bardsmaid's ongoing photo diary - page 10 - a winter hike at Satwiwa in the Santa Monica Mountains


6-3-2003 The backyard and a touch of June Gloom
Wow, it's hard to believe it's June already. Already we're into June Gloom, that coastal California phenomenon that's much like the quilt on a bed, only in this case it's a quilt made of fog that can often last from four to eight weeks in early summer. Most of the time the quilt remains pulled up and the fog covers us. Luckily this year the quilt has been pulled back for several hours each afternoon, so we get a little (very welcome) blue sky while the fog recedes toward the shoreline. But in the mornings it's thick and gray, as you can see from the backyard pictures below.
	Usually, California summers are a palomino-colored affair. Hills bake and turn a straw tan, and so does my 'lawn'--actually just crabgrass and the occasional weed mowed to keep it neat. But we had a few late rains and so far the fog is keeping us green. To orient you: the house is behind me and to my left; to the immediate left is the pool yard and to the right is the chicken pen. The wooden packing box on the right is home to my strawberry bed; the lavender-colored flowers on the left are Mexican sage--very drought-tolerant, and hence good for this usually dry garden. On the right behind the berry box is my vegetable plot. The poplar at center is really starting to spread this year.
'The Girls', four young hens my neighbor so generously offered us. You have to wait five months for chicks to start laying, so getting hens that gave us eggs from the very first day was quite a treat.	The early morning fog of June Gloom leaves a sheen of droplets on leaf and flower. Here you can see them on this lily in my front yard.
Not a glamorous bed, but the residents are thriving. We're on a very sandy hillside, so water and nutrients quickly drain away. But two years ago I raked up a lot of poplar leaves from the front yard tree and left a 6-inch layer of them here in the back corner. Now they're decomposing, and the enriched soil is supporting some very happy tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and, at the back, some very hefty pumpkin vines.
The circle bed around the apricot tree, which for some reason has resisted leafing out this year. The lemon tree is at center, with the vegetable bed behind it.	Strawberries crawl right out over the top of the old shipping crate that serves them as home. We've had quite a few this year. These are Chandlers, a traditionally soft, sweet berry (as opposed to those hard, crunchy things they sell in the grocery store.)
Another view closer to the circle.
Looking back toward the house, you can see the pool yard. The stakes around the perimeter hold wire fencing, and the white ribs overhead are PVC tubing which is covered with bird netting to keep the occasional adventurous raccoon from crawling onto the top ring of my pool and puncturing it. The pool is my daily oasis, a great way to get lost in easy physical movement and leave the tensions of the day behind.