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.

Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year Everyone!

I spent some time in the greenhouse today planting some carrot, onion, pak choy, bok choy, chamomile, stevia and dill seeds.

Sweet Husband sneaking a photo of me in the greenhouse

Seed starting trays

Below is a photo of the January garden from the roof. In just a few months these beds will be full of color.

View from the roof

If you have been following my blog for the past two years you know I always come up with some kind of a big project for the season. When the new fence was installed over the summer we had to take down the shades. We are not planning on putting them back up because we don't think the new fence can handle it. So I will need to come up with something to shade the beds when the summer temps get too hot for the garden. I know what you are thinking as you look at the photo above... just put shade cloth over the hoops. Yes I could do that but I'm not going to. I think I have a better idea that will make it easier for me to get into the beds without having to remove the shade cloth every time I need to harvest.

The July Garden

June gloom is over! We are four days into July with temps in the mid to upper 80's. We really are at the mercy of Mother Nature and I'm not the only gardener in my area feeling the pain of a late start to our growing season. When walking the dog the other day I stopped to talk to one of my neighbors who has turned not only their back yard into a vegetable garden but their front yard as well. We were comparing notes and she was relieved to know it wasn't just their garden that was getting off to a slow start. She like I have only been at this vegetable gardening thing for two years now. The first year is all about beginners luck but you still go into the second year feeling a little cocky... then Mother Nature flicks you in the back of the head. Yes Mother Nature I know you are in control and there is nothing I can do about it.

Up until just yesterday I had no male flowers on any of my zucchini or squash. I had to pick a male crookneck bloom from the Haven garden to bring home and hand pollinate five female blooms. Hey you do what you gotta do. This time last year I had already harvested over 10 pounds of cucumbers. Total so far this year 12.3 ounces!

All of the following photos were taken this weekend.

Click on photos for a larger view.

Garden view from the roof.
July 2, 2010

Photos below: Bed 1. The tomatoes are suffering a bit in the heat. I put up shade cloth to give them some relief.

Not the prettiest thing to look at but it works great. The tomatoes did much better today.

Photo below: Brandywine tomato. The only disappointment with the tomatoes is the brandywine. One plant has two tomatoes and the other has nine. I'm thinking the poor performance is due to the weather.

 Photo below: The roma's on the other hand are putting out tomatoes like crazy. Two plants and they both have over twenty tomatoes with more on the way.

Photo below: Cherry tomatoes. This photo was taken on Friday. I have still not picked this seemingly ripe tomato and it continues to ripen. It just keeps getting deeper in color. I'm thinking the lesson here is patience. When you think it's ready to pick... give it a day or two more.

Photo below bed 2:   I wasn't sure what to do with this bed after I pulled the broccoli. I already had cucumbers planted so I put in one upright raven zucchini and two butternut squash.

Photo's below: English cucumber and baby cucumber.

Photo below: The raven zucchini is putting out both male and female blooms.

Photo below: I also gave bed 2 some shade. The cucumbers and lettuce seem much happier now.

Photo below: Between beds 1 and 2 is an arch with pole beans growing on it.

Photo's below: Bed 2

Photo below: Unlike the tomatoes the peppers are loving the heat.

Photo below: Just in case you were wondering how I'm still growing lettuce and carrots in this heat... Yes that is right, shade cloth. I'll pull the rest of the lettuce tomorrow morning.

Photo below: Moving on to bed 4...

Photo below: I was going to pull all the onions this weekend but noticed some of them were still putting some size. So again patience is the word of the day.

Photo Below: Bed 4 pole beans. I'm picking beans every other day from both the bush beans and pole beans.

Photos below: Bed 5 is planted with one acorn squash, one cucumber and three sweet potato. The acorn squash is putting out a lot of female blooms. I'm hoping to see male blooms soon.

Photo below: Sweet potatoes.

Photo Below: My June bearing strawberries didn't do much in June but are going crazy in July.

Photo below: In bed 6 I planted my first ever seed mats of carrots. I also made lettuce seed mats for later this summer.

Photo below: Seed mats covered and watered...

...shaded and protected from the squirrels.

Photo Below: Fun with onions. I put this next to one of the patio chairs... and yes I did... when my sweet husband was outside I walked out and screamed snake! He jumped! LOL I waited all day to do that.
Oh come on it was funny :-)

Photo below: Friday's harvest of  pole and bush beans, strawberries and the last of the raspberries .

Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day!