Spring Cleaning

If you've ever been to my house, you may understand the overwhelming prospect of trying to keep the landscaping neat and tidy.  Not only is there a ton of square-footage, but it is filled with old, overgrown plants.  Finally, this month, we had a major cleanup of the front yard.  I wish I'd taken a picture of the container the gardener and his helpers filled with the trimmings; it was an impressive sight.

Just for comparison's sake, here's a "before" photo of one section taken about a year ago (before clean-up, but also before another year's growth compounded the problem) followed by an "after" photo of how it looks now:

Hey look!  There's a dry creek under all that mess!  Fascinating!

There was more taken out (and in a quicker, less thorough way) than I'd have done myself, but it'll soon fill back in, I'm sure...just in time to be excavated when we begin our remodel. Hrm.

Wish I had a "before" picture for this area--such a difference!

Love this little pathway!

Melinda was sad to see her jungle taken away, but since she never made use of it, she has lost her right to an opinion on the matter. :)  Overall, I'm very pleased....it's like my "To Do" list sunk exponentially in a singular Saturday.  Of course, now the trees need trimming. Sigh.

What Season is it Anyway?

I've proof that the plants are more confused about the weather than I am. From record setting heat to chilly days and nights in less than a week. The trees are convinced they are doing their job: letting their leaves loose right on schedule (thankyouverymuch).



(yes, that's about all the leaves we have. don't make fun of me. So. Cal. never made claim to amazing autumns.) But the bulbs are beyond bewildered. Is it spring already?

Iris and calla lilies in October? What is going on?

End of Summer Garden Update

Before I jump into planning a fall garden, I thought I'd do a final update on this year's gardening adventure. There have been some things that have done great and some that haven't, but I've learned so much overall that I can't help but be pleased.

One major thing I've learned: this place could make a full-time gardener feel worn out...there's SO much to be done!

I've cleaned up the herb garden, and even half empty it is better than the ivy that was living there last year (and which, I am pleased to say, has not tried to make a comeback.)



The pineapple basil really took off. I cut it back some, but it's still big, and now it's flowering too.



Tarragon, boxwood basil, lemon thyme, cinnamon basil:












The artichoke plant was done for the season, so I cut it all the way down, layered compost over it, and already it is getting ready for the next go round.



Outside of the herb garden, I am still harvesting tomatoes, the basil and flat leaf parsley are thriving, my bell peppers have hung in there, and some of my melons are still attempting to grow--although they have struggled all season long. Soon I'll be giving these raised beds a layer of compost and getting them ready for some peas, carrots, and lettuce.












My little chipper shredder made starting new compost pile a breeze. Finished compost is really an amazing thing.






Oh, and a new discovery! My little baby apple tree has one little apple on it! Yay!

Left Behind

Tomorrow we go on vacation for two weeks or so. Here's a peek at what we are leaving behind:

Not quit ready heirloom tomatoes:





Roma tomatoes: (some of those are coming along with us)




Cantaloupe:




Watermelon:




Butternut Squash:




Cucumber:




Corn:




Bell Peppers:




Basil that has valiantly withstood the grasshoppers:




What will we have when we get back? I don't know, but hopefully more than we have now. We'll see!

Hey Dad! Look What I Got!

Are you worried?

Time for a Friendly Garden Update

Finally, it seems like things are starting to grow!  Even though I don't have any red tomatoes yet, I finally see the promise of harvest.

My artichoke plant has just skyrocketed.  I have somewhere around a dozen artichokes growing!

I think the center artichoke is about needing to be harvested.  It's hard to know, not ever having grown artichokes before, but everything I read says to harvest while before they open up too much.  (Artichokes belong to the thistle family, and the artichoke itself is the flower.)

My poor green beans need to be harvested.  The plants haven't really thrived where I planted them--I'll be looking for a new location next time around.

The corn is still growing strong, and is finally developing fruit as well:

I have one fat cucumber...how do you know when to pick these things?  Do they just keep growing forever?

Here's my biggest bell pepper, it's maybe 2" in diameter.  Purty cute.

And lastly my tomatoes...the Roma tomatoes seem to be doing the best as far as the actual fruit goes:

And my heirloom tomatoes have finally decided to show some fruit as well.  I have three varieties of heirlooms: Black Krim, Mr. Stripey, and Pineapple.  The Black Krim has had a bit of a hard time getting established, although there is one little tomato on it finally (no pictures of that one, sorry).  The Mr. Stripey seems to be doing well all around.  Here's some of the little tomatoes on it right now:

The Pineapple variety is doing pretty good, although the plant itself has a couple of issues.  The baby tomatoes are sure cute though:

My peas are mostly sun-scorched (need to find a shadier place for those little guys) and I don't have any melons growing yet.  All in good time, the weather here is still solidly in the low to mid 70s.  I do have some blueberries ripening that the critters haven't seemed to have discovered yet...unlike the strawberries which I am apparently growing for the exclusive enjoyment of squirrels.

Creating an Herb Garden

The first project that I undertook at our new house was pulling out a patch of ivy and turning it into an herb garden.  Ivy is not one of my favorite plants.  A bed of ivy brings to mind spiders, snails, and rodents at the very least.  Likewise, removing ivy is not one of my favorite gardening chores.  I started removing it early in the year in order to have time enough for amending and planting before the year got too warm.  Good idea, right?  Right. Except if the soil you are pulling the ivy out of happens to be like clay, and the weather you are working in happens to be rainy.  So, with the help of my gardeners (who don't enjoy ripping ivy out of mud either) I got rid of the ivy...and the old stump it was covering up.

With all the ivy out, I set about the arduous task of removing roots from clay, and trying not to look at all the poor worms I chopped in half with my shovel.  I had been planning on planting a small fruit tree in the center of the space to anchor it, but as I started digging up roots I realized that 12"-18" beneath the dirt was concrete.  So plan B was to find something else with some height but without the root system of a tree:  enter the artichoke.  After adding a few bags of compost to the soil, I tired out and gave up.  On with the hardscaping: a simple round raised bed (put together with extra cement pieces and bricks and filled with potting soil) and some slate tiles for stepping stones.

Meanwhile, I started some sunflowers from seed.  I've always had a horrible time with spacing seeds far enough apart, and an even worse time at thinning [killing] some of the precious baby plants, so all of these got replanted eventually, and I now have a small sunflower forest in my herb garden.

I happened to find a blueberry bush at my garden center and snatched it up without even thinking about the poor thing's needs.  I assumed that if it was being sold near me, it'd be suited to my weather.  That, I'm afraid, will remain to be seen after a few seasons pass, but as of now it is doing quite well.  The leaves have some beautiful coloring.  I ending up sinking a pot into the ground and filling it with it's own specialized blend of soil. From what I've read, this pot should be sufficient for it's root system even when mature.  And (SHHH!) I've already eaten a blueberry. DON'T TELL MY KIDS!

The herb garden is now basically complete.  Apart from the artichoke, blueberries and sunflowers, we also have cilantro, boxwood basil, cinnamon basil, chives, thyme, lemon thyme, marjoram, tarragon, sage, pineapple sage, and oregano (regular sweet basil is back in the garden) in addition to 3 types of lavendar, and some marigolds, cosmos and snapdragons filling in some extra space for now.

Here's a view from the other side:

I do still need to do some weeding and mulching, but everything seems to be pretty happy right now.  The artichoke has grown like gangbusters, even with the grasshoppers and snails ganging up on it.  Today, actually, I uncovered an amazing treat, a baby artichoke!

Garden Update: Memorial Day Weekend

I love watching plants grow, and edibles are especially exciting--with the hope of getting to enjoy fresh produce day after day, who wouldn't want to go check on the little guys several times a day?

The corn is growing, steady and strong:

The zucchini, cucumber, cantaloupe, and tomatoes are flowering:

The quickly growing green beans and the slightly slower bell pepper are fruiting:

The radishes (and peas, carrots, arugula and green onions) have sprouted and the lettuce is still hanging in there (I'm really enjoying this New Red Fire variety):

I'm consistently harvesting lettuce and basil, which both seem to be growing well.  I had replanted many plants after reading the Square Foot Gardening book, in order to give them a bit more room to grow.  This is really the first year that I've done a full garden like this, and so far I'm having a lot of fun with it.  I love seeing the progression of the plants.