for me in the middle of the season. Maybe after summer harvest.

It will be interesting to see what happens with your Granny Skunks. I love messing with the photo period.

Thanks for intelligent comments.

 

[SCJedi]

I don't have to deal with water contaminants much. I have a 1" multi-stage whole house filter feeding my 55g res on a float switch. Its only 55g so its small enough to move fast, if needed. I did run RO the first year but water wasting guilt ate away at my conscience. I also have a UV system but it has sat unused for years. I would really only use that if I were back on bad well water.

RE: Blumats they do take some tweaking to get them going correctly but once you do you are golden. Last year I just used carrots and distribution drippers but never felt like the soil stayed moist enough in our disgustingly hot region. I think that part of "tweaking" is making sure that once plants really begin to flower that you dial them up once, or maybe twice, as they drink more. The Blusoak tape is still connected to carrots but its some kind of a weeping Tyvek tube. I just covered it all up with a straw mulch to help keep stuff moist.

I make my own soil, add dry amendments, and recycle it the next year. I use a clover cover crop and am currently rooting geranium branches to add to each pot as part of my IPM.

I moved away from watering with electricity after my pump breaker tripped for two days while out of town and I lost two of my six. Post-Paradise fire SMUD and PGE are gonna mess with flexing our power up here. I have already had to reset my LED timer twice and its not even summer yet.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

I don't have to deal with water contaminants much. I have a 1" multi-stage whole house filter feeding my 55g res on a float switch. Its only 55g so its small enough to move fast, if needed. I did run RO the first year but water wasting guilt ate away at my conscience. I also have a UV system but it has sat unused for years. I would really only use that if I were back on bad well water.

RE: Blumats they do take some tweaking to get them going correctly but once you do you are golden. Last year I just used carrots and distribution drippers but never felt like the soil stayed moist enough in our disgustingly hot region. I think that part of "tweaking" is making sure that once plants really begin to flower that you dial them up once, or maybe twice, as they drink more. The Blusoak tape is still connected to carrots but its some kind of a weeping Tyvek tube. I just covered it all up with a straw mulch to help keep stuff moist.

I make my own soil, add dry amendments, and recycle it the next year. I use a clover cover crop and am currently rooting geranium branches to add to each pot as part of my IPM.

I moved away from watering with electricity after my pump breaker tripped for two days while out of town and I lost two of my six. Post-Paradise fire SMUD and PGE are gonna mess with flexing our power up here. I have already had to reset my LED timer twice and its not even summer yet.

Thanks for that reply, you have a well thought out system, perfect for a rental. Good job.

I have been thinking about those Blumats since your post yesterday, it sounds like a great way to go. I sure understand you about depending on electricity, I have also worried about a network reset taking out the wifi communication.

Ecological guilt....I get that. I catch the rainwater, recycle my soil, put in a solar array, I try.

I may be asking for Blumat advice when I get to that.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

I don't have to deal with water contaminants much. I have a 1" multi-stage whole house filter feeding my 55g res on a float switch. Its only 55g so its small enough to move fast, if needed.

A few pipe loads later & I have had some time to consider your post. I gotta say you have a great urban method, thanks for explaining that setup, It is a better method than mine. You are right, gravity is way more reliable than electric. Gravity always wins.

I was hung up on using my rain water tank as the source, but I would be better off getting a separate smaller tank with filter & float like yours & save the rain water. A much better solution. I would not have rethought a working setup without a nudge, thanks for that. Love learning new stuff.

 

[SCJedi]

If you want to consider Blumats give the folks at Sustainable Village a call and they will design a system for you. Tad at Kis Organics may be able to source parts cheaper but the folks at SV have really helped me a lot, twice.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

Today is the summer solstice & I am trying to show what this MAC x AAW is doing in June. Clever girl.

It has decided to pop out 3 colas on a different photo period than the rest of the plant, if that makes sense, Kinda hard to show but basically those tops are ripening soon. The lower 3/4 of the plant is just starting.

A smell of the buds really confirms it, the lower buds are still apple candy but those top colas have started to change, fermenting, musky hard-alcohol Apple Jack. I have one of these flowering indoors too, similar scents.

Bonus? I may have some early flowers. Not sure what to think yet but fun to observe.

 

[macsnax]

Today is the summer solstice & I am trying to show what this MAC x AAW is doing in June. Clever girl.

It has decided to pop out 3 colas on a different photo period than the rest of the plant, if that makes sense, Kinda hard to show but basically those tops are ripening soon. The lower 3/4 of the plant is just starting.

A smell of the buds really confirms it, the lower buds are still apple candy but those top colas have started to change, fermenting, musky hard-alcohol Apple Jack. I have one of these flowering indoors too, similar scents.

Bonus? I may have some early flowers. Not sure what to think yet but fun to observe.

View attachment 10939

View attachment 10940

View attachment 10941

They look like momma and smell like daddy. Early flower might be common across the map this year because of the rainy weather. You have a beautiful garden man. I'm jealous, I had to abandon the greenhouse and garden this year. Just don't have the time. I'll be following along with the mac x aaw.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

They look like momma and smell like daddy. Early flower might be common across the map this year because of the rainy weather. You have a beautiful garden man. I'm jealous, I had to abandon the greenhouse and garden this year. Just don't have the time. I'll be following along with the mac x aaw.

Have you had experience with the Mac & the AAW individually? I have not seen or smoked the AAW in person but am loving the cross.

Your are right, this is an unusual year outdoors, at least on the west coast. I have another strain that is in full flower that I decided to turn into light dep experiment, I was afraid it would get weird on the solstice.

I hear you on the time required. This is the first year that my backyard got my full attention in many years. I retired & closed my business last fall. This is just a hobby, I don't sell it, the grow is the fun part but not sure what I will do with the bumper harvest. Hash & extracts for sure.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & comment @macsnax.

 

[macsnax]

Have you had experience with the Mac & the AAW individually? I have not seen or smoked the AAW in person but am loving the cross.

Your are right, this is an unusual year outdoors, at least on the west coast. I have another strain that is in full flower that I decided to turn into light dep experiment, I was afraid it would get weird on the solstice.

I hear you on the time required. This is the first year that my backyard got my full attention in many years. I retired & closed my business last fall. This is just a hobby, I don't sell it, the grow is the fun part but not sure what I will do with the bumper harvest. Hash & extracts for sure.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by & comment @macsnax.

No this is the first of those beans I've popped.... And ya the weather kinda sucks this year, so it's not hurting my feelings so bad about not growing outdoors, lol. We've been in a drought for 20 years where I'm at, so it is a good thing. It snowed a couple thousand feet above me last night. And the veggie garden is almost as fun to me as cannabis, I started gardening with my grandpa when I was a kid. If he could see what I do with tomatoes these days, lol.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

The sunflowers are more than pretty camouflage. they are a weapon in my war against my enemy, the Pieris rapae, the imported white cabbage butterfly that loves them.

Nearly every sunflower head here has budworms on the heads but they don’t seem to bother them. I have gone both schools of thought with that. So which is it, do the sunflowers attract them to the garden or do they act as a decoy drawing attention away from the nearby plants?

I have tried it both ways & it seems when there are plenty of sunflowers my budworm issue is reduced big time. I love seeing them crawling with bees, our fruit & vegetables love the pollinators. Lots of little birds eating the flowers & the worms. Cool. Sunflowers it is for our yard.



So I drill holes all over the yard with this auger bit & dump in sunflower seeds, especially before a rain. I just put out a new batch. I try to keep them going. This weird wet winter they have done really well. Somehow they make things happier for me.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

Early flower might be common across the map this year because of the rainy weather.

You are right. This is the weirdest outdoor year I can remember.

Here is my other oddity, this Nigerian Sunshine is so far into flower that I could not think of a happy finish with the current photo period. so it has become a light dep experiment, for the last week I am keeping it on 12/12 by throwing it inside a dark shed.

Not very scientific, last time I did this I just covered it with a big trash can at night but I got mold. Needed ventilation. I have my eye out for a big water heater box or something similar that can breathe.

A strange year outdoors for sure.

 

[macsnax]

You are right. This is the weirdest outdoor year I can remember.

Here is my other oddity, this Nigerian Sunshine is so far into flower that I could not think of a happy finish with the current photo period. so it has become a light dep experiment, for the last week I am keeping it on 12/12 by throwing it inside a dark shed.

Not very scientific, last time I did this I just covered it with a big trash can at night but I got mold. Needed ventilation. I have my eye out for a big water heater box or something similar that can breathe.

A strange year outdoors for sure.

View attachment 11140

It's a chilly 42 here this morning, I'm calling it winter 2.0, lol. If you have to cover plants with a trash can again. You can drill a 4" hole in the bottom and put a booster fan and duct to keep light out. Then when you flip it over, the fan is on top. I had to do the same before. Have the fan pulling air out. Uline cans are cheaper than rubbermade too. But it sounds like you're doing fine moving it into the shed. Just thought I would throw it out there.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

42 degrees in June? Damn. This is a strange year for sure. Are you at altitude?

The fan sounds like a good idea while keeping the light out, but being as lazy as I am I will probably continue throwing into the shed since it is still in a 3 gal. still easy to move. It is unplanned, that one surprised me.

 

[macsnax]

Lol I'm in the rockies, it's snowed on the mountain right above me the last two nights. Rain, hail, and that stuff that's a mix, but it's really more like ice falling from the sky down here. After seeing this I'm glad I'm not growing outdoors this year. High altitude gardening is one thing, but it would be a season long battle with pm and poor growth rates. Snow this time of year is not the norm though. I think that's why I brought up the trash can thing, I would have to cover outside plants, lol.

 

[Baja.Beaches]

OK, so I like sunflowers.

I spent way too much time watching this Monarch Butterfly swatting away honey bees. The Monarch claimed that flower. See the bee just swatted at the bottom of the flower.

Monarchs spend a long time feeding but don’t leave budworms in cannabis, only in Milkweed. OK then, the can hang out here all they want, I love seeing them visit, there are a few sailing around the garden today. Monarchs are the butterfly that migrates long distances to Mexico, wonder if it is on its way…

Sorry if you saw my post elsewhere, I really do not like posting at multiple places creating re-runs. I am still deciding how to approach that.