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.

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

Lots of Seed Starting

I've started most of my seeds this past weekend for the Spring and Summer garden. Mostly lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and a second planting of carrots. I'm having much better luck starting my carrot seeds in starter cells than sowing seeds directly in the beds, although I will do some direct sowing later in the season. In a few weeks I will be starting Summer squash for my garden and squash and melons for the Haven garden. It's a good thing I have two greenhouses this year. One for starting seeds and one for hardening off.

Tomato Seedling

Tomatoes for both my garden and the Haven garden

I also spent some time installing the PVC hoops and bird netting on bed 2. Go ahead squirrels just try and get in there now!

Bed 2

Do you know what these are going to be used for?

Nope not trellises. 

Square foot grids. Sweet Husband made me a set for beds 2, 3 and 4.

This will be much better than the string I used last year. These grids can be removed which makes it easier to clean and add compost to the beds in the Fall. I can also remove them once the bed is planted... but don't tell Mel!

Tonight I pulled my sweet potatoes out of the pantry to use them for growing slips. They've got a good head start without my help.

Some of these slips will be pulled off the potato and planted in pots this weekend

Very alien like

This is the same potato I used for slips last year. Once I pulled off the slips I just left it in the glass of water. I cut back the old stems and now there are new ones forming.

That's it for my garden. There is lots going on in the Haven garden in the coming days. I'll be updating the Haven blog tomorrow. Be sure to stop by.

A Day Off

I had the day off from work today and was looking forward to working in the garden. So up and out of bed by 7:00 and this is what I saw.... Fog... very dense fog...

What happened to the sunny day that was forecast?

The sun did finally burn off the fog about 1:00 this afternoon and guess what I did after lunch?  

Bed 1 was my focus today. I finished setting up the water line.

Overhead sprinklers to start with. Once the seedlings are a little bigger I will add soaker hoses .
The sprinklers have an on and off switch so I can control what area of the bed is watered.

After making sure everything was in working order it was time to do some transplanting.

Testing the watering system.

I planted the carrots, the bok and pak choy.

Pak Choy and Bok Choy

I hope the carrots don't go into shock from transplanting the seedlings I started in the greenhouse. This is the first time I'm trying this method.

Carrots 

I also completed the water lines in bed 3. Now beds 2, 3 and 4 are all ready to be set on the timer.
 

In other gardening news the lettuce seeds I planted in bed 2 are starting to sprout. In the greenhouse all the tomatoes have sprouted. I'm still waiting for the peppers. I know most of you are thinking it's way too early to start pepper seeds. In our area it is time to indoor sow peppers and in a few weeks or so it will be time for the tomatoes. Yes I did get a jump on the tomatoes but I have never had a problem starting this early and the plants are nice and big by the time I plant them in the garden. I will also be starting my cucumbers and squash seeds next weekend. I picked up my red onion sets today and will plant them next weekend as well. I also need to get started on my sweet potato slips. I have a few sweet potatoes in the pantry that have started to sprout so I just need to put them in a glass of water.

For more information on starting peppers here in the Bay Area check out this weeks Love Apple Farm newsletter "Tip of the Week".