Garden Transformation

This morning, I woke up early (for a Saturday). I was looking forward to going to the nursery to see if they had any Cabbage and Lettuce plants.

I first went to Walmart and checked the garden center and found a couple of succulents that I liked. One was a Rock Purslane (Calandrinia spectabilis) that I’ve been looking for for a while now. Who knew that out of all places, Walmart would have it. The second was Pachysedum ‘Ganzhou’ which had a cool color. I’ve been checked the vegetable section and found a 9-pack of Bonnie’s Best Cabbage and Buttercrunch Lettuce.

My name is Joel... and I'm a plant addict.

I then drove to Mid City Nursery to see what they had. I ended up with a few plants including:
– Onions ‘Walla Walla Sweet’
– Cilantro ‘Slo Bolt’
– Flowering Cabbage ‘Red’
– Shasta Daisy ‘Goldfinch’

The owner came up to me and ask if I needed any help. So I asked him why my Kumquat plant has dying branches. He asked if I had it in the ground or in a pot I replied in a pot and he said maybe its not getting enough water. So I’m hoping that his explanation was correct and that my Kumquat doesn’t have a disease.

When I got home, I decided to pull out the Zucchini plants because they were not doing well and it didn’t look like they would produce any more fruits. In its place, I planted Portuguese Kale. I also pulled what pot of Swiss Chard that were also not doing well. I added new compost and planted 6 Buttercrunch Lettuce plants.

I also pulled all my Tomatoes in the Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System #2.

I think the Tomatoes are done for the year... so I'll be pulling them out and planting Cabbage in its place. The green in the photo is Parsley which are starting to bolt.

I planted the new Cabbage into each pot.

I'm going try to grow Cabbage this year. Wish me luck because I have never had good luck with Cabbage.

In the Square Foot Garden, I planted 2 squares of the Walla Walla Sweet Onions.

Clearing Veggie Bed #1…

This morning before I started on my freelance work. I started clearing Veggie Bed #1.

I first cut down the String Beans that were done producing. I found a lot of old pods that we didn’t harvest, but I’ll dry them and either us it for another planting, of use it for soup or another dish that calls for beans.

Old Beans Clearing Veggie Bed #1

I then removed the trellis and hack away at the old Tomato plants. I harvested all the fruits that were left. The Roma type below is a variety called ‘Mamacita’. I think the round ones are ‘Rutgers Select’.

Last Tomatoes from Veggie Bed #1

I then cleared away two Eggplant plants that didn’t produce for us. I keep forgetting that Eggplants don’t do well for me, but I end up buying a couple plants in the spring hoping my luck would change. That didn’t happen this year :P

I then evened out the soil and collected the wood bark mulch. I then removed all the old SFG dividers that were either warped or have disintegrated… replacing them with the PVC divider from my last entry.

SFG with PVC Dividers

It’s almost ready for fall/winter planting!!!

Lotsa Gardening Going On…

My Coleus hunt continues… I went to Mid City Nursery and picked up three more Coleus:
Coleus ‘Henna’
Coleus ‘Dipt in Wine’
Coleus ‘Glennis’

Me and my Mom are clearing Veggie Bed #2. I’m pulling up the old Kale Dwarf Blue Curled and my Mom is gathering up the river rock mulch. I’ll add some compost and potting soil to raise back the soil, then figure out what to plant next. Most likely Tomatoes and Pepper and maybe a Potato.

I planted 4 more Coleus pots today…

Coleus Pot #7:
Coleus ‘Swallowtail’
Coleus ‘Rustic Orange’
Coleus ‘Dipt in Wine’

Coleus Pot #8:
Coleus ‘Chocolate Mint’
Coleus ‘Sunset Strip’
Coleus ‘Snazzy’

Coleus Pot #9:
Coleus ‘Molten Lava’
Coleus ‘Henna’
Coleus ‘Lava Rose’

Coleus Pot #10:
Coleus ‘Florida Sun Jade’
Coleus ‘Indian Summer’
Coleus ‘Glennis’

Sweet Peas in the backyard are pretty much spent so I’m collecting the seedpods and chopping them down…

Working in the garden with a Citronella candle to ward of the mosquitos

My Oriental Limelight Artemisia is growing way to big and overshadowing the Orange Fuz Geranium growing the the same pot, so I cut some of its canes down to make some room for the Geranium to get more light. I also removed a bunch of dead leaves from the bottom part of the Artemisia. I think they’ll be ok for now, but I’ll probably separate them come fall.

I was cutting some of the old Red Texas Star Hibiscus stem off and noticed a couple tiny blue balls in the Mondo Grass growing in the same pot. I think it’s the Mondo Grass seedpod… It really cool, but it’s too dark to take a photo of it right now. I’ll do that tomorrow…

There are currently 4 Red Texas Star Hibiscus growing. These have never bloomed, so I’m wondering if I should pot it up to a bigger pot…

I accidentally knocked over the Euphorbia genoudiana pot, so I potted it up into it’s new permanent home…

Planting, Harvesting and Cooking…

12:48pm I’m cutting down the Kohlrabi that has bolted and I saw the first Aphids this year… Dangit!

12:58pm The Bumble Bees are going crazy of our Borage flowers!

7:35pm Planted 8 squares in veggie bed #3: White Russian Kale, Redbor (G2) Kale, Swiss Chard and Green Arrow Snap Peas

8 Squares Planted

7:39pm Harvested some Red Russian Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Kale and Snap Peas

Harvested Kale

Harvested Snap Pea

I made Kale Soup with the Kale that I harvested today.

I used this recipe as a base: http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2007/11/portuguese-kale-soup.html

Kale Soup

11:22pm The Hybrid Thai Lemon Basil is sprouting…

It Was a Really Busy Garden Day…

  • 12:24pm I like how Guy Fieri (Guy’s Big Bite) promotes composting kitchen scraps, even if it’s just in a bucket for your houseplants. #
  • 12:45pm Spring Starflower, Snapdragons, Daffodils, Candytuff and Calendula are blooming in our backyard… #
    Spring Starflower  Daffodils  Mini Daffodils  Calendula 'Pacific Beauty'  Candytuff
  • CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE OF MY BUSY GARDENING DAY

Spring/Summer 2009 Garden Plan (v01)

Spring/Summer 2009 Garden Plan (v01)

I really need to start planting my Summer veggies, so I drew up a preliminary plan. I will think this over and probably move things around, but I think I have most of my veggies accounted for. I will probably either buy more plants or sow more seeds to plant in the blank spaces.

click for a long list of plants

Winter ’09 Garden Plan (2009-01-31)

This is what I have planted so far in my Square Foot Garden Vegetable Beds.

Winter '09 Garden Plan (2009-01-31)