Thursday, February 24, 2011

Weather

We are still on track to get a little snow in our area. Not sure that we will see snow in the garden but there is a good chance we will get some in our local foothills.

Tonight
Tomorrow
Tomorrow Night
Rain
Rain
Rain / Snow Showers
41°
50°
32°
Low
High
Low
Chance of Rain:
70%
Chance of Rain:
70%
Chance of Precip:
50%
Wind:
WSW at 7 mph
Wind:
WNW at 10 mph
Wind:
NW at 8 mph

In any case I'm not taking any chances. I have brought the seedlings into the house as well as the banana and the avocado.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I'll Believe It When I See It and Other News

Issued by The National Weather Service
San Francisco/Monterey, CA
3:38 pm PST, Tue., Feb. 22, 2011
... COLD STORM SYSTEM TO IMPACT OUR AREA STARTING ON THURSDAY...
... SNOW LEVELS EXPECTED TO DROP CLOSE TO SEA LEVEL BY FRIDAY NIGHT...
AFTER A QUIET WEATHER DAY TODAY AND WEDNESDAY... A RETURN TO COLD WINTRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE SAN FRANCISCO AND MONTEREY BAY REGION BY THURSDAY. A STRONG STORM SYSTEM CURRENTLY IN CANADA WILL DIVE TO THE SOUTHEAST AND BE NEAR THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA FRIDAY NIGHT. AHEAD OF THE LOW... RAINFALL WILL SPREAD ACROSS OUR AREA STARTING THURSDAY AND CONTINUING INTO FRIDAY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS COULD EXCEED HALF AN INCH FOR CITIES WITH MORE THAN AN INCH POSSIBLE FOR HIGHER ELEVATIONS. SNOW LEVELS WILL DROP THROUGH THE DAY AND BE UNDER 1500 FEET FOR MOST OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY AND BETWEEN 2000 AND 2500 FEET ON FRIDAY. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR LOCAL MOUNTAIN RANGES. EVEN COLDER AIR WILL CONTINUE TO FILTER IN THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT WITH SNOW LEVELS POTENTIALLY DROPPING DOWN TO SEA LEVEL.
We brought the banana in the house tonight just in case and if the temps really do drop that low all the seedlings in the greenhouse will need to come in as well.

In Other News
If you have been following the story on the Dervaes Family claiming to have trademarked the terms Urban Homestead and Urban Homesteading... well it made our local paper today. You can read about it on line at SFGate. You can also keep up on this story on Facebook at Take Back Urban Home-steading(s)

Snow... Really!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Nice Relaxing Long Weekend At My Urban Homestead

I went into this weekend not feeling very well. I felt like I'd been coming down with a cold all week but it never really developed. So the plan was to sleep in and rest as much as possible. I kept things in slow mode all weekend but seem to have gotten a lot done. Outside of grocery shopping, some lite housework and getting in a much needed workout I was able to get a few things completed in the garden after the rain stopped.

Since it rained all day Saturday this was a good day to sleep in and workout. After lunch I headed out to the greenhouse and brought some seedlings into the kitchen to transplant into bigger pots.
Cucumbers

Basil and Oregano
After Transplanting
On Sunday I was able to get outside for a bit. I have been wanting to give back some space in front of sweet husband's man cave. My gardening stuff had been taking over the area. This is what it looked like before...

And this is after. I still have a little work to do. The weber will be moved to a more protected area and the rest of planters and watering can still need to be moved. The potting bench was moved to the side yard at the front of the house in a more decorative capacity. I find I don't really use it much since I do more vegetable gardening now.

I also took some photos around the garden. About a week ago when I was throwing some kitchen scraps into the compost bin I noticed something sprouting out of the sides. If you guessed potatoes you would be right. After I harvested all my potatoes last year I had some damaged ones I threw into the compost knowing quite well that they may sprout. I had even seen evidence of this the last time I turned the compost but thought if I keep disturbing them with my turning that they would give up and decompose. Well I guess I'm not turning the compost enough...


There is no sun in this area at this time of year so I'm really surprised they look so good. Will be interesting to see what I find the next time I turn it.

The morning glory made it through the winter and is putting out some new growth. I will need to get up there and move the vines onto the trellis.


The carrots in bed 3 transplanted well from the cell packs. This is my second sowing. I planted 4 squares and I will plant another 4 squares in bed 4 in about 3 or 4 weeks. If you click on the photo to enlarge you will be able to see them better.

I didn't think the lettuce in bed 4 was going to make it through the rain. I was raining pretty hard there for a while. But it looks like they will be OK. The lettuce in bed 2 was not looking so well. I think they will get a chance to recover before the next rain due on Thursday.



The greenhouse is full of life. The tomatoes will be potted up one more time before they are moved out into the garden.



New raspberry canes are coming up.


and so are the snow pea and sugar snap peas.


I'm even getting some blooms on the strawberries.

My next post will be on potting the sweet potato slips.



Friday, February 18, 2011

A Garden Insectary

A new friend of mine Debbie Ballentine owner of Native Heart Landscapes sent me a link for Natural  Pest Control. I will be telling you more about Debbie in an up coming blog post for the Haven Garden. But until then I hope you find this link useful.

In My Garden 
Last weekend I took down one of the greenhouses to make room for my potted fruit trees. Removing the greenhouse also allows the small strawberry bed access to more sun.


Banana, Blueberries, Avocado and Nectarine

The Day Avocado put on a lot of new growth over the Winter. Two more years and I should have my first avocado.

The planting grids have been installed in beds 3 and 4.

I planted 4 squares of carrots in bed 3 and in bed 4 I planted  4 squares of lettuce, 3 broccoli and 2 cauliflower.

Bed 2 is looking good.
Carrots

Spring Onions
Pak Choy
In the Greenhouse the seedlings are doing very well. I will need to transplant the tomatoes into bigger pots soon.
Peppers and tomatoes

Cucumbers and tomatoes
That's it for now. If we get a break in the rain tomorrow you can find me in the garden.

Monday, February 7, 2011

It's February Right?

To all my Gardening Friends up North, please forgive me....

What a beautiful weekend with temperatures reaching into the 70's it is hard to believe it's still February. I spent Saturday morning in the Haven garden and the rest of the day in mine.

Saturday
The main project for this weekend was moving the arch away from bed 3 to give me a little more space to get to the back of the bed. This meant removing the strawberry bed linked to bed 5. The berries are not doing very well in this area so they and the bed were removed so the arch could be moved over giving me more room. The photos below are the progression of the project. Click on the photos for a larger view.

Area to be reworked.
The wall comes down.
Repositioned  the end wall of bed 5.
Moved the arch to give me more room at the end of bed 3.
Added some wood chips.
I think I will grow some cucumbers or vining squash in the new area.
Beds 2 and 5
The carrots that I started in cell packs and transplanted into bed 2 are doing so well. So well in fact I started a second sowing for bed 3. This might be my best carrot year to date.

Carrots in bed 2
The pak choy is staring to take shape. This is the first time I have tried to grow pak choy and am pleased at how easy they are to grow.
Pak Choy

Sunday
Sunday was all about seedlings. I potted up peppers and cucumbers. Fed them as well as the tomatoes with a weak solution of fish emulsion.

Cucumbers

Spinach
Lettuce
Tomatoes and Cucumbers
Peppers
After tending to the seedings I planted the onion sets in bed 4 but first I added soaker hoses to the row.



Random photos from the weekend

Sleeping Angel
Lemons
Blueberry Blooms
Sunset 02/05/2011