As you can see, I have lined these two beds with cardboard I have been saving. The idea behind this is...worms like to eat cardboard so let's feed the worms. Also the boards on my boxes don't' meet well so it should help keep the dirt in the boxes.
Then I put the chips on top. This will help with drainage and nutrients. Now some dirt and some compost and the beds will be ready to plant. I am so excited! It is also recycling...I just love being green! Speaking of green...
Look what is up in my East wing....Tulips!
AND...grape hyacinths! Easter is coming!
This is the "East" wing of my gardens. Today I dug up the middle bed in this picture. It is now ready to plant. There are actually 4 beds in here. The two beds to the west are full of dirt.
If you look at the post in the middle, you can see the orange tape blowing in the MIGHTY wind we are having today.
This morning, before it got windy, I dug up the one bed, and staked and leveled the bed next to that one. I have one more bed in there to level and then I can fill them both with compost and yard scraps.
Four beds here and five in my West wing. I have until the end of this month, which is when I want to be planting. I have six more beds to build and fence in...somehow. But I have enough to get started.
I just went out to take pictures so I could post this and this is what I found...
Looks like SOME dog was messing around in here. Want to guess who THAT was?
So I raked it back again.
This is my gate...
This what it looks like closed. In this position, it is efficient at keeping the dogs out. Now I just need to remember to do this when I come out.
Today I would like to talk about my starter cups. The tomatoes are up!!! I have 20 beefsteak tomatoes up and 9 Polish Linguisa tomatoes up. I planted 24 and twelve, respectfully. I am now waiting on the peppers.
I can't help but think about (lust over) the thought of those beefsteak tomatoes on (or in) my BLT's, or tomato sauce, salads. They give me hope for the future. This tiny little sprout is what I have been waiting for. I have about 500 quart canning jars I am hoping to put a big dent in by canning up the little beauties that come from these sprouts. I read that if you blow a fan on these while they are small, it will help make the stalk strong. Get them ready for the big winds we get around here. If they are good enough...I hope to sell some, too. Maybe up on the highway would be a good place.
This is what my kitchen table looks like now. There are only 2 kinds of tomatoes and the rest are peppers. I want to grow my own peppers for my hot pepper relish. There are green, red yellow, orange, and purple sweet peppers and jalepenos, pablano, serrano, banana, and a couple more I can't remember right now. (Darn that some-timers disease!)
I would gladly give up my table for a garden full of the best veggies around. I have a bunch of cups to fill up with dirt for other veggies. Then there are the ones I will plant directly in the ground. I can hardly wait. I LOVE SPRING!
Today I want to show you what I did with my paper starter pots/cups.
I have cut a 2 1/2 gallon water jug in half. I plan on using it to house my seed cups till they are ready to put in the soil. First I cut off the spigot, then followed the seam around with a sharp knife.
Here is my kitchen table pushed up against the slider door with different containers full of my cups. I believe there 130 cups now.
Looking at the side of the box, you can see this box has a sweet pepper mix, that was planted 2/23/10. These peppers are red, orange, white, purple, and yellow. I have an old plastic bag in the bottom of this water box. I have it folded over the top and tucked inside to keep the moisture in. Plus, being black I hope it keeps the heat in so the seeds germinate faster.
These are the heirloom paste tomatoes. Hopefully they will be good for salsa, also.
I used a skewer to make little wells in the cups....
I poured the seeds into a cup I could easily pick the seeds out of one by one.
One seed per cup, please. If the seed doesn't come up with the other seeds, plant the cup again.
Then cover the little seeds with the potting mix.
Mark the date and what is in the cups, on the side with a sharpie.
Another tomato that I love are these...Super Sweet 100's. They are thin skinned cherry tomatoes and they are so sweet! These seeds are pelleted...which means they are coated with starter food and rolled into balls so they are easier to start. We shall see. I have never planted pelleted seeds before.
Here they are. See how funny they look? Sort of like yogurt coated tiny, tiny sesame seeds.
I also dated the seed packs and folded the tops over. That way, when I go back a few weeks from now to start more of the same seeds, I can get them 2 weeks apart.
Why would I need to plant more of the same seeds, you ask? Just in case I plant these and it freezes or I want to stagger plantings so I have what I want all summer long. I hope to keep it going gang busters all summer.
A few other things....water the pots from the bottom...it keeps the seeds from being disturbed. Don't let them dry out. Being in the dark my help the seeds start faster as long as you keep an eye on when the plants come up. If you don't get the 'dark' off soon enough, the plants will be spindly. I also read that if you blow a small fan on your seedlings a portion of the day, it makes them sturdier. It is like the wind blowing so the stalks get thicker. We shall see....
I have only planted peppers and tomatoes so far. Next up...black beauty eggplant, melons, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. The rest (I think) can be planted directly in the dirt. Like lettuce, kale, spinach, swiss chard, carrots (different colors) and a bunch of other veggies. I hope.
If you look closely between all the dead stuff, you can see the new life coming through. I posted a picture last year of this plant in full bloom. It has the most lovely lavender blooms.
Here it is in all it's splendor. See what I have to look forward too? Now I just need to cut off the dead branches and add water.
I like the way spring shows us signs of the beauty to come. Spring seems to be full of hope for the future. It never seems to come fast enough for me. I guess my lesson is patience.
Thursday I went to my West garden and started to clean it up. I raked out all the old plant debris and then pulled most of the weeds.
I cleaned up 3 beds. Now all I need to do is rototill in some compost and wait for the perfect time to plant.
I also tried to resurrect my fence. Seems that Bad Dog has figured out how to jump it. I am hoping that I can get one more year out of it. Then I want to build a permanent fence down the whole west side of the yard. Something that is buried and high enough to keep MOST of the Critters out...including the dogs. With a functional gate. Maybe even some lighting so I can work after dark when it is cooler out.
Just dreams not yet realized.
This is the landscape around the train station. I believe this is a dreaded Johnson Killer. At least that is what we call it in my family. It was named after a friend of the family named Kevin Johnson . He was walking in the desert not 2 miles from this very spot and ran into one of those leaves. They are very stiff and shaped in a big V. The very end of the leaf is pointy like a fat needle. So when Kevin walked into one of these it stuck deep in his calf and he was heard to say..."I am dying!" Hence the name. It seems so prejudice to give it that name when it only killed one Johnson. As you can see it is stretching across the sidewalk...like it is looking for another Johnson.
I have a little more free time now that the garden is done (sort of).
Here you can see that the squash vines have died out. This was before I picked out all the fruit/veggies. I have since pulled a lot of the vines out of here. I want them to be dried up before I put them in my compost pile. I also want to make a new...improved compost bin. Much bigger than my little black box. Since I get scraps from the pizza place...I need a bigger bin.
So...I want one that is big enough to get my rototiller in. THAT way I don't have to turn it by hand with a shovel. I also want to plant some winter veggies and maybe some peas. Peas...whether you eat them or not...are a good plant for the soil. The roots get little nodules on them that are full of nitrogen...a wonderful thing for your soil. It prepares it for next spring.
But I have to clean this mess up before I can do any of that. Man do I need some help. Today I have zucchini bread to make and then I have boxes of pomegranates to squeeze. No rest for the weary.
Today I would like to talk about free compost. If you are in a hurry for free compost, Google it in your search engine. You will be surprised what comes up. In Los Angeles County here in Ca. there are 8 places you can go to. To find out where, go to www.smartgardening.com , go to "additional information" and scroll down to free mulch locations. It gives maps, directions, days, and hours.
The one I went to was an easy on and off of the freeway. A friend and I took some 18 gallon storage bins, some rakes, a tarp large enough to cover the bottom of her truck bed, twice, and some bungee cords.
When we got to the site, we covered the bottom of her truck bed with the tarp, with the excess on the cab. We then put the bins up tight to the compost and just raked the compost into the bins. Compost is relatively light, so it was easy for me to pick a bin up by myself and empty it into the truck bed. We continued this process till the bed was full.
At that point, we pulled the rest of the tarp back over the top of the compost and secured it with the bungee cords. We didn't want it all blowing out on the way home.
To empty the truck, we put another tarp down on the ground, raked some compost out till it was light enough for us Ladies to grab the "loose" end of the tarp and pull the rest out. The whole process took us less than two hours. That included 1 1/2 hours of driving time. Not too bad in my opinion.
Now, just so I had information for you all...I Googled "free compost". One of the things that came up was Starbucks. They give away their used coffee grounds. Grounds are very good for roses. Just toss them around the stalk of the plants. Also, worms LOVE coffee grounds and egg shells, crushed. Worms are great to have for fertilizer. Their waste is readily accessible nutrients for plants to absorb. Plus they are organic.
I am trying to plant a bunch of raised beds, using compost and "worm tea" for fertilizer. I make some of the compost here at home. But I need much more than my household waste can cover. So I went to our local pizza place, Big Al's, and asked them for their veggie scraps...nothing with seeds. So twice a week they drop a box of scraps on my front porch, which I take to my compost bin.
I have decided that my compost bin is not big enough to handle that much scraps, so I am working on building a bigger compost bin. It needs to have a removable front so I can get my rototiller in there to turn the compost (I can't kick a shovel with my bad feet). So that project will go on the "project" page.
Compost is made from equal parts green materials (grass clippings, garden trimmings, green leaves, manure from non-meat eating animals, coffee and tea grounds with bags and filters) and brown materials (wood chips, straw, hay, dry grass and weeds, stale bread, shredded paper, dry leaves, nut shells). Water it till it runs out the bottom. After 10 days, turn the pile, and every 10 days there after. Don't forget to water it.
In 2-6 months you will have compost. Your plants will love it . So does your Mother...Mother Earth, that is.
Hope this helps. Leave a comment if you have questions or more suggestions. I want this site to share information, both ways.
The thing about gardens...they are like children. They need to be tended everyday, with love, they have minds of their own, you need to feed and water them,try not to put toxic stuff into them, and hope you have more of the "sunny" days than the other kind. When they are ripe for the picking, some of them fall off on their own, or you might have to "dig" them out-and some are just very "prickly". But in the end...share the harvest. It can be so sweet.
I want to show you how to get the most out of your garden for the space you have. Luckily I have a LOT of space...but here in CA we have water issues. With the wide-row, raised beds, it takes less water, makes it easier to weed, and utilizes space better. But remember...the garden you plant might not end up being the garden you get. Maybe it is like the Stones song , "you get what you need"...at least I hope so.
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