Fall into Winter Yard

My garden was cleared out early this year and I am still getting peppers and tomatoes, the artichokes, garlic and beans are still going strong.

The beans are going crazy, we put many plants in so there is a lot of variety and figuring out what the beans are is an adventure.

These long ones are dried out and were ready to pick.

We didnt get many beans... but we did get some. I will probably mix them in with other dried beans to cook and eat them.

My peach tree was thought lost at one point but is still hanging in there. The rhubarb that I had planted next to it did well while the corn was there around it but died as soon as the corn came out, perhaps too much sun. 

The pomegranete tree is still doing well. I will be pruning it even more this winter as it just keeps getting taller. We got a good crop this year which we finished off a few weeks ago but you can still see some empty red husks there at the top of the tree, way out of reach.

Here you can see what is left of the lawn that I planted. Most of it did well but there are bald spots. I reseeded and fertilized last week, if it sprouts before it freezes there should be an improvement in the Spring. The grapes are losing their leaves and we will be doing some structural work on the trellis when they get pruned.

In the mostly cleared out garden we have finally planted a winter crop. This is a mix of seeds for plants that are beneficial to the soil. The idea being that you grow it over the winter and in the spring you till it into the soil and do not have to add fertilizer or mulch. I have very healthy soil due to the addition of large quantities of mulch over the years, we hope this will keep the quality ip with a lot less shoveling. 

The next project in the yard will be to finish clearing out the garden once it freezes, surprisingly this has not happened yet. Until it does we will keep picking tomatoes and peppers from the garden. 

How is the garden growing?

I have had several people ask how the garden is doing this year. I keep taking pictures intending to post but then more changes and the pictures feel out of date. I took these pictures last Monday and it has grown since then.

This is what we got out of the garden on Monday. The beets were ready so that is about 30 of them, quite yummy. Of course lots of squash, it is growing well and I have it everywhere in my house. We pick it almost daily.

This is the largest tomato plant. We planted a lot less tomatoes this year but they are growing well and have small green tomatoes we are waiting on to get ripe.

Something new this year was planting garlic, that is what these thin plants are.

There are peas growing up the netting along the fence.

The kale has done well and is huge.

Here we have cucumber and some other plants. We have them climbing the cages to help save on ground space.

The pepper plants have been attacked by bugs this year, only a few have survived and they are quite small but there are peppers growing on them.

Here are the squash, a wide variety are growing and they are all doing well. No pumpkins yet but the hubbard are going a little crazy.

We have already harvested and eaten the artichokes.

Here is another looks at the peas and garlic.

Not pictured is the corn with has grown about 5 inches in the last week. They are planted around the peach tree and rhubarb on the other side of the yard.

Backyard Lawn

My backyard lawn project has done much better than I expected. Here is a look at it a little over a week ago. There are some patches that did not take but that was because of the sprinklers that have since been replaced. If needed I will reseed in the fall.

It is thicker and longer than this now. I plan to mow it for the first time this weekend and then will post some updated pictures. It is a vast improvement over dirt!

Backyard Lawn

The backyard has been slowly coming along. Last year I planted clover seed in an attempt to have some ground cover without having to plant a lawn. This did not really work out, some clover grew, most did not. This year I decided to plant some grass seed. My main resource for creating a lawn in the back and maintaining the front is Building a Healthy Lawn a Safe and Natural Approach. 

First I spent a few weeks pulling all the weeds in the area trying to get them to stop seeding and starting the sprinklers to get the moisture in the soil up. On the weekend I wanted to seed I spread sand over the area to help amend the soil. The sand was in the side yard and had been removed from the area where there used to be a pool but is now the garden. Next I purchased a 40 lb bag of gypsum to also help amend the soil. Both of these are used to help with clay soil or almost any soil to help it drain and allow more aeration. 

Next my brother tilled the soil, about 5-6 inches in to work the sand and gypsum in.

Here is the tilled soil. Last year we heavily mulched the whole yard so the soil is in pretty good condition.

Raking and removing debris came next. I tried to flatten and level soil and remove rocks, twigs, etc... Then I spread a lawn starter fertilizer and raked it lightly in.

The seed I selected was a tall fescue, I also mixed in clover seed and covered the area.

I then lightly raked over the seed and covered it with peat moss for protection from the wind and birds.

Composting

I have been attempting to compost for awhile now without the success I would have liked. Basically there has been no compost coming out after a few years now. When we took the garden down last fall all of the plants were piled up with the hopes they would become part of the compost. They did not break down much over the winter. My brother recently began to use the lawn mower to break down the plants and other material that had been in the compost pile. We combined this with what was in the compost bin. The weather got really cold so the pile we had created sat for a little while until the weather improved and we could put everything back in the bin. 

Here is the pile in the center of the garden area. One change we are working on is to keep it wetter.

This area is my compost bin, basically stakes and plastic netting. You can not see my standing plastic compost bin since I moved it once it was empty. You can see the rolling bin which we left alone.

To augment the compost my father brought over a bag of chicken manure. I also got a bag of coffee grounds from a coffee shop near work that they offer for free.

While moving the compost we kept it wet to make sure it would be damp throughout.

We also kept the new pile wet and mixed the manure and and coffee grounds in as we shifted the compost mix over.

It is awesome to see the shift in Katie and what she can do to help each year as she gets older. When we started she grabbed her shovel and started working without even being asked, she shoveled with me for a large part of the time, she also jumped in with the hose to keep things sprayed down.

She insists on wearing a dress and her dress shoes but I am still proud of her wanting to help. On another note her main play with play-doh is to make a flat surface, poke holes then make seeds and plant them. I like to ask her what she is planting, it ranges from common vegetables to things like rainbows, wouldn't it be nice to plant and grow a rainbow?

My happy helper

I do not have a photo of the new compost pile since we worked until we lost the light. The hope is that if we shift it around in the next couple months it will be ready to work in the soil for this years garden, I will keep you updated on the progress.

Grapes!

On a recent look outside I noticed that there was something purple hanging from one of the grape plants, Katie and I quickly went to look and sure enough we had actual ripe grapes. We of course began eating them.

We did collect all of the ripe ones and brought them in, not a lot but they were really good.

This weekend the focus went back to the backyard. My brother has been working on tilling the mulch into the soil over the week. On this day he was trying to make the final adjustments to the sprinklers. Because the sprinkler system is a few years old and the new efficient sprinklers use less water and have more pressure built up in the system a few things have broken and a few trips to Home Depot for replacement parts had to be made.

The good news it everything seems to be working now. The sprinkler spray patters and distance have all been adjusted.

I selected some resin borders to put in and create the border in the yard. They did not take long to install but each section had four small stakes to hammer in. Once it was in I spread the bark out to fill the area in. I think it turned out pretty good. I had to start taking pictures since it was getting pretty dark.This is the completed area around the pomegranate tree. 

And this is the area around the grapes to where the garden is, waiting for the bark to be spread.

Next up, planting clover seed and getting some plants in the garden.

Presidents Day Weekend Pt 3

Day three of the weekend! Katie and I bought a variety of flower seeds to plant in the front yard planters so we started with that project in the morning. Last year we planted Cosmos and they did great so we added some other flowers this time around.

I mulched and turned the soil in the planters to get them ready for the seeds but Katie also planted some seeds in pots that sit by the front door.

There are a few plants in this planter from last year that are still around or that I think might come back but there are a lot of seeds in there now. This planter was massively dug up in an effort to fix the sprinkler wire to the back yard, it was repaired but the planter has been in pretty bad shape until now. Notice Olive in the window at her usual post.

The other planter has the roses and jasmine plants. Also several of the tulips and daffodils from last year have also come back. I put many seeds in this area as well.

In the afternoon it was time to finish the marmalade, here is the result.

My brother did work in the back yard on the sprinklers, we replaced the existing ones with water conservation ones. They produce larger drops rather than a spray which wastes less water than traditional sprinklers.

Presidents Day Weekend Pt 1

Presidents Day weekend presents a wonderful opportunity to get projects done around the house. In the back yard this year we are planning not only a garden but I want to landscape it as well. In the week before the holiday my brother tilled the entire back yard. The little flags are the sprinklers, wouldn't want to run the tiller over those!

Saturday morning Katie went out to check on the work and dig a little to make sure it was done right.

The first delivery was of shredded bark, there is going to be a border along the fence and around the pomegranate tree. 

Inside the border will be bark to help keep the weeds down and keep the water in. The sprinklers along the fence are going to be changed into a drip system so when the sprinklers are running the drip system will be watering the pomegranate, grapes and whatever else gets planted along there. 

Next came the delivery of mulch, a much larger pile than last year.

The first thing Katie did was go for a hike.

Then in true southern California fashion she started making "dirty snowman". 

The work began getting all of the mulch to the backyard, my goal was to finish before the sun went down.

Katie worked hard helping at the beginning, pushing and pulling the wagon.

She also helped Uncle dump the wagon and make sure it was empty.

She tried very hard to help shovel as well,  next year she will be a pro at this.

By the afternoon much of the yard was covered. We were trying for three inches of mulch where the garden is going and one inch on the rest. There will be corn planted in this far end of the yard which will expand the garden this year.

Later in the evening we were finally getting the pile down, Katie desperately wanted to help and we were racing sunset at this point so she started shoveling more.

So close to being done! I am glad to say that we did finish and were all exhausted by the time the sun went down.