January

03 January

After almost ten days of straight rain, it is finally dry for a little while. I moved things around on the deck and now my new square foot garden is installed. I shall have to get a hammer out and make fixes to one of the sides as the nail has split open the wood, however.

This one has wheels which will make it easier to move around it and tend the plants.

I'm going to start planting tomorrow. I got a copy of an interesting little book called Llewellyn's Moon Sign Book, following on a reading of Louise Riotta's Astrological Garden. The theory is that the plants do better if grown with, rather than against, the cycles of the moon; either way, it sounds interesting and fun, so I'll give it a go. My interest in astrology is rather growing, anyway, so it can all work together.

Astrological Gardening Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 2002 Moon Sign Book Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

05 January

I missed my nice sunny day! I had to go and do errands and stuff yesterday and got back just as the sun was setting. The good part is that it's already very obvious that we are getting a longer day. The middle of December had seemed so grim and dark, and I missed the sun... It will just keep on getting better. It's okay until the end of November, and then it really gets to a person...

The moon's in the 3rd quarter in Libra, so I boldly went forth to tend to my garden. I shall have a few fresh veges tonight I think - some peas, and maybe a turnip. The breakfast radishes are growing up nicely and some will be about ready, so I'll try some of those too. New stuff!

First I spread the earth a bit better on my new container, and then marked out the square feet with drinking straws pushed into one another and tied with tie wraps (the sort you get for bin bags). Admired the nice virgin plot of earth. Then I got me a-planting my root vegetables.

First I planted the baby beet seeds, nine of them, in square B1. Then, in B7, I planted the Nantes carrots. In B9, the jubilee(?) mix beets, which will come up all different colours. And finally in B3 (those wheels on the square are handy!) I planted the cippolini(?) baby onions for pickling.

I felt all happy while I was doing it. I put hot hats over them to warm the earth a bit, and cages (which I do so dislike!) but in a little over a week there will be exciting new little sprouts to admire and in March there will be beetroot sandwiches :-)

I had a few carrots, a pod of peas, two turnips (they are very little, and taste a tad like potatoes) and the first breakfast radish with my dinner tonight. Yum! :-)

11 January

For the last three days, the neighbour's been having contractors to redo his bathroom and maybe kitchen. The contractors tramped on my garden path, leaving rubbish behind, and made such a racket - starting at 7:30 in the morning - with their power tools that gardening was not an option... I have missed it!

Around three thirty this afternoon, though, they went home for the weekend. I spent a good two or three hours out there, weeding, clearing, and sorting. Don and I finished putting together a third square foot garden box, and I moved things out to make a place to install it. Then I found out that there was a compost workshop tomorrow, and Don suggested that I attend it and pick up the discounted compost box. :-)

I really felt happy going out there and tidying and clearing. I even found a plant marker which suggests I might have some chrysanthemums kicking about in the general area... I moved some plants to a different location. Stuff is growing fast already - two weeks to Imbolc, and in this climate, that will be full-blown spring. I have started watering my plants a bit because there is no more rain forecast for some time to come.

Things will become significantly tidier if I get a compost box, but I'm not too sure yet where it will live. The only space in back was rather earmarked for a square foot box. I may be able to keep it behind the front door steps, or hidden at the back of my front hedge. We shall see :-) When it comes to fitting in stuff, we are nothing if not inventive!

The other discovery was where the Siamese cat from across the road uses us as a litter box. I shall probably add cocktail sticks to the earth in the vicinity. Use your imagination, okay?

Harvested four petit dejeuner radishes and some baby carrots today. I ate the small ones. Don ate the giant ones. We were both pleased.

12 January

I attended the composting workshop at the arboretum in Sunnyvale today. The arboretum is starting to come to life, and there is a nice smell to it...

The workshop was really just a video of different techniques, a Q&A session, and a demo of how the discounted compost box worked. But it was informative, and I can put the stuff into practice. I bought a composter and, fortunately, it fits where I wanted it installed - a singularly useless but out-of-the-way location just at the back of the deck, near the house. It will definitely be a pain to get the compost out, but there isn't a single aspect of my life in this house that isn't cramped and awkward to get at. So, nothing new there.

I filled up the composter with stuff, then added more weeds, then made a tour of my veges. Nothing in box B is coming up yet, but many of the plants in box A had a lot of aphids. Now they don't. It's time to try out the garlic preventicide. The hot hats are nice but they don't seem to be much good in my squares when I am growing more than one plant - hard to fit them all in without damaging any or squashing leaves, but so saying, it does seem to be making a difference to the rate of growth.

A lot of the plants seemed to have been really munched on by something, and I don't know what... perhaps it's snails. So, more copper wiring or tape is ahead... The Chinese cabbage in particular was hurt. At least it is growing though, and is forming that classic funnel shape...

Went to Home Depot and stocked up on supplies...

13 January

13th January - six years since I started learning to ride a motorcycle. 13 is a lucky number...

I have a few hours between the start of the new moon (early this morning) and the moon going into barren Aquarius (about 6pm). So, decided to do some more planting. We hauled dirt here yesterday and have wheels for Block C, but it isn't finished yet, so I'll plant that one on the 16th.

It was a lovely spring-like day. I took the plastic covering off my blocks to let it air out and let me admire stuff. I got out Block B and planted it first:

B5 has one "heirloom Russian kale, Perestroika" in it, surrounded by eight green onions which may or may not sprout. B4 has four broccoli raab ("Super Rapini", so it must have its underwear on over its tights), and B6 has four baby leaf spinach - "Catalina". Or it might be that B4 and B6 are the other way round - I'll tell you after they start to grow. Then in B8, I planted about 36 or so plants of "Pan-Pacific Greens: Renee's Stirfry Mix" which comprises red mustard, mizspoona, pak choi and Asian red kale. This as the name suggests is supposed to be harvested while little and tender, and stir-fried into something delectable. Slurp.

I left B2 blank, because I want to plant something tall/vining in it, and have to find the right seeds. I covered the earth with sheets of cut open plastic freezer bags, both to warm the earth and to keep the poxy Siamese away.

Then I filled up two 12" pots with dirt and planted "Italian silver rib" heirloom chard in one, with eight Petit Dejeuner radishes circled around; and "Bright Lights" rainbow chard in the other, with eight Easter Egg radishes circled around.

Finally, after a much-needed trip to go recycling, I planted the Ben and Jerry's ice cream pots with cress seed.

Later ~ I found it! I found it! I transplanted an iceberg to the ground (ie not a container) and there, nestled right in the corner and hiding under a thin layer of earth was the block's resident snail. No wonder everything had been munched upon! That sucker must have been working his way around the whole block...

The snail is now in the tree opposite my lot, having flown there. ;-) Don and I put in block C down below the deck, in the shady area - no idea if it will work for growing stuff, but I'm sure things that don't need full sun will do fine there. Won't plant it until the 16th, both to catch the next fertile time and also to let the earth warm up a little under the plastic bags.

I'm awfully smug about catching that snail though. ;-)

14 January

Cold today - about 46°F (8°C). I used the day to lay down two more flags in my path. Now, there is a path all the way through, so what remains is to pave the second patio. I weeded and dug and kept warm. The transplanted lettuce had slug trails over it, so I put a cage over it and later in the evening set snail traps (beer in a pot).

I found out how it was that snails munched the pak choi even through the hot hats. Found a snail halfway up the hot hat... again, it became a flying snail, as did the other one that was intruding on my iceberg. Nasty icky things.

The cress is sprouting. No wonder it's a kids' crop!

16 January

Ow. :-( I have some kind of injury to my left side, which makes it very hard to move without setting the whole lot of tendons twitching and jumping very painfully. I have spent most of the last two days either soaking in a bath or flat on my back on a board that was meant to be the base of a square foot garden or pot table.

I was stir crazy today, and went to OSH to pick up some summer seeds - things that have to be started indoors. Tomatoes, eggplant (aubergines), baby leeks, mesclun baby lettuce . Alpine strawberries (the only kind of strawberry that I like outside of jam). I don't typically like eggplant, but have found that I like home-grown veges without fail, so I am going to give them a shot. I also looked for a compost thermometer, but two shops later I had to stop and go back to being on my back.

I got out all my accumulated Ben and Jerry's ice cream pots, filled them with potting soil, and planted some of my seeds. This is the key, which I shall refer to over the next months until they can go outside:

• Jewel Toned Bell Peppers
  • Admiral Golden: "Everything But The..."
  • North Star Crimson Bell: "Monkey Wrench"
  • Valencia Orange Bell: "Pistachio Pistachio"

• Pinata Jalapeno: "Festiva"

• Pompeii Roma Sauce Tomatoes: "Everything But The..."

• Italian Eggplant Trio
  • Beatrice: "Bovinity Divinity"
  • Diva: "Fudge Brownie"
  • Rosa Bianca: "Coffee Heath"

One assumes that I will be able to tell the difference betweena tomato plant and an eggplant plant.

17 January

The cress has exploded, and is already several centimetres tall. There will be an ongoing battle over who gets to lie on the seedlings (cats) I think. Oh well. That's one of the joys of living in a space about a quarter of the size one really needs. ;-)

My back is better! I finally gave up and saw the chiropractor. Glad I did. I had dislocated a rib... it is now where it belongs and the pain is already subsiding.

18 January

I'm still sore, but I was able to finish my planting. This is how it goes:

• Cherry Tomatoes
  • Pot 1: Sweet Gold
  • Pot 2: Sweetie
  • Pot 3: Sungold

• Rainbow Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Pot 4: Rainbow Brandywine
  • Pot 5: Marvel Stripe
  • Pot 6: Green Zebra

• Asian Eggplant
  • Pot 7: Asian Bride
  • Jerry's Jubilee: Little Fingers
  • Wavy Gravy: Farmer's Long

19 January

Harvested one pot of cress today. Had it with egg mayonnaise (egg salad) sandwich. Homemade bread, homegrown cress, one day we might even raise chickens and have homeproduced eggs! It was yummy.

23 January

Went out for my first "work" since I hurt my rib. Put in a couple of hours' weeding and inspecting. The lettuce transplant died, so it is to be compost. I don't suppose it had enough light, this time of year. The work was nice, and refreshing, and made me happy.

The compost heap isn't really composting, and probably isn't big enough to do so yet. I'm not in a terrible hurry...

25 January

Woo Hoo! Some of my indoor seeds are germinating. The sweetie cherry tomato, marvel stripe tomato and asian bride eggplant are all just pushing out that first shoot. However, quite overnight, the rainbow brandywine has grown into a one inch tall seedling!

Then I went outside and, lo and behold, one single baby onion seed has germinated and is pushing up a pale green shoot. The weather seems a bit warmer, though the cold stuff isn't done with, I am sure. It was 60°F today and yesterday. I moved the C bed closer to the corner, so that it could maybe catch some more light. Who knows what I will come back to when I return from the UK?

27 January

Last day in the USA for a couple of weeks. I slipped out just before going for my plane, and found more onions and a beet. I guess I will have something to look forward to on my return. :-)

February

13 February

Alas, most of my seedlings are deceased. Small wonder - they have been overwatered and not given enough light - my plant guardian did not follow instructions ;-). My Asian Bride eggplant has somehow survived, and looks healthy; I also have a small Green Zebra tomato seedling. Not to worry; I have time to plant up another lot.

14 February

Went to Orchard and bought some peat pots. Each one now has a seed in it - eggplant, tomato, or pepper. I planted three pots of the Pompeii sauce tomatoes, as I am fond of tomato sauce. It was a gorgeous spring day - Winter is over here, even if the rain isn't. I didn't need my jacket. I had to pot up today, even if being jetlagged, because it's the last "fertile" day for a while (moon in Pisces).

I was delighted to see seedlings popping up left, right and centre. I have radishes all over the place, even if the chard has not come up yet - with the warm days, though, it seems to be just a matter of time. In block B, the spinach, beets, broccoli raab, carrots, button onions, green and baby onions are all sprouted. I covered them with plastic cloches or cages to keep out birds.

I have a feeling that in block A3, I planted four brussels sprouts plants and one radish, not the other way around. Whoops! ;-) The pak choi is coming up nicely, and will probably be ready to eat soon. I seem to have two broccoli plants in A4 - the original one which I thought was killed by the cat-dig and the replacement. I'll have to repot the extras into a separate space before much longer. Extra broccoli/sprouts are not a problem around here ;-)

Block C is also showing signs of life - there are radishes, green onion, baby leeks, baby mesclun, and baby carrots. No sign of the crispy winter greens, yet, but I suspect it is just a matter of time.

I can't describe how exciting it is to see all this new stuff coming up! I harvested some stuff and had it in a salad sandwich, and fertilised the garden. I suppose if you're already a gardener, you'll understand :-)

15 February

One of the rose bushes has a couple of pink roses in it, and the hedging is still pushing up little yellow flowers. The oxalis I left unweeded (quite deliberately) is now flowering a delicious, bright yellow. Very pretty!

We went to the storage shed today to see if there were any tools to collect. The only one we found was a small fork, but I did get a little plant stand which is cute. And extra hose pipe. We left the thermometer there, as it was reading 300°F ;-)

17 February

Did a bunch of weeding and stuff - maintenance, getting down on my knees and dirt behind what remains of my fingernails. I clipped my hedge and will let the clippings sit in the sun/rain for a few days before composting. Will have to keep an eye on things now; the recent rain is making growth really take off, and the irises are growing huge. Don told me to go for it when I asked him about bulk ordering pots (we are on a tight financial budget, so discuss all purchases over "tiny"), so I'll figure out what I want and then order it soon.

I moved the big old round table down to the carport, and put the potted irises on it so that I won't be accused of "storing furniture in the carport". I put the "new" plant stand up there, and it "feels" nicer with more space. I suppose I could fit another 3x3 up there, but am not sure if I want to... or if the deck will bear the weight. I am contemplating not even putting more 3x3's in, but using containers in the patio-to-be-built.

19 February

Looks like the green onions in B5 are starting to come up; no sign of the chard or kale though. Funny, there seem to be about nine plants in B6, which is supposed to hold only four broccoli plants. Hm. I wonder if I'm going to get another mystery square?

20 February

Yay! I do believe that's a little chart shoot, coming up above the earth! I don't know which of the two it is, but it won't be hard to tell, because one is silver and the other is rainbow.

Also, I think I see an ickle chard shoot in B5. It really is just a waiting game. Whoo-hoo!

I removed the dying remains of the pea plants today; now I know what to plant in B2, with an eggplant either side. (Assuming the two plants are compatible; I'll have to check.) I went on a snail raid in the evening - ugh. Caught and killed about a dozen of the nasties. I hope the opossum comes round and munches everything before the morning. I added the remnants of the copper tape to the pot with chard, since the copper wire appears to be too thin (one of the snails I caught halfway across it, while the ones protected by tape are untouched by slimy trails).

21 February

The first of the tomato seedlings take two has sprouted - cherry tomato "sweet gold". Good! Hm, it looks as if there might be something coming up in the original Valencia orange bell pepper pot, too... I put it closer to light and warmth and we'll have to see...

Alas, the snail yuk has not totally gone, but it's not as nasty as it was last night. The chard has put forth its first set of leaves; it is now officially a seedling, not a shoot. It looks like there's a kale seedling too, overnight. Everything else, of course, is just getting larger. Whee.

In B6, there's at least one green onion. I wonder if I planted radishes in between the broccoli plants? That would fit... there look to be two different sorts of plants there as well as the stray onion.

22 February

I potted one of the extra brussels sprouts into the pot where the peas used to be today, and did some weeding. Only harvested one snail tonight...

24 February

Every morning a new seedling seems to have arrived in my office. I have the valencia bell pepper (but it looks fragile); marvel stripe, sun gold cherry (two), something I can't read because the writing has soaked off, green zebra, and two pompeii roma tomatoes. Time to get some tags made up, I suppose. I thought the writing on the pots would work - nuh-huh.

One of the iceberg has headed up, but I'm not sure it will be edible. So many greenfly... so many bugs. I'll give it until the end of this month, then harvest it, to see if there is anything salvageable in the middle. It doesn't feel quite firm.

I'm not sure, but I think one of the pak choi may have flowered. Hm. That's probably not a Good Thing. Oh, and the "copper" wire I bought to protect block A is not copper; it's some other metal, coated with a thin layer of copper which seems to have washed off!

We have a forecast for nice warm weather over the next few days, so I'm sure stuff will reall start to get going now...

25 February

I had a gallstone episode, and at the recommendation of a friend tried a parsley tea - and it's my own parsley. Worked! Gallstone has gone; I'm all mended. Nice parsley!

27 February

75° F today! Wow. All but a handful of my indoor pots are sprouting or leafing, including some of the peppers. I got an idea from a container gardening book to plant tomato, peppers and other things all together in the same pot. Should be nice.

I've prepared the space where the patio will be, just need to acquire the stones and a spade to do it with. The hedge beside the deck has burst into pretty pink flowers, but I have absolutely no idea what they are! I took my February photographs today, so perhaps someone will be able to recognise and identify them. I never noticed flowers in previous years.

In the garden, the different seedlings are starting to assume their proper shapes. I need to get some pots and move the rest of the excess brussels sprouts out Real Soon Now. The Nantes carrots have put out those lacey tops that make you know they are carrots. A few days ago, I put toilet rolls over some of the larger leeks to help keep them clean and help them blanch. (I would have done them all, only I sort of ran out of rolls ;-)

I had the real pleasure of putting out my chaise longue and reading the Burpee catalogue amongst my plants. :-)

28 February

I planted eight "yellow and orange carrots, sunshine mix" today, as well as six "globe onions, pantry trio". The carrots are in space A9, along with the iceberg, and the globe onions are in the earth at the back of the shed - mostly as an experiment. Nice to see how it works out.

More seedlings are coming up in my indoors tray collection. I put the un-sprouted chard at the back, where my patio will be.

March

02 March

Last night I put a pot of what seemed like ailing turnips out back, with the chard. I found that the chard had sprouted, and that the turnips were no longer ailing! They evidently weren't getting enough sunshine in the spot where I'd kept them...

Everything else is shaping up nicely...

08 March

I've been incredibly busy with indoor stuff, but my garden grows without me. The only thing is that I killed off a pot of turnips, I think, by over-fertilising. Even a couple of days of good fresh rain haven't made a difference to them.

Now that the slow chard has sprouted, I've two plants, not one! I got some extra pots for the extra brussels sprouts, which are really going for it growth-wise. ;-) The pak choi bolted 10" tall, but I cut up two plants and served as stir-fry today. Rather nice, actually!

All but one of my indoor seedlings have come up and are pushing out leaves at various rates. Good!

13 March

No sign of the last Pompeii tomato, and the Asian Bride eggplant seedling has keeled over. Everything else seems to be doing well, so I probably won't bother any more. We've had more rain...

Last night I harvested the iceberg lettuce in block A9. There was a lot of waste, but it shredded up and went nicely with tacos. I discovered this morning that the "kale" is not actually kale, it's an escapee from the stir-fry in B8. Oh well. I think that perhaps I need to pre-sprout another kale seed, and plant that instead.

I found one of the local stray cats munching on my catnip yesterday. The catnip is now inside a wire cage. ;-) One of the swiss chard seems to be struggling a bit, and something has pecked a neighbouring radish to smithereens. Have to see whether the chard pulls through.

14 March

I decided to give up on the Winter greens and pre-sprout some new seeds, as well as two new kale seeds. I think I've lost one of the chard plants, but I'm not sure which of the kinds it is. I guess I'll find out when the leaves start turning either rainbow coloured or silver. ;-) At least I'll have a handy place to transplant the extra to when it is large enough.

Some of the radishes and green onions are about ready; I also transplanted a couple of brussels sprouts plants. I pulled the dying turnips up, as well as a couple of the too-large irises which were encroaching on the path, and did some more weeding and digging. My nice blank space at the back of the shed is now overshadowed by a rapidly growing and budding rose.

16 March

Harvested the rest of the pak choi, some baby carrots and green onions, as well as one of the last turnips. Served up with steak - yum! The Winter greens seeds have sprouted, so I popped them in a peat pot and am waiting for them to emerge above ground before transferring to the earth outside. It's cold again outside!

18 March

The first yellow/orange carrot in A9 has peeked above earth, so I planted another eight seeds (Nantes, as I couldn't find the yellow/oranges) there. Don is looking forward to "real" carrots. One of the Winter greens has peeked up in its pot, so I planted it in C4, pot and all. The Asian Bride is distinctly Dead, which is a shame, and another eggplant was struggling too, but water seems to have revived it... they are sort of fragile, I think. Everything else appears to be doing relatively well in my window.

The beets in B9 got crowded together, so despite this being a bad idea I moved them further apart. This will of course slow their development down. Stuff does seem to move around in the beds I plant ;-)

I transplanted the last "extra" brussels sprouts out of A2 and A3, into pots. I put the first stone of my patio in. (Whoo-hoo.) My back doesn't seem to be up to much, so I won't be going heavy on that job; one stone at a time. I also planted nine petits pois in B2. B8 is vacant, have to think about what I put in there.

Soon be time to plant some corn :-)

29 March

Most of what I've seen in the last days have been things getting bigger, a little at a time. I planted my kale out, and now have two kale plant. Harvested some more radishes and green onions; I think the last of the turnips are through.

Today I went to OSH and stocked up on snail tape. Now it's spring, the price went up 50c. It's expensive enough as it is, wish I could have found a bulk source. And I got seeds too - three varieties of bean, one of cucumber (for pickling), one of corn, one sugar snap pea, one mange tout that's called something else over here, and two kinds of lettuce. Will plant them next week. :-)

I ordered large pots for my tomatoes etc at a fraction of the shop price. I expect those in about ten days' time.

My tomato plants are gtting bigger, seemingly by the minute. Some are quite large, healthy plantlets by now. All appears well. :-)

And I put in some more flagstones - it is looking like a patio back there :-)

30 March

Whew, it's getting hot! I suspect I'll soon have to change my system so that I can be out in the garden first thing, in order to avoid baking...

I saw cabbage white butterflies fluttering about, which means I'll shortly be hunting green caterpillars again. Oh well. The other primary pest seems to be that obnoxious Siamese cat, which is still marauding round the garden.

I spent some time wrapping snail tape around pots of plants. I also repotted one final brussels sprout plant into its own pot, but I honestly think nothing is going to come of them, which is a real waste. I put my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant out for an hour or so, the beginning of hardening them off until they can go into their new pots. I'd really better finish up my patio now...

I had a think about where I could put other plants and stuff. I finished up the turnips, which had got mildew and pretty much died. I think that the peas are starting to make seedlings, but I'm not sure. And I put three bush bean seeds into a new pot. They're rather cool - a little white, black and beige bean to plant, coming up with three differently coloured bean plants. I'm thinking of growing the vine variant of the same over my trellis on the deck, or maybe up the car port... or both. The sugar snap and snow peas can climb strings (cheapo trellis) strung from the back of the shed. I expect that would work quite well. :-)

The stir fry is ready for harvest, and the red onions are finally starting to resemble onions, swelling around the base a little. I've finally figured that I have five raab broccoli in square B6, and they've started to flower. I have a feeling one of the brussels sprouts is bolting. I have three iceberg that could be harvested, too. So it's looking very good out there.

31 March

Easter Sunday, a nice day for planting. The temperature hit 75°C again today. I put my indoor plants out for a bit longer, and put in two more flagstones at the back. I wasn't sure how well I could fit some corn in, but the 10" pots, huddled up against each other, don't take as much space as I feared.

(The corn isn't planted yet, but I was just thinking in terms of space.)

I planted up three Musica pole beans in a pot. The peas are indeed coming up to play. Then I planted two Garden Oasis cucumbers in space C3, and put in a bunch of Spring Bouquet lettuce in C5. Looks like I can eat the thinnings, so I planted way more than I needed to become full heads. That way, I don't feel like I am "wasting" a precious space on one lettuce, which happened with the Winter variety. (If I'd read more closely I could have done that with the Winter lot, but never mind.)

In space A8, I put in a similar set of Summer Bouquet lettuce, working on the same principle. Raked a few leaves, took the March photographs. I think the pretty flowers in the hedge are camellias.

The rose bush which mingles with the jasmine is flowering profusely with the most beautiful deep wine red flowers. The roses between us and the neighbours are pink and red, also rather lovely. I need a set of hedge clippers. ;-)

I used the first of the compost today, mixing it in with the pole beans. I'm out of pots now, but I know there will be more free in a day or so. Don's in a nocturnal cycle, so I hope that it won't be too long before I can get my flagstones to finish the container patio at the back.

April

02 April

In A9, the first of the second lot of Nantes carrots is peeking above ground. The peas are looking nice, and all nine came up, which is nice. There really is a hamburger onion - wow. :-)

I learnt not to be so dense today. While I had protected three of the five pots of sprouts/broccoli with copper tape, I had put two pots up against them which weren't protected. So the darn snails just climb up those and munch their way over. D'oh!

One of my brussels sprouts is putting up a long stem which seems to have gasp! tiny sprouts on it. Does this mean I'll finally get something to eat? The funniest part is that it's one of the smallest plants... I wish I knew of a book that would take you through the various stages of different vegetables, so that I knew what to expect.

04 April

Well, my container kale has put forth the first curling leaves, and the two chard plants have finally put forth a second set of leaves. It is about time. My onions are really going to be onions, and there may be one shoot coming up where I planted some in the back.

Don threw my bucket of rain water at the Siamese cat. I was angry with him. And not because of the cat. I'd gladly soak that cat until it never comes back again.

I had some Mesclun lettuce last night, with home made vinaigrette. Yum! :-)

07 April

The ground's quickening, and all sorts of good stuff is happening out there. On Friday, thirty large pots came by UPS from Mellingers, and now that we're done building giant castles with them, it's time to pot them up (but I won't plant until tomorrow, when we have a fertile moon day).

I harvested the three puny iceberg (there was about one lettuce's worth of good leaves between them), three giant red radishes and a few more green onions for lunch today. The spring and summer lettuce mixes are coming up, and the broccoli raab will be ready for cutting very soon. The kale in B5 has put out its second set of leaves, so it looks like it might after all survive. Everything else is looking leafy, big and interesting.

The pole beans I planted the other day (Spanish Musica) have germinated. I found one close to the surface, which puzzles me. I don't see a shoot above ground yet, but there was certainly a root and I am sure something will pop up soon. I have to decide whether I want these growing up my deck, or somewhere at the back, or maybe even up one of the legs of our car port.

The extra irises that I removed from the garden months ago and potted into square pots are history. They were hugely infested by greenfly or some other similar nasty. Ugly and dying. Poor things.

I have three white lilies in the back, as well as some kind of pink flower that I don't recognise. It looks a bit like pink oxalis, but is growing in the shade beneath the jasmine.

And I have a whole pile of brussels sprouts coming, all from one single plant.

My tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are now outside, hardening off.

Went to Home Depot today. It was crowded and there weren't any unbroken concrete blocks of the kind I desire. Therefore, did not buy any. I got more potting soil and a hanging basket which I'll use for the marigolds Shauna gave me for my birthday.

In the afternoon, I potted up four tomatoes which will now live outdoors. I also planted the hanging basket with marigold seeds. I have two sungold, one pompeii and one marvel stripe plant out there. I seem to have strained my side again, maybe another dislocation (I'll know tomorrow).

Don was tinkering with the bike. I was tinkering with black nursery pots. Life is good.

08 April

I did more potting today. I potted up two of the heirloom tomatoes, as well as eight snap peas and nine snow peas (the latter went into square C1). In C2, I put the Beatrice eggplant, so now block C is full. I noticed quite a lot of greenfly, so we're going to go and buy a batch of ladybirds to add and munch.

I also potted up the single jalapeno plant (I'll see how much space this lot takes up and then consider growing more), one Farmer's Long eggplant, and the remaining Pompeii tomato plant. I would like more of the latter, for sauce, but I suppose there's a limit to how many 6' plants a tiny garden like mine can deal with ;-)

Last but certainly not least, I am pre-sprouting nine corn plants. Fingers crossed that they will all grow. Didn't want to leave those to change.

09 April

Shopping today. I got one more variety of bush bean, and a bag of dirt, and some bamboo hoops and stakes for the various tall plants. Don got some more fittings for the hose pipe system. It is starting to look like a Meccano set. ;-)

The sweet corn has germinated. I'm going to start by putting it in peat pots for the time being. I forgot to buy a package of ladybugs to help manage the greenfly on the mesclun and roses. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

I harvested and removed one snail that was marauding a tomato plant. In chat yesterday I got some good ideas for keeping snails off plants - egg shells and gravel.

Tried to eat more stir fry today. I just don't like it :-( So it will get donated to other people. We also had broccoli raab for dinner - and that we did like. Mmm :-)

10 April

I popped nine germinated corn seeds into the rest of my peat pots today. Some of them are sprouting already. I also potted up the rest of my tomatoes; one sweetie, one "unknown" (the only one missing a label). A rather weedy looking valencia orange bell pepper went out; if that fails, I'll grow more because I want bells. And so did the oldest eggplant, one of the few that Don didn't kill off - "Farmer's Long". I'll finish the job tomorrow, I believe.

One single Spanish Musica bean has popped up above ground. Hurrah!

I noticed that one of the brussels sprout plants in back has been infested with the same nasty bug that infested the now deceased lilies (the ones I took out of the garden). I gave it a sand blasting with water from Don's new super-duper hose pipe system (which might actually work out, if we can get the hoses in all different places). I have roses in at least five or six different colours, and some irises (purple flags) are about to burst forth. There are also some lilies.

We couldn't get any ladybugs today, they are sold out!

11 April

I did some clipping and trimming so I could get to the back again, and found a new white iris between the shed and the deck. There are some pretty, unidentified pink flowers growing beneath the jasmine, and the end patch is a little jungle of pretty foliage, various kinds. (I have no idea what they all are. But they look nice.)

I weeded the back of the house, and the side. I also potted up three pepper plants - red, orange and gold. Don looked at the Burpee catalogue with me; he thought the non-green peppers were weird. I suppose I'd better hunt out some green peppers ;-)

12 April

Gardening is a nice antidote to forking out large amounts of money in tax, and dealing with incompetent banks.

I have moved all the tomato plants to the back, since Don won't stop smoking around them. (Apparently tobacco can cause a disease in tomato plants.) I also dug up the Beatrice eggplant and put it in a big pot in back, because it wasn't doing too well in the partially shaded C block. No doubt I'll find something else that likes it there.

I potted up the rest of the eggplant today - one Rosa Bianca, one Diva, and one Little Fingers. The only plant that didn't make it was the Asian Bride. One Musica bean has ventured above ground. Other beans seem to be pushing themselves out, seed and all, with a big thick shoot. I have the beginnings of some beets, which is nice. No sign of cucumber, snow peas or sugar snap peas, or bush beans.

The brussels sprout plant with all the action has grown little yellow flowers. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. ;-)

13 April

I've finally settled on which pattern of stones I want behind the house. I'm laying out two circular stones side by side. I dug several cat litter box-fulls of dirt from the back and dumped it over the top to fill in the gaps. Voila! Instant path, instant space.

I moved more of my pepper and other heat loving plants in back. I also did some planting. I put in three French filet bush beans, four coloured beans (purple, yellow and green), seven onions, and some alpine strawberries with the tiniest seeds I have ever come across.

The sickly looking orange bell pepper plant is starting to green up now it is out in the fresh air and has nice fresh fertile dirt to grow in.

14 April

Three Musica beans are visible now, as well as one sugar snap pea. I dug around and discovered that one of the cucumber seeds has germinated, but I couldn't find the other. I expect I'll see them above ground later.

I found a book I bought years ago called The Vegetable Expert. It's meant for the UK gardener and is rather old-fashioned, but it gave me just the info I needed to know that the brussels sprout is indeed bolted. But it has interesting little yellow flowers, and I'll keep it around. The sprouts are meant to be underneath the leaves, not the stalk above it!

To my amusement, a peel of potato I put in a pot as compost not only grew roots, but popped up above ground as a sprout. I decided to bung it in one of those big pots and see what happened. :-)

15 April

The Musica beans are now all three above ground. I never knew that they would unfurl that way, with the leaves coming out of the bean seed! Really neat.

Two or three corn seeds have pushed above ground, a couple of beets are developing but nowhere near big enough to eat... yet. ;-) You can't even tell I harvested some Mesclun for a salad the other day... it's growing so thickly. And it won't be long before all of the sugar snap peas are coming up :-)

My eggplant were a bit upset with me. We had a very cold night, and they were a bit the worse for wear. They looked to recover a bit during the warmth of the day though - I hope this will be all right.

We harvested some spinach - the first lot - for dinner last night.

16 April

A cooler day today, somewhat overcast; however, the eggplant look happier this morning, so it must have been an okay night. I discovered an extra bush bean (the tricolour); the Musica beans are all three up and about 2" tall already. A couple of the snow peas are pushing above ground, but the pièce de résistance has got to be the broccoli in A4 - after all this time, it is creating a flower head!

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

By the end of the day, the topmost purple flag had swollen and become a flower - with tiger stripes. More snow peas had sprouted and the beans had unfurled with proper little leaves an' all. It was very neat :-)

I cooked some more of the pan-pacific stir fry last night. I just can't eat it. I'm sure someone with more culinary skills than me would make a better job. When I see Deann on Friday, I'll give her the remaining plants and she can give it a shot, then I'll give the seeds away.

17 April

We had rather a heavy rain shower last night. The plants seem not to be any worse for wear, but it's getting kind of cold at night again. I'll probably bring in the eggplant at night until I'm sure we're going to stay warm enough. And next year I'll wait until the end of February to start seedlings, which means they can go out at the end of April. Or perhaps I'll experiment with the hot hats again - rather than trying to extend the season, trying to keep the plantlets warm after going outside.

Yeah! That seems like a better idea.

The purple flag has unfurled, with many more flowers to come. Don was suitably impressed at how it seemed to just appear. Six of the nine snow peas have popped up; I haven't counted the sugar snaps, but there are more. There are more sweetcorn shoots as well, though one of them appears to have come up wonky. I have all three Musica beans, two of the three tricolour bush beans; the petits pois are sticking out tendrils but haven't looped to the loop yet.

19 April

I pulled up the stir-fry mix today. I simply don't like it - and Don isn't keen. I gave it to Deann, who might or might not be able to do something with it.

The next stalk down is unfurling a second purple flag...

20 April

Overnight, the purple flag unfurled several more flowers. It's really quite impressive...

A breezy and not-quite-warm day today. Breezy enough to blow over one of the plastic chairs... I planted a few extra Nantes and Sunshine carrots to replace ones that didn't come up in the previous planting. The broccoli is getting a touch bigger and the flowering brussels sprout is making increasingly large sprouts (though they are still too tiny and will probably be bitter). The raab is going yellow-flowered (too bitter to eat) so I may chop it down to the ground and make the best of what remains. I also found out that one of my tricolour bush beans had rotted, and put two beans into a pot for pre-sprouting; I dug up one cucumber seed and brought it to the surface. I think I planted it too deeply.

I have eight out of nine corn plants... so far.

Yeah, it's not the "right" time for planting today, moon-wise, but I wanted to do some stuff out there.

24 April

I spent some time outside today. It was a lovely warm day...

I had lunch out of my garden. A toast sandwich with cream cheese, the first Dutch baby beet, the first Nantes carrot, fresh mesclun lettuce and fresh spinach. It was fantastic. The beet in particular was very flavoursome - who would have known? They are tiny, only about an inch to an inch and a half across, but even so... Don got one of the easter egg radishes from C9, which had grown to a nice fat globe.

The Nantes carrots probably need a couple more weeks to fatten out, as they tapered too much - they're rather long, but need to widen. Still tasted very good though...

I planted another square of the same Dutch baby beets in B8, where the stir fry used to be. Deann enjoyed the stir fry, so it wasn't a waste, and I'm going to give the seeds to people who'll appreciate them. I even remembered to remove the stray carrot to avoid carrot root fly. And the two tricolour bush beans I'd sprouted to replace the one that didn't come up had sprouted, so I planted them with the others.

The purple flag is flowering merrily. I cut off the dead flowers and more appear overnight. It's a very spectacular plant. I have to wonder what the heck I was doing last year to not notice... I have all nine corn plants now, just got to start potting them up. I think next year I'll buy the next size down containers for the chillis and eggplant, can cram more in that way.

I counted seven different kinds of rose in my garden...

25 April

Two of the snow peas hadn't come up, so I replanted them today. One of the tricolour pole beans has pushed above ground. I pushed hoops into the earth for the snow peas (I made a tripod for the tricolour pole beans yesterday).

I finally took out the flowering brussels sprout - it had grown rather tall and unwieldy; it is now becoming compost. I also trashed (no compost) the brussels sprout that had become infested with some kind of nasty white aphid). I used those two containers to plant an extra golden bell pepper (on the white shelf) and an extra jalapeno. It's an experiment in late planting, and also in the size of container.

The Summer bouquet lettuce seems to be coming up unevenly and slowly, but the Spring bouquet is growing quite merrily. The single surviving Winter lettuce is also developing, surrounded by decreasing numbers of radish. I noticed that one of the Mediterranean cucumbers is finally pushing above ground, but I think the other one is history. Therefore, I've taken another seed to sprout indoors and will plant it later. I still haven't decided what to put in C2. The broccoli continues to get bigger. Oh, and it looks like some of the brussels sprouts might be forming sprouts (hopefully this lot won't flower first).

My garden grows most happily, it would seem.

26 April

The first of the globe onions is peeking up above ground (pot). The second of the tricolour pole beans at the back of the shed is also unfolding happily. Two up, two to go. My other pole beans, the Musica, are getting larger and will soon be twining up the bamboo pyramid I made from them.

29 April

After a night of rain, it's overcast and chilly, and I don't think the sun came out today. I pulled the radishes from C4 today, because they had become woody and inedible. We are hearing rumours of it being an el ni˜o year, which is not good for thing like tomatoes and peppers.

I went round and chopped off dead roses, and sniffed the jasmine which started to flower at the weekend and is now flowering like mad. I love that jasmine.

I'm thinking of planting some more spinach in B4, because I'm enjoying it so much in various sandwiches!

Three of the globe onions have come up to visit the air now, and the two swiss chard plants are doing just fine. I moved one of the jewel beets to a different location, but I think I broke its tap root :-( I am going to give the beets this week and next before harvesting some more and having a feastlet. The outdoors cucumber looks like it might finally be doing something like becoming a plant, but it is very slow. Having no real yardstick against which to measure, I don't know if this is normal or not...

I hope it is not going to be a cold Summer. Of course, it might have been this cold last year, but I didn't truly notice. I do remember it rained on our moving-in day, 2nd May 1999, so maybe this is all right. It does look like some of the tomatoes are getting merrily bigger.