Planting time is here!
Last year Scarlet and I went nuts and planted all sorts of delicious fruits, veggies, and herbs willy-nilly all over the garden. It was a magical spring and summer of pure mother-daughter-nature joy. Check it out here and here.
This year I had planned to create a raised bed (learn how from Jacinda here) and create an orderly garden of delicious bounty blooming on schedule throughout the summer, but I, umm, couldn’t quite pull it together.
Instead we just went at it with a little more knowledge and a lot more seeds – tilling, fertilizing, and sowing to our hearts’ content. Not much to show for it yet, but we should start to see some sprouts in the next ten days. This week’s rain is our friend, though the birds I once loved to listen to are not. Find out what we’ve planted and see some before pics after the jump.
Are y’all planning backyard farms this year? Got any tips? Any must-tries? Any never-do-that’s? Any hilar stories of garden catastrophes? Share them in the comments, you just might walk away with some adorbs beachmod ukelele fabric to make some kneepads or somethin’ with…
Our Backyard Farm Part 2
Among the great blessings in this family’s life are our precious yard and the Los Angeles climate. After last year’s bounty and the happiness it brought my husband, myself, and especially our daughter (in the form of delicious homegrown food and hours spent together in the sunshine) we’ve been counting the weeks until planting season was upon us. Now, finally, spring has arrived! First things first, we scoped out the situation.
Here’s the view from the “deck”. Lots of beautiful bulbs are in bloom with lillies and the like that we don’t want to remove just yet.
Our scallions we grew from seed last year were still going strong, but some sort of teensy black insect had taken over, so we dug ’em up and tossed ’em.
Our strawberries (some heirlooms planted by Carleton’s grandfather at his childhood home and transplanted here) have a few blooms, we decided to plant some more.
The artichoke we planted last year isn’t bearing fruit (veggie?) yet, but it is growing strong.
Our arugula is insane. We just chopped it off at the base, hoping it will grow back as it did once before. Any idea if it will?
Ugh, MINT! DARN YOU! We decided we don’t need 4 square yards of mint taking over our lives, so I ripped it all up. I replanted it in a giant pot, where it can stay contained.
Look, there was a parsley plant hidden under all that mint.
I transplanted the parsley to a different nook of the garden, right outside my office. I’m planning to create a little herb garden in this area. It seems to have survived the move one week later. We also planted chives, sage, thyme, and dill seeds. We have rosemary out front, so we didn’t include it, and we are planning to add some garlic bulbs over here soon. We may do the scallions here when we have more space after the flower bulbs bloom as well.
Up against the wall of my office, we used bamboo U-hoops as a trellis for pole beans, the seeds of which we planted 3-4″ away from each post. They should sprout this week if we’re lucky!
Because we have SO MUCH we want to plant, and not a ton of space (my poor gardener begged me not to ruin his beautiful lawn), I decided that I’d try to work this area by my office. It’s in the shade of the tangerine tree so it doesn’t get a ton of sun, but it might work for the pumpkins Scarlet insisted we plant. I haven’t yet worked the soil or staked the trellis, but that’s our plan for this area.
Now for the hard work. The ground is looking compacted and tough.
So we tilled.
The whole family got in on the action. Crazy fun.
Then we added some fertilizer. I meant to get all fancy and test the soil, but alas we just sprinkled willy-nilly.
Scarlet planted these white flowers here when we first moved in, she’s so proud of them, so of course they stay.
Then in went the tomatoes, crookneck squash, cauliflower, and zucchini plants.
Then we sowed our seeds.
Nothing much to show yet but soil, so here’s a list of what we planted:
Corn
Anaheim Peppers
Red, Yellow, Green, and Orange Bell Peppers
Eggplant
Spinach
Butter Lettuce
Mesclun
More tomatoes
Cucumbers (this year we planted them at the base of the “deck” in the corner, in the hopes I can train them to grow up the sides and hang from the railings.
Heirloom Pole Beans
I know the peppers and eggplant aren’t likely to sprout, but Miss S had her pick of seeds and she wanted to try it. Wish us luck!
I can’t wait to hear your advice, show you our progress, and to learn what y’all have in store for your gardens, containers, and yards this season. Happy gardening!
