Sad- very sad!

The State of my Garden is looking sad. Above is "chuck" the tomato.... and this was 2 months ago. He is now Bigger, "Leggier" and paler. And also, there is almost no tomatoes left. There are a few new small green ones, and a few yellow buds on the top, but it really just looks sad.

The pepper plant is ok. The pepper doesn't seem to be growing, but it is not dying either. All my Lettuce (or at least most of it) has now bolted (again) and I think that was the last of the salad for us. The Basil and Chives are alive, but mostly bolted and unusable. All the Beans and Peas have died and I have harvested all the left over pods that I dried and I am saving the seeds for next spring. The cuke is doing ok, but is probably on his last Cuke as we speak...... Harvest time is almost over in the garden, and the beds are getting more and more empty and sad looking. At least I am planning for next year, and since I have pretty much been forbidden from getting Chickens while in this house, I can take over more space for gardening next spring. I was "saving" the space for a coup, but it seems that I will not be needing it now. Maybe some corn next year would be good......?

Anyway- sorry about the lack of posts, but really- there has been a big lack of things to talk about due to the lack of harvest. I have been making some pasta sauce lately with all the tomatoes from a friend, and I will soon post the recipe on the cooking blog - so look for it there :)

During the winter I will be constructing more planters, and will post about them, along with more "tech" on gardening- the tools, the resources, the planning and so on.... so stay tuned!

Garden Photo Updates

(I call this one "Splendor in the Lettuce", Mr Superchicken said he prefers "Chicken Salad")

Hello Everyone! Sorry for the MIA, but I was out of town for awhile, and before that there was no new progress to report. But I am back with updates for all! You may notice the "warm reddish" color in a few photos here. That is at this time we are stuck between 2 fires (Santa Maria area and the Santa Cruz Fire) and it makes the light all weird around here- pretty- but weird.

(This one I just think was a cool Shadow shot)

Ok- On with the show!

Here is my Pepper Plant. I never did get around to giving him a name... any ideas?

(can you see the small flower "pods"?)
Anyway, I had him in the planter for QUITE a while now, but he never really did anything... just kinda got a few new leaves here and there. And then He made little flower buds, but they never did anything or went anywhere, and I was worried that he would never fruit.

Well as soon as the heat started to get climb, he popped out a few new flower buds and they started to get bigger. You can kinda see them in the photo above.

And then, Wa-lah! In a matter of about a week or 2, they white flowers dried up and then turned into little green bulbs. and then in about 4 days they went from pencil eraser size to this big (see below)


The pepper on it is now about... oh... the size of a really FAT cherry, or the size of a big peach pit.

I am SO excited about this progress.... I had worried that he was not going to make it when I never saw progress. Kinda like Furio the Roma (but more on him later!) Alright- Onto the Lettuce & Cilantro!

(First round)

Here is the lettuce Box Photo that I took before I left for Texas. I have had about 3 cuttings of lettuce from here so far, and was about to take one more before we left (hence the large bushy look of the plants). You can also see the cilantro along the back right area.... yeah.... it Bolted. It went all rouge and feathery on me and became inedible. I have learned that it is FAR easier to just buy this than grow it. The flavor of it was SO potent fresh off the plant, that is made Mr SuperChicken get a stomach ache, and the birds didn't like it. I guess the "real" stuff was a bit stronger than the stuff from the market.

Well, the best that you can really hope for when planting lettuce, is that you get 3 or 4 cuttings of each plant before it "Bolts" and goes bitter. Once we got back from Texas, it was time to rip out all the bolted Lettuce and replace it with new lettuce plants. This was MUCH harder than I had expected.

Yes- it is just lettuce- not a pet- but to look at them and think "you are no longer useful to me and so I must kill you and rip you out of the ground" was kinda sad. Everything in the planter (except Chandler the Strawberry) had to come out. They lived a long full life, and I thanked them for the goodies before I tossed them in our compost bin to start on the next phase of their journey. Then I grabbed some more plant food (more on this in a another post coming soon), some new soil (I have found one that I LOVE, but more on that next time) and started planting new victims- I mean, Lettuce plants. I have always started from planter packs, but I am also going to attempt to plant some lettuce seeds and see how that goes. Below is a Photo of the new planter of friends.

(New Lettuce)
See all that dirt area left? I think that I will be planting some of that Lettuce seed, and maybe some Carrots.... but I still need to decide about that.

In the mean time, you can see Chandler the Strawberry in the back right near the tall chicken. He is really doing well. I had been a little nervous when all his older,big leaves started to get dry and red, but I now know better. They get red, dry up, and then make room for all the new little green leaves that will pop up out of the center of the plant. Chandler is looking really well, and seems to be growing at a nice pace for his "2nd year" (which is really only a few months since his last "season" but don't tell him!)

I think that I may see his 1st flower bud starting soon, and so I will let you know how his progress is doing soon.

Our cucumber plant is also doing pretty well. The cute bushy plant that I used to have is now this (kinda ugly) long stringy looking plant, but has been growing nice fat (but small) Cukes for us on a consistent basis. This one below is my fave. I guess he had aspirations of being a "Crookneck Squash", because he is the only one we had that didn't grow into a normal shape for a cucumber. When you are growing your own, just remember that they are best and sweetest when picked when they reach about 6 inches long. Any longer and you will start to lose that nice flavor. Also- do not leave them on the plant for longer than you have to. The plant will drain it's resources to keep it alive, and the rest of the fruits & buds will suffer.

They are best picked when dark green and before they get yellowed. Remember to put them in the fridge or they will shrivel up and dry out.
I have never been a huge Cuke fan, but when I cut up our first one, the fresh, sweet scent made my mouth water- it was SO tasty!

"Mr Crookneck"

Well that is about all the updates I have for now. Next time I will try to show the tomato progress, show you the new plants, and what I have been using to keep them all alive and happy and well fed (because nobody goes hungry in THIS house!) :)

Happy gardening!

Around the Garden

Chucks Flower Buds Are Forming

Alright- Things have been happening around the garden at a nice pace. Things are growing- things are thriving, and so far- everyone is happy and healthy.

Above is "Chuck" The Cherry Tomato. He is doing really well, and has probably almost doubled in height. You can also see that he is starting to get some flower buds on him. This photo was taken a few days ago, and the flowers are looking much more plump, and white tipped as of today, and I am hoping that I will have full fledged flowers pretty soon. Then it is just a waiting game of how long it takes for the tomatoes to form.

Here is Chandler looking bright red and tasty! This photo was also taken about 5 or 6 days ago, and those 2 red berries have already been harvested and enjoyed. It is important to remember to let the strawberries develop a full and deep red color before plucking them from the plant. Unlike Tomatoes- Strawberries will not get any redder and so make sure they are where you want them before harvesting them.

Chandler is doing Quite well, and is producing flowers and berries at a rapid rate. I think that I will have about another 4 or 5 berries to pick in the next few days.

I will post again soon on the growing conditions, but I will also be posting some "feature" posts about my tools that I am finding useful, and also some of the new items that are lurking around the Garden. Stay tuned!

Meet the Friends!

Ok- as promised- here are the New Friends that I have acquired.

Now- to some of you- it may seem odd that I name my plants, but it is something that I have always done, and I think that it adds a sense of responsibility to it all, and once you name something it makes you want to try harder at keeping them alive.
I have a few other Friends, but since they have not yet been planted, those will wait for later.

Here we have "Chuck" the Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato. This guy was named for my boss "Chuck" who is a Cherry Tomato fiend and who is anxiously awaiting harvest time.


Over here is my Roma Tomato who I named "Furio". I needed a good strong Italian name to go along with the "Roma" of it all, and if you've seen "The Sopranos" you know that Furio is a good strong fella to take after. Furio will be providing Tomatoes for homemade pasta sauce.


Ahh... the 3 Amigos. Cilantro is a big player in our house- Mr SuperChicken will eat it on anything- Pizza, Salad, Sandwiches, salsa... you name it. It is also a huge fave of our 5 birds. When I walked thru the house with the little plants my birds got quite excited thinking I was bringing them a treat. I really hope that these guys make it and save me the trouble of buying 2 or 3 bunches of them a week.


Over here are the Basil and Chive Plants. The Chives are just regular Chives- not garlic or any of those varieties. I am unsure what I will be naming them... but I think that I will be calling the Chives "Clive" (random side note: If you have not seen the BMW Short films "the Hire" staring Clive Owen- you have GOT to see them! they are great! watch my Fave HERE -also staring is Madonna and produced by Guy Ritchie- I laugh so hard each time I watch it! best 6 mins of video ever!)
Anyway- back to the plants-
The basil is a Sweet basil- nothing fancy or exotic- if you want a great article about exotic and tasty Basil's you can easily grow- visit here to buy the magazine- or you read about a few of them that I found here. No Name for them yet either- but I will get there.

And last but not least is the Strawberry Plant I named "Chandler" (with berries attached!) This is actually a "Chandler" Variety of strawberry-which in this case is a "Everbearing" plant (some "named" types can be bred to be a different "bearer")- Meaning that during the growing season that I can expect a bundle here and there thru the months of the little guys- getting bigger and bigger as the plant matures. If you want to read about the various type of strawberry plants (June-bearing, Everbearing, and Day Neutral and what it all means for you and your plants) Visit here for some good basic info. But being a huge fan of the TV show "Friends" how could I pass up the opportunity to name it after one of them?

But with the magic they can grow now days- you could end up with a "Chandler" that is a June bearing, or a everbearing or so on- so be sure you PAY ATTENTION when buying strawberry plants. You would not want to think you are going to get a bunch of little guys all summer and end up with 20 huge berries in June and see nothing until the next year.

If you are wondering why there are towels under the plant- that is because with strawberries you need to keep the fruit up off the ground to keep it from getting bruised or rotten (hence the name STRAWberry- because it is used to be grown on a bed of straw) but until I get some straw or ground cover fabric, towels it is- which as a side note seems to hold moisture into the ground quite well without staying wet themselves. But I do not want to leave them there to attract bugs- so I will need to get some straw soon.

I also have a few more friends to share with you- but that will have to wait until next time.