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.

Lover Boy Plant Lover

O.K. well there was my magnificent window boxes. Matt worked at a nursery one summer, Nikki and I drove cross country that summer. Upon returning to our Berkeley abode, I found my room overflowing with plants, and two beautiful window boxes (which would later be Captain Stinky-Psycho Cat's way of entering and exiting the apartment.) Somewhere there are some pictures of that, but for now this will have to do - besides this picture has the scratch and sniff effect, where you can both see, it hear it, and feel what this window was like.

As Seen on Craigslist

This would be our first yard (of sorts).

Mi Jardin

I have been looking for good bay area/northern california garden blogs. There are not enough, so here you go. Besides, Pam Pierce the Bay Area garden guru, recommends keeping a journal of your gardening adventures, and I have found that the time has come to get a record started. This house/location may be temporary, but hopeful my learning/experiments will be transferable to a new location. Not to mention I can't remember what was planted when and where. Come fall I will need to see the spring and summer colors to offset the SAD.