Education....

I finally received my grades and results from both of my finals. I achieved A's in both classes and maintained my 4.0 GPA, on top of working 40 hours a week. I'm thrilled - until I remember that summer classes start on Monday June 4th. :)

In the meantime, my garden is growing quite well. My broccoli is finally producing a few heads so I hope to harvest them in the next week or so. My arugula suddenly sprouted up and got really bushy. I've been snacking on the leaves every time I go out there. I noticed a few days ago that they are flowering. Keep in mind that the flowers are edible as well, and quite delicious.

I bought a new saw (I love it!) and took care of my old wooden ladder; changing it from a useless piece of equipment in to a trellis for my sugar snap peas. My bf hates it with a passion and I keep telling him to envision how it will look when the peas grow up and take it over. He envisions, and then tells me he still hates it. Maybe he'll change his tune the first time I make garlic sugar snap peas with water chestnuts.

My trashcan potatoes are doing quite well and in fact, I think it's time to cover them with more soil. An updated picture is shown here. You can compare it with the picture I posted a week ago. Also shown here is my first Zephyr squash. When I purchased this plant, I only saw that it was a called Zephyr summer squash. I thought it was a patty pan type so I brought it home and looked it up only to find that it will be more zucchini shaped and at the very least, bi-colored. Pretty cool, huh?

My tomatoes are going gangbusters. Over the weekend I inspected all 20 plants (that's a lot for me!) and found tomatoes on a little more than half of my plants. Anywhere from 4 tomatoes to 21 a plant. The Sungella's are producing the most, with 21 and 19 on the two plants. Yesterday I ran more string to tie them up in a new caging procedure that I learned on my homesteading list this year.

Weekend plans

1) Buy a reciprocal saw
2) Cut the bottom 3 feet off of that OLD rickety 9 foot ladder. Set it up in the garden as my new trellis
3) Transplant sugar snap peas around the ladder
4) Transplant cucumber seedlings
5) Transplant squash/pumpkin seedlings
6) Water everyone well and watch things grow


My first squash blossom of the season. This is on my Bennings green patty-pan. They are bf's favorite so I planted two of them for him.


I also finally found the link to my old veggie pictures. The are from my 2001, 2002, and 2003 gardens. Those were good years...

May 24th update

Todays blog is all about photo updates on the garden.


These are my 'trashcan taters." Yes, I'm growing potatoes in a trashcan; it's one of my experiments this year and a first for me. I bought organic potatoes, waited til they sprouted, then cut them and planted them in the bottom of a plastic trashcan that was falling apart at the top. Of course, I drilled drainage holes in the bottom first. :) I took these pictures 3 days ago and they have already grown so much since then.


My first tomatillo bloom. I have one more on my other tomatillo plant now. This is my first year growing tomatillos.



On the right, my sugar snap peas. On the left, my mystery squash (are they pumpkins, zuchhini, cucumbers?)



My first Sausage tomatoes of the year.


I don't know off the top of my head what kind these are. I would have to look at my garden map, but, are they not adorable?


My mater plants against the house are bigger and bushier than those I have planted along the fence. They get more sun here and residual heat from the stucco house.


Broccoli - another first for me to grow this year. They are healthy and strong, and at 90 days since I planted the seeds, only 2 of the 13 plants are *just* starting to grow little broc heads.

Peas peas and peas

I had such a hard time starting my sugar snap peas in soil that I started them in wet paper towel first, in a ziploc, and then transplanted them in to soil after the roots popped out. That seems to be working fabulously! I have at least 10 plants up and another 12 that I popped in to the soil on Saturday. By Sunday, I already saw green peeping up through the tops. Soon I will cut the bottom from that old 10 foot wooden ladder to make a trellis for my peas and plant them in the ground. It looks like May 26th and 27th are good moon days for planting peas.
My loofas have not sprouted yet. I planted them almost a week ago. My squash in one pot all came up at once. I'm hoping that is my zucchini - especially since I just plant them in the section of my garden where I want zukes to grow! My other squash pot didn't do so well, so, I put a pot of peas on top, and wouldn't you know it, the squash popped right up and was growing around the pea pot! So now I have at least 4 more plants. Zucchini or pumpkin? Who knows...
My tomatoes keep flopping over and I'm not sure why. One by one, they fall over as if something has pushed them. This weekend I hammered in the rest of my bamboo stakes and ran string between them, propping everything back up. I ran out of string and need to get more to finish the side bed. I planted additional echinacia since none of the seeds in the side bed sprouted, and my tiny little echi seedling is now buried in the dirt - he was too small when I planted him and he got covered when I would water. My lone cucumber looks like he sprouted a friend in the same cell. That soil I bought from SunnyWinds nursery is no good for germinating seeds - only the OSH soil seems to do well. Interesting.
My algebra final is tonight. I have to go home and bake brownies for the last class. I'll be finishing that bottle of wine after my test, in celebration of the end of this semester. Celebration only lasts 2 weeks though, before I start 6 weeks of my summer session. I swear, I'll be 50 before I get something as basic as my general studies done.

Half way... through May

Currently 54*, supposed to get to 74* today.
I spotted my first tomatoes on Sunday the 13th. Both of my Sungella plants were sporting 1 tomato each, about the size of a pencil eraserhead. Then on Monday, I noticed that one of my Sungellas was really unhappy - it wasn't limp, but it was flopped over like someone had pushed it over. It seems a few of the plants on that side are getting floppy though I don't know why. I need to stake them soon, really soon, like last week. The only good side to that one plant getting floppy is that I was able to spot another 2-3 tomatoes growing on that plant. I watered, uprighted her, and will try to stake them all this evening. That single row gets more sun than the mater plants in the other bed, so, they have grown larger and faster than the plants that I had already found bamboo for, for staking.

One week from tonight I will have this semester completed. My english final is this Friday and my algebra final is on Monday the 21st. I am not worried about either one, but I do need to spend more time reviewing my algebra so that I understand what is being requested of me during the different operations. I especially need to go over and over and over that y-intercept and x-intercept portion as some of it really throws me. By the way, where are all my tests to review? I also finally decided to take an online english class over the summer break. I think I can be disciplined enough to handle that for 6 weeks. I went online last night to register but not only is the class full, there is a waiting list of 9 people ahead of me. I'm really disappointed and have to call them today, like now, to find out how I will know if I got in the class or not. Otherwise, I will have to take actual live classes, and I really didn't want to do that.

Mystery seedlings

As predicted, they came up just enough to identify. They are my sugar snap peas. I've been planting the seeds, unsuccessfully, over several different weekends. I read on one of my forums that they should be presoaked, so, I stuck 6 of them in a paper towel and added some water, then placed the whole thing in a ziploc bag and put it on my potting bench outside. I checked it every other day and about the 5th day, it had sufficient roots coming out of each one so I planted them. Now, I have green!

Do you see what I see?

At lunchtime, I checked the temperatures outside and decided it was cool enough - I had to drag my *lazy* butt out of my chair and go walking. I started out of the building and to the corner to head down Bernal Rd. The farmers cows were kitty-corner to the building, all trying to pack their big behinds under two small trees and still leave room for the new season of recently born calves. The little ones are a cute and curious bunch alright, but, not curious enough to approach humans. I went down the road, observing the grasses and what little greenery is still left. Our rainfall is at 60% of normal and the hillsides are browning prematurely. The new growth of spring is stunted and you can see where the dead growths of last year have the new growth of this year growing in between. It's like looking at a picture of the same person at infancy and in senior years. It was really quite an odd thing to view. As I got around the first corner past the gate, I heard a familiar buzzing. It was quite puzzling at first as it was not the roar of the planes that constantly fly overhead since we are in the flight path of San Jose airport. It was not the hum nor rumble of someones car about to come around the corner. I stopped and realized it was across the street yet very close. There was a tree with thousands of tiny yellow blossoms and the honey bees had it covered. I sat on the fence next to me, and as I watched, I could see the individual bees floating around, taking care of bee business. Then the roar of planes and the rumble of cars interrupted my peace and tranquility, so I decided to move on. Around the next corner, a wild turkey is on the slope of the hill below me. She's alone at the moment, not being chased by a puffed up male tom. Down the road, I crossed to the other side and noticed that wonderful purple grass that is so unique to this area. I picked a stalk, full of seed heads on the end. The color is brilliant in the sun; a red-violet color that is quite indescribable. At the joint of the stalk, I pulled off a layer of the skin and saw it was golden underneath. If you run your fingers along the stalk, it is smooth from root to end, and rough from end to root, just like a strand of hair. The seeds were substantial, strong, and a beautiful melody of beige and voilet coloring. I carried it for a while, eventually tugging at each seed and tossing it along the trail I found myself walking. Above me on the hill, a dead oak tree. I believe it had a Black-shouldered Kite sitting on top, a stark white in comparison to the dead, dark wood. I came to a fork in the trail; there were 3 ways to go. I had been on the trail to the left and the center, but never the trail on the right. It was more of a trail created by the wildlife, wide enough for only one to travel as opposed to the other trails I could have chosen, made by tire tracks. I took the new, narrow trail since I knew it headed back to the road I needed to return to work. It would make a perfect loop instead of walking and then turning around. By then, I had tugged off all of my purple grass seeds and I was admiring the bare stalk until I got caught on a branch I passed and I lost it. I traveled back up the hill to return to work and noticed the beige grasses. Their seeds are in an amazing transformation and once out of the seed pod, you can see the tiny, copper-golden hairs on each one. As I neard the entrance gate, I looked to my left and saw that I had come upon one of our local black-tailed jackrabbits, sitting in the grass, just outside of his hiding bush. I said hello, he watched me walk by, and surprisingly he never ran off. Nice to know he didn't see me as a threat and waste his energy high-tailing it outta there. I love to see the rabbits; I thanked him and told him that he made my day. It was a great day for a walk.

How stupid do I feel?

Let me tell you.. last night on the way to class I turned a corner in my car and immediately knew there was a problem. Suddenly, it sounded as if I was running on 3 cylinders instead of 4, and I lost a lot of power. I made it the last mile to school and popped the hood. I could see nothing obvious. Mind you, I just finished a full shift at work, 3 hours in 95* sun, and the heat has been brutal. I called my bf and put him on alert - he'll need to pick me up if it still sounds bad after class. Fast forward to 9:15pm and it's dark outside. I started the car; still sounds like crap. I checked the spark plugs and the wires are all secure. I smell raw gas - somewhere, fuel is not burning. I called the bf and have him come out to follow me to the mechanics. He arrives 30 minutes later with a flashlight and in 2 seconds of looking under the hood he says, "what do you think THIS is?" I got out of the car and looked - his flashlight spotlighting my distributor cap, where one of the spark plug wires was hanging free. "Plug wires have TWO sides, sweetheart." I know this - it was in plain sight - I had CHECKED that side of the engine - and I've worked on cars since I was 11 so I'm not a dumb female that doesn't know her way around an engine. I felt really stupid and popped the wire end back on to the distributor. She fired right up, happy as a clam. Sigh...

This morning I went out to the garden and found that something is sprouting in my green 6 pack. I really need to find a fast and easy and secure way to label stuff when I plant it. Now I have to WAIT til it gets a little bigger to determine what it is. My green onions are also going to seed. I grew them from green onions that we got from the store. After we used all the green section, I popped the white part with the roots in the ground and voila! New greens, seeds included. We'll plant those next year and see what we get. {I should mark those, huh?"

whadda weekend!

I slept wrong on Thursday (wrong meaning in that old horrible bed I have instead of on the floor) and woke up Friday with a pain in the back of my shoulder. Bossman sent me home an hour early, after he learned I had been quiet about the pain all day. Physical labor usually helps work it out so I took that extra hour of time to mow the front lawn, the side yard, and to pickax the high spots that those nasty gophers createdin the backyard. I figured if I could level out the backyard a bit, it would make it easier for John to mow.

Saturday I got up early and drove to Gilroy for the monthly Women's Work Day. I was a few minutes late, but we enjoyed fresh pineapple and orange-glazed cinnamon rolls before beginning the project. J's plan was to take the broken concrete pieces from her old patio and create a 'rock wall' around a plant bed that she had. The plant bed has an above ground filter pond, that she uses water plants in to filter her fish pond that is on the other side of the yard. The dirt around this filter pond always runs down and her plantings never stay put. Her hubby bought us some mortar while we laid out the plan and got to work. First we uprooted the grape hyacinth as she didn't want to lose those. Then we removed the old small rocks that had sunk in to the ground. We laid out the lines of the rock wall with flour, changed it, changed it again, until we finally agreed on the lines and the roundness. Less like a "urinal" and more like a plant bed. We started choosing the concrete pieces we wanted to use and had a dry run. We laid out the bottom layer of broken concrete, switched some pieces here and there until we got what we were looking for, then mixed the mortar. We lifted each concrete, splat down some mortar, put the concrete back and wiggle it around to set it in, move to the next concrete. After the first layer we took a lunch break, then dry fit and set in mortar the 2nd layer. While we waited for that to dry we had limeaid and eventually went home. J will do the 3rd layer later this week.


Sunday we went to Sears to have bf's picture taken for the newsletter at his new job, then I went to OSH to get a big bag of soil and a bigger bag of redwood compost. It was so hot, I watered early in the morning and my transplants from J weren't doing well. Today she told me they will recover fine, so I hope the heat goes away soon and lets them recoop. Then I got our old broken trashcan and planted some organic potatoes. Soon I should be able to plant my experimental cotton, though I have NO idea where I will end up planting it in the ground. Below is the before and after of the rock wall. In the little pockets, she will plant succulents and whatnots.


The temps are back up to 90* + this weekend and today (Monday) and they are supposed to go back down, again, tomorrow. We shall see.

What's up with the weather?

Saturday the temps were nearing 100*. Sunday they dropped back down to the 80's. By Wednesday, the sprinkles were coming and on Thursday and Friday, it's raining. I just don't get it... I do, however, have my planted seeds opened out to the rain, hoping that the rain water will encourage them to SPROUT, and grow!

Recently, the news is full of food contamination articles. Food imported from China, a country with a horrible history of illnesses and death due to food contamination, is somehow allowed to be imported in to the US. No one carries the blame, or the responsibility. What started out as numerous deaths of our pets and a recall of pet food has now expanded to our pork and poultry supplies. Someday, somehow, people will get the notion that we should be growing what we eat, or buying from known reputable suppliers of our vegetables, fruits, and meats. I read that a hog farmer 45 minutes away had their animals quarantined because contaminated feed went to their farm. How horrible is this?

I'm trying several gardening experiments this year. I took cuttings of a blackberry bush from a nearby creek and planted it in a gallon pot. So far, the leaves it already had died off, and it LOTS of small, firm, lush, green leaves growing from every bud. I also found a small blackberry seedling growing, so, I dug that up and it's also doing well. 2 months ago, I did a major pruning of my apple tree and set aside all the branches to dry and use as kindling/BBQ smoking for next year. While relocating the woodpile 2 weeks ago, I found one of them contained new buds. I put the bottom end in rooting hormone and planted it, to see if I can keep it alive or not. I'm also going to try growing potatoes in a trash can. I recently purchased organic potatoes to use as seed and they are outside in the sun, to encourage the sprouting eyes to grow more. I'll plant them in a trashcan this weekend and we'll get this experiment started. I have one other experiment somewhere, I know, but I can't think of what it is.... Below is one of my tomato gardens, along with long green peppers, sweet basil, and calendula.

Around the urban homestead...

Here is the border that my bf and I created last weekend during that heatwave. We took red stepping stones and broke them up, then placed them around the border of the bed. It's not perfect nor even, but it was inexpensive and I kinda like it. It's different, and a little dangerous.

And my darling new cucumber seedling that sprouted up yesterday...