https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmfLozM5crnPRzBhwhXmdEpVSALGEbZZiJR1sx7FQY99Dt/cover.jpg

Two Years With Many More To Come

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaqMSMCZf1iWWwoXq4piYnr4ojaVQXs2yLhQS7xKy3eWQ/SoCal%20divider.jpg Hey Everyone! Today is the day I have been on Steemit for 2 years. I came in before the big jump when it looked like all crypto currencies were going to the moon. After the prices crashed I just wanted to HODL because Steemit offered me more than what I could purchase by powering down. Although I have been off for months at a time, I still viewed Steemit and the Steem blockchain as something that I was very much a part of. Steemit and its curators have been very good to me and help me to feel appreciated for the hard work I put in to my blogs. I never got involved in the politics and will continue to stay out of them. I enjoy just posting, and having fun.

And Thats What Steemit Should Be About! FUN!

The moment blogging on Steemit or in general interacting with the Steem blockchain is no longer fun, it has become no better than drama ridden Facebook. And when I hear of rewards pool drainage by a few I think to myself a line from the movie Bad Santa: https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXU7MdFdyLN4U6UXGDRKm249ByWRYgZ7xkvd5ogJBZFKA/424800c3-af21-4bfc-9aca-3980ada1e1b1_text_hi.gif Politics aside, I am grateful to have this community. I wanted to share an update to my garden. This year I planted mostly just to obtain acclimated seeds. A few of the plants were a first for me so here is how everything is going. It may be a lot but I love to garden. Lets start with some flowers: https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXQxminVV9oWYSYHD5DwLQJFLewsF8VDr2qGPLZvq1GXb/20190702_095615_HDR.jpg I planted morning glories of red, white and blue but the local rodents have an issue with eating everything I put out so only the blue were able to propagate. I wanted the vines to wrap around a few olive trees that are out in the front yard. I never expected the colors of these to be so vibrant. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmSsJ3Ftop3DTajMJNdXYQhPaVw9TxK7zW2cMvMtKQQqpb/20190702_095631_HDR.jpg @beckymeep planted some sunflowers from seed and this is the only one still growing and became the largest. These were the large sunflowers that would produce seeds. Who knows if this one will but the flower is nice to have either way. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWfGPeYTE17UeFjTV4yBGEauAXAhRfxNZvwyQ13Ti6dFH/20190608_131913_HDR.jpg I munched on this Cilantro as long as I could before it went to seed. The seeds were purchased from the store so I would like this to produce second generation seeds. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaNZEfxKUhGbZYRaY1Hbo5v6SgEGUSPQA4y6UX7qGCTkw/20190608_131902_HDR.jpg
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme4nNNkdLPc6nuo7kDGn8zZWa6ZP852pQLYPg7K4mZVFy/20190702_104139_HDR.jpg I have several tomato plants throughout the yard. Some of them are hanging and others in pots. Those that are hanging are full of fruit while those on the ground have been ravaged by either rats or some night time creature. Its getting very frustrating. My girlfriend and I went to home depot and basically bought every small tomato plant available so that we had plenty of cherry tomatoes to go around. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmd12vbpGJwGdXNJvaYJsjUSTv1ueaxY13tCzDKGfkro12/20190702_104254_HDR.jpg These strawberries were grown from a seed kit and are just taking off. It takes a while for those small seeds to germinate and grow. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQ1xLX19goLAxx2xiQya75xnZaoMUqtP3MXjmpLBLx2jm/20190702_104244_HDR.jpg These white grapes were purchased from walmart and stuck in the ground to grow up the pole and create a little chateau veranda look. You will see most of my plants in ground are grown in tires. The tires act as raised beds and keep my dogs from running over all the plants. The hardware cloth seen in photos from here on out was to keep the plants from getting eaten by rodents at night. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmemDxdmqSJYCY3VWw2c8XUiHb2y9McXzRr5L1ZMnGLFGo/20190702_104117_HDR.jpg This giant squash plants is of a variety I cant for the life of me remember the name. They are giant and look like pumpkins but are colored like watermelon. The seeds were given to my by the lovely @mariannewest . Its actually starting to take over my yard with no signs of squash growing. Hoping to get something big out of this patch. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXQhArszQ1cwm84KJ59ypMuqL8NtDsAWr2u5cEXKZKtzW/20190608_131829_HDR.jpg This kale plant has provided months of nice fresh leaves to add to salad. Hopefully I get seeds from it. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmU6n6RfJjpFkmDBRv4UhGsddARPEV86UKdm5PpVTikQ5c/20190608_131821_HDR.jpg This is the first time I have ever grown celery from seed and it took forever for the plant to initially grow. Now that its shot up stalks I occasionally pull a few off to munch on. Im really looking forward to getting seeds from this one. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQcvMbrFtrx1zY6JaAr1ud16cdAk4guP9k9AgESszuvbF/20190702_103636_HDR.jpg
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVBSva5DdVja7hasiRMXgaNGEPje9tNvMfdW4ZDBgYrti/20190702_103653_HDR.jpg These two raspberry plants line a chain link gate. Recently our neighbor was attacked in her house in broad daylight and almost raped while her little girls life was threatened. She got away but since then I made sure to put these thorny bastards in the ground. Both were purchased at different times and it appears they are different varieties. Im hoping these will create a barrier to that property and a little safety on our side. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVNgq7FXkTu22ay8CheDpPxwR9J5R99KBkRB5DCfSa6qy/20190608_131603_HDR.jpg This pomegranate tree was grown from seed. This is the first time it has grown flowers but all eventually fell off. Ill get fruit from it eventually. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmZKQTVZQaN4gArQhJYkGkMZEM2hCoRxkGFha7NEnsftcf/20190608_131709_HDR.jpg This is the first time I have grown peas from seed. These few pods were pulled and I guess the plant was over watered and died. I have since saved the pods for the next generation of plants. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmS261sN9GZ4N9EnyADxwP2Jc6ppUrdnXzujbmkyEEc1xr/20190702_104001_HDR.jpg Yet another first was growing this bean stalk. The plant didn't get very big before flowering and producing a few bean pods. I picked two large pods for seeds before this picture. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUw7VvXrJi7rV1641heLVpyBj27jEZ8Tm1BvBpy7N5a53/20190702_104052_HDR.jpg These three plants are pushing through the summer temps link champs. The center are beets and the rest are broccoli and cauliflower. They are not in large enough pots to produce large heads but id really like to get some second generation seeds. All of these were grown from seed but the beets did produce some nice size roots. I would pull one to eat but I am afraid it would kill the rest of them before I obtain seeds. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmV34dEqdptf6STswRFvV9wjKWUxQb3p1iSFbQyv65VJj6/20190702_104031_HDR.jpg I recently purchased green, orange and yellow bell pepper plants from the store. This one is growing quite a few already and I cant wait to taste them. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQE7XjZ1Ezh2FZz3fkQTkrhQoQmKiQCgs6bjyqUntgfof/20190702_104043_HDR.jpg I also have tried to grow some trees from seed. This pear tree recently sprouted and I am hoping it gets large enough to survive a transplant to one of the tires. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdt8R41iQuJ8KAAyCAvrmL2dust1oSe46L1NQqA4VQt4E/20190608_131733_HDR.jpg
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQSDhJWjrTqqWYfsidwHrMmBhSiygGdSS69oD4saDjcnq/20190702_095653_HDR.jpg I have green onions growing all over because I enjoy the chives. I have also grown another variety from seed and are hoping to get some nice size bulbs from them. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaKgSY2Lo4hK8wFZfh8gmvj7ztoGMNMzo7oumwySSrNZF/20190702_104304_HDR.jpg
https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQma66s7RvsMF5YkVXAv4x8HU2jMiV7Khd13Epv4n4hT89E/20190702_104322_HDR.jpg These zucchini plants have started to bear fruit and they are getting big. Cant wait to taste the fruits of my labor. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbSkdF9kGW6a8oad5aNCJKnc1SK1bBwgQypAKuCn5M35b/20190702_133727_HDR.jpg I just stuck this blueberry bush into the ground. Iv had it several months but its just been stagnant and hasn't really grown much when it was in a pot. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXYba2ZK7a8EN2HubEUXCwM6DNeB8ZdoCrECitCcTsSDz/20190702_133801_HDR.jpg Look at those suckers!! This corn plant was grown from seeds given to me by @derekrichardson. These were actually black corn kernels that looked to be from a native species. Definitely not your usual yellow or white corn. I understand corn needs to be grown in rows to produce viable ears, I figured I would self pollinate this one in the hopes to obtain kernels as seeds. The plant itself looks a lot darker green than other varieties I have seen. And to finish off this post I wanted to inform everyone the chickens are in great health! Orange has started to go a little blind so I make sure to guide her to the food and water. Angel is the only one missing in the picture as she has gone broody and wants to sit in the coop all day. I have been dealing with rodents getting into the cage to munch on their leftovers. https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmd7fiyt8dXMUvjfyaCtk8FUfC1wFS3dAzYmFhCDTQYoQ3/20190702_133735_HDR.jpg Thank you for taking the time to view my garden progress so far. I know its a little much but its my hobby and I enjoy it. Take care everyone! https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmeePDfm1PsPnUhiBDunHQXFvSTyQrNSSbApaUmVxNwU9h/Untitled.gif All photos, unless otherwise stated or sourced, were taken by @csusbgeochem1 and may not be reused without permission. Animations and cover photo created by @csusbgeochem1 using GIMP. https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPzYaz5rYdbEqTW6vFZkTLVprPkyQg9HSWM1guQbW5osS/99pyU5Ga1kwqSXWA2evTexn6YzPHotJF8R85JZsErvtTWXdPj1GijMBFW4EN7Vgw39i9nkyYfJjk9pTP4QtkkYmFNREfxM7iQpptnEaUb5nGVrRp3H8PiLniyqpdG2TB9o.gif #SoCalSteemit is building and supporting the Steemit community of Southern California. If you are from SoCal and are into creating quality content here on Steemit, we'd love for you to follow us @SoCalSteemit and join our group on Discord