Having a little fun with the camera and with the plants in my garden - 

Can you tell I love variety?  This is only a  partial selection of what I have growing.

All are edibles, or parts of a plant that is edible, but not necessarily the portion shown.

(except for the white flower in the center which I grow for the bees, not to eat)

Can you guess them all?

Garden Update 03-02-14

Hi all!  

Sorry its been so long since my last post, life has been busy.

You might have thought there's just not much going on in the garden what with it being the middle of the winter and all, but here in Southern California zone 9b that luckily isn't really a problem- the weather is so mild that there's always something growing!

I have still been taking photos of the garden and harvests, just haven't had time to post them until now, so here are a few choice images from the past few months along with some learnings and tips:

Here's a nice shot of part of the front porch garden.  It's small but I pack in a lot - in just this one photo you can see a variety of different lettuces, arugula, cilantro, parsley, dill, peas, kale, nasturtiums, alyssum, and a lime tree! (as well as a few succulents that haven't been sacrificed for the space to grow edibles... yet)

You'll also notice a new addition - the planter box on the railing!  There are 2 actually, the other is out of frame, and they are the same as the ones on the side porch that I used for strawberries (cedar containers from Home Depot zip tied to the railing through holes I drilled in them).  The lettuces are actually doing better than the strawberries in this type of container, and they are one of the best additions to my tiny garden ever! Here's more about the lettuce...

As I said- best addition to the garden ever- possibly with the exception of herbs.

Its my first time growing lettuce actually, and its been so wonderful being able to step out onto the porch and pick a handful of lettuces, arugula, baby chard, baby kale, and herbs for a salad any time I want!  It never hurts to top off the greens with some chopped carrot, radish, mushrooms, or grape tomatoes either! Here's a few of the many salads the garden has provided so far:

I'm not totally sure what all the varieties I got were, I bought them from starts and some were in a mixed pack simply labelled "fancy mix" but I do know I have some romaine, red sails, and red oak leaf.  I'm using the technique of simply picking off the outer leaves whenever I harvest and they are planted very closely so none have actually formed true heads but that's just fine with me for my purposes.  I also got some arugula starts and grew some spinach from seed because I love my greens and I love variety.  They all seem to do great in small containers and don't seem to need a whole lot of room or root space- all they seem to ask is to be watered frequently and they prefer cool weather.

I notice about half of the varieties started to bolt when we had some warmer temperatures for a few weeks, so I decided to let them keep going and save the seeds, but I am able to continue harvesting the leaves as they have not yet turned bitter.  My spinach and cilantro also decided to bolt from the warm weather and much of my basil started blooming as well. The romaine and the curly lettuce in the bottom photo did not bolt yet, they seem to be able to better tolerate warmer temperatures.  

I definitely recommend growing lettuces and other leafy greens if you are short on space or growing in containers like I am.  I might even recommend growing your lettuce in containers even if you have a yard or raised beds, and raised up if possible like these are, as it gives the snails and slugs less access and they seem to love to munch on the lettuce if they can get to it.  The chard and basil and baby pea shoots are still their favorite though.  Speaking of peas...

So another new favorite of mine is snow peas.  Oregon Sugar Pod II to be specific, I believe these are from Seeds of Change but you should be able to find this variety with many seed suppliers.  They are doing very well growing in containers, which I wasn't sure about but am glad I decided to try.  They grew quickly, are nice and robust, and are fairly prolific  And they taste great of course.  They also survived the heat wave, I can't say the same for the snap peas...

I had high hopes for the snap peas, they were doing quite well for a little while and I even started being able to harvest from them, and they tasted delicious!  But then we had a heat wave and they got a little sad looking... and then we had ANOTHER heat wave...

It can't be all successes and ample harvests in the garden all the time.  Its often seems more like 50/50 success vs. failure, or maybe 75/25 once you learn what works for your area and do some research and gain a little experience. There are pests, and there are diseases, there's also mistakes, and then there is weather.  Now I'm not going to complain about getting several weeks of 80 degree weather in the middle of  the winter, it is part of the reason I live here in the first place, but my sugar snap peas sure didn't like it.  These photos are the same plants as in the previous photos, but after some mildly hot weather and then some very hot weather.  A few survived, most did not, and I learned that sugar snap peas are not heat tolerant at all and might not be the best choice for my climate.

Some more "learnings" as I like to call it (not failures, just an opportunity to learn, right?), are that the strawberries are not totally happy in their current living conditions.  I have a feeling I planted them too closely, that it would have been better to put maybe 3 plants in the size container I have rather than 6, as they have not been producing well and have only had very tiny fruit.  It is also early in the season and some varieties like warmer weather or fruit at different times of the year, and sometimes the plants take a while to get established, so I will wait and see if things improve.  I have still gotten fresh, homegrown, pesticide free strawberries out of my garden, just not very many and they are very very small!

Ah herbs!!! I can't say enough good things about them - easy to grow, grow well in containers, can be grown inside or outside and more or less in sun or shade, nutritious, add so much flavor to foods, versatile, beautiful...  Pictured here is some genovese basil grown from seed, some cilantro grown from seeds I planted mixed in with some chives growing from seeds that volunteered (the chive plant in the pot above it bloomed and the seeds fell into a few other containers and started growing), mint springing back to life (after the older growth died off either from weather or maybe as part of its natural life cycle), and a harvest of parsley, cilantro, oregano, mint and basil.  

I recommend everyone grow herbs as it is so much cheaper to grow them than buy them fresh - fresh herbs are my favorite and a bunch of herbs that are cut and will spoil quickly is around the same price as a living plant that will keep growing and give you many harvests, so why not get the most for your money?  Also if they are conveniently right there on your windowsill or just outside you are a lot more likely to actually use them, and they make everything taste so much better, not to mention the antioxidants and nutrients they provide.  I add them to lots of foods you might not think of - most people add herbs to Italian food and possibly some rosemary to roasted potatoes, etc - but I add fresh parsley on top of macaroni and cheese, parsley or chives on top of scrambled eggs, add cilantro and basil to salads and takeout thai food and salsa, fresh dill to ranch dressing, thyme to baked chicken or potatoes or beets, fresh oregano and basil with leftover spaghetti noodles and a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper can make an easy snack or meal, all kinds of herbs go into my omelettes, I could go on...

Again its not all sunshine and rainbows all the time, even with herbs - I had a nasty case of spider mites take out most of my basil (the basil that the snails didn't decimate, that is!).  If you ever notice little cobwebs on your plants and yellowing leaves look very closely... if you see little red specs, then I'm afraid you've got spider mites my friend.  I recommend spraying the plant down with water to knock them off, and possibly getting some beneficial insects like ladybugs to eat them.  We just had a crazy storm with 3 days of pelting rain, I'm hoping that will have done the trick.

Some more old favorites, my trusty chard!  I couldn't count how many leaves I've picked off these plants and they just keep chugging along and producing more.  They don't seem to be affected much by the weather, and they do great growing in containers (though they are more petite than ones I've seen growing in raised beds or in the ground).  They suffer snail damage from time to time but thats the only issues I've had with them so far- knock on wood.  They're just so beautiful too!  I particularly love the one with the yellow stems, and the one with red veins is very striking.

Some new beginnings... here's just a couple of new baby plants I've got going, some lucinato kale grown from purchased seed on the left and a cherry tomato grown from seed I saved myself on the right.  I also sowed some spring onions/scallions that just sprouted, and more snow peas.  I have 4 new red russian kale plants that are about the same size as the baby lucinato kale right now as well, and some bell peppers going in small pots like the tomato.  That reminds me I should take advantage of this wet weather to sow some basil seeds and more cilantro out in the garden...

Well that's about it for now!  

Feel free to leave a comment about what you've got growing in your garden or if you have any questions.  

Happy gardening!

Harvest 12-29-13

Pic of today's harvest which became part of our lunch of sauteed Swiss chard, kale and mushrooms with roasted spaghetti squash topped with olive oil, butter and Parmesan cheese.  Forgot to take a picture of the lunch however, my husband and I ate it too fast!  You might notice the snails got a bite of that one chard leaf and some of the kale, but as my dad says (after finding a bug on his produce): "well, they don't eat much".

Weekend Project: Railing Planters "Strawberry Patch"

Taking advantage of the weekend and holiday time off, I decided to finally increase my strawberry plant count by adding some space-saving railing planters.  These will serve as my "strawberry patch" until we move to a house with a yard and more room.  They were a simple and fast project to complete and can easily be taken down if needed.  I just picked up some 33" cedar wood planter boxes at Home Depot, drilled some holes just under the lip of the boxes, and used black plastic zip ties to attach the boxes to the railing on the porch.  If you want to save money or want a custom size you could always build the boxes yourself, but these were pre-assembled and about the right size and I opted for the easier route. I went to Orange County Farm Supply to get some high quality organic soil to use (I like their selection better than what I've found at other stores) as well as some soil amendments I have been wanting to try (seaweed fertilizer, granulated rock dust, and earth worm castings).  Remember the health of your plants depends on the health of your soil, and from the research I've done it is best to avoid chemical fertilizers not only for your own health and because they are made from fossil fuels and are polluting to the environment, but they also kill the healthy organisms living in the soil that benefit your plants.  Yet another reason to do things the organic way.  Also plants resist pests and produce better if they are getting the nutrients they need.  I picked up a variety of strawberry plants at Armstrong Nursery which carries a great selection of plant starts including organic, heirloom varieties, and locally grown.  I opted for getting a few of each type since different varieties produce fruit at different times, and I also just love variety - I ended up with Sequoia, Mignonette, Tristan, Berri Basket White, and Loran.  I also salvaged and transplanted the couple plants I already had which had survived from the previous season. I'm Interested to see which varieties do best and the difference in flavor.  Here are some pics:

left planter

right planter

I think they look pretty nice!

here you can see how they are held on to the railing

The Tristan strawberries have cute little red flowers

the Sequoia have classic white and are also quite tall

fruits developing

and of course William had to help supervise!

Happy Holidays!

Garden Update 12-25-13

We celebrated Christmas last night with the family so today just taking it easy with the hubby - and had some free time to take some pics of the garden.  Also re-potted some kale seedlings and planted more peas.

the last jalapeno.

Also noticed some new leaf growth after most of the summer leaves fell off - I did a little research and found out that in warmer climates peppers can be grown as perennial and often the second year has better production than the first!  Excited to find out if this is true... got about 15 peppers off this plant this year I think.

Parsley has a certain beauty in my opinion, and it really is delicious!  I chop and sprinkle it over potato, meat, and egg dishes, and sometimes just eat a few sprigs straight from the garden.  Its high in vitamins and antioxidants and tastes fresh, flavorful and somewhat salty.  I think this is more true with home grown parsley than the kind you would find as a garnish on your plate eating out or purchase from the grocery store - kind of like the difference between homegrown and store bought tomatoes.  I never use the dried stuff either, the fresher the better, all the more reason to grow your own.

Yummy Genovese Basil - one of my favorite herbs.

Curly kale with a leaf of red winter kale and a young Lucinato kale plant photobombing.

the peas are getting taller...

Closeup of one of my herb pots - basils, mint and parsley coexisting.

Another view of the same container.

...and another...

And William enjoying the sunshine!

Small Gift or Favors Idea - Succulents

Every year around this time small gifts start to appear on my desk... treat bags filled with chocolates or cookies, cocoa mix, scented candles, etc.  These are all great ideas, cute, easy and often yummy, and I usually give something similar myself.  However this year I was inspired to do something a bit out of the ordinary - succulents!  I have a few planters on my patio overflowing with different varieties of succulents and they were overdue for a trim anyhow, so I decided to give cuttings planted in tiny pots that I decorated myself. Here is a quick rundown of the materials and process for making them, and some pictures of them finished. They turned out really cute and were a hit with my coworkers too!  You could also use these as favors for a wedding or party as well.  Another great idea would be to use culinary herbs, especially since I love promoting growing edible plants, but I was a bit short on time and would probably have wanted to start them from seed and get them to a good size before gifting them, and they would need bigger of pots for their root structures too. Also succulents are a lot more forgiving than herbs to take care of so even if I give one to someone who has a brown thumb it would be really hard for them to kill, or at least take a while to die so they have longer to enjoy it at least, ha ha!

MATERIALS (available at most craft stores):
mini terracotta pots
outdoor acrylic paint (white)
paintbrush
colored permanent markers in multiple colors
colored string (or natural twine, or bakers twine)
gift tags (you could cut up some scrap paper instead of buying tags too)
stamps (I used present stamps but snowflakes, stars, birds, or anything festive will work)
stamp ink in multiple colors
gel pens in multiple colors (or a pencil or colored pencils)
potting soil
succulent cuttings

DIRECTIONS:
1)  Paint all the pots with the white paint (or whatever color you prefer), covering the entire outside and at least halfway down on the inside.  I found that if I painted the bottom halves first, let those dry, and then did the top half/rim and insides next then I got a lot less paint on my fingers!  Let these dry for at least 1 day before decorating, also I would wait a few days to let the paint cure before planting them too.

2)  Decorate the top/rim of the pots using the permanent markers.  I drew geometric patterns and outlined them in a coordinating color, which looked pretty cool.

3)  Once the paint is thoroughly dry and cured for a few days fill the pots with slightly moistened soil and plant the cuttings from your succulents, watching out to keep the outside of the pots as clean as possible in the process.  It might be good to root the succulents beforehand, but I didn't and they seemed to do fine. Give them a little drink of water after planting.

4)  Stamp one side of your gift tags and once dry flip them over and write your message on the back using the gel pens or a pencil.  I also colored in some of the stamps with the gel pens. Don't use the permanent marker on the tags as they will bleed through the paper and show on the other side.

5)  Punch a hole in your gift tags if they don't already have one. Tie a length of the colored string or twine around the top of the pots, tie a double knot, then loop the string through the hole in the gift tag and tie a bow.  

6)  Now you're done!  Be sure to transport the plants carefully in the car - I set them close together in a box lid and used towels to fill any extra space on the sides and prevent them from tipping over.

PICTURES: