11/5 new president a comin'.
planted
peas
lettuce
beets
chard
cornflower
icelandic poppy
sweet peas
hh
11/13
planted
peas in beds

Notes for next year

Cucs- a plenty, but did we really like them? try dill pickles next year?
Tomatoes-cheery always good, black tomatoes not so much, need to stake the tomatoes better
Carrots-more more more
tricolor beans-a hit
sunset runners, not too impressive, few beans
squash...
basil-plant early...
volunteer pumpkins

more zinnias-
scabiosa-plant earlier
love in a mist-too short blooms
marigolds
cornflower
snapdragons
hollyhocks
cosmos
agrostemma
sunflowers-kinda puny
coreopsis
mystery orange
larkspur

Volunteers

no vampires here

That is the only garlic that didn't grow....The rest of them were gianormous! I just plopped store bought garlic bulbs in the ground in November, come June 15ish I dug 'em up and walla! I need to make some roasted garlic, garlic bread soon...here that matt...

Up From Seed

Grey Water Attempts

When am not lazy (which is often) I try and collect the water that runs out of the tap while the shower is heating up. Sounds a bit miserly, but you wouldn't believe just how much water that is...O.K. writing this reminds me to get off my ass, and to get the watering can from the yard to start this back up again.

Compost Giveaway

Twice year, the Berkeley Farmer's Market has a mass compost giveaway. There is no way my backyard compost can compete with this black gold. Then again, I won't plant my veggies in this stuff (made from municipal yard waste). Nonetheless, it is great to dig this in to my flower beds. Oh boy, did we get th booty haul, high fives flew that day...

No photoshop

Garden Plagues

My parsley is plagued by aphids:

 


...and our Southern Apple tree, despite being substantially trimmed, has still been afflicted with mildew on new leaves on the Northeast side:

 
 


However, the degree and extent of the mildew is substantially reduced from last year. So that's good.

And on a nice note, the climbing flowers of which I do not know the name have just bloomed:

Herb Seedlings

I noticed yesterday that, despite the cold weather, my herb seedlings have sprouted. Yee haw!


Oregano


Chives

How do I know what's what? Glad you asked.

Trellice Designs

Pondering designs for the back wall trellice. Nothing like a little mock-up. Want to use twine and as few anchors as possible.



Click for larger view.

I'm an investment specialist.

First post by Matt! I don't remember the word for "our" en Español, so the blog title will live on as is.

Did some path restructuring, bed amendment, and planting yesterday (Sunday). Got re-invested in the garden after a long winter of inactivity. I really enjoyed doing maintenance stuff during Winter (tree trimming, dirt moving, volunteer abatement, etc.), but nothing re-invests a guy like putting hand to soil. Here's what we did:

• Expanded the corner bed that's near the lemon barrel, moving the brown terraced pot structure back into new territory under the painting room. We have planted our flag in the final frontier.
  


• Augmented what was already growing in the corner bed with Echinacea, Snapdragons, Hollyhocks, Larkspur, and Cornflower. Snails really seem to dig the Cornflower, so I strawberry basketed them. Then I strawbasketed everything else, too. Better safe than sorry.
  


• I arranged the flowers to be planted in the peninsula bed, and Jacki put them in the ground. My main philosophy is grouping and gradients. I tried to balance texture and height profiles, while attempting to avoid homogeneity. Planted a few of the same species as went in the corner bed, plus a few other which I don't know the names of. I'll leave it up to Jacki to note those ones.
  


• Jacki and I marked and dug along the right side of the main path, up against the island bed, evening out the path's domain and creating space for Marigolds come veggie time. Now that I think about that - it might be kinda intense. Gonna have to ponder it further.
  


• Moved three small round plants with purple flowers from beta bed to the corner bed to help define the rounded path corner. We have plans to put a little table out there with out chairs and are crafting a nook.
  


• Jacki and I discussed a new location for the compost bins - back in the corner atop those horrid quartz stones. Seems like a good spot to put them as it will never be planted otherwise. Poppies seem to like growing in there, though.
  


• Did one little bit more pruning on the Southern apple tree - trying to clear up the Northeast side as much as possible because we have had such mildew problems there in the past. The air circulation should be loads better this year, so I am hoping that resolves the issue.
  

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Once it's warmer and we have a bit more light, I'll head out and get some photos to post. Done.

Additional note: This morning there was frost on the roofs and stubborn ice on the car windshield. Not sure how much that will effect the seedings - they have been living outside for the past few weeks.

Sigh...if only...

Dreamy

These flowers have a story. A common dream of mine is that I stumble upon some ridiculous bounty of something I crave. In the dream I am always in disbelief, is this really mine, can I really keep it? Well, last summer that dream came true! I was driving by a nursery and next to the dumpster where all types of beauties, I really should have photographed our car brimming with flowers. They were a tad worn, but with a little love revitalized. These flowers were from that load.

Spring Bolt

Note to Self again

3/22
Planted seeds
lemon cuc
tricolor beans
large zinnia
coreopsis
sunflower

Note to Self

Planted 3/19
Seeds
Scabiosa
Lrg Zinnia
Marigold
Cornflower
Love in a Mist?
Basil
Cilantro
Thyme
Chives
Oregano
Transplanted
Chard
Lettuce

Bud not Buddy

I can't even remember apple trees with leaves. Has winter really been that long? I can remember sitting in there shade and loving it. What a surprise it is to be forgetful-apple blossoms will deliver the joy of fresh site but with the hint of familiarity of the forgotten last spring.

Spring Cleaning

I buried horse crap, scraps, weeds, leaves in the pile behind me in the winter-and I think I got some ok sheet compost out of it-too bad it was a shady spot-but i dug it out and moved it and now it is wait and see come planting time...I am counting down days till the Berkeley Farmers market compost giveaway for my flower gardens. I am counting down the, who knows how long, weeks, months for my traditional compost. That reminds me I really nee to post on the annals of compost and the wriggley wranch...Stay tuned....

End of Summer

End of summer, early fall, culling apples, collecting seeds.

Best Part of Having a Yard

FLOWERS!

Seedy

We also started experimenting with seeds. Flower seeds planted spring/summer 2007- cosmos (orange, pink, white), zinnias, sunflowers, nasturtium, marigolds, coreopsis, sweet peas.
Vegetable seeds planted spring/summer 2007 basil, lettuce, kale, collards, swiss chard, string beans (purple) I'll have to look up varieties and record more details for "record keeping." Stay tuned.

and apple trees...

and apples...

grapefruit trees

More grapefruit than you can imagine. Too bad Matt and Scotty are the only people who like them. But 5 full grocery bags and a free sign in front of our house later-we are still friends with all our neighbors. So, who knows maybe there are more fans than I know.

arbols de naranja?

Did I mention, the orange trees, the apple trees, the grapefruit trees? Cobbler, juice, yummyness.

Kalefornia Love

Yummy Yummy Kale...with tofu marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic, and with Matt's super yummy peanut sauce - onions, hot peppers grinded up and softened with good peanut butter, a little water, vinegar and sugar, cooked till the right consistency. A little brown rice - mmm super yummy good.

Expanding our Operation

Springtime 2007. Feeling a bit discouraged from our first garden, we nonetheless started up again.

This time a little more experienced under our belts... We installed the drip. Our original raised bed grew to double its original size.

and so did our veggies!

Great Statan

This was the beginning of taming the wilds. Although, in the end, it was hands that battled the weeds.

Nothing and the kitchen sink

We were proud, even if the plants weren't.

Jimmy Crack Corn

And here is my crack...Hope you enjoy it. I believe the Iris like plants behind me were also part of the original garden - digging up plants from around the neighborhood (no one's yard-o.k)

Cimi Grave? No....

So, the first attempt at our garden came in the fall. We set up two raised beds. The first was in a pre-existing "bed" that Keith had made. The second was a bare patch of earth. Big mistake - if it is weed free, it may be tempting, but there is a reason nothing is growing there. We got some lettuce, some collards, but it was pretty pathetic.