Not in the Plan

I'm the type of person that has lots of ideas for projects in the garden and in the house, but I have to be in the mood to work on them, so when the mood strikes I have to go for it. Today's plan was to do some seed starting as well as adding shut off valves to beds 2, 3, and 4.

I went to the hardware store and picked up the valves and other parts that I needed to install them and made my way home. I pulled out all  of my tools and started the water line project... well that was the plan.

While I was figuring out how to add the valves I kept thinking how I wanted to redo the square foot grid on the beds. The current grid is just not working for me. I don't like the way they look and I'm always moving them when I don't mean to.

Before I knew it I was at Home Depot picking up 1x1's.

I installed the shut off valve on bed 4...

... and then removed the old grid, leveled out the bed, and put the drip lines back in place.

I cut the 1x1's and laid out the grid...

Now I just need to secure the grid to the bed. That will be tomorrow's project as well as updating beds 2 and 3 with the new grid.

OK I feel better now. The new grid is just what I wanted and looks much nicer.

Seed starting tomorrow for sure... right?

~Happy Gardening~

View From the Roof and Other Random Photos

Sorry I have not been a very good blogger these last few months but I just seem to be very busy these days. Last weekend I took some photos of the garden. The always loved roof shots are up first...

Click on photos for a larger view

The next two photos are ground shots.

I don't know for sure because we have never really experienced a "real" Spring here in the California  Bay Area but if I had to guess this is the closest we have come. It's the end of May and we are still getting a little rain, cool temperatures and a lot of wind. This is just not the norm in these parts. My cool weather crops are loving it but my Summer crops are not doing so well. Had I known the cool weather was going to last so long I would have held off planting Summer crops. My cucumbers are producing fruit but the plants are small and weak. Not sure if they are going to recover. I have been feeding them with seaweed extract and fish emulsion in hopes it will give them a bit of a boost. I also wrapped the bed in plastic today to protect the cucumbers from the wind and to give them a little more warmth.

Cucumbers

 The tomatoes seem to be doing OK. The Fox Cherries have almost out grown their 5 foot trellis.

I'm getting fruit but they are not going to ripen until the weather warms up a bit more.

I had a nice harvest on May 22nd. 2 pounds of lettuce some carrots, spring onions, snow peas and dill.

Last Christmas sweet husband  bought me some new garden art...

As the sun was setting tonight we were blessed with a rainbow.