State of the garden

While the garden does not look as lush as it once did, I'm still enjoying its vegetables—chard, carrots, and cherry tomatoes. The yellow wax beans are producing a few beans as a second crop, and the green pole beans look like they might produce a second crop, too. I don't spend much energy or time "tending" the garden. I water it in the evening, and that's it.


I have learned that chard keeps producing. I cut off leaves as I want to eat them, and more grow in their place.

The tomato plant is sickly looking, and something appears to have eaten the top of it. However, it is still producing tomatoes quite abundantly.

Backyard improvements

This morning I took advantage of the day off work mid-week and, before it got too hot, transported a pile of medium-sized chunks of junk concrete and broken bricks and lined them up alongside the house. I didn't know what else to do with them as they are not supposed to be disposed of in the regular trash. And it's not as though this side of the house is very pretty to begin with....

Because there is only a one-foot pathway between my garden plot and the retaining wall, and because I don't have a wheelbarrow anyway, I made numerous trips from the back to the side of the house carrying concrete in a strong cloth bag.


Next, I put all the little concrete pieces in two garbage sacks one inside the other and stored the sack in my garage.

Now I had space to assemble and display a new fire pit. This is not something I probably would have purchased, but a few months ago, I got an offer of a gift from my company for working there ten years. Now, I have worked on and off for ten years, and although I don't have seniority when it comes to extra vacation time, I guess the ten years count for something.

There were a number of items from which I could choose—watches, jewelry, electronics, silverware sets, and an outdoor fire pit. Having recently enjoyed an outdoor fire in the evenings at PTF and inspired by my boarding school "big sister's" outdoor fire at her chai parties, I selected the Coleman 30-inch round copper fire pit.


It was easy to assemble, and the clothes drying on the lines shaded me as the morning sun grew hotter.

Now I need to start collecting wood. Because I don't have a drivable car or a bicycle trailer, I've had to ride by wood pallets free for the taking alongside the road.

A couple weeks ago, I finally planted my bougainvillea vine. It had lost most of its leaves/flowers, but already is looking better for being directly in the ground. As I was digging, I came upon another huge rock (see foreground of fire pit picture), which I dug out. I used a few other large rocks to make a simple border around the bed.

Tomato red

Lunch from the garden

Garden Plot June 9, 2006

The first tomatoes, which were lurking in the center of the rather large plant.


The second blueberry—I ate the first one a couple days ago.


The pole bean vines, which have climbed the seven-foot poles, curled around the clothes lines, and turned the corner of the house.

Nasturtiums planted

I finally got nasturtiums planted in the planter boxes that fit between the retaining wall and the neighbors' fence. I am hoping they will cascade over the retaining wall to disguise it.



The top of the fence is quite lovely, with the neighbors' roses peeking through.

Bush beans

Some of these Beurre de Roquencourt Wax Bush Beans ended up in the pot for part of my supper tonight. Yum!

Rain bonus

Last night and today it rained, a very happy and unusual event for this time of year. The garden is growing right along. The few radishes left are way over size.


The Tom Thumb lettuce is deliciously soft and fascinating just to look at. One head makes a nice size meal.

Expert help

On Friday my sister helped me with ideas for my backyard and garden. First, the pole beans desperately needed place to climb—they had commandeered the tomato plant, which also needed staking. I had thought I would try construct a vertical structure out of pipe, as illustrated in Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening book. But my sister suggested the simpler method of four bamboo poles placed in a pyramid-shaped structure. I already had a tomato cage on hand.

Also, my sister suggested fitting planter boxes between the fence and the ugly two-foot high concrete retaining wall and growing some kind of cascading plant to cover the concrete.

I decided, too, I wanted to try cover the side of the hot water heater shed and fix the chicken wire fence.

So we drove to San Gabriel Nursery to get supplies. We found bamboo poles and narrow plastic planter boxes for the retaining wall. We also bought four-foot high metal poles to stake the fence around the garden more securely.

We looked at all kinds of climbing plants and planters for the side of the shed, but I needed more time to decide how I want it to look. (It is occurring to me as I'm typing to see if maybe I can use the excavated concrete pieces to build a planter against the shed.) Thanks to the influence of the Path to Freedom folk, I'm looking for something edible to cover shed—and am now thinking I'll re-use the concrete pieces, too.

Then we hunted for cascading plants, including jasmine and ivy geraniums, until I saw the nasturtiums, which are edible, and again thought of the PTF homestead. So I will double-check the nasturtium seeds I have on hand to see if they are a trailing variety and prepare the soil for the planter boxes. I hope the location against the solid fence will get enough sun. If not, I'll plant something else.

Lastly, my sister had an idea for providing shade now that the tree is gone. I can simply drape a colorful cloth over the clotheslines when I want to read and relax in my backyard.

Later Friday afternoon, we staked up the plants and fixed the fence. On Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market, I bought a bougainvillea plant for instant color by the shed. I'll still plant something edible, but could not resist at least a narrow column of a flowering vine.

Thank you to my sister for the help and inspiration!

Good bug

Tonight as I was watering, I saw a ladybug on the radishes. I hope it found a tasty meal.

Harvest!

The radishes and lettuce with the carrots on the left.


And here's the first radish from the garden!

Progress report 4-10

Here are the radishes with four lettuce plants in the square above them. You can also see some transplanted radish plants to the left—except for the bean seeds, I planted at least two seeds in each hole hardly believing they would actually sprout.


Here are bush beans, with cucumbers to the far left.

New perspective

I'm amazed at how differently I interpret things after only a few weeks of gardening. The topic of seeds is particularly at front of mind right now. My seeds have actually sprouted! I am just amazed. Many before me have been amazed and have written eloquently about that amazement. And I've been amazed before, but I am amazed all over again.

I've read Genesis 1:11-12 many times. But I had never particularly delved into the importance placed on seed. It's the vegetation's ability to yield seed that is emphasized through repetition. It's not just "plants and trees" but "plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed."

In contrast, today's WSJ "The Evening Wrap," (paid subscription required) by Mark Gongloff (whose clever presentation of the day's business news I've come to enjoy, not least of which is because its arrival in my e-mail inbox signals that it is soon time to leave work for home), gave this news about Monsanto:

Monsanto said it earned $440 million in its fiscal second quarter, up 18% from a year ago. The maker of seeds, Roundup herbicide and other farm products said its sales rose 15% to $2.2 billion.

However one might interpret Genesis chapter one, calling Monsanto a "maker of seeds" struck me as just wrong! Plants yield their seed, not Monsanto!

I probably would have just skimmed over the mention of seeds had I read these two items without the experience of watching my seeds sprout during these past days.

Chard

I now have little sprouts of chard, carrots, lettuce, beans, and peas. Not many, but some. The radishes are one and a half to two inches high. It rained earlier this week and last night into this morning. The sun is coming and going right now.

You can already see the hint of red in the chard. Hopefully, one day these tiny plants will look like this gorgeous picture taken by Kerstin.

The radishes are up

Radish sprouts:

In the package by the back door

A new reprint from Dover Publications of Old-Time Farm and Garden Devices and How to Make Them by Rolfe Cobleigh.

[Update 4/11/06: Here's a link to the online version of the book. Via Beth at Loxosceles, via Beth's pattern for knitted nautiloids.]

And tonight

Yet more rain this evening.

Rain tonight

Well, the rain did come, shortly after 8:00 p.m. The shower lasted around half an hour. I hope my seeds are happy!

Seeds

Rain was expected today, but although it did get cloudy, no rain came, and there were periods of sun.

First thing this morning, I laid out the grid pattern of one-foot squares. Then later today I planted some of the squares. Along the back row, which is the sunniest and for which I hope to construct a trellis, I planted Satsuki Madori Cucumbers and Black Seeded Blue Lake Snap Pole Beans. There is one empty square next to the tomato plant.

Next row, with one empty square left: Beurre de Roquencourt Wax Bush Beans; Red Core Chantenay Carrots; and Ruby Swiss Chard.

Next row, with two empty squares left: Tom Thumb Lettuce and French Breakfast Radishes.

Last row (most shaded from fence shadow), with three empty squares left: Ruby Swiss Chard.


I'm feeling very doubtful that I did anything right! But I'm trying to give myself a lot of slack. It seems overwhelming to keep everything you're supposed to do, in what order, straight. But I'm already thinking next year I'll know how to plan and think ahead better.

In the midst of my uncertainty—as I held the seeds wondering if I planted them too deep or too early or in not the right spot or without soaking some of them or without soaking them long enough—I was thinking what a gift seeds, and the food they produce, are.

Wandering around the Farmer's Market this morning was sheer delight as I looked at all the beautiful produce heaped on tables and thought of my little square-foot soil patches and how, maybe, someday, they might grow vegetables, too.

Above all, I was grateful that I was able to buy fresh oranges and cabbage and chard and radishes and speckled lima beans while waiting for my seeds to sprout, yet appreciating the food that much more.

Cat guard

Today at lunch I stopped by the hardware/lumber store near work and picked up some chicken wire for a temporary, cheap fence to keep the cats out of the garden plot.

I need to figure out either how to make a nicer fence out of the chicken wire or another solution to keep the cats away.

But now I can start planting without worrying about the cats. So far I have one tomato plant, which I transplanted last Thursday evening (3/9). You can barely see it in the far corner.

The Sunshine Blue blueberry bush I bought at the Farmer's Market on Saturday is visible in the lower left of the picture. I need to decide where and how to plant it.

Also, today the crew came by and dug the stump down and cut around the main roots. Then they filled in the hole with the dirt I had dug out of the garden area. Hopefully, the stump will just rot away under the soil.

The soil is ready!

Monday evening when I came out to check the garden plot, I saw that someone had filled it back up with the soil I had dug out and heaped next to the gate. The electrical panel is still being worked on, so I figured it might be that crew. I was not very happy...until I started mixing my special soil today and realized I wouldn't have had enough room if that other pile of soil had still been there.

After re-digging out the soil and putting it on the other pile, mid-afternoon today I went over to Path to Freedom, where they had kindly dug up about two cubic feet of the organism-rich soil from their animal enclosure for me. After an animated conversation telling me about their exciting plans (including maybe getting a small goat!), I came back to mix their soil together with the other ingredients I had purchased at the nursery. I had brought a sample of my native soil with me, and they confirmed that, yes, it needed amending so it wouldn't turn to adobe during the summer.

When the house was painted some time ago, the painters left some of their large plastic sheets, as well as a paint bucket, which I had saved. So I put the plastic down and dumped out about two cubic feet of peat moss; a bunch of perlite (I don't remember how much I purchased and there was no marking on the bag); the PTF soil; another two cubic feet of top soil; and some mineral/humus fertilizer. I really thought I bought compost, but I guess not.


The base soil was about level with the bottom of the boards, and my mixture is about an inch and a half to two inches below the top of the eight-inch boards. It will probably settle some more with the rain that's forecast for Friday, and I may need to add a bit more soil, but I'm happy for now!


Next task: figure out how to keep cats and other creatures out of the plot.

A frame

This afternoon I asked the landlord to have a look at the foundation and see what he thought. He didn't seem worried about it. He just asked that I don't plant right up against it or plant anything with destructive roots. He also loaned me his heavy duty pruning shears so I could cut out some of the larger roots.

So this afternoon I did more digging, cutting out of roots, and disposal of random concrete chunks, along with two crumpled Schlitz beer cans. I also nailed together the wood frame.


Now I need to decide how many more of the small rocks to try sift out and what "recipe" to use for the soil. I think I'll consult Jeavons's book How to Grow More Vegetables tonight, in addition to Bartholomew's recommendations.

Rain is in the forecast, again, for tomorrow, but maybe by the middle of the week I shall have the square ready for planting.

The big rock

Now I'm wondering if maybe I took out too much concrete....The foundation at the corner is not straight; it bows out at an angle. Maybe the concrete was reinforcement for earthquake protection? Regardless, it was not properly put in, for example, with forms and then smoothed off.


I might stuff a rock right next to the concrete in the corner or show it to my landlord and offer to pay to have it fixed properly. But I really don't want concrete extending too far from the house because that's the sunniest spot.

I wasn't intending to dig too deep, but as I started digging out the soil, I struck a big rock. So I had to dig down and around it to get it out. It's on the left next to the pile of dirt. There are also a lot of roots left from the tree. So I'll need to cut those out.

Concrete, begone!

On my way home from work tonight, I stopped by Barr Lumber to rent something to break up concrete. I ended up buying a three to four pound sledge hammer. I didn't think the concrete would be much more than two inches thick.

Well, I was a little off, but the small sledge hammer did a reasonable job of breaking up most of the concrete. I have about one foot square to finish. It's a good four inches thick in that spot, but I should be able to chip away at it.

There appears to be a brick lining along the wall, so I probably won't be able to dig right up to the wall/footer. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow in the daylight.


I don't think the concrete served a useful purpose along the corner wall, but, if so, it was shoddily done and should be redone properly. I'm betting not, though. The man at the hardware/lumber store told me that often construction workers will dump out left over concrete and let it dry because it's easier to break it up then and haul it away. Sometimes they don't haul it away, though.

[Edit 3/4/06: Pictures added of last night's work. The pile grows!]

Alas, concrete!

Tonight, after work, I moved the pile of dirt the stump diggers had heaped onto the site I'd like to put the garden spot. There is more rain predicted, and I wanted the rain to soak in as deeply as possible.

Alas, there is concrete up to two feet out from the wall of the house. So now I'm considering whether to break it up or just plant on top of it. I don't think it serves any vital structural function, although I'm not sure how far down the concrete footings extend.

Even if I did hit concrete, digging in the dirt was very satisfying after spending all day in a cubicle in front of a computer monitor.

Rain

It's been raining quite steadily this afternoon, as predicted. That was one reason I wanted to get the chunks of concrete and rocks picked up yesterday so that the rain could soak into the ground where I want to dig.

The rain is supposed to continue tomorrow and perhaps later in the week, too. This is good news for Southern California!

When a tree falls

Late Saturday afternoon, I went out to the back of the duplex to lay out a sweater to dry. The tree had been cut down! Although the tree lost it leaves in winter, during the summer it almost completely shaded the back yard. Now with the tree gone, I could make a raised bed in the back of the house instead of building a planter for the driveway.


This is the walkway from the kitchen door to the back of the house (facing south). The building on the left is the neighbors' garage. The ugly, enormous electrical panel has recently been installed for the duplex and the neighbors' (my landlords) house. The walkway is just under four feet wide, and it's about seventeen feet from the water tap on the lower right to the end of the duplex. You can barely see the stump at the end of the neighbors' garage.




This is the lovely back yard! This is facing east with the side of the duplex (my bedroom) facing south. The yard is about six feet wide and about twelve feet long from the corner of the duplex to the water heater shed. The fences between the two sides of the duplex and between my side and the landlords' house have gates, so clearance needs to be allowed for the swing of the gate.

I think the corner against the duplex will be the sunniest spot for a garden. Because I already have four-foot length boards, I think I will stay with that plan.





The view facing west. The solid portion of the fence with the other neighbor is about five and half feet high. The water heater shed is about six and half feet high. So both structures cast sizable shadows.

















The tree stump still needs to be removed. The tree had grown around some chunks of concrete that randomly and unevenly pave part of the yard, so the landlord said the stump has to be "dissolved." I told him I hope it's not with nasty chemicals.

I can't really start digging until the crew have finished removing the stump. But, this afternoon, eager to get started, I picked up rocks.

It's a start

Today when I was picking up my order of salad greens from Path to Freedom, I told Anais about the first stumbling steps I've taken to try grow some vegetables. She suggested I post pictures of my attempts.

So this is a start. One thing I've learned from the Dervaes family is not to wait for your "ideal" growing situation but to do what you can with what you have now.

I rent one side of a duplex, so I'm restricted in some of the changes I can make (like ripping out the lawn or concrete driveway). I had decided that the driveway was the only place that receives enough light, so I was going to build a four-foot by four-foot box planter for the side of the driveway per the plans in Mel Bartholomew's book Square Foot Gardening.

So yesterday's adventure was to purchase the wood to build the box. Earlier I had checked one hardware store that had a limited selection of lumber, but they couldn't even cut the boards to size for me. Yesterday I went to another hardware/lumber store, but they didn't have boards in the correct width.

Bartholomew suggests six inches high for the side of the box, but that seemed a little shallow, so I wanted at least eight inches. Twelve would be better, but then the box would get too heavy once it was filled with soil.

So I ended up at the "contractor's" lumber yard, where I found an eight-inch wide board of knotty pine, which the attendant cut into four-foot lengths.

I wanted plywood for the bottom so the planter would be portable, but plywood is expensive! So I held off hoping to find a four-foot square piece some place.

My next stop was a nursery to buy makings for soil. So now I had boards and the raw ingredients for soil.