Jack, Your orange tree looks very much like the one I grew up with in SoCal. And I agree with you that the flavor is out of this world! Yours doesn't look bad to me actually, but I suspect you could improve on your watering and feeding. If I were you, I'd first install a drip irrigation system around the drip-line of the tree and make sure the tree gets sufficient watering, especially during our very dry/drought summers! Do contact your local Cooperative Extension (LA link below) on how much water is appropriate for your area (a call to the UC Riverside citrus researcher center might also be useful). They will also be able to suggest what commercial citrus fertilizers are appropriate and how much/frequently you should be adding to your tree - I suspect that with the size of your tree, it'll require POUNDS of fertilizer/yr(!) spread out probably in 3-4 applications. Remember that most old citrus trees decline and die due to insufficient feeding (I think you will need more than the N your chicken are providing, BTW, namely micronutrients that can best be provided by a citrus fert.). Lastly, I would suggest a proper trimming by an arborist specially trained to trim citrus. A proper haircut should rejuvenate your tree and decrease the canopy for easier harvesting of the fruit. If you're lucky, Patty (hoosierquilt) who hails from SoCal will be by shortly to give you her invaluable opinion on your tree. As I recall, she is trained as a Master Gardener and frequently attends lectures given by the citrus experts at UCR. Cheers, Tim Here is a link that might be useful: University of California Cooperative Extension help

I just found your blog while doing my initial research on pool builder (found it in your Yelp review). I loved reading about your experience and seeing the pics along the way! Thank you so much for the wonderful insight. I have to say that your pool installation has made me so excited to pull the trigger on our own, and now when I need a break at work, I go to your blog -- my new "Happy Place".

San Diego gardener here. Depending on how normal/abnormal our summer will be (who knows, it's been a crazy winter) it's not too late to plant tomato transplants. If you're wanting to plant from seed, I'd wait to start them in mid-late June for fall tomatoes. I generally plant out in early/mid March, and then do a fall planting around Septemberish for a fall/winter crop. There are a lot of things out here that can affect how well or poorly your tomatoes do, and a lot of them are very micro-climate specific. We have a lot of annoying insect pests in my micro-climate that can make getting a good tomato crop difficult, depending on the year. Aphids have been particularly heavy this spring, and I normally get thwacked pretty hard by thrips and spider mites starting in late June/early July...expecting that to be particularly bad this year with how rainy it's been. All of those can heavily affect fruit set and plant mortality depending on how stressed your plants get. One of the reasons I have a small fall crop go in to replace insect killed plants after the majority of those insects are gone. Anyway, keep an eye on your plants for tiny little bugs, they can make a huge difference in productivity and plant health here. Even in super hot summer weather, you shouldn't have to water every day unless your soil is just sand (and in that case, make sure you're not also dealing with root knot nematodes which can be a nightmare - some areas of my yard are awful for that). Water infrequently and deeply, much better than frequent, shallow watering. I also wouldn't bother with shade cloth...it's not the sun's heat hurting the plants, it's just that fruit won't set in that temperature range. Shading likely won't help that much. Varieties - Cherries will almost always do well, even in the really hot part of summer. I'm suspecting that other varieties are VERY individual garden/micro-climate specific. I have a gardening friend that lives 10 miles away who grows amazing Cherokee Purples - these end up being the sickliest and worst producing plants in my garden, even when planted from the same source. Look for varieties that look good to you and experiment if you can't find a gardener very near you with hard suggestions. Also, something I picked up here last year - using an electric toothbrush to "hand pollinate" your blooms will increase fruit set dramatically. I easily doubled the tomatoes I got last year with the same number of plants by just hitting the blossoms with the toothbrush once a day.

Alfred, I have not read through all of your thread, but from my perspective, it seems like the tile is ok. Have you looked into having it professionally cleaned? A “green” type of cleaning maybe, if possible - I’m sure something like this should be available in CA. Then just do the pavers and maybe some edge plantings in unpaved area, and put up a gazebo. You could start with, or just permanently use, a portable gazebo - as I show in pic in my first comment. I would really not get jackhammers, etc. and try to do this yourself. If you want to make a major change in the future, I would recommend just saving up and hiring professionals. You will save yourself the wear and tear and probably get better results that way. I really think you can work with your tile as it is. If you want to change/vary the look, in some areas you could place some outdoor rugs.