Tag: cabbage

Winter Garden 2014, Planting

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Despite the finale for this year’s summer garden, I wanted to put in a winter one. And then attempt to keep it safe from dogs, rabbits, slugs, and all the other assorted pests that did the summer garden in.  Fingers crossed!

First I turned the soil over, put in some top soil and fertilizer, and then turned it over again. I’ve done this enough times that it is becoming old hat. Next came the soaking. I wanted to make sure the soil was moist at least three to four inches down. After this was complete D and I went to the local Ace and picked out from their selection of winter seedlings and seeds. We got arugula, broccoli, broccolini, celery, collared greens, kale, chard, bok choy and Chinese cabbage. The planting went quickly and soon all the seedlings were in.

seedlings
seedlings

The arugula and broccolini seeds were spread into the box or a pot and then everything was watered down again. Sadly, right after we put the garden in we had a heat spell and the broccolini in the pot all withered and died.

After the garden was put in I put in new stakes and new netting around the boxes to keep the rabbits and dogs out. During the summer this worked wonderfully. Sadly, the dogs quickly discovered that the netting was no real obstacle and trampled over it and my seedlings to lie in the beds and eat the recent compost. And my Chinese cabbage. And my broccoli. *sigh*

chard and kale
chard and kale

I didn’t put in slug traps either. And much of the collared greens at this point have been eaten. I’m going to have to get those in soon or there won’t be anything to show this winter. At least, the arugula is coming in quite nicely and none of the pests seem interested in the kale and chard.  *fingers crossed*

More pictures below the fold Continue reading “Winter Garden 2014, Planting”

Summer Garden 2013: Wrapping Up

One day these heirlooms will turn red. One day
One day these heirlooms will turn red. One day

It’s been over a month since the last update. The garden was moving along quite well despite the weird weather we’ve been having. It’s been a weird mix of a little too hot or a little too cold for the squash, basil and beans. There’s also been a problem with white flies… But those were nothing compared to the problem we had when we forgot to put up the gate that keeps the dogs away from the garden during the day when we’re both at work.

Puppies! Yay!
Puppies! Yay!

The dogs, and I suspect the puppy, Millie, more so than Jake, got into the garden and tore out the melon, the okra, and the peppers. One of the okra plants and all the peppers were salvageable  – though all in some state of disrepair. This came at the worse time as these plants were just starting to produce and the stress of being dug up could only have retarded that… But, not much you can do! We replanted what we could and carried on. The jalapenos and tomatoes have been the best producers this year and D has even had enough peppers left over to make jalapeno jelly, spicy hummus, etc.

They taste goof in hummus, jellies, and sauces.
They taste good in hummus, jellies, and sauces.

Right now we’re in that odd phase between summer and fall. The days are still hot but the nights are cooling down. Half the leaves on the trees are browning. One day it’s cloudy and cool and you want to have tea in the morning and the next you need to have something cold to stay cool in the heat. For the garden this translates into our okra and squash being pretty much done but the tomatoes, basil, peppers, and eggplant still being happy enough to keep producing fruit. So, we’ve taken out what hasn’t been working and put in some cabbage and cauliflower. I’m a little worried that it’s still to hot for them and we’ll lose them but all the guides say the best time to plant is “August/September.” Continue reading “Summer Garden 2013: Wrapping Up”

2013 Garden Update

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The little pallet garden is doing great! Mostly! There were a couple days after we transplanted where everything looked pretty bleak. And, as you can see some of the chard still isn’t doing well. But the lettuce, cabbage, and kale all seem to be happy. There is still some space on the sides and where the sick chard is, if we pull it, so some time this week I’m going to be stopping by at Ace for some herb seeds and see if we can put them in. Fresh basil and thyme sound nice.

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Anyway, it’s going to be a month or so before we can eat any of this but I’m excited for it anyway!

A Garden for 2013!

A tiny garden for San Diego!
A tiny garden for San Diego!

Diana saw this project on a blog she followed where the person made a raised bed garden from discarded pallets. She shared it with me and I thought it was a clever idea. Unbeknownst to me she then started hunting for a pallet and contacted the manager of our cottage and asked him about putting in one of our own. Eventually, he approved the project and she found the pallet… The end result is above!

It was all very easy to do and everything cost us less than $30. If you’ve been thinking about gardening but don’t have a yard, or you rent this might be the solution you’ve been looking for. More pictures below!

The ingredients
The ingredients

One pallet, a 2×4 cut into 40″ pieces, three bags of garden soil (we only used 2 1/5.) I hammered the 2×4 pieces onto the ends of the pallet so that the soil doesn’t just spill out of the sides, then we filled the pallet with the garden soil.

We used Miracle-gro soil because it was right by the check-out counter and we were both really cold and didn't want to spend more time looking around
We used Miracle-gro soil because it was right by the check-out counter and we were both really cold and didn’t want to spend more time looking around

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After putting the soil in we watered it down to help it settle and then filled any any low spots or gaps, next came the transplanting and then more watering:

If you couldn't tell, D is super excited and happy about this project!
If you couldn’t tell, D is super excited and happy about this project!

The spot we picked was bar of grass and doesn’t get a lot of light so we decided to put plants in that like that sort of thing. We planted lettuce, cabbage, chard and kale. I’m knocking on wood that this new little garden is as successful as our old one in Davis. If not as big.

 

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