Full Circle: 2011

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Winter Garden, Second Time Around

I understood in my first year of gardening that since I was in Southern California I could still grow things during winter. Kale, bok choy, chard (which probably wouldn't die if a nuke was dropped directly on it) and spinach were all I planted last fall. I didn't realize that here, my "winter" garden gets to be as diverse as my spring one. I basically get to plant all the crap that would die in the 110 degree summer weather that isn't recommended for my zone. Take that mother nature! I can grow whatever I want, I just have to do it at certain times of the year. Boo yah.

I planted:

Bok choy
Broccoli
Carrots
Cilantro
Dill
Garlic (planted 52 cloves so far)
Garlic Chives
Kale (dinosaur kale, rawr!)
Leeks
Lettuce (5 different kinds)
Marigolds
Onions (yellow)
Onions (red)
Parsley (Italian)
Poppys
Radishes
Spinach

November 26, 2011

Habaneros! Not many leaves left after the wind.

Volunteer dill plant

Volunteer cucurbitabeae (melon or squash, not sure which yet)

Garlic coming up 2 weeks after planting

Radishes

One of hundreds of volunteer lettuce plants

Bok choy with diatomaceous earth on it

Chinese Ornamental Pepper, insert penis joke here.

Roma tomatoes, the plant is loaded with green ones.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Making Pots

I got a fancy seedling pot maker. All you need is newpaper, and I have tons of that, and the scraps that are left over from making pots can be composted! No more buying seed starter trays.

Potmaker

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Voila!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Beans Everywhere

My pole beans came in about two months late, but man, they are not messing around. I can harvest handfuls of them daily. I'm sure I'll be sick of them soon, but in the meantime, I am amused as shit every time I go searching for beans. I usually find some grasshoppers and a praying mantis or two as well.

October 8, 2011

October 8, 2011 - Basil, tomatoes, peppers, chard

October 8, 2011 - BEANS

October 8, 2011 - Cantaloupe

October 8, 2011 - Honeydew

October 8, 2011 - Habaneros, the plant is loaded down with them

Composting!

I've been wanting to start composting for a while, and even saved up $100 to buy a really cool barrel composter with a compost tea attachment. When I went to buy it, it was sold out! And has been for a year now. So I put off the project.

Then one day my new, and incredibly amazing boyfriend, said to me "I'm going to make you a composter." Could I get any luckier? I get to compost and I don't have to do any work? Yes, please. Less than 2 weeks later, voila, composter in my yard. A pretty fancy one at that. He also made me two buckets with spigots for compost tea. What a man.

October 8, 2011 - My fancy composter!

Melons!

I picked a cantaloupe a bit too soon. Then I got bored and took silly pictures with it. It wasn't very sweet but I ate it anyway.

September 20, 2011

September 20, 2011 - I have too much free time

Fall Garden

My fall garden in So Cal is just as productive as my summer garden. When it's 100+ degrees in fall, the plants don't realize they're supposed to be waning away from the cold. Also, mystery solved, I have a volunteer sorghum plant in my yard. Trying to research some cool stuff to do with it.