What's this I hear?

Mourning and New Beginnings

The strawberries just don't seem to be making it. I think it's time to mourn what we've lost (a vibrant, world-class, envy-of-all backyard farmers strawberry patch) and decide what we're going to put in that planter instead of berries. Maybe we can get some kind of verticillium wilt resistant variety, but I'm not too confident about that.

So, what shall we grow instead?

--TWH

The finale

Strawberries!

LettuceHerbs
What is this? Tomato? Pepper?
Corn
The first corn sprout

They keep coming

Radishes... yum

Green Onions & Carrots
Our Tomato that Grew from seed... the survivor
His store-bought brother

More pics

Tasty Turnips (can't wait to eat more)


The TeePea Extraordinaire


The bean side

Pea Side
Zucchini
Our first beautiful blossom

New Growth

I think it is high time for some updated photos. Enjoy!

Our concrete "patio" in progress

Blueberries

Stellar ground cover. I know you can do it.
The blackberry bush, vine? Which is it?
The little artichoke that could

Strawberry Problems

Some of the strawberries don't seem to be doing too well. I think that the problem might be overwatering...which seems counterintuitive, since the plants look like they're drying up. I'm going to cut away the dead foliage this morning. Let's switch to watering them once to twice per week and see if that helps.

Everything was watered yesterday, so the strawberries shouldn't be watered again until Tuesday.

--TWH

The Good News about Concrete

The search for broken concrete is going well. I found several listings on Craigslist for broken concrete. I've been in touch with someone in Fullerton. If that doesn't pan out, I'll head to Garden Grove and Santa Ana. But the good news is the price: FREE. Hooray for us!

Watering

We forgot to talk about watering this weekend.

Here's my scoop. I am happy to water even every day if we are willing to water in the mornings not just afternoons. The only day this week that I can water in the afternoon is Friday. 

But it's gonna be a warm week (at least the early week) and I wouldn't be surprised if our newly planted seeds need two mistings a day.  Alli, Laura, are you guys up for misting whatever is dry by the afternoon? What days work for you?

M

Keeping the farm going

Here's a quick list of things that I think need/can be done this weekend. It's probably not complete. Unfortunately, I'm going to be cooped up studying for much of the weekend, and unable to tackle these things, but hey, that's why it's a community garden, right?

1. Planting. I think we can plant additional turnips, radishes, and carrots this weekend. Turnips can go in the space that was marked out for artichokes. I've got it marked as "turnips?" on the layout document. There are four square feet there, but if we plant two this weekend and two next it willl spread out the harvest a little bit. Melissa, any problem there? As far as radishes and carrots go, we've got six square feet left that haven't been planted yet. Maybe plant three this weekend (radishes and one variety of carrots) and three in a couple of weeks (radishes and the other variety) ? Alternatively, two this weekend, two next weekend, and two the following weekend? I think we can also plant herbs in the containers we've got left this weekend. The sooner we get those planted the sooner we can start cooking delicious herby food.

2. Thinning. The radishes are supposed to be thinned to 1-2" this weekend.

3. Fertilizing. The artichokes need to be fertilized with high-nitrogen fertilizer this weekend. I think the 15-15-15 should be fine. Also, I think we can start to prepare the soil that hasn't been planted yet by mixing the organic vegetable fertilizer into the soil. Any thoughts on this?

4. Mulching? I think we need to start making the garden more aesthetically pleasing. I think some kind of mulch between the planters could really help. It would also be good if we could mulch around the artichokes, blackberry, and blueberries. That will help to keep the soil moist and make watering easier.

Anything I've forgotten? Any takers?

Back to liver pathology (trust me, it's not as interesting as it sounds),

--TWH

Kirk

So, last night Kirk came over to fix our shower (attempt number 4) and our garbage disposal (the only tool he used was a broom handle). He had also been over at Brittney's fixing a heater. Apparently he went on the side of the house to retreive some dry wall (good thing we didn't throw it out) and noticed the pile o'dirt and subsequently the raised beds. When he came over he asked if we had started a vegetable garden.

I sheepishly replied that we had, thinking he would be upset that we've killed the grass and pretty much taken over the backyard. Instead, to my delight, he said that it was so cool. He went on to tell me about his father, who was an avid gardener, and how please he would be that we're gardening here.

As a side note, we also discussed a few other projects around the place. (1) Apparently they won't start on the fences until the man behind us takes down his garages (?) so I don't think that will happen anytime soon. (2) Melissa's porch might get some attention in April (maybe?). (3) The exterior of the house will be repainted sometime in 2009. So it sounds like none of those projects will interfere with our farm.

Getting Wet

So I was out in the farm today and noticed that the beds were a bit dry. I watered them some but it led me to a few questions. Do we have a watering schedule/rotation? If so, when am I on it? How much and how often should we be watering each plant? I feel like I'll overwater or underwater if I don't have some guidance. Is there a time of day that we should water? What setting? Mist? Shower? Jet?

Also, a side note, I think something is a bit wrong with the new nozzle we have. I had to jiggle it a bit to get it to work right. At first I thought there was something weird with the water pressure but now I think it is the nozzle. I think it might be getting damaged when it is dropped after watering (just a conjecture). Anyway, I screwed in one piece tighter and it seems to work a bit better now. Anybody else have these problems or am I just inept at using a hose?

Another day of planting

Alli and I planted two blueberries and two artichokes today. I've updated the layout document to show our progress. =)

--TWH

Is the teepea (get it? tea-"pea") planted

I know we have a lovely teepee in the garden, but have the peas/beans/whatever been planted yet?

Still only one turnip. Yes, we did go out and carefully study the ground this morning.

--TWH

Let there be light?

Are our little seedlings enjoying the artificial paradise of the grow
light yet? I haven't had much time to think about the garden in the
last few days but I love knowing that things keep happening without me.

One thought on fertilizer: the 15-15-15. That Alli bought is probably
the best bet to use for the seedlings since the organic vegetable
fertilizer we have isn't water soluble.

--TWH

P.S. Tweebie says "Hi."

Sent from my iPhone

Workin'

Jack the farmer:

Obsessed

I dreamed, last night, that I was picking the already meaty radishes. I was surprised that they had grown so fast.

The Fertilizer Deal?

So, what's the official word on the fertilizer? Are we keeping the 15-15-15 or should we go buy the 10-10-10 from Target? I just want to know if I should take it back or keep it.

BTW, if we need any other obscure gardening supplies, Orange County Farm Supply might be a good place to call. Here's their info:

Orange County Farm Supply
1826 West Chapman Avenue
Orange, California 92868
714.978.6500
www.ocfarmsupply.com

Sown

or is it sewn?

Anyway, also in the ground are turnip and green onion seeds.

Also, sowed some yarrow seeds (a bee attracting flower) in the former window box closest to the house.

The turnip seeds were oh so pretty: perfectly spherical, some berry colored, some purplish.

We might have to thin the green onions as my fingers weren't particularly nimble at picking up just one seed. 

(That reminds me, we are to thin the carrots when the seedlings are about an inch high. For the babies, thin so that they are one or two inches apart. For the long guys, 2 1/2 to four inches. We can use tweezers for that task. Will we know the difference between the radish and carrot seedings? Here's hoping!) 

M

And Then There Were Two

We now have just two large containers. I just broke one. I don't know my own strength. My apologies H's.

And they're off!

Alli and I planted two squares of long carrots + radishes, and two squares of baby carrots + radishes. That leaves six squares left to fill with carrots + radishes, so we can do those in two more successive plantings at two week intervals. Alli put labels in the garden, and I updated the layout spreadsheet to show where we've planted.

Who's planting the turnips, green onions, and anything else that we're supposed to start this weekend?

We also need to figure out a watering schedule now that we've got plants in the ground. Melissa, do you know how often we're supposed to water?

--TWH

Carrots and radishes in the garden layout

I just noticed that carrots and radishes are in different areas in the
garden. I've read that it's good to sow them in the same place because
the radishes help to break up the soil for the carrots and then are
harvested in time to make room for carrot growth.

Opinions?

--TWH

Sent from my iPhone

Container?

Hey A & T, May we use one of your containers for garlic (not the whole thing, we have three bulbs for elephant g)? I didn't make room for it in the raised beds, but I love me some garlic, and I want to ward off vampires from our garden. To plant these babies, we just bury them nose up in sandy soil an inch deep and four inches apart, and fertilize like the onions.

Speaking of containers, how many do we have between us? I have none. What would we like to use them for? I vote for herbs, especially if we count garlic as an herb.

Green Onions

Also to plant this weekend... green onions.

We have a 2X1 section reserved for these lovelies.

(1) Soil prep: add sand and peat moss to the allotted section. Our book only specifies proportions for sandy soil in the carrot section: 2 pts topsoil, 2 pts sand, one pt peat moss. I don't know how deep, but I don't think very.

(2) Plant seeds 1/8-1/4" deep (try for the shallow since we will also sprinkle fertilizer) 2-3" apart both vertically and horizontally. That should give us something like 27 plants. I imagine you could easily position seeds at the top of the prepped soil and cover with the same.

(3) For fertilization, sprinkle 1/4 c. 10-10-10 fertilizer and 1/8 c. triple rock phosphate. Cover the fertilizer with soil (1/2" at most). Mist.

Composting

I'm getting kindof excited at the prospect of composting. I just put a banana peel, some lettuce I left out last night, and my coffee grounds in a bucket.  

I plan to attend the Fullerton Arboretum's Composting Workshop on March 7th at 10am, free for Fullerton residents. The City of Fullerton's website says that they sell compost bins for only $20 to folk who attend the class.

The interweb sends mixed messages about the relationship between rodents and composting. Everyone advises burying food waste rather than leaving it atop the heap. But some folk talk like rodents are only a problem if you add meat products (a composting no-no). I'm hoping that the optimists are the truth tellers. I suppose there will be info on this very question at the workshop, and maybe even rodent-resistant compost bins. 

Lines

I think we need some way of marking off sections in the garden at
least until our seeds start to sprout. Anyone mind if we use twine and
thumbtacks to divide the planters into individual square feet? Anyone
have some twine?

--TWH

Sent from my iPhone

Check out

the link to Google Docs on the sidebar. You can access our Planting Chart and our Planting Layout there.

Playing Hard to Get

Our dear friend Chris, the author of our guide Cubed Foot Gardening, seems to have special abilities at finding fertilizers. His book calls for 15-10-10 and 5-10-10 fertilizers and 0-45-0 rock triple phosphate. I'm sure I could find these fellas online somewhere. But there are no such products at our local Lowe's, Armstrong's or ACE. So, I chatted with new pal at Armstrong's who says that the organic fertilizer I bought will work just fine. It's not high in nitrogen, which heeds guru Chris's major warning in his top ten most common mistakes in vegetable gardening...  So, unless anyone complains AND finds these products, I say we just proceed with the products we have. What say we all?

Turn-it-up! More roots.

Ready to sow turnips and radishes?

(1) We will also sow our radishes successively, so pick a 1X1 square. Lay one seed for every intended radish, with 2 inch spacing both vertically and horizontally, something like thirty seeds per square foot.

(2) Cover the seeds with 1/4-1/2 inch of a two-part topsoil one-part sand mixture. Distribute this layer evenly by rubbing the dirt between between your palms.

(3) Cover this layer with 1/8 cup of fertilizer.

(4) Add 1/8 to 1/4 more of the above dirt mix. Pat it all down. Mist with a nozzle.

TURNIPS: We won't plant turnips successively, as they prefer the "cooler" weather. You know the cool 89 degree January weather we've been enjoying. So take up as much the 2X2 square as our seeds will allow. The only difference between radish and turnip planting strategy is spacing. Plant turnips four inches apart, both vertically and horizontally.

Turnips and radishes will be ready for harvest in four or five weeks, so you almost could sit and watch these ones grow. I probably will.

Carrots

Anyone wanna take the lead on carrot sowing? We have a baby carrot and a regular long variety.

Let's plant the carrots successively (so that they won't all ripen at once.) I have reserved three 2X1 sections for the carrots, so we can sow a 1X1's now for each variety, and one more every two weeks. 

Basic instructions: 

(1) Sprinkle fifty seeds as evenly as you can over one square foot. (The book I have recommends doing this from a spice container with a little bit rock phosphate mixed in, but I can't find rock phosphate anywhere).

(2) Mix 2 parts topsoil, 1 part sand. Sprinkle a layer of this mix about 1/4 inch deep over the seed.

(3) Sprinkle 1/4 cup fertilizer atop that layer.

(4) Add 1/8 inch more of the topsoil/sand mixture. 

(5) Pat gently. Mist the soil with our misting nozzle, to a depth of about three inches.

Sit, wait, and watch the carrots grow. For seventy days.

Layout & Labels

I posted a file with the garden layout to our google docs, but can't seem to here. Any changes you'd like to propose?

Laura, you mentioned wanting to make the planting labels. Our first plants will be radishes, carrots (long and baby), green onions, peas, and turnips, if you want to get started. 

A Bigger Bean Teepee

I'll check into what we need to get for the bean/pea teepee--but, I was thinking more like 6 feet in diameter, like so:

The Dirt Has Arrived!

Before

During


After

TeePea

So Laura has the great idea of building a bamboo teepee for our pea and bean vines. The kids can play in it and it will be an aesthetic flourish.

L, start gathering those materials since we should be planting peas asap. Maybe early next week we can put that together and sow them pea seeds.

If the teepee has a three foot diameter, we should be able to grow at least as many beans and snap peas as we were intending for the raised beds.

The Dirt

If we can have the dirt in its bed(s) by the weekend, then we can plant sow carrot, radish, onion, turnip, and pea seeds. 

Dirt Delivery!

I ordered our dirt today! It should be delivered tomorrow by noon. Melissa--how quickly do we need to get the dirt into the beds in order to keep up with your planting schedule?