So much to eat!

You'll notice a gap in posts.  To be honest, it's because the pictures began to be redundant.  Every week has been pretty much the same.  Pick something, cook it, eat it and then pick again.

Happy to report - there has been a lot to eat!

Here are some pictures.









Brocolli has beautiful yellow blossoms if they open.  The trick was to cut the stocks before this happened.  And it was tough to keep up.  Allow me to explain.















 If you look closely at this picture you can see I cut a stock of brocolli in the middle about a week before.  Every time I would cut a stock 3-4 new stocks would sprout out qickly from around the cut.  I had so much brocolli from 3 plants!
















The brocolli was delicisous with juicy yet crispy stocks.  Eating right out of the garden had a different flavor.  I was delighted! 
















The carrots and beets just kept coming and coming!


















And the brussels sprouts are starting to take form on their stocks.











The blueberries continue to grow nicely.  They are still green in color but once the blue shows Ill post a picture. 

A critical project at work pulled my focus from planting new vegetables in February and March.  The chicken is also on hold for the moment until the time is right to ensure they have the care they need. 

In the meantime, I continue to eat beets and eagerly await the brussells sprouts.  Ill give you an update on the elephant garlic in my next post as well.

 A small spice and herb garden has been planted along with two dwarf fruit trees and will be featured in a coming post.

Up next: Collard Greens, Kale, Tomatoes, & Zuchini!

Blueberries

The last few weeks have been all about weeding and watering.

Unfortunately, I lost the asparagus in the planting process.  Either I left them in the pots for to long or I did not provide the right conditions for transplanting but all three of my plants did not make it.  How does the saying go? -  "You can't make an omelet without killing your asparagus plant."


On the brighter side (the bright blue super antioxidant side) we have a new member of the family to announce.

Introducing the blueberry bush!

Pouring over the pages of Pat Welsh's Southern California Organic Gardening book I learned that blueberries were ideal to plant in January here in Southern California.  I also learned to look for either rabbiteye or southern highbush blueberries to ensure they would bear fruit in my climate.  Additional points to note were that blueberries need "acid soil mix, acid fertilizer, good drainage and ample moisture." (Pat Welsh's Southern California Organic Gardening; page 50)  One final note made, to get two bushes so they could cross-pollinate, and I was off to City Farmer's Nursery to pick one out.

The customer service at City Farmer's Nursery was fantastic.  They had over 10 different kinds of blueberry bushes and all of them were in the highbush family able to bear fruit in San Diego.  I learned from the staff that the Southern highbush family of blueberries is the only one that does not need a second bush for cross-pollination and so one bush purchase later I was good to go, well almost.

In addition to the bush I purchased an organic acid loving plant fertilizer made by Fox Farm and a block of organic coconut coir fiber made by Procoir.

The first step in planting the blueberry bush was to open this dry, hard block of coconut fiber and let it soak in water for about 20 minutes.

Eventually it will look like this.

 

Next I dug a hole in the ground where I wanted the blueberry bush to go.

My final step was to plant the blueberry bush in the hole surrounded by a mix of the dirt removed and the wet coconut coir fiber to be sure I had ample drainage and moisture in the soil.

I have become very proud of my garden and grew eager to enhance my photography skills so that I could better capture how beautiful it was becoming.  With a little research I discovered an App called Instagram for my iPhone.  Below are the latest images of the garden vegetables.

Brussels Sprouts

Elephant Garlic

Broccoli

Carrots 

Beets

And now - Blueberries 

Next post - Harvest Time! :)

The Beets Strike Back!

Great news!

The beets I transplanted did in fact sprout new leaves about a week after they were moved.  The old stems and leaves are retaining water but continue to wither.

Transplanted Beets sprout new baby leaves.

The carrots are showing signs of recovery as well.  They do not have new growth like the beets but some of them are holding themselves fully up and off the ground again.

Transplanted Carrots are recovering.

The broccoli and brussels sprouts are unfolding gorgeous full leaves that get bigger by the day.  A new set of holes began appearing on them.  When I looked closer I discovered a small green worm.   An hour later I had picked off eight total.  They have not done enough damage to make an impact on the plants - yet.  It could be time for the Garlic Fire Spray.

Look close - can you see the worm?

See the worm on my finger tip?

One more snap shot of the whole garden just a few days before Christmas.

2.5 Months of Growth!

Thirty is a Crowd

As it would turn out, my garden pests were tiny snails.  These guys are easy to spot and to pick off plants while weeding.  Because of that I did not make the Garlic Fire Spray.  

San Diego has been rainy and sunny and then rainy and sunny again.  It was perfect.  I was pulled hard into a work project in November that left me running out the door with barely a splash of water on my face let alone standing with a hose in the garden.  But that is life and I want to thank Mother Nature for being there for me in my time of need! :)

Everything grew in abundance.  And I do mean - everything!  The surrounding dirt has spawned legions of singing nettle.  This made my gardening in flip flops idea a .... well, flop.   

Behind it all was a lovely, and very crowded, garden of thriving vegetables.  

It was clearly time to make a little space so that everyone could stretch out.  So began the process of thinning the carrots and beets.  What came out of the ground was so cute I had to take a picture.

To help me be sure I was thinning properly I used these two videos as reference.

After thinning :)

I had this pile of pulled baby beets and carrots that just seemed too much of a waste to throw away.  I looked around on line to find out if anyone had ever replanted them.  I found a lot of debate on the topic but ultimately learned that some might take so I decided it was worth the chance. 

Replanted Beets

Replanted Carrots

Can it really be done?   Here is one answer.      

 

Next it put my Asparagus in the ground!


I had three asparagus plants that were purchased in pots who had remained in pots over the last two months.  After noticing they were not looking their best I decided to put them in the garden.  Especially now that I had made some room for them.

Time to check in on the cast of characters!

               

Beets

Carrots

Brussels Sprouts

Broccoli

Elephant Garlic --- Smells like garlic already by the way!

Two more shots to take it all in.

Transplanted beets to the left and thinned garden to the right.

The small square marked by rocks are the replanted carrots.

After The Rain!

Time to check in with the growth.  It is the 20th of November and just over a month since seeding my my winter vegetable garden.

The last few weeks have been rainy.  At first I thought this was great because it meant I did not have to water as much but instead I would face a different task.  Making a garden from one's own backyard soil means dealing with an drove of weeds all hatching from their little well wetted seed encasings after a series of heavy rains.  There are soooo many!  

As it turns out - weeding is very relaxing when they are baby sprouts and the soil is moist.  Plus I enjoy being outside in the fresh air.

There is a whole little echo system down there in the dirt.  So much activity!  I noticed a few little bug bites on the broccoli as well.  Luckily - I prepared for this moment.

It's time to bring out the Garlic Fire Spray - my natural solution to pest control.

Below are pictures of the veggies from earlier this week - including Brussels Sprouts who joined the party last.

Elephant Garlic

Broccoli 

Beets

Brussels Sprouts

Carrots 

The whole happy family! :)

Proud Papa!

Please allow me to introduce 

my new children! 

  Elephant Garlic! 

Carrots!

Beets!

And Broccoli! 

So far a discipline of weeding twice a week and watering every other day is working well.

Winter Vegetables

Here I am, mid-October and ready for my winter vegetable seeds to go into the ground.

Keep in mind I am planting based on what grows well in Southern California's climate and following the advice of Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening book.

Before planting I needed something to loosen up the soil and mix in fertilizers. I found a Garden Tiller at Home Depot that was perfect for the job! Not only was this tool great for getting my soil ready for seeds, but it was perfect for grabbing and sifting up small rocks that I decided to use as an outline for my first planting area.

I spent a considerable amount of time making the soil soft so that I would not need an above ground bed of earth. In my prior blog post I mentioned testing my soil type and PH and both indicated I had perfect earth for planting.

Just to be sure I had the best soil in the garden I scooped the top soil up from the the ground around the garden and shoveled it into my designated planting area.

I took a trip to City Farmer's Nursery in San Diego to purchase my winter vegetable seeds. They happened to have Asparagus already growing in pots so I opted to buy them that way instead. I had a budget of $25 for this part of the project and I stayed under that.

3 pots of Organic Asparagus

1 pack Organic Broccoli Seeds

1 pack Organic Brussels Sprouts Seeds

1 pack Organic Carrot Seeds

1 pack Organic Beet Seeds

3 Cloves of Organic Elephant Garlic

Next - I Googled videos of how to plant each type of seed. And here they are:

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Carrots

Beets

Garlic

Then I went ahead and planted all my seeds. That process was too dirty to use my camera phone, but here is the finished product.

I moved forward with this one garden prior to installing my drip irrigation system.

It should not be too hard to water every day. But as I expand I plan to get that in place.

Next up:

Planting a spice garden indoors to transfer to outdoors in the Spring.

Blueberries

Dwarf Fig Tree