Gardening 101: Week 3

Six weeks ago we had a patch of grass next to our pool that we converted to an organic vegetable garden.  Click here to read all about my lack of skill in the gardening department and all the help I required to get this project off the ground.

We were a little late getting the plants in the ground… I was worried the heat would prevent them from getting established, but fortunately it’s been a cooler June in LA so most of the plants survived.

Not only did they survive, they thrived.  When I took the family to away to the Evolution of Women in Social Media conference in Park City, Utah we were gone for a total of 5 days.  We came home and all my itty bitty plants literally exploded!  I knew the tomatoes would need staking as soon as we got back from from the trip, but was shocked to come back and find the plants falling over only days later.

Tonight we made our first salad out of lettuce, radishes and basil harvested from the garden.  The tomatoes and cucumbers are close behind!  I’m also SURE before I know it the butternut squash, zucchini are going to be overrunning my pantry.  What will I do with them all!

To give you an idea of how tall the tomatoes have gotten – I staked them on 4′ Bamboo U-Stakes – if you can’t see from the picture I’d say they are easily 2′ tall already.  And there are baby heirloom tomatoes sprouting all over the place!

More Photos from my gardening adventures to date:

This little pepper plant has been the same size since the day I planted it!  It hasn’t died, but at the same time it refuses to grow.

This pepper is growing on a plant that is almost smaller than it is!   How is that possible?

I think it’s almost time to thin the lettuce – not sure what that entails – but I’m sure google will be happy to help guide me through.  I also think it’s about time to plant more lettuce seeds… they say to sow every 3 weeks or so for continual harvest.

I’m pretty sure this means I’ll have more cucumbers than I know what to do with very, very soon!

Our first Salad from the garden – Basil, Romaine Lettuce and a few radishes – or pink & whites as I called them in an attempt to get lil diva to like them! No luck BTW.

So far so good, but my gardening adventure has just begun… I’m sure there will be more stories to come!  And… if you need any Basil… I have a lot, let me know I’m happy to share!

Trashy – Funny talk on composting

Found this on LA Moms Blog – it’s a good foray into talking about composting.

In Los Angeles we can compost in our green bins. I’m almost ready to move past my childhood composting trauma and give it a try… almost.

By Emily

About a year and a half ago, I posted a series on my personal blog entitled The Lazy Mother’s Guide To Saving the Planet. It was all about being eco-friendly by doing less, or, in my case, using the environment as a convenient excuse to avoid wrapping holiday presents. And I got to thinking, “This would be a fantastic idea for a book.”

Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

I have gotten over my disappointment that someone beat me to the book, but I haven’t gotten over my laziness or my environmentalism. I still eschew goody bags at parties and prefer hand-me-downs to new stuff (I am also cheap). And I still let yellow mellow.

What I don’t do is compost. I know, I know. Food waste either sullies the water supply or sits in a plastic garbage bag, waiting to decompose sometime around when my great-great-great-granddaughter gets Bat Mitzvahed. Properly composted, it can be fertilizer for all that food I am supposed to be growing in my yard.

To read the full story -
LA Moms Blog: Trashy.

Solve your snail problems naturally: Snails, Snails & More Snails!

Everyday I go to take my daughter to preschool and my front garden bed is full of snails.
They are making a buffet of my hibiscus and leaving their leaves looking like swiss cheese.
Not pretty.

My remedy so far has been picking them up and tossing them into my shrubs on the edge of our yard.

So the hunt for natural remedies has begun:
Eat Them:
I found this suggestion in a few places, our common garden snails – they are the same snails that are served as escargot – so for our gourmets.

Barrier to Entry:
Create a salt barrier – they won’t crawl over it
Egg Shell Barrier – ditto
Human or Animal Hair – they won’t crawl over it – but it sounds a little icky for my taste!
Copper Wire – Frame the perimeter of your garden so they have to crawl over it – it shocks them and they backtrack.

Complementary Planting:
They don’t like some savory plants, like Lavender, rosemary and sage. I noticed that the hibiscus next to my lavender is fine and snail free.

Kill them – Naturally?
Strong Coffee Solution – sprayed on plants and surrounding soil

Help other critter’s enjoy them – Circle of life approach:
Beer
Oatmeal

I think I’m going to start out by trying the salt… but next time I’m at the hardware store I might have to pick up some copper wire.