No planting until Mother's Day

I have heard it said that to plant before Mother's Day in Eastern Washington is an exercise in futility. The possibility of a frost in April kills the idea of planting. Honestly? By Mother's Day in So Cal, I already would have crops to pick. My garden would be growing in leaps and bounds in the warm California sun.

This is a new place with a new rhythm in more ways than one. Patience is key here. Everything takes longer to accomplish. There is nothing to do, but I can't seem to get anything done. I guess I do accomplish things but I can't think of what they are. Nothing spectacular of note to tell comes to mind. I don't go to work. I don't scurry about trying to get a million things done in a day. I did all of the laundry in one day. that's an accomplishment. I cooked three meals a day. That's an accomplishment, too. I can't remember a time when I did that. We are eating better, losing weight, getting healthy. That is a huge accomplishment!

I have to learn to dance to this rhythm. I need to respond to the way things are here. No planting until Mother's Day... that will be a tough one. I'll have to start seedlings inside!

Still Sowing but Different Seeds in a Different Field

It's interesting how quickly life changes, how in just a few months a new garden plot is revealed. I had a hunch that things were changing. I had a feeling that life would take a turn and enter a new season.

The kids are gone and on their own life ventures in far away places. The mission field that has always been whispering in the recesses of our hearts has emerged with a call to a new region in a new way. Today we wait with anticipation to see where our new home will be. No new language, but a new culture. No passport needed, but travel included. The adventure of starting again will begin somewhere in North America with a call to Preach the Word and Love the People.

To God be the glory!

The Garden Magnet

Sometimes I think there is magnet in my garden. It pulls at me and draws me into the garden gate. I decide to go check on the progress of this or that and three hours later I am still there, digging, pruning, watering. What is it about my little garden that I cannot stay away?  I have so many other things that need doing. I really don't have time for a garden at all. I shouldn't have started it again, but it brings me such joy and satisfaction.

I have not harvested one single thing. There are many blooms and potential fruit on almost every plant. The pepper plants are puny. I planted them behind the tomato plants like a dummy. They get almost no sun at all. Still, they have tiny blossoms and potential fruit. Will they produce? I guess we'll wait and see. One of the cucumber vines has started to climb the trellis.  The other is not following suit. I'm not sure why, but it's not. Maybe that's the lure. It's like a crap shoot. I plant the seed, or small plant this year, and wait to see if I get anything. Maybe, hopefully, the plant will be happy enough to share its produce with me. So whenever I have a minute or two, I allow the magnet to draw me in. All of the other stuff can wait a bit...

First fruits

I took two small tomatoes from the garden today. These tomatoes came from the plant that started my garden this year. It is the volunteer that decided to grow and flourish with no help at all. So today it gave me two small, tough red tomatoes. It has many more small fruit on the vine.  They look much more healthy now that they have water and some TLC.  I look forward to many more fruit to come.

I love going out to the garden each morning. I don't have much time to do anything more than a quick once over and turn on the water. It is a happy place for me. New growth, great hope of things to come, and continued goals draw me to it. I will spend more time there on Saturday.

Happy plants

So, everybody looks happy today, standing tall, reaching out for the sunshine. The peppers especially are ready to rock and roll. I'm a little concerned about the cucumbers, but so far so good. Most of the weeds are gone from the active part of the garden. There is still lots to be done, but this will do for now.

I added my drip system and tried to hook it to a timer, but the timer needs to go back to the store. It leaks under the water pressure. For now I will set my stove timer to remember to go turn it off after 30 minutes every other morning.  I figure if I turn it on when I go out to feed the dogs in the morning, then set the timer, I can go out and turn it off before I go to work.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

All right, so I cheated! I bought plants already started at Home depot. No they are not heirlooms or organic. No, they did not come from a super special nursery. They are probably Monsanto starts or Genetically altered, but this year I do not care even one bit. I was not going to have a garden at all, so the fact that I have something in the ground that may end up on my table is OK with me. At least I know that it grew in my back yard and it will be vine ripened.

This is what I bought and put in the ground today:

3 cucumbers
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
12 green beans
1 butternut squash
1 zuchini

I already have 2 tomato volunteers, nasturtiums,
a bunch of oregano, blackberry vines and raspberry vines

I planted 5 dahlia bulbs (I know that's not what they are called but I can't remember the name)

I plan to add
lavender
chamomile
and mint

So next year I will do it right, but this year, I won't sweat the small stuff.

Unintentional Gardening

How can a person garden unintentionally?

Well, the winter has come and gone. June is in full bloom, and I had decided that the garden was going fallow this year. My winter and spring were crazy with children coming and going, the birth of our first grand baby and new business ventures. I took two trips: one in March to see Kai, Seth and Jefri, the other in April to move Sarah back to Oklahoma. All those plans of  getting the garden ready for a well planned spring garden had fallen by the wayside. The weeds had taken over in the garden. I had given up hopes of having a garden at all this year.

Then, I started watching the gardens of my friends on facebook. I moaned,"I don't have time this year. I have classes to teach and lessons to plan. I have 40 hours of work each week on top of that. I try to keep up my ministry opportunities and my relationships require more time than I give." I watched other gardens grow and wished, but pushed it to the back of my mind.. One young friend had started a garden. Her cucumbers needed a trellis. "I have a trellis you can have," I volunteered."I'm not going to use it anyway." The unintentional gardening began.

I ventured into the overgrown garden. Trying not to look and be disgusted at the state of things, I battled the 5-foot tall, gargantuan, prickly plants. Weeds grow very well in healthy soil with no water. The trellis, of course, was in the back corner of all the mess. Courageously I fought with the plants to release the trellis and turned  to escape. Then, I saw it, one scrawny, starving, thirsty, tomato volunteer in one of the raised beds! I didn't even have tomatoes in that bed last year. "Poor thing," I thought. "too bad I'm not gardening this year."

That evening I told Fred that I had braved the garden gate to get the trellis for Amy. He chimed in, "Oh, did you see the tomatoes?"
"Yes," I mumbled.
"Did you see the red one?" he asked.
"There is fruit on that plant?" I asked in amazement. I hadn't looked closely enough to notice any real growth. I felt guilty enough that the weeds had taken over. I didn't want this plant calling to me in the night.
"There sure is. I saw it through the garden fence and started sprinkling it with water now and then. It has a few that are ripening now."

Dropping what I was doing , I bolted out to the garden. Sure enough, buried under the weeds a branch of the lone tomato plant was bearing fruit. Now, I can shrug my shoulders at a volunteer tomato plant that is amongst the weeds. It is actually a weed itself. Once that plant has fruit, however, the story changes in my mind. I couldn't just leave it strangling and alone if it had babies!

So the digging began. Four hours in the garden yesterday afternoon, saw the tomato plant propped up and properly watered along with another that was discovered in a pot buried by the garden gate. One of the raised beds is cleared and ready for planting with drip system installed. All of the gigantic weeds in the raised bed area are cleared and the dahlias that Seth sent last Mothers' Day are in the ground nearby. I hope they come up. They were pretty sad and withered up.

So, the gardening madness has begun, whether I have time or not. I can't abandon the tomatoes that decided to grow in my plot. They want to be there. They want to give me tomatoes. Certainly I must accommodate them.Today I will break all of my gardening rules and go to Home Depot and buy already started plants to put in the other raised bed, zucchini, green beans, peppers and some herbs. Since it is so late in the season and I am not really gardening anyway, I won't feel bad about it. Next year I will start it the right way in spring before the weeds take over.

How Time Flies!

Months have gone by since my last turn in the garden. The weeds are taking over and the left over plants are spent. Now is the time for rest in the garden. Now is the time for renewing my plan. Spring will be here in the blink of an eye.

The fall garden that I planted never came up. I didn't have time to baby the seedlings. I would like to think that there will be a winter garden, but I need to be realistic in my plans.  I will take this time to clean, rearrange, simplify and prepare for an early spring.

I have decided to plant one tomato plant next year. Oh how hard that is to write. One tiny little tomato plant? Can I do it? I went from 5 the first year to 3 last year. I had too many tomatoes and no time to tend them or can them. One plant is all I need, but... Simplify, simplify is my new mantra.

My garden goals

• Use well the square foot plots that I have, and I should have all that I need. 
• Plant only those things that I know I will eat.
• Compost and reuse what I can.
• Set up the drip system on a timer to alleviate the stress and schedule of watering.
• Spend time in the garden relaxing and enjoying the work of my hands.

Chickens are still a part of the plan. Hopefully I can get the yard ready while I am rearranging the garden. I need a raised coop, a fence and a gate. That is doable if I work on it over the winter.

Simplify and use my resources well in every area of my life. Too much stuff equals too much to do. My garden continues to be my tutor. 

Lots of flowers but no fruit

So it's the end of August and the garden is waning. This year was better than last, but not what I had hoped. I did get tomatoes, peppers, carrots, green beans, squash and a couple of ears of corn. The cucumbers, pumpkin, and berries were nonexistent. There were Strawberries, those that the bugs didn't get anyway. I guess I set my sights too high each year. The fact that I get anything at all is fun and delicious.

I have begun my fall garden. It is filled with salad greens and carrots. I will keep only one box growing along with some squash in the back bed. I don't have much time to garden in the fall so I will realign my drip system and get a timer for it. We'll see how it goes.

Fall Gardening

This morning I spent time in the garden cleaning up for the fall. The corn stalks are down, weeds are pulled, and irrigation drip system rearranged. I will have to spend some more time on the irrigation.  I know there must be a more efficient way to get the watering done.

My boxes are pretty much empty right now.  I have the last of the peppers ripening on the bushes, a square of carrots maturing and two squares of beans just beginning to sprout in one box and two eggplant bushes in the other box.  Today I planted lettuce, parsley and cilantro in that box. It has been such a mild summer I thought I would give these cool weather crops an early start.  I hope that doesn't mean that the weather is about to change to triple digits!

I'm disappointed with the pumpkin I planted.  It got plenty of blossoms but no fruit. Same thing happened last year. Maybe  I need to plant two vines together next year so they can pollinate each other. No pumpkins again this Thanksgiving :(

The melons are slow to produce as well.  I have no fruit from them but lots of blossoms.  The bees and wasps  are there in abundance but so far no fruit. The cucumbers are in a bad place this year. They are not happy with the sun exposure or the water drainage.  I'll have to find a new solution for them.  I can do another planting soon. They shouldn't mind the cooler weather.

Everything is slowing down, getting ready for fall. Fall is a busy time for me. Maybe I will only maintain one box of salad fixings.  The other spaces can rest for the winter until I get the bug again in the spring.

Tomato Frenzy

Well, it's been a while.  I've been much too busy to blog  or garden for that matter. The garden is producing but it shows the lack of care.  I need to remember that August is my busy month, but the garden needs a lot of attention in August. I am very glad that I didn't invest in chickens.  I just don't have time for them.

So today is tomato frenzy day.  I have pounds of tomatoes that will go bad if I don't do something today.  So I will peel, and boil, and can them. I don't have anyplace to be today, but lots of jobs around the house. The tomatoes can boil while I get the rest of the work done around here.

There are also peppers to chop, and corn to husk. Wow, I better get off this blog and get busy!

First squash!

This week the squash took off!  I have two zucchini almost ready to pick. The yellow squash is just forming now. Naomi's pumpkin plant is taking off, too. No fruit yet, but it is getting big.

 The snap peas are about done so they will come out next week sometime. I still get several off every day, so I'll let it go for a day or two more. I plan to put melons in their place, but have not decided for sure. Cucumbers are my other choice.

Naomi and Eli came and got some carrots, beets and an onion yesterday, They were excited to see what had grown under ground. They helped me find some strawberries, too. Eli really likes to hunt for them. When he found little ripe ones he said, "Oh look at the tiny one. It's so cute!" This is all new to them. I hope they enjoy it enough to continue gardening when they are older.

There are lots of green tomatoes on the vines. I hope the warm weather ripens them soon.  I hate to buy tomatoes at the store.  They are flavorless and expensive. Patience is needed when gardening.

Rearranging

One of the lovely features of square foot gardening is that one is always rearranging their produce. This morning I pulled out the spent bean plants and chard planting cabbage, carrots, cilantro and more beans in their place. It feels sad to pull up the old. but invigorating to plant the new. The snap peas are almost done producing.  I think I will plant cantaloupe in their place.

In a few short days I will see new growth. I love my garden. It reminds me of the old stuff in my life that is just hanging around taking up space and sapping nutrients from my soul. I need to do some rearranging there, as well. Plant some new seeds to enjoy the new growth. Tending the garden of my soul is well worth the effort.

Tending the garden of my soul.......

hmmmmm, there's a poem there, I just know it.  I'll be pondering that all day

What a mess!

I just got home from vacation and wandered back to the garden. My oh my what a week of no attention will do!  I have my work cut out for me. Good thing I took another day off.

There are tomatoes on the vines, and peppers on all three bushes. The cucumbers are gaining strength and the corn is getting taller.  I am excited to see what the next month or two will bring!

I need to plant some more melons. Three sisters plot is ready for beans. The weather is finally right for them. I love my garden. June gloom or no, summer is on the way!

The Lopez planting

Today as I watered the garden plot, I noticed that all of the Lopez family's seeds are sprouting.  The pumpkin, squash, sunflowers, wildflowers, carrots, and chives just broke through this week.  The children will be so excited!

My cucumbers have sprouted, but the watermelon has not. I think I will have to plant some more corn since only two of the 15 seeds I planted have germinated. The bush beans have taken over the plot where I put them.  I'll have to remember next year that they need a lot of room and 9 per square is too many.  I had to pull the lettuce up, it was too crowded with the beans. It may be too warm for them to grow now, but I think I will start another square anyway.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely, lots of flowers on each plant.  I will continue to pick out the suckers and try to contain them in their wire cages. Last year was a chaotic mess of tomatoes! This year will be nice and neat with any luck.

I love my drip watering system! Unfortunately not all of the planted area is set up with a dripper.  I have to remember to go out and water those areas. It has been fairly cool lately so it has not been a problem.  I will try to get out this week end and expand the reach of the drip system.

Naomi and Eli

Today Naomi and Eli came to help me in my garden! Blanca came too, of course.  We dug and planted and watered for almost two hours.  There are now petunias in the flower bed between the roses and sunflowers between the roses and the cactus. There are wildflowers on the east fence of the garden and a pumpkin mound in the corner.  Naomi wanted to make a sign that told that the garden with the pumpkin was hers. So I gave her some paper and she made a lovely sign. So cute!

We also planted a zucchini seed, some carrot seeds and some chives.  I hope some of it comes up.  The kids will be disappointed if it doesn't. They will come and water every other day or so.  We'll see how it goes.  We can plant the seed but God makes it grow.

Rent - a -student

This week end was rent a student week. I paid for 3 kids from youth group to come and work in my yard.  Malachi Hose was one of those students. He did amazing work for me.  Because of his hard work, I now have my garden plot all cleared out and ready for planting! Corn, beans and squash will go in the new section of the garden. Today I built the berms and got the space ready.  Tomorrow I will plant the corn. In a couple of weeks I will plant the beans and squash to build a "3 sisters" garden. I have been wanting to do this for years. We'll see how it works.

The idea is that the corn grows tall and supports the beans to grow on and the squash shades the ground to help with ground temperature. It sounds cool anyway.

Now my problem is, where to plant the melon? I need to expand the garden already!

Productive weekend

I've had several days off in a row this week, so I spent most of it in the garden. I decided to put the tomatoes and squash in a different part of the garden this year so they can grow without taking over my sfg squares. So Saturday I planted corn and peppers in my new raised bed, but the tomatoes went out in the newly tilled area.

 I bought two plants from the Fullerton Arboretum. I missed the sale this year so all they had left were tomatoes, all the peppers and eggplant were gone. I did find one of my favorites, though. Ibiis is the plant that produces yellow cherry tomatoes that we enjoyed so much last year.  I was not good to keep it in control so it took over the world, but this year I fully intend to maintain a normal sized plant.  We'll see how that goes.  The other tomato plant is a beefsteak variety.  I love large tomatoes with lots of flavor for my sandwiches.

Then I went to Walmart. They had a good variety of vegetable plants there, so I bought 3 colors of bell pepper and one more tomato plant. I really wanted to buy more vegies, but decided to hold off for a bit until I could make some good decisions. The plants look healthy. I am not convinced that Walmart can sell great  plants, so it's kind of an experiment.

I have today off, too.  5 in a row, pretty crazy, right? I will spend most of it in the garden again.  Life is good!

The pepper tree is gone

Yesterday I took the day off for a long Easter week end. As a worked around in the yard weeding and such, Fred chopped down the pepper tree. It was a bittersweet moment. That tree has been the play equipment of our kids for 20 years. Well, ok, no one has climbed it for the past 8 or nine years, but it has so many memories. It needed to go. Every year it gets tangled in the phone lines, it shades the garden, and it grows new shoots from the ground. I'm glad its gone. It was the last hurdle to being able to buy some laying hens.

It will take a week or so to get the mess cleaned up. I still have a raised bed to plant in my garden. So by the beginning of May I should have some chickens.

The garden will get a lot more sun now. Hopefully we won't have to battle with mildew this year. So long pepper tree; it's been nice.

A stay at home day

Today was a stay at home day.  I love these days.  I don't get enough of them. It had been two weeks since I had mown the lawn, so that was the first order of business. It was a warm day so I needed to get it done before noon. We went to Home Depot to get lumber and pvc pipe to build our next raised bed.

Elaine and Chuck Davis came by for a few minutes.  They had extra compost from their yard remodel and they brought us a barrel full. It was nice to see them and share our gardening adventure with them. They are great friends!

As soon as I got the mowing done, I decided that the weeds near the house needed to be pulled. It was not a hard job, just time consuming, and I enjoy the process. The compost tumbler has been ignored for a while so I had Fred turn it a few times. I dug around in it and pulled some of the good stuff out. I won't fill it so full next time!

Tomorrow we'll get the new bed set in the garden and I can plant my next set of vegies.