Under the Solano Sun

Welcome back to Part 2 of My Gardening Journal. I've worked on this project while you were gone. I measured and drew a plan of my vegetable garden, noted the directions of the compass, noted the hours of full sun, part sun, and shade during the day.

Butterflies have such an elegant presence as they quietly glide and flit about the garden. Butterflies are beautiful creatures, but I learned that they are also valuable pollinators to the ecology, hunters for many unwanted pests and are important prey in the food chain.

I've had fun experimenting with growing smaller pepper varieties such as jalapeos, padrons, cherry peppers, and Japanese shishito peppers.

In January 2022, when pruning back a hybrid Fuchsia Angel's Earrings,' I was startled to discover a strange plant sharing its pot. The fuchsia had lived in our Suisun City yard since I bought it at the San Francisco Botanical Garden over a decade ago.

As a Master Gardener, I hear all sorts of complaints about spiders in the garden; how these arachnids are eating plants, and how they are destroying the garden. To each of these complaints, I offer the same answers. Garden spiders do NOT eat plants, flowers, or vegetable crops.