Friday, January 22, 2021

Successful Season Jan 2021

 I'm loving our cherry tomatoes, which my little newly 2-year-old son calls "balls" and then pops one in his mouth several times a day. My 7 year-old son loves grazing on basil, cilantro, nasturtium, carrots, tomatoes and even sometimes broccoli leaves. I wonder how many caterpillars he has accidentally eaten in his life.

I prayed for my gardening this past fall as I began planting. I am grateful that we have been able to enjoy the beauty and nutrition from our little garden boxes once again. No prayer is too small.










Saturday, January 2, 2021

My Garden in Nov 2020

It's been a while since I have posted my gardening experiences, but here is my garden in Nov 2020.
This season I have cherry tomatoes, rainbow carrots, broccoli, cilantro, basil, green onion, lettuce varieties and flowers.








Friday, October 26, 2018

A little Garden Update Oct 2018

I kept watermelon & bell pepper plants alive through the brutal hot summer (& my trusty basil plant) and now it's time to enjoy happily growing plants. Keeping it simple this season with a bed of rainbow & orange carrots, pole green beans, lettuce, kale & peas (haven't sprouted yet). Volunteer marigolds from past seasons are popping up to help with pest control.



Carrots (rainbow and danver orange)

Bell Pepper

Mini Sweet bell pepper

Green Beans

Watermelon (planted starts in Spring)

Monday, March 5, 2018

My Garden in Jan, Feb & Mar 2018

Gardening has been productive this Winter season and now continues and changes into the Spring Season. I haven't had much time to record all that has been going on, but I'll try to sum up the last few months.
Dec 2017
Weather has been mild, with only a few days during the whole winter that dipped into the low 30's. I covered some of the plants on those nights with sheets and towels (hibiscus, zucchini, papaya and then tomato plants once those were planted in Feb).

After harvesting several zucchini, I removed the plant to make room for some plant shuffling. I moved some cabbage plants to another bed and planted about a dozen tomato plants that a good friend (James) gave us. After rejuvenating the soil with some additions of manure, new garden soil, slow release fertilizer and bone meal, I planted them deep among the carrots at the beginning of February.
I harvested many broccoli and cabbage heads over the past months, which have been nice fresh additions to our family meals. I also tried out the largest leek in a Filipino dish I made (pancit) last week. We (my kids and I and guest kids) eat the snap peas and carrots right from the garden and they rarely make it inside the house to be part of a meal.

My cilantro went to seed before I was ready for it to. The weather will be too warm to plant more of it (above 75 degrees F). I did harvest, use and share a lot of cilantro over the cool season.

Lettuces and Kale grew beautifully, providing the green beauty in the garden and meals for our two Russian desert tortoises once they emerged from underground in February.

Also in February, I planted luufa squash seeds, popcorn cassia seeds in a pot and a variety of flower seeds in another garden bed in my yard for Springtime flowers. I gave up on my Papaya Tree and pulled it out. It wasn't growing as fast as it should have been and it wasn't looking pretty anymore. The kids were sad to see it go.

Last week, I finished a project pulling out an old retaining wall and replacing it with stacking blocks. It turned out great and I love how the yard has better flow with consistent materials. The area behind this new retaining wall has a variety of plants that provide beauty and food options for the tortoises. In an effort to make more room for Spring planting, I have been transplanting many of the lettuce and kale plants from the garden beds into the tortoise food area in the ground.
I used all the compost I have been creating for over a year to assist in filling up the area behind the new retaining wall.

After I get all my spring plantings in, I will get an updated photo of the garden beds.

Early January 2018

Jan 11 2018 - My kids love our carrots!
Shortly after planting tomato starts from James, growing fast!

broccoli and purple cabbage harvested

leek and broccoli harvested
Retention wall BEFORE

My little helpers filling the new retention wall with soil (and packing it in with their feet).

Retention wall AFTER, tortoise garden behind it (all edible plants).

Gardening Group Documents Feb & Mar Meetings - Spring Garden Plans & Sustainable Garden Ideas

As a garden group, we met the first Saturdays in February and March.
In February we talked together about what our Spring Garden plans would be and we discussed the best veggies to plant and when. The summary of our meeting can be seen HERE.

In March, We focused our topic on ways to be more sustainable in our gardening - less dependent on stores/nurseries. We discussed COMPOSTING, WORM FARMING and WATER HARVESTING. The summary of our meeting can be seen HERE.

Monday, December 18, 2017

A Neighborhood Garden Tour

Last Saturday, we gathered to see 4 gardens around our neighborhood. Each garden and gardener had many helpful things to teach us. I have done my best to summarize the tour and the highlights of each unique garden and you can view the summary HERE


Saturday, November 18, 2017

Garden Discussion Documents

I'm catching up on getting our Gardeners Meeting Notes on here for availability.

Gardening Meeting #3 
Top Crops, Companion Planting and Pest Control

Companion Planting
A brief overview of plants that benefit from being planted near each other in the garden; taken from Carrots love Tomatoes & Roses love Garlic by Louise Riotte

Top Crops #2
Details on these crops: cabbage,
broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, peas, beans.

Common Garden Pests and what to do! 

Gardening Meeting #4
Cold Weather Protection for our plants