Harvest Monday

, Wow! Participating in Harvest Monday two weeks in a row! This may be a new record for me...

My sister-in-law visited this past weekend, and I was able to share lettuce and radishes from the salad table with her. That made this newbie gardener really happy!

Here are the last of the radishes for this season. If you look closely at the two radishes on the right, you can see where fungus gnat larvae have munched on them a bit (I've been treating the soil with BTi for two weeks, but was only able to find fly paper today to catch the adult gnats).

Also, my first broccoli harvest! A pittance of a harvest--maybe enough for my 8yo to eat with tonight's dinner, but still, it's a start!

 

I'll have a lot more broccoli coming soon... Just look at the side shoots the Waltham 29 variety puts out! I knew I'd get side shoots, but I imagined more of a large head, then a few baby heads, but this variety seems to grow mostly side shoots.

The "large" head on the right two pictures up came from this plant.

Wordless Wednesday--almost

I always see blogs participating in "Wordless Wednesday" with wonderful pictures, and thought I to would take part today. Since I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut, I'm including a few words.

Finally starting to fill in...

Crocus Crazy

Cause of Croaking Crocus

 

Creepy Crawlies
 

 

Creepy Crawly Controller

Ciao!

I Get To Participate In Harvest Monday!

Each Monday Daphne, over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts "Harvest Monday." I don't typically get to participate since I either don't harvest, or don't remember to do it around a Monday... Today I actually have something to share!

I've been snipping enough lettuce 1-2x's a week for 2.5 side salads, and the table is still going strong... With the table facing south, and the temps starting to go up, I think the table will need to be put to rest soon until the fall.

 

There are a few radishes left in the table, and I'll harvest them later this week.

Yesterday I snipped my first bit of cilantro which went into a batch of Slow-Cooked Steak Fajitas. Nom!

Do You Know About Your Store-Bought Eggs?

I  came across a series of videos today by Tia Pinney (a Teacher Naturalist and Adult Program Coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln, Mass.) on eHow.com, and the one below really caught my attention so I'm sharing it with you. I learned something new about the eggs I buy, and maybe you will too...

How to Read Chicken Egg Carton Labels -- powered by eHow.com

These are my eggs from Costco, purchased on 2/8/10. They were packed on 1/28/10, so as long as they were packed the same day they were layed they're pretty fresh...

I went to the USDA site, and after ten minutes of searching, I was unable to find a page on where I can find out where my eggs come from. Fortunately, mine don't travel far since I usually by Cal Eggs located near LA.

Now I need to memorize the number of each day of the year for purchasing the freshest eggs. HA!

Which Came Frist? The Chicken Or The Worm?

Since I started gardening and becoming more aware of the food waste we produce, I've been thinking about how I can get the most out of it all. I have a compost pile out back, but since it's a cold pile that currently houses ants, I haven't put food in it yet. This got me thinking about worm composting called "vermicomposting." You can read more about it here and here. As I read through the book, "Worms Eat My Garbage," by Mary Appelhof, I began to ask myself, "Would the volume of our food waste going into a worm bin produce enough of a result to make it worth while?" Sure, worm castings are awesome for the garden soil, but it doesn't seem like the quickest of processes to me.

Our city participates in a great recycling system, and I can continue to put our food scraps into our yard bin for pick up, but what do I get from this but the knowledge and satisfaction that I'm doing some good for our local environment? Sorry for being selfish, but I want the most out of the money I put into my food.

This brings me to the chickens. I don't know how the idea originally popped into my head that I could be a chicken owner. I thought about it once last year. When I mentioned it in passing to DH, he laughed and rolled his eyes at yet another of my silly ideas. I had to agree with him. It seemed too impractical for me and this rented yard. But somewhere along the reading of blogs, I read about someone feeding their kitchen scraps to their chickens. *Gasp* Could this be how I could use my scraps? I put food in, and eggs out, and the chicken poo is great for my garden!

In my never-ending quest to find more garden bloggers in my area, and to feed my chicken curiosity, I used Blotanical's search function to see what "chicken" would give me. The first result yielded the blog of Love Apple Farm, situated in the south bay area (about 90 minutes from me), and their post offering backyard chicken-keeping classes this May and September. Not only will they teach me how to care for chickens in my backyard, but I'll get to go home with 3 lovely chicks and a brooder kit! I did a little homework to confirm whether or not I can have chickens in my yard, then brought the idea up to DH. Boy, was I shocked when he was on board! His only warning is that they go the moment he steps in their poo. HAHA! That's it?

In the past 5 days, I have been obsessed with chickens. I'm loosing sleep over the idea of chickens. I've found sites here and here, and blogs here and here devoted to keeping backyard chickens. Not to mention the garden blogs I already read who's owners have chickens. I visited the library, and blew through the only book the had available, "The Backyard Poulty Book" (it wasn't difficult since most of the info from 1979 is outdated and irrelevant). Next I proceeded to add Amazon's Kindle app to my iphone so I could instantly read "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens," which is really good so far.

Am I crazy for wanting to owns chickens when the only things I ever owned were a gerbil and goldfish? All I know is I have a month or two to figure it all out, to come up with an explination to the landlord (she's pretty nice and carefree), and decide if this is a good thing for me to do, or if I should stick with the worm plan...

What's Currently Growing, and What's Gonna Grow

Today I thought I'd share my garden schematics for this spring and summer. I'm still working on a schedule for things, but since this part of the task makes me groan every. single. time. I think about it, I haven't done it yet. I can say, however, that I will be starting my pepper and tomato seeds indoors this week.

Here is what's currently out there. Someday I'll get up the nerve to shoot a video so y'all can see what the yard looks like all together...

please click so you can see what's there.

Notes:

• Each section of raised bed is 2'x4'. The salad table is about 3'x2'. Excluding containers, this gives me 32 square feet at the peak of summer (salad table won't be in use). Tiny, yea? Now you see why I applied for a plot in the community garden?
  
  
• The left raised bed (LRB) and right raised bed (RRB) run from west to east. Because of our neighbor's trees, they'll only get full sun from around 11am to 4pm during the summer (there is a gap between the trees). Right now it's about 12:30pm to 2:30pm. No scientific measuring done here, just mental notes done when I think to look at the sun's position.
  
  
• The salad table, window box, and containers are all along the house facing south.

Here is what I'm planning for the spring/summer growing seasons:

please click so you can see what's there.

I forgot to add the cucumbers to the above picture. They'll be growing in containers as well.

If I can, I'll have more containers. Also, if I decide not to grow the sweet potatoes in the RRB, I may grow more herbs (or else throw seeds of "whatever the mood strikes").

Alrighty then... I'm off to stare at my calendar (again), and see if a planting and fertilizing schedule will magically appear this time.

Little Seed so Small and Round...

Pushed way down into the ground.
With water and some sunshine glow
God will help you grow, grow grow!

That time of year is almost upon us, and I think I'm the last one to plan for it. Spring! Sowing seed! Weeee!

While thinking about what I'll be growing this spring and summer, I decided the first step would be to reduce the seeds I already had on hand. Last year I went a little overboard with seed purchasing--especially considering my lack of space to grow things. At one point I was buying a pack almost every time I went to a store that sold them. It was bad. Bad enough that I ended up with 3 packets of cilantro, and 4 different kinds of beans. I would see a pack, forget that I already had some at home, and convince myself that these plants would fit wherever felt logical at the moment. Oh, the follies of a novice gardener. My seed box was packed to the hilt with unopened or barely used packets, so I ended up Freecycling seeds I won't be using this season. Oh yes, I have learned my lesson. I will not buy seeds unless I already have somewhere to put them. In other words, no unplanned purchases!
~~~~~~

I should mention that I started the above portion of this post a few days ago LOL. Silly me...
After going out for Thai last night, I stopped by OSH to pick up my seed starting containers. I told myself not to stop by the seed rack, but how could I avoid it when it was right next to where my containers were? I had to look at what they had. Reminding myself that I had changed my ways, I visualized the plans I've been staring at for days, and walked out of there with Renee's Container Bush Slicer Cucumber, and Heirloom Leaf Cutting Lettuce Mix. GRRR! It must have been the endorphins coursing through my blood from all that spicy Thai food I'd just eaten. Yeah, that's it. Why did I buy those? We rarely eat cucumbers, and I had previously decided I wouldn't buy mixed lettuces again since there are usually one or two types in each mix that we end up not enjoying. You understand, right? I couldn't help myself!

This reminds me of something I've been grappling with since the beginning. How can I grow what I want, in the quantities I'd like, with so little space? Well, dear readers, I ended up applying for a plot at our community garden (enter girlie squeals here)! I've thought about this off and on, and each time we go to the park next to the garden, I longingly stare through the fence at all of the things growing in those 32 plots of land. Admiring the individuality of each gardener, and how they've utilized their 255 square feet of space... What in the world would I do with that much space? Well, I won't be getting myself all excited about 225 square feet of loveliness just yet. After my application was submitted, I received an email from the garden coordinator informing me that there are 20 people ahead of me, and only 5 plots opened up this season. It looks like it could be two years before my name even comes up. *sigh* Oh well... At least I'm on the list now...


Ok, back to the topic at hand. Seeds. Now that I have room in my seed box again (snicker), I've chosen plants that are compact, will be happy in our blazing Cali sun, we will definitely use, and use a lot of. Hey, the cucumbers were an impulse buy, ok, and therefore does not count in this conversation. hmph. I think I did pretty well. I only bought one or two packs of seeds that I won't be able to put anywhere LOL, and one repeat--doh!

 

Here's what I will be growing this spring & summer (excludes what's already growing).
Baker Creek Heirloom:
Tomato: Peasron
Pepper Hot: White Habanero
Basil: Fine Verde (not using this season)
Parlsey: Brayour
Lettuce: Lolla Rossa (not pictured, sown 1/29)

Territorial Seed
Tomato: Viva Italia
Oregano

Burpee
Melon: Isabella Charentais
Watermelon: Bush Sugar Baby (decided not to use after reading of low fruit quantity per plant)
Gazania: Creamcicle

Renee's Garden
Basil: Italian Cameo
Cucumber: Bush Slicer
Pepper Sweet: Baby Belle
Nasturtium: Whirlybird

Irish Eyes
Potato: Russet Burbank Minituber (sown 2/1)
Potato: Sangre Minituber (sown 2/1)
I purchased these in November, but they took *forever* to sprout

Sustainable Seed Co.
Royal Burgundy Bean (already had from '09 but never planted)

I also received a free packet each from Territorial Seed and Baker Creek Heirloom. They were both carrot seeds. This annoyed me slightly because I have yet to grow carrots successfully, and because of this, had given away 3 varieties of them only days before my orders arrived. Maybe I'm not supposed to give up on this delicious root?


In my next post, I'll share where these goodies will grow, and my strategies for this season.

Warm weekend wishes!

My Oranges

Remember that beautiful orange tree I showed you the other day? As beautiful as those fruits may look, they are some lip puckerin' sour oranges, my friends. I've come to the conclusion that this can only be a Seville or "bitter" orange tree. What good are sour oranges when you're trying to feed your family?

According to Wiki, I can use it to to make a Belgain beer "The Belgain Witbier (white beer) is a beer made from wheat which is spiced with the peel of the bitter orange." (making a note for future beer making adventures). But even then, this only uses the peel...  Oh! Perhaps I should corner the market in dietary supplements!

"The extract of bitter orange (and bitter orange peel) has been used in dietary supplements as an aidfat loss and as an appetite suppressant, although in traditional Chinese medicine it is always prescribed in concert with other support herbs, not in isolation. Bitter orange contains synephrine, a substance similar to ephedrine, which acts on the α₁ adrenergic receptor to constrict blood vessels and increase blood pressure and heart rate."

Nah...

That only leaves me with one choice. The choice which majority of the world choose... Marmalade! Sold! I'd been wanting to try canning, and what better way to get a grasp on the concept than try putting up a food item I have plenty of!

I found a few recipes online (I'm waiting for the Ball Book to be returned to the library), but chose to go with the one from www.pickyourown.org because they provide great step-by-step pictures, the recipe uses pectin instead of making my own from the seeds and pith of the oranges, and it's the quickest to cook down.

• 8 whole oranges, thinly sliced (4 cups cut) My oranges must be small, because it took 12 to get 4 cups
• 3 whole lemons, thinly sliced (1 ½ cups cut)
• Orange juice or Water - 4 cups of either. Orange juice adds extra flavor.
• Sugar - about 7 cups of dry, granulated (table) sugar
• Pectin - 1 box
  

The marmalade looks pretty, doesn't it? Well unfortunately, my first try turned out horrible! It didn't set so it was super runny, and it tasted extremely bitter! So, I trashed that batch and made again. I'm not sure if I missed a step the first time, if I picked under ripe oranges, or if a week of rain did the oranges some good, but my second batch came out great. I chose to leave the rind out to avoid risking total bitterness again, so it's more like orange preserves...

Now what to do with the 3/4 of oranges that remain...

Great Online Find!

In my pursuit to find blogs of gardeners in my area, I found a great live video feed of a hummingbird's nest through An Alameda Garden.

You just have to check this out! What a beautiful hummingbird. I just watched the mommy fly in and feed her little chick!

http://cam.dellwo.com/

Enjoy!

Spring Is On It's Way

An unwelcome guest is trying to hide.

  

  

Between left and right raised beds. There are chionodoxa in addition to more crocus that should be coming in soon.

 

Baby Earwig. The nice thing about the cool weather is the bugs are slow. 

The LO holding a cabbage worm that fell from the peas.

 

First pod!

  

  

Have a good weekend!

Lucky Number Seven

I was looking at this picture I took a few days ago, and didn't even notice his legs until just now! This guy was hanging around my habitat for fungus gnats (ie cilantro).

Please click to see this odd beauty.

First Harvest of 2010

Last night I snipped enough lettuce from the salad table, and a bit from my right raised bed for 2.5 side salads (the .5 being Boy Wonder's mini salad). I also pulled a few of the radishes growing there. I finally grew radishes! Only took me three tries. HA!

My harvest:

They're still teeny little things, but at least I can say I've grown them now!

 

 The carrots and peppers are store bought (for now!)

 

The LO tried a slice of radish when I showed him the pink (pink is the one color he can identify 100%), and promptly spit it out, running off screaming "Eeeew! Bugh, Mommy!" Boy Wonder said he didn't like them, but had no problem finishing them.

I'm very happy with the taste and growth habit of the Summer Crisp Lettuce. I've already sown more seeds in my left raised bed. The French Breakfast radishes are rather bland compared to the few store bought kinds I've tried. I wonder if it's the variety... I'm leaving the rest of the radishes in the table for a while to see if they get bigger, and if the taste changes.

Starting 2010 With Rain, Growth, and Blogging

First, thank you to those of you who contacted me to make sure everything is ok, and to those of you who have encouraged me to get back into writing. After being gone for two weeks back in October, I fell out of the writing and gardening groove. Having the holidays thrown in there didn't help much either! One of my New Year's "Do Better's" ("resolutions" seems so extreme, and tend to drop by the wayside faster than "do-better's") is to get back in that groove!

So, here's what have been growing around the garden. I have two sets of most pictures. The first of each are from 1/11, and the second from today, after we've had a week of rain (gasp).

Below: Salad table, and current hot spot for producing life! Left (sown 11/5): Summer Crisp Lettuce. Right, back to front (sown 11/23): French Breakfast Radishes, Short & Sweet Carrots, loose-leaf lettuce mix.

Cilantro. After all the rain, I have fungus gnats--bad. I drilled more holes at the bottom, and will treat with BTi once the rain tapers.

SFG, right side: Peas and broccoli, and hidden behind the broccoli, under the peas are carrots. The carrots were more of an experiment after my carrot seed mats sown in my west-east running raised bed failed due to lack of sun, and slugs. The peas are taking up so much more space than I anticipated. I added a wire "fence" to try containing them, then I added more trellis string I had and tried tieing them back, to no avail...

At least the peas are beginning to bloom.

My broccoli is beginning to flower! YES!

SFG, left side: Looks like a bunch of weeds, yeah? Garlic and onions are in the back, with soggy onion scapes taking over the empty spot on front right. Shallots in the front left. I dug down in the dirt to see what's happening, and nothing is happening. Nothing to match the growth on top at all. I'll give them until April when tomatoes need to go in (yes, tomatoes, but more on that another time) to show me they're worthy, or they're gone.

 

The orange bush/tree is doing really well. This year there are a lot more but smaller fruits growing than last year... Interesting...

My hyacinths and crocus' (croci? hehe) are coming up. Early I think? They aren't very picture worthy at this point since the flowers that haven't been decapitated by slugs are spread far apart...

Hope you've enjoyed!

PS Many thanks to Mom and Dad for my new camera! Now I just need to learn to use it to it's full potential!