Conquering the land

Though the HOA says I can't plant veggies on the side of my house, I plan to any way. Any ideas for a nice design? This is the only area left that gets any sun at all.

Would like something that looks a little nicer than my typical not-quite-a-rectangle raised bed. Something that can hold a LOT of stuff.

I plan to think about this for months, then throw together something using scraps of wood and nails I find on the ground. But in my imagination it's going to be gorgeous.

Sunny days

These oats were grown as a cover crop. All planted at the same time, but some more shaded. What a difference a little sun makes:

Freak

I went to one of the world's nicest spas...and spent my time touring their gardens, learning about composting, and swapping tips about cover crops.

(Just HAD to take a picture of the people who couldn't be bothered to dress themselves before coming.)

Already?

Microgreens!!

Incoming

No sooner had we packaged up hundreds of extra seeds to distribute to others did I hit the internet and order more.


Soon arriving in my mailbox from rareseeds.com:

• Dragon's Egg Cucumber
• Green Doctors Tomato
• Black Cherry Tomato
• Golden Midget Watermelon
• Orange Flesh Tendersweet
• Jack Be Little Pumpkin
• Chioggia (Bassano) Beet
• Cockscomb - Dwarf Coral Garden Mix
• Kiwano - African Horned Cucumber
• Mountain Princess
• Tess's Land Race Currant
• Snow White
• Dr. Carolyn
• Chinese Red Noodle Bean
• Romanesco Italia Broccoli

Time to build some more raised beds!

I learned it by watching you!

Anxious

Brussel sprouts (child's request. Gross.)
Broccoli
Mesclun mix
Red onion
Lilac hybrid peppers
Snap peas

I have a dream this year that I'm going to build a trellis that allows peas, etc to grow from my raised beds up to the bottom of my deck. If it works, it will provide a nice screen to hide all the crap I store under the deck. Going to work more on growing up this year, as there's not much more sun to be had in my yard and we're running out of space to grow out. Then again, I did just get a new chainsaw, and some of those trees are looking past their prime...

Recycling

Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow!?

Ceased work on my deck to work on a raised bed. Took my old one which never was tall enough, added a second story plus a 2x6 trim to the top. All was done using scraps from deck construction.

Before (front):

Is it Spring yet?

Last year I wasn't terribly inspired to garden, but for some reason this week's arrival of the Tomato Growers' seed catalog has awakened the beast within. I cannot wait to get started!! Must resist. In the meantime, I'll be plotting my next project destined for disaster--I want to put in a raised bed on the side of our house. It will technically be in the front yard which is against the great leader's HOA's rules, so I need to make it look all fancy like and pretty. This is the only spot left in our entire yard that has even a bit of sun. Unless I figure out how to plant things on my roof. Don't underestimate the power of crazy.

Accidental fertilizer

Growing lettuce for the first time and it's doing really well. Only now it's coated in sawdust from pressure treated wood. Hmm. Wonder if that's problematic.

The small green stuff in front is my cover crop. (I think this bed is red crimson clover.) First time I've tried cover crops--it's nice to have some green around as everything else is turning brown.

Award winning

The snow white tomatoes were actually not too good to eat. In fact, after picking up my ribbons, I ate them while walking to my car. 

Loved the comments! 'Tis never too late to live life. Or be the freaky old lady entering the 4H fair with a bunch of 4 year olds. Same difference.

Health Kick VFFA Hybrid. Way more delicious and beautiful than I remember from 2010. Definitely going to plant more of these next year; they make a great salsa.

Teeny tiny tomatoes

The sweet pea currant tomatoes are about the size of raisins. They grow faster than one can pick them. Which is why I invited a friend over to do it for me.

After she had several hundred (pretty sure I'm not exaggerating) we let our girls make our dinner cook. Those tiny tomatoes go a long way when smothered in cheese and other nacho fixings. Mmm, good!

Look away!

 

(Salsa not properly canned, merely stored to be consumed over the next few days. Or hours. Whatever.)

Harvest

When we returned from our 2 week vacation we had a few tomatoes ready to be picked. This isn't all of them; in the end we had about 30 lbs, not counting the half rotten ones I left throughout our yard as offerings to the tomatovores that live in the woods behind our house.

Fast food

Our first non-cherry tomatoes have arrived!

The label vanished for these but I know they are Glaciers due to their very unique leaves.

We carried two in for dinner. By the time we made it up the 10 stairs, we had one. My kid stuffed THE WHOLE THING in her mouth.

It begins

Tonight my kid made (and ate!) mini-pizzas using tomatoes and basil from our garden. Thanks, Michelle Obama for convincing my kid that veggies are cool.

My kid and I had a long discussion tonight about why some people think tomatoes are a fruit and others say it's a vegetable. (I remember being obsessed with the same topic in 5th grade. Kids today just grow up so fast.)

Jalapenos are coming in by the handfull. The tomatoes are slowly but surely joining the party. I'm ready to salsa, so let's get moving, tomatoes!

We have some beets and turnips that look ready to pick. Not going to take the plunge until I've figured out how to prepare them.

Finally laid the two soaker hoses I bought and hooked them up to the handy automatic timer. I'll bet it's a lot easier to lay those hoses at the beginning of the season rather than trying to squeeze between 4 foot tall tomato plants.

Red

Had to shell out $7 for tomatoes at the farmer's market this week. I've resisted buying any so far, knowing we have a backyard full of green ones on the verge. But who could resist an adorable four year old begging her mom for veggies? I only bought one pint, but then she ate half of it before we left the market, so I bought a second.

Soon after arriving home we found this:

They look even fancier on the vine with a few special effects.

Most are still green, but just as I predicted we should have a decent first harvest by July 4.

Per tradition, I planted everything entirely too close together and have already had to cull the herd. Some items were transplanted elsewhere and others were just thrown on the grown to wither as I silently screamed at myself for planting stupid things like turnips.

And we're off!

Out of town for 8 days, the temps shot to the upper 90s. I was sure I would come home to parched if not dead plants, but my husband came through for me and kept them watered. In the week I was gone, almost all of my plants doubled - if not tripled - in size. Some of the tomatoes are already completely unruly and required massive pruning to get them back inside their cages. (If they don't at least start out growing inside the cage, there's no hope for keeping them under control.)

I planted marigolds to keep away bunnies and bugs. I didn't really notice they were the kind that would get to be 3 feet tall, and shade the very plants I was trying to save. Had to uproot a bunch of them.

The zinnia are blooming. My daughter helped grow those from seed and is quite proud.

The tomato plants have flowers, and some even have tomatoes!!!

The beets and turnips are growing incredibly fast. It's fun to watch but makes me wonder what in the world I will do with them once they have reached full size, a question I'm now facing when I look at my purple basil.

The cilantro has been my only disappointment so far. I was hoping it would do a great job reseeding itself as it has done in the past, but no such luck.

The grow houses in the bathtubs have been shut down, and all operations have relocated outside. Let the countdown to deliciousness begin!

Unclear

Dad was in town and pointed out my onions were flowering/going to seed and I needed to pick them.

Now what do I do with them exactly? I never actually expected the onion seeds I planted 9 months ago would amount to anything.

I think I'm supposed to cure them and store them in preparation for the apocalypse or something, but they don't seem large enough to make that worthwhile. I suppose I could eat them but I'm not even sure if I can just eat the white or the green too? This is a puzzler.

Stay tuned and I'll report back. (Most likely outcome: I forget about them until the fruit flies become so thick I investigate and find the onions' moldy remains.)

DONE. Well, with this part anyway.

(They are all even  lined up, the angles are just weird from above on the deck.)

Eventually grass will fill in (I did add seed), we'll make cute paths, or we'll just get some pigs to play in the mudhole. Not at the top of my to do list right now. If anything does grow, our lawn mower fits through the "aisles."