In the third week of April, the temperature sometimes got over 90F. A lot of flowers and fruitlets dropped from the heat. Last week I put the bubble mailers on top of the containers to shield the roots from direct sunlight, and to help with moisture retaining in the soil. The aluminum foil wrapppings on the side were from last summer. Even with 98F on one day last week, the trees keep blooming. We had to run the dripping six times on the hottest days. The mailers will melt in the coming summer heat, so I am putting the aluminum foil on to protect them with the not shiny side up.
The front tree with a lot of flowers is Jonagold apple. The one on the right with some red apples is Sundowner, with the May Pride peach behind.
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After a lot of work I finally finished the top of the slope walkway. I filled so many gopher tunnels. Filling fine sand between all the bricks and the space next to the wall is the only way to stop the ants from hiding under. It will take some more time to do. So far I haven’t seen any gophers or rats in the back yard. The five new plants at the corner are mandarins.
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A lot of work indeed!
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Thank you. The work is optional. It is nothing compared to the work you and other members in the cold climate have to do.
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I would much rather work in the cold than the horrible heat
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It is very hard to grow fruit trees where I am with the heat waves, brush fires, and the impending earthquake. However, it is nearly impossible for us to move to a new location to start again, we are getting old, so we just try to make the best of what we have. 
Since March we have planted veggies in the backyard. The ground is very hard. I put about 3 inches of potting soil on top, and bought the six packs from the local nurseries. I don’t think the plants can grow much so we collect the leaves while they are still small.
The lettuce are still doing very well. No bugs bother the ones with thick leaves like Romaine. Nothing eats the red beet leaves either, even though they are sweet and good.
Tatsoi cabbage looked pretty, but the leaves were so small
Different types of celery green
We have a lot of fruit trees in containers to avoid the underground gophers. I put the veggies on top of the soil because it is easier to harvest the leaves, and there is no roly poly bugs
The tag said napa cabbage but they don’t look or taste like it, but are still good. I like them the best because they are still not bolting even when it is hot now.
We have been picking Prime Ark Freedom backberries from late March. They are growing well in the enclosure with shade cloth on top, but the bell pepper outside are pitiful from the heat.
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About three weeks ago I noticed a bird staying on the same spot on the fence all day. Turned out it was protecting the nest, which was too high for me to take picture. The bird made a lot of noise whenever someone or some other birds came near, so I just stayed away. Last week the little birds left the nest to learn to fly. One couldn’t do well and stay hiding under the leaves while the parents were watching all the time. It was finally able to fly after a few days. I was happily watching them playing from afar, until one morning I realized they somehow got into the enclosure and ate the blueberries. Seemed like they liked that better than the blackberries. We removed the empty nest and I don’t see them that much anymore.
Guarding the nest
The little birdie
Some leffover blueberries
I went around the backyard to pick the peaches and put the ziploc bags on. They were from last year and the zippers no longer work so I use the staple to close.
All the fruits were not so sweet because it was cool and cloudy for the whole week, hopefully they will sweeten later.
Flordaprince: I was going to remove the tree because seemed like it couldn’t handle the dry heat in April, dropped all the leaves and most of the fruits. After I put the bubble mailler on, some of the fruits get bigger and ripen. The flavor is nice. We will keep the tree and see if it survives the summer heat waves
May Pride peach. tangy but nice, clingstone.
Tropic Snow white peach: the softer one has more flavor but needs to ripen more to be sweet. It can be eaten while crunchy and tangy too.
Arctic Star nectarine: nice flavor
Flordaprince peach
Flordaprince, top, Tropic Snow and Arctic Star
Tropic Snow and May Pride
Prime Ark Freedom blackberries, bottom from left ,Tropic Snow, Arctic Star and May Pride
We got a new apple tree. It was small, crooked and left near the green trash cans at a local nursery. I bought it in March because it has some fruitlets while all my apple trees were still dormant. Two of the small fruits just dropped from an overcrowded cluster. They were nice, flavorful, crunchy, not overly sweet even though the skin was a little thick because they were unripe. We actually like them better than the peaches. The pot said “Ghost apple” but I am not sure based on the very early blooming time. Whatever it is, I am happy with the fruits.
I also picked the last mandarins and some strawberries
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Last weekend we went pick up our son to drive him home for the week.
The weather was weird this year. After the very hot April, it can be cloudy one day and hot the next. Today it was drizzling in the morning. I couldn’t put on the tulle for fear of fungus. Before we went, we put up the pinwheels and some sparkling garlands to deter the birds. Anything shinny will work on sunny days. When we came back, seemed like there were no damage on the stone fruits or grapes
We have a lot of grape vine planting in the containers now because last year the gophers nearly killed the in ground Thompson, Flame and Zinfandel.
The trellis is full of Himrod grapes and Passion Fruit. The Himrod was planted in ground for three years. Last year it had no flowers or fruits, I was thinking of removing it. Now the fruitlets are everywhere on top of the trellis.
Out of all the ones in containers, Lollipop has the most fruits and was only planted last year
Lollipop:
Canadice
Remaily
Reliance
Golden Chalice
.
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Never underestimate the power of a bee, and never should kill any.
At the beginning of the year there were bees everywhere. They all died or disappeared the end of March, probably someone removed the hive(s), it happened before.
When the apples started blooming I thought about hand pollinating, knowing my clumsy hands would do more harm than good, then I saw one bee going around the flowers. There was never more than one bee at a time. These are the apple trees a few days ago. I know I have to thin. However, most of them, except Fuji, are better than just edible at pingpong ball size, and I can use them in salad during summer.
Fuji: the main pollenizer this year
Sundowner: has flowers and fruits almost year round
Jonagold
Pink Lady
Pink Pearl
Ghost
Era
Golden Delicious: This variety was successfully grown as a low chill in Irvine. It was listed on the tag as 200 hours. I watched the tree in the local nursery from the beginning of the year. I don’t know if it will survive the heatwaves here, but it was my Mother’s Day gift from my daughter. 
Edit
Not thinning apple may not sound good. However, in the last two years the summer heatwaves wiped out all the vegetable plants. I figure the only home-grown “veggies” I may have are the unriped apples. Beside the early ones like Anna, Dorsett Golden, or Ghost, most of them won’t last until the normal harvest time anyway. They will be good enough for eating fresh, crunchy, not so sweet but not too sour, and can be used as a nice substitute for cucumbers. Only the Fuji in ground will be thinned to hopefully ripen in the fall.
Anna
Dorsett Golden
King David
Arkansas Black Spur
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There is no sign of squirrels or rats in the backyard, so I only need to protect the fruits from the birds.
Some small trees have the tulle on
Fortune plum
Candy Heart pluerry
Sugar Twist pluerry
The big trees have the hanging shiny foils
Donut peach
The bearded dragon only stays here on the weekend now. A few weeks ago I saw a big bird eating a small rabbit across the street. We put a lot of pinwheels on to stop them from going down the backyard.
This is from yesterday, he knew how to find a nice cool place under tiny the celery patch where the soil was nice and cool from the dripping lines.
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The second nest is empty now. One of the little birdie still can’t fly and spends most of the time walking under the trellis, and goes into hiding when someone comes. I will have to clean that section soon after it leaves, for fire season.
Late in the afternoon yesterday the birds made so much noise. I came out and saw the little adult bird screaming at the big squirrel on the top section of the fence. The squirrel moved slowly sideway along the fence and left. It was amazing to see how fiercely the bird protecting the baby.
Today I put the Irish Springs Original soap and the camera back on the corner. This time they are in the plastic bags so they won’t drop down and melt on the floor.
The Himrod grapes and Passion fruits are everywhere along the trelllis and the trees next to it. Except for the family of that birdie, I don’t see any other birds in that area.
I was too tired to trim the Garnsey and they grow out of the enclosure at many places. Surprisingly, nothing eat the figs, yet.
There is no hornworm on the unprotected tomato plants so I am very happy
Last but not least, my daughter made this drawing for Mother’s Day. It is the Kecleon lizard on Pokemon, in lieu of a drawing of the bearded dragon.
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Those grapes look great!
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Thank you. On the way to pick up my son, I saw the shiny flashing tapes on the vineyard along the freeway so I tried to do the same thing. I got the utility “S” hooks and Foil Table Skirt from the dollar store so they are inexpensive. The skirt has a sticky line at the top, cutting it up to wrap on the hook make hanging on the tree branch simple. I have them on the trees with ripening fruits and the apple trees, but I leave the section with the bird nest alone. So far the fruits look fine with very little bird marks. Bagging the fruits can be better, but with the heat sometimes they just wilted, dropped, and got cooked inside the bags. I may have to do it when the grapes ripen.
The zipper on ziploc bags from last year doesn’t work, so they can be only used for bagging with clothespins or staples. It can also be used to hold the Irish Springs soap to deter squirrels. I cut the sandwich bags into quarters.
I also started bagging the grapes. The light green Himrod is very rehreshing, the skin is thin and not very sour.
The bearded dragon was funny. After I spent time putting the bricks around the roses in the backyard so he wouldn’t bump into them and get hurt, he thought it was a nice place to sleep. I had to lift him out gently, and used the long mini plier to remove all the thorns closed to the ground on all the rose bushes…
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The Tiger figs in the front yard are still small, l but I finally got tired of seeing the squirrels checking them out. They tried digging under the pavers to get to the trunk that is surrounded by roses. I put up the Irish Spring soap on the fence, the lowest part of the boxwood, and some lower branches of the fig tree. The part covers with roses don’t need any soap. I also used bricks to cover some holes in the boxwood. It was funny to watch the videos from the trail camera.
The day after a squirrel went in, probably got itchy from the soap
Before it (or another one after 3 hours) got out, it smelled the soap and went through the hole between the two soap pieces.
I filled the holes with more bricks and soap.
Two days have passed and only the birds showed up on the camera. I will put some shiny tapes up, and maybe bags some fruits but not so many, because I can’t make it look so weird on the front yard.
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Update on animals deterrence.
There were some openings in the front yard that squirrels and rabits could get in. I left them open for a few days. The rabbits had nothing to eat so only came in once. The squirrels wanted to get the Tiger figs. They tried to overcome the iceberg roses at the base of the trunk that don’t have much thorns on the new growths.
This squirrel pulled down a branch and tried to use it to jump up and got tangled I guess
This one decided to go under the roses. He never got to the trunk.
They smelled the soaps on the boxwood, didn’t like them, and went back out at the place they came in.
I planted one more rose bush, and put some low hardware cloth to block the openings and I don’t see them anymore.
The birds really like the Himrod grape. I put some shiny tapes on the fence, and threw some on top of the trellis. I also cover the trunk and roughly the under side of the trellis. It seems to work well because I no longer wake up to the sound of birds having breakfast.
Around the corners that the squirrels tried to get in, I put another row of soap about 18" higher and that seems to work well. It was easy for me to use the “S” hooks but some of them fell down, not in the natural way, so I don’t know if something tried to remove them. I use the good quality 2" paperclips now. They are cheaper and stay well on the fence. Please don’t bend too hard or they will break. The snack ziploc bag was cut into three pieces, with the center piece stapled at the bottom side.
Note
It may seem like I overdo it on the hanging soaps. My purpose is not for the fruits but mainly for the protection of the bearded dragon. Some of the squirrels are quite big and I heard they eat anything when they are hungry. The bearded dragon has muscle problems and won’t be able to defend himself or run fast enough into hiding.
I have seen bird catching lizard, One time I saw on the monitor a very big bird went under the trellis straight toward him, I was so scared and jumped out of the house so fast to get there, before I realized it was just a small bird checking out the grapes, it only looked big because it landed right in front of the camera.
The backyard is facing the hill sloping down so the wind blows most of the time and you only smell the soap in close contact. I get 9 slices from each bar and hang them about 8 inches apart. My neighbors only hang them around the tomato plants after the squirrels destroyed the plants when the fruits were still green. They both have a few dogs but the squirrels outsmart and outrun them. One dog ended up with stitches on the leg after chasing and falling.
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The rabbits and squirrels started showing up around the Tiger fig tree even after we put the 2ft hardware cloth along the boxwood, so we had two trail cams on yesterday.
From the video clips:
Before 8:30 am: nothing, probably because the big birds were out looking for breakfast
From 8:30 am to 10:30 am: only little birds because people were driving to work
From 10:30 am to 11:00 am: rabbits
From 11:00 am to 3:00 pm: many rabbits and squirrels came and left, like having a luncheon party, seemed like the squirrels chased the little birds away
From 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm: no animals, just people driving back from work
From 5:00 pm to 5:40 pm: rabbits came back for early dinner
It was interesting that the rabbits actually ate the rose leaves and doing so opened the way for the squirrels to get in.There were not many figs damaged, and the rabbits also ate the weeds that I was supposed to pull, so for now I just leave everything the same. The squirrels still avoided the hardware cloth and the soap pieces, and couldn’t climb over the rose to get to the trunk of the fig tree. They jumped on some lower fig branches but didn’t stay long because of the hanging pieces of soap.
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Update;
The new improved Irish Spring Original soap bar will no longer repel squirrels. The smell dissipated within a day so please don’t waste money on them.
In the begiining of the year, I removed the old pieces for the rainy season. To stop the rats from coming in and eating citrus fruits, I added a double layer of window screen on the existing chicken wire or hardware cloth in that section. We lost no citrus fruits this season. The squirrels in our area hate the smell of citrus peels so they wouldn’t come.
About a week ago, a squirrel got in the backyard from the hillside. I noticed the soap bar didn’t smell like before but put some up anyway. The smell diminished quickly and the squirrel just ignored them. The last few days, based on what I saw on the trail cam, I blocked the squirrel entries by putting the window screen around the front and backyard. Seemed like a two foot high layers of double window screen and 1/4’ hardware cloth will stop the squirrel, I think the openings are too small for their claws. They can still climb very slowly if there is only one layer of window screen.
After a few days waiting for the Snow Queen nectarine and Donut peach to ripen we picked them all. We had the organza bags I made on some of the fruits for the birds. After the squirrel chew on one and it must have tasted good to him, he ran straight to the bagged fruits and ignored others. For now I stop additional bagging on all fruit trees until I am sure there is no more squirrel. The cheap ziploc bags disintegrated very fast under the very hot summer heat last year, and generated too much waste.
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