Category: hobby

It’s been just over a month since we first planted the garden and I figured it was time to give all the readers an update.  First, we might have planted things a little too early as there was some rainy/frosty days in April that took a toll on the plants.  The eggplants seem permanently stunted as do the peppers.  Second, slugs really like to eat tender plants and eat them they will!  We’re giving the eggplants and peppers another week or two before we pull them and put something else in.  The nice thing about growing things here in this part of northern California is that you can get in two or three “crops” per season!  One of the small perks, I suppose.  The slugs were a different matter and we lost several of our pole beans, cucumbers, and soy beans to the little suckers before we looked up how to deal with them:  beer traps.  The traps worked great, though just to be careful we spread used coffee ground around the younger sprouts to keep the slugs away, these two measures appear to have worked.

The plants that look best right now are the tomatoes and zucchinis which are growing at a great clip.  I already mentioned which ones looked the worst.  The cantaloupe never came in.  We replaced the cucumbers that were eaten with some cucumber and bean sprouts we picked up at a local nursery store and put them in.  Our chard is just about ready to be harvested and we’re hoping to have tomatoes and zucchinis by the end of the month.

Sadly, the vegetables that we planted in the front of the house (tomatoes, onions, beans, and peppers) were all either devoured or simply failed to thrive in the front yard.  The beans sprouted and then were promptly eaten, the tomatoes grew a little, turned a sickly green color and then immediately bloomed, the peppers and onions seemed to simply wilt away.  I don’t know if the plants weren’t getting enough nutrients, they did have to compete with a tree and several large hearty hedges, or if we didn’t transplant them with enough compost and fertilizer.  In the end, we ended up pulling out all of the vegetables in the front and planting annuals.  We won’t be able to eat anything growing in the front but at least the yard will have a little more color in it.

I also discovered that wild strawberries are growing in the backyard but they’re competing with the lawn grass and a fruit tree.  I don’t know whether to pull the plant up or try to clear the ground around it and see if it thrives.  Are wild strawberries any good?

The soil arrived bright and early last Saturday and I spent the first part of the morning moving it from the front driveway to the back and into the box.  I don’t own a wheelbarrow and so was using a tarp to haul all the dirt back, until one of my neighbors came over and volunteered his wheelbarrow!  With the added technology the moving went much faster.  Once all the dirt was in the box I spent the next 30 to 40 minutes getting the soil saturated with water.

After a trip to the local ACE garden section and we picked up a number of things:  Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, onions, parsley, leeks, cucumber seeds, yellow cucumber seeds, pole bean seeds, edamame seeds, kale, zucchini, and cantaloupe seeds.  I’m hoping to see some of the seeds push through the surface in the next 3 or 5 days.  When we planted everything it was sunny and the temperature was trending up to the 7os… But, this week its been cold and overcast… I’m hoping the weekend brings the sun and warmth and we start seeing some seedlings.  Then, of course, I’ll have to worry about birds something already tore one of the peppers in the front out.

So, a purchase of some wire mesh cages is on the horizon.  This is my first attempt at home gardening.  I’m hoping it turns out well, but we’ll see.  There is so much space in the box, and much more on the other end (See picture below) because many of the plants we put in can get quite big (zucchini and cantaloupe especially) we wanted to make sure there was going to be room for everything and that no plants choked out any others.

Once these plants are growing and (hopefully producing) I’ll write more.  Alternatively, if they all die I’ll let you know too, I’m not expecting that outcome though…  What an adult-like adventure I’m having!