Doing Nothing Is Something Right?

One by one

2015-07-02T13:27:00.001-07:00

Short post cause I'm using my cell phone...

The 5th one I've picked so far

Also, the butternut finally got

Going!

The spaghetti squash is growing so fast!

And lastly I have a few pumpkins on the vine. I see that many fail, not sure why but it's happened every time. No worries though!

Spheres and Swirls

2015-06-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Things are so great in the garden. At the moment everything is growing really well and at lightning speed, and no gophers! Happy day.

My first plum. While we have wild plum trees in our yard, I like normal sized ones better. This is the first!

I saved some seeds and forgot to label the bag. I would guess pumpkin but it might be some sort of squash like I like to roast. I'll just have to wait a bit longer to be sure.

I have never had so many flowers on a tomato plant before!

Pumpkins. A few fail which I suppose is the nature of things but there are 4 at least on each plant at the moment so I hope I at least get a few for Halloween this year.

Interesting leaves on the "Fairytale" pumpkin plant.

Spaghetti squash is growing all over the damn place.

I have picked a few already but I usually don't get tomatoes until July/August, maybe because of my laziness, but still! . I am stoked that they are here already.

Back to Normal

2015-06-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am up and running again! I got a light tent so I can take photos of my produce and we re-did everything as you could see in the previous post about a month ago. What a difference a month makes. Here is what it's looking like now!

Big Max and Fairytale pumpkins

Yellow Zucchini

Another Big Max and Artichoke

The first tomato to change color.

Snap Dragons.

One of a few pumpkins to get growing!

Spider webs and limes.

Dino Kale

All set

2015-05-14T14:35:00.001-07:00

So my posts have been short because I'm using my cell phone but I plan to get back to using the computer and my camera as soon as stuff gets interesting,

Hopefully in a good way.

Anyway, the garden is done except for a a pile more of mulch that I need. I've got lots of stuff growing and hopefully I will have more success this time around!

Today is the day

2015-04-27T12:17:00.001-07:00

Just a small teaser of what I am up

To today!

Moving fast

2015-04-21T12:24:00.001-07:00

My greenhouse is doing such wonders! Unfortunately the bok choy is done and they didn't even get in the ground. They were baby bok choy so it is all good, I'm chopping them off today and making room for more starts that need to be upgraded. I don't have enough plastic pots! I waited a bit longer than I should since they are now flowering but not a worry, I'm still going to eat them.

This weekend is the planting weekend, I hope! The tomatoes are getting too tall in the greenhouse and I'm just running out of room really!

Step one

2015-04-06T12:05:00.001-07:00

So the fence project is done. Next is to make the beds, make more and make the existing ones work better. Speaking or fences...

I also had to fence in my fruit trees from those damn deer. It will make the garden ugly for a few years but there's nothing else I can do!

Let's try again

2015-03-19T14:42:00.001-07:00

Well here I am after a long break. I got

Discouraged by pests and moving the previous year. Gardening is lovely but not a walk in the park. This year we are rebuilding everything and I am also tackling the backyard. Today however, I am upgrading my atarts. We built a greenhouse and things are doing so much better than they were inside the house. Thank god for a roof deck!

The Happening

2014-07-22T17:00:00.002-07:00

Good news and bad news

Good news is that Iv'e got a lot of butternut squash coming and pumpkins, bad news is that the first few always seem to rot. I don't really think it's anything out of the ordinary but it's still a bummer. Some are pushing through though which is great. Soup anyone?

Yellow zucchini's are so much tastier than the green ones.

There is no more path. The problem of a crowded garden.

Butternut

Good news is that I have a lot of tomatoes, bad news is that a lot of the plants are turning brown. The stalks, not only the leaves. I read up about it and it seems like I have either watered too much or that there is something in the soil. I know that I was watering more than I used to but the plants always looked so wilt-y that I thought they needed more water. I do remember the plants looking like this in October when they were done making fruit and just dying, so it's sad to see that happening to quite a few already. I hope I still get some damn tomatoes!

They are getting so damn tall.

Problems...

Egg Yolk Tomato

I also have not had too much success with strawberries and I think this is because the soil just doesn't keep moisture. They always seem so dried out :( This is why I kind of believe the reason for the tomatoes dying is because I was overwatering them. CHANGE IS SO DAMN HARD. I need my homemade compost back. Hopefully that will come next year.

Blurry, sorry. Don't feel like going back out there to take another photo.

First picks

2014-07-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Pushing through

2014-06-24T17:28:00.001-07:00

Well it seems, I hope, that the gopher is gone. at last count I lost 1 pumpkin plant, one butternut squash and 4 tomato plants. What an asshole.

Anyway, the garden is still growing so as long as I can stay ahead of him which is actually pretty impossible, i'll be okay. Seriously just hoping he's gone.

My last remaining pumpkin plant.

Love these little guys.

1 of 4 zucchini plants.

I also love the little curls the squash and pumpkins make.

Nice cluster of tomatoes.

The wildflowers haven't been eaten by the deer! Just amazing.

Late in the day

2014-06-19T18:01:00.002-07:00

Now I am up to 4 lost tomato plants and one pumpkin. I am hoping no more will be taken from my garden but if the gopher comes back I hope it will be it's last day.

Anyway, it's a bit dark out so I apologize for the fuzzy photos but I just wanted to capture some stuff now before I forget.

I planted some wildflowers and surprisingly they have not been eaten by the deer yet.

The last remaining pumpkin still going strong.

My first pepper. I have never had success starting from seed but a friend gave me a few starts and they are doing alright considering it's not super hot out here.

Dino kale is so lovely to look at.

mmm cucumbers.

small yellow zucchinis on the way.

and those leaves that match the squash.

Gopher problem

2014-06-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately I have lost two tomato plants to a gopher. It's something I nee planned for and well, they eat it from the root up so there's not much I can do in terms of saving the plant after it's been munched on. :(

Well ain't that a sweet sea of green.

2014-06-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately these plums get no bigger than this. They are like 60% pit 40% flesh, but man are they good anyway.

The berries are taking over.

I might have a garden, but it doesn't mean the rest of my yard is landscaped.

Green City.

My dinosaur plant that I bought from the SF Botanical Garden.

Lot's of tomatoes, as usual.

Yellow Zucchini

I suppose it was a stupid move to put both pumpkin plants on the path right next to each other.

Will the mobile app make me do this more often!?

2014-06-05T09:14:00.001-07:00

Let us see! Not much to say except that I do still garden, I just got lazy and didn't photograph it. Everything is on schedule thoguh I did not have much success with starting seeds this year. My new house does not come with a built in greenhouse so I will have to get a better set up next year to have success with that. Most of these tomatoes a bought a few I started and I few I got from a nice woman. The kale and squash are my starts from seed and the peppers were also from a friend. Enjoy!

Big max pumpkin leaf

I also started these from seed. Mmm cucumbers.

An array of peppers and a bunch of Dino kale

That's the jist of the garden. I keep squishing more and more things closer together in hopes of fitting more and more into a small space and so far I've been safe. Hopefully with all that I've got this year everything will still grow well. More to come

I suck

2014-03-13T17:52:00.002-07:00

Well, it's finally sunny at the house again, and yes I did start some seeds. If they ever pop up, the garden will start again! In the meantime I will probably be landscaping to pass the time. I am digging the front yard up now and will try to plant a few plants there in the next coming weekends. Why are there never enough weekends!

'Maters

2013-09-05T10:31:00.001-07:00

Still finding a hard time getting good light in this house. Deal with it!!

A small box of goodies from the garden. Considering I planted all this stuff in June, i'm doing pretty well so far.

Tiger Tom. accidentally picked the whole stem. damn.

Nice variety!

Not a great photo, but in real life the colors are great on this guy.

Damn critters

2013-09-03T12:15:00.003-07:00

There are spiders EVERYWHERE. I basically have to bushwhack my way around the backyard. It's intense.

Also, deer. I am learning about their diet, which is, try everything at least once and maybe twice. I didn't think they would care about the plant below(forgot the name) as it's a waxy leafed thing, but hey, ya never know.

Summer? Is that you?

2013-08-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

Growing "Spanish Eyes" in hanging pots. The flowers are very cute.

The Naked Ladies in the backyard bloomed.

Spider friend.

Well the plant died but i got a free chard plant out of it. Damn.

Christmas Grapes

Pear Tomato not in focus. Sweet.

Red Zebra

Yellow Pears

Wapsipinicon Peach

mmmmmm

Turkey Lurkey

2013-08-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, the pictures are bad. I took them from behind two windows and had to use the zoom. ANYWAY. We have a family of wild turkeys that live in the woods behind our house.

The make cute noises.

Beautiful day in the woods

2013-08-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

Spider friend. Your run of the mill Orb Weaver I think.

Love my yellow zucchini leaves.

Tomato swarm!

wild butterfly bush/weed growing in the yard. Excited to get the amazing purple flowers these plants make.

damn animals

2013-08-07T18:01:00.001-07:00

Well I got attacked! By Deer I am guessing. Damn!

Quite a few of my plants that were sitting next to the edge of the beds got pruned. Not what I wanted!

On a side note, I have Naked Ladies in the backyard.

ooooo

my first official handful of tomatoes.

Jamming

2013-08-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

Horrible pictures below, but I will take better ones after the jam has cooled and the sun isn't so harsh. Either way, I made jam! It's my first time making it, so I hope they all seal properly and that the contents inside taste delicious. 7 cups of sugar and 5 cups of blackberries should be a pretty good combo, so we will see. Me and my friend Amy picked just about 5 cups of blackberries from my backyard and across the street. Total score! I feel like there is a month or so left of blackberry season here, so maybe i'll end up with a million jars of jam. Super sweet!

All the recipes for jam are pretty straight forward, berries, sugar, pectin, lemon juice. Just google blackberry jam and any of the top hits will pretty much have the same ingredients and measurements. It's all in the quality of the berries here, so don't get crap stuff!

If you have ever canned things before that step is also pretty straight forward. Pectin boxes actually come with steps to make jam and can the stuff too, so just do a bit of reading and you will be on your way. No big deal, just make sure you have a big pot to hold all that sugar and another to boil a lot of water to process your jars with.

Oh, and the first "normal" sized zucchini that was picked a couple of days ago.

Packed in

2013-07-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

I have a pretty packed house this year. It's hard to get in and out of the tomato cage and things are so close together it's hard to get good photos, but I tried anyway. here is what I came across today.

Watered this morning and filled a flower.

Love the colors of the yellow zucchini leaves.

I think these are Tiger Tom's but the stick was hard to get to. When I actually pick it I'll confirm.

I think there are Christmas Grapes. Again, the stick with the name on it was hard to get to. I see a theme here. Damn.

Lemon Drop tomato

So little!

Some other heirloom. Stupid sticks.

I feel like these tomatoes look like rocks. Weird shape.

The Lemon Drop tomato plant makes purple leaves. Very cool.

Cloudy days

2013-07-23T10:22:00.004-07:00

It's been quite cloudy the past week but the tomatoes are still trucking. I just picked the first few. Things are going well. I potted a few plants that were dying literally and figuratively, to get out of their little plastic pots. They look so much nicer now! And this free plant that I have had for about a year finally made some flowers. Also, my kale and bok choy starts are getting there!