Freshly Planted

I finished planting the first batch of veggies in the raised bed. This includes four kinds of tomatoes from starters; and carrots, radishes, lettuce, Kentucky pole beans, and Sugar Snap peas from seeds. In a few weeks, I’ll plant a second batch of carrots, radishes, beans and peas, to extend production, and add broccoli, chard, another type of lettuce, as well as pumpkin and squash.

It’s only been a week, and I already see a few sprouts. This is a relief since, inexplicably, it is raining in June. Yes, rain in June. I was afraid my seeds might rot, wash away, or be exposed and eaten by birds. This is very atypical for the San Francisco Bay Area. Usually we don’t see rain past April.

Tomatoe starters and radish sprouts (lower right corner)

This is my first experiment planting in several phases. I plan to do more intermediate planting as vegetables finish their life cycle. I’m loosely following information from Renee’s Garden, specifically the Long Summer, Mild Winter Garden design for USDA zones 8-10 (http://www.reneesgarden.com/hm-gardnr/resource/designs.htm). The design provides an ongoing planting schedule through spring, summer, and fall. The design is for 18 by 20 feet, and I have 4 by 8 feet, so a few adaptations are needed!

More Plants of Leona Canyon

East Bay Regional Park District provides a great resource for identifying plants and wildflowers in the parks. You can access or download wild plant or wildflower photo guides from: https://www.ebparks.org/natural-resources/biodiversity/plants-checklist.

• The wild plant guides are available for the district, and sorted by scientific name or family name.
• The wildflower guides are available by district or by a specific park, and sorted by sorted by color, then by family and genus within the color.

The photo guides also identify whether a plant is a native plant or introduced, and whether an annual or perennial. I am using the information to identify a few more plants from our recent hike in Leona Canyon. This is a great resource for anyone new to the San Francisco Bay Area, or who wants to learn more about plants in the area.

California Buckeye in bloom	Climbing Morning Glory vine
Horse tails	Purple annual

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Riparian Plant Communities

My family and I hiked the Canyon Oaks Drive end of the Leona Canyon trail on Memorial Day weekend. This end of the trail is lower in elevation, and considerably wetter than the Merritt College end. A small creek runs along the trail, and drains into a marshy pool of water. We ended up hiking on the day it rained, but it was somehow fitting to walk through the lush, green forest in a misty rain.

Leona Canyon trail head, from Canyon Oaks Drive.
The big willow thrives in a marshy area. 

The small creek hosts a riparian woodland plant community, with white alder, oak, willow, blackberry, and elderberry, to name a few. Many of the trees grow in standing water. California buckeye is plentiful and in full bloom. In fact, plant life is plentiful. It is almost difficult to distinguish individual plants because of the mass of vegetation.

Arched branches in an emerald 
green understory.

I searched online to find out more information restoration efforts in California's riparian areas and found the River Partners website. They have a mission to create wildlife habitat, and to restore and protect the environment along streams and rivers in the Western United States.

A tunnel of vegetation. California Buckeye
is in bloom on the right.