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).

In the Edible Garden - May 2017

My four garden beds are mostly occupied with tomato plants, but I have one bed dedicated to cantaloupe melons and several other crops going on currently; trellised Armenian cucumbers, multi-colored carrots, bell pepper (no fruit yet), pole green beans, luffa squash, zucchini squash, green onions (always), basil (always) and garlic (I've harvested several small bulbs). Strawberries are still growing in a pot near my porch where they get morning sun only. 

Armenian Cucumber

Armenian cucumber

Cantaloupe melon (aka muskmelon)

Cantaloupe Melon (aka muskmelon)

Rosemary (finally growing well with partial shade)

Basil from seeding mother plant

A Gusty Spring

I've been really enjoying my growing plants this Spring. It has been really windy the past few days and the weather was a little cooler, which encouraged me to be outdoors trimming and giving other attention to my plants. Here are some photos of our backyard taken a few weeks back. The yard looks so different from when we moved in August of 2015. And I have plenty of dreams for it to look better in the next years, but I'm also practicing patience. It is so rewarding seeing plants grow into what I imagined when in the planning stages. I love how the view out my home windows improves with each season.

Tarocco Blood Orange Tree, planted Feb 2016

Improving view from my kitchen window

2 new hibiscus plants

Young volunteer basil plant I moved from another garden bed.

Flowering Green Onion

Armenian cucumber plants climbing, I supported them with some twisty ties. Compost behind.

Tiny cucumber forming

Luffa Squash seedling. First I soaked the luffa seeds 24 hours with no sprouting. Then I rubbed new seeds with fine sand paper and they sprouted! They required protection from birds.

Pole Green Beans. We'll see if they can share their trellis with the luffa squash plants. I'm anticipating them running out of space.

Yellow Bell Pepper plant, clustered blossoms in the center top of the small plant.

Patio tomato plant growing well in a large pot. I've been more diligent this season with fertilizing my garden, about every 2-3 weeks.

Cantaloupe (muskmelon) plants growing slowly

My beautiful Chaste Tree, growing fast, tripled original size since planting 1 year ago.

Chaste Tree blooms, bees are enjoying them.

Front yard, Young Desert Willow's first blooms this month. Planted Fall 2016, (Free SRP Shade Tree)

Desert Willow

Front yard, Chitalpa Tree, ruffly blooms. Trying to know how to prune this oddly-growing tree. It is growing toward the east side, so is lopsided. May need some staking to straiten it up.

Front yard, First time enjoying blooms (and new bright-green growth) on my wax leaf privet. When we moved in it was in bad health with overspray of herbicides (all the plants in the front yard were really bad looking, almost unrecognizable.)

Wax Leaf Privet