Beans Beans The Magical Fruit

After hardening off for only a week, I planted my bush beans in the ground on Monday. I should've waited longer, but they were starting to get leggy, I was having to water them twice a day in their newspaper pots, and I needed them out of the house...

I really liked Dan's idea of using cardboard with holes poked in it as a plant spacing tool. This made my task so easy! The empty section in the middle of the square is where I'll be placing a "drip system" milk jug to experiment with watering that way. My raised bed is 2'x4', so there will be 6 milk jugs in this bed. If anyone has experience with watering this way, please feel free to share your thoughts on the results!

I thought I had grown mostly Purple Queen because of the purple seeds, but looking at the plants today I think the purple seeds go to the Golden Roc d'Or, so most of this bed will be yellow beans, with a few Purple Queen, and the front row are all Green Slenderette. I have 10-15 Purple Queen left that I'm thinking of placing in front of my melons.

Here's a close up of the newspaper pots being burried...

To ease the shock of transitioning the plants into their new home a little early, I covered them with a sheet for two days to protect from the afternoon sun. It rained on Tuesday and Wednesday, so it wasn't sunny, but it was pretty windy. A few of the stems are bent. If they don't make it, maybe I'll replace with an extra plant.

I can't wait for yummy beans, especially after spotting this today...

Rainy Day Randomness

For some reason I was feeling a little stir crazy yesterday from the rain we'd been having for two days (California must be wearing off on me--two days?), so I did a little bit of fun work inside...

I'd been using empty 12-pack boxes as storage around the house, and I thought I'd spruce them up a little with some mod podge and clearanced paper I bought a while ago. I'd never done this before, but it seemed pretty easy...

...and it was! Slap on some stinky glue-like substance, and thar ya' go!

This box holds my small gardening supplies...

These hold our water bottles and lunch supplies. I only covered one side of these boxes since they're in a cabinet...

And not to leave the LO out of the box fun... A TV box that's been in our garage for more weeks than I want to say was put to good use. I even added a "mailbox" on the side. See the blurry yellow thing? The LO is putting his "mail" in through the slot (which was a handle on the box).

Yay for rainy days! They brighten things up both outside and in.

Dirty Pictures Enclosed

Madeja look! HAHA! I couldn't resist. I just couldn't... Yea, so, anyway, I turned my compost pile on Monday. It's the first real turn it's had since I started it last May (the bottom pallet shown in that post was removed some time ago). This was one of those projects I knew needed to be done, but procrastinated on because it seemed like a pain in the butt to do. Sheesh, silly me... Cool weather and working in the shade made for easy work, and I finished in a little over an hour.

I have the bin hidden behind the orange tree so it can't be seen from the house...

I didn't have space to make multiple bins without it becoming obvious that it's there, but it was no biggie to move since nothing is growing back there anyway...

When I started the compost pile, I started with grass clippings and shredded paper. I had my landscapers add grass clippings throughout the summer, then leaves at the beginning of fall--but then had them stop because they were also adding sticks and seeds. I tried to get out what I could, but I wasn't too picky...

Since I hadn't ever turned the pile, there were lots of grass clumps and slimy chunks of leaves that I had to break up and spread throughout the pile (thank goodness for gloves). Then I put everything back, and watered as I went...

Oh! I was able to pull a lot of worms and add them to my beds. The LO was my transporter. That's what the dump truck in the first pic was for--he loved it!

Hopefully I'll have something useful to use for, oh, my fall crops, maybe?

Harvest Monday

I finally did it. The shallots have been pulled... Here is what one bulb grew.

I'll weigh the harvest later this week when I have a chance...

The oranges have all come off! I decided to remove them since the new blooms are really bursting forth.

The citrus bounty... Sorry for the lame pic. Explanation below...

I've been thinking about this part of the post all afternoon, and had great motivation and plans for using my oranges, but then I cut my thumb while grating cheese--bad. It's nasty. I took a picture of it, it's so nasty (yea, I'm weird like that). Wanna see it? Just kidding! I'll spare you. I'm surprised it doesn't hurt more than it does but my former professional cook husband whose almost lost a pinky tip twice told me to give it a day or two. Great... Anyway, I'll have to work with the oranges later this week, and will talk about it in a later post.

Roots, Fruits, Yucks, Blooms

Monday marked the first day of hardening off my second round of seedlings--beans, cucumbers, melons, two more sweet peppers, and one more tomato.

With the exception of my last tomato plant (I can't remember if it's Pearson or Viva Italia), everything was grown in the newspaper pots I made.

I don't think I'll need to worry about the roots having trouble getting through the newspaper walls. HA!  I must point out though, that these pots are one sheet thinner than the instructions say to use...

The plums are coming in nicely... From what I can tell, it doesn't look like we'll have as large a harvest as last year.

We also had some pretty windy rain earlier this week which knocked some fruits off. The LO loves gathering them for me which gives Momma time to get some uninterrupted work done. Yess!

There's one cluster of branches that are infested with aphids (yuck!), but it's a lot better than the whole tree being covered like last year. I'll spray with water and release ladybugs since that worked well last time.

This is my neighbor's nectarine tree, which partly hangs over our patio. I suspect this is peach leaf curl, and is the second season it's occurred. There were no blossoms on the tree this year. I'm frustrated that it's not being cared for. I mean, come on. The tree is obviously sick. I rarely ever see my neighbors, let alone talk to them, so I can't exactly bring it to their attention, even though it is right outside their back door.

Well, let's bring the mood back up, shall we? My first Whirlybird Nasturtium bloomed this week. I used to think I wouldn't grow it unless I could eat it, which to me meant no flowers. Now that I know I can have them and eat them too, I'm just giddy!

One of my Pearson tomatoes has it's first blossoms also...

Enjoy your weekend!

Container Garden Update

It seems like spring is bringing out the busy bees, and busy me's! Between all the activities going on around here, and me being in the mood to do some heavy duty spring cleaning, this here blog is getting pushed aside... Isn't that always the case?

I did have the chance to get outside on Monday, clean up a little, and take some pictures, so here's an update for you.

I fed my Meyer on the 8th with 1.5tsp of Espoma Citrus-tone, and 1tsp Blood Meal (nitrogen), hopefully erring on the side of "less is more." The leaves are starting to look a little better, and the blossoms are opening up.

My Clementine is also blooming...

Just look at these ratty cilantro under the kitchen window! I wish they'd hurry up and give me some seeds already...

At least their blossoms look pretty (up close LOL)...

Here are my bucket potatoes. In the green buckets are the first round I planted on 2/1, and the white buckets were planted on 2/28. Guess I started the first round too early... All other signs of fungus gnats around the yard have disappeared except in these buckets. I've been using Neem and a BT when possible, but it's been a tough battle trying to dry the soil out when it's been raining almost once a week. So, they've spent the last 24 hours in the shed to stay dry while it rained yesterday. I noticed the fungus gnats don't really even leave the space between the leaves and soil, so I've also loosely bunched and tied the leaves up and strategically placed a fly trap close to the buckets. If this experiment fails, at least I've learned a few things... Regardless, I'll be trying potatoes in containers again next year, just in larger containers.

The new setup so far...

The citrus were to the left more, the salad table was where the trees are now, and I had the cilantro and potatoes where the SWP peppers now are. The citrus will move to the west side of the patio once it gets warmer to be shaded in the afternoon, and I'm pretty sure all of the SWP's will be moved to the east side of the yard. The pepper's soil temp is already getting 10-15 degrees warmer than the air, so they'll fry if they stay in this south-facing spot all summer.The lavender plants in front of the Meyer will go in the ground soon (I'll share in a later post). I just have them there in hopes of attracting bees to the citrus. And I know, I know, I need to get my baby Calamondin in a larger pot.

I know that was plenty of pictures for one post, but I have to post this of the boys playing well together. They're checking out a roly poly...

Have a great day!

Harvest Monday--Almost Forgot!

It's 11pm, and I was about to close my computer and go to bed when I remembered I needed to share what I've harvested this week! While most of you are really starting to gear up and eat the results of your labors, I'm well, twiddling my garden shears...

Late last week I pulled another shallot bulb to see how it they're growing--that's the one by the scissors, and two more today to use in a quiche (I'm officially hooked on quiches, by the way)... 

I believe all three of these are French Reds...

There is no real separation between the bulb and the stalk of the shallots (the bulb is on the right side). Have I wait too long?

I've been continually breaking off blooms from the shallots, and last week I had to start removing them from my onions. My garlic scapes are also starting to turn brown... Sigh I think I'm going to call it quits on the alliums, and prepare the bed for my melons--which I started hardening off today. Yay!

Oh. I've also plucked a few more oranges off the tree, and will hopefully finish them up this week because the ants are starting to enjoy them. I'm thinking of making some fresh squeezed OJ with Boy Wonder. I never used to really enjoy eating oranges until this season, but since these have sweetened up, man, I've been stocking up on my vitamin C! I'm sad they're almost done...

Each week Daphne over at Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.


G'night (and g'mornin')!

Sprouts Update

Last night I added our Mung bean sprouts to the Peanut Noodle Thai dish mentioned in yesterday's post, and we all enjoyed it (yes, even the boys!). I'm here today because I just have to share what I'm munching on right now with you. I took some alfalfa sprouts and made a samich with 'em...

The sandwich currently making my taste buds happy:

Contents:
Pugliese Artisan bread (I bet sourdough would be delicious too)
"Off the bone"  sliced ham
Oven roasted turkey
Alfalfa sprouts
Sliced Havarti cheese

Layered it all and heated up in my toaster oven. This would have completely rocked with more sprouts, a little pesto aioli and some roasted red peppers. NOM!

Sprouty Sprout Sprouts

Hard to believe we're already to Thursday of this week... I started my first of four crochet classes on Tuesday, and since then my free time has been spent playing with yarn, so not a lot of gardening going on this week. I love crocheting! My first project will be a "camo" blanket for Boy Wonder. I let him pick the stitching method, so I'm really excited about that...

Anyway, I've been working on a small "garden" project with Boy Wonder (BW), and wanted to share it with you...

As BW gets older, it's becoming harder to find inexpensive little items to put in his Easter basket and plastic eggs. This year I decided to scale things back a bit too. I could have purchased his favorite thing, Pokemon cards, or given him Star Wars paraphernalia... Instead I decided to get him something useful, and something he could learn from, so I bought him a bean sprouter from Amazon. Ok, ok, I admit I had this on my wish list for a long time, but Boy Wonder loves bean sprouts. Whenever we go out for Thai or Pho he gets his own side of sprouts to munch on, so I thought he'd appreciate this gift.

The kit came with a packet of alfalfa sprouts, and I bought a pound of Mung beans too since that's what he likes. This was really easy to get up and running. I had to tinker with the water reservoirs a little but BW did the rest.

We started the sprouts on Saturday, and I thought I'd share the progression with you. Here's BW watching the water drain. Oooh exciting... The instructions say to add water to the top level twice a day (then that water drips through each level, and into the bottom then dumped).

Mung Beans

Sunday; Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 I should have used, but didn't have time to cook yesterday because of BW's swim class.

Day 6 (today)

Alfalfa Sprouts...

Sunday; Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6 (today)

BW enjoyed this activity. I was excited to see him run downstairs each morning to water his sprouts.

The Mung bean sprouts will be going into a Peanut Butter Noodles with chicken dish, and I may throw some sprouts into BW's lunch tomorrow. The alfalfa sprouts will go onto sandwiches for dinner tomorrow night. From what I've read, sprouts don't store well, so I'm sure I'll be throwing a bunch away. Next time I'll grow one batch at a time, and only 1/2 a tablespoon (vs 1 tablespoon like the instructions say).

Harvest Monday

To begin preparing my raised bed for all the green beans currently growing inside, I spent some time on Saturday removing the Sweetie Baby Romaines.

The smallest of the bunch went into a small micro-greens salad for myself. The largest heads shown below were pulled yesterday for dinner salads.

DH asked if it was store bought lettuce, and I was like, "Um, why?" I wanted to know before answering. He said it was fantastic, crisp lettuce, and was hoping it came from out back. "Yes! It came from out back," I said, proudly. My 8yo then chimes in sarcastically with his silly wide eyes, "This lettuce is from Outback?" Ah, my son has my corny, dry sense of humor... Poor kid... HA! ;-)

The rest of the romaines were moved to the raised bed at the back of the patio. You can click here for a different visual of both beds. The bed at the back only gets 2-3 hours of sun, so I figured moving them here will extend their season as the weather heats up.

I'll mulch this bed tomorrow when there's a break in the rain...

Each week Daphne hosts Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions. Check out her page to see what other's have been munchin' and crunchin' on this week.