August 26, 2017 - mid/late summer

Yeah it's been a while, much to catch up on. We had a shitload of rain the past winter that lasted well into April. Since we were back East the last couple of weeks in April, I couldn't get the tomatoes planted until the first week of May. I'm not sure if that or the fact that I tried using the drip irrigation to handle their water made the difference but the plants never quite got going, certainly nothing like the bumper crop last year. The squash has done ok but I think trying to grow 3 of them in half of a raised bed might have been a bit too much for them. No more than two for that amount of space from now on. The herbs, peppers, and beans have done fantastic however. I think I'm getting a handle on growing those now. The fava beans we grew in Box 4 during the winter did amazingly well. We filled 4 buckets with pods during the harvest.

Box 1
We had a good crop of lettuce and beets which I just dug up a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm going to try those again along with some kale and chard.

Box 2
The garlic was ruined by a bad case of rust from the heavy rains all winter. It was too late to save once I noticed it so they were pulled before making just a few green garlics. The onions survived ok but they flowered so heavily that, even with my diligence in pinching them, they still compromised the yield significantly. I'm still pulling them to use but even with their large size, I have to remove the stunted flowers from the middle of the bulbs in order to cook with them.

The squash has done ok but not terribly prolific.

Box 3
The herbs have done well. The chives will get aphids but if I cut them all the way back and spray with the soap solution, they die and the plants revive quickly. There is a volunteer Sungold tomato in the middle of the parsley that I decided to let grow as the cherry tomato I planted, Isis Candy, never did anything. They're just starting to ripen now.

Box 4
The beans have performed as well as last year and the peppers have done phenomenally well also. I squeezed in a row of basil that's done just well enough to provide some as an herb.

Box 5
The tomatoes are ripening now but nothing like last year. I'll probably have to hand water them during the entire growing season next year to get a good yield like last year.

January 17, 2017 - New year in the garden

We've been getting a lot of rain so far this month and after the past few years it's very welcome indeed! It's also continuing to be cold which is also a good thing for many of the plants that need a good hibernation period in the winter to do well later in the year. Now that we've passed the solstice the seedlings are starting to grow. More rain on tap this and next week. We should be above normal by the end of the season, it'll be nice to see how the plants around the yard are actually supposed to look.

Box 1
Seedlings are continuing to grow.

Box 2
The garlic and onions are doing well.

Box 3
With a slight warmup last week the broccoli sprouts made enough for a couple of decent dinners. I'll shortly be removing them to replant herbs for the year.

Box 4
The favas have been coming up nicely. The broccolini on the far end are finally taking shape.

Box 5
The herbs are holding on but almost time to replant for the year.

Citrus
I planted a new Bearss lime in the rear of the garden. Hopefully this will be a good spot for it to establish itself as opposed to the old one that kept getting moved around too much to thrive.

December 11, 2016 - end of autumn

After a significant amount of rain over October and into the first couple of weeks of November, it dried out a bit until this past week. Rain so far looks pretty good, much better than we've seen over the past few years. We had some cold weather just prior to the last rains, probably the coldest in a few years and we're likely to see more next week. Although I'm not a huge fan of cold, I much prefer having a normal winter unlike 2014-15 which was just fucking weird in the dryness and warmth all winter long. Things have slowed down of course but the onions are growing, the greens still producing, and the broccoli has yield 2-3 meals so far.


Box 1
I seeded a full set of rows with greens - lettuce, salad, kale, chard, and beets - a couple of weeks ago and they're on their way. Hopefully this will give us food into the Spring.

Box 2
The onions and garlic are doing their thing.

Box 3
The broccoli which I started from seed are doing ok. I think they're a bit cramped as I have 3 plants per row in 3 rows and the yield is not nearly what I had from the broccolini the past couple of years. The taste is very good though I'll probably stick with broccolini from here on, in fact I just planted a few in Box 4 today. The Russian kale has done very well and has been a great source for both side dishes and salads. The chard has done ok and the beets are still growing. I'm going to convert this box to herbs some time in January-February for the next year.

Box 4
I seeded just over half the box with fava beans a few weeks ago and filled the remainder with chives, chervil, and a couple of rows of broccolini.

Box 5
Most of the herbs are still hanging in there. The sage has been productive, as have the oreganos and thymes. The marjoram has died back considerably but there is still just enough to use when I need it. I cut back the rest today to see if it can restore itself but I only need these herbs for another 6-8 weeks so not a big deal. The thyme and the parsley have been the stars this year as that is what I've made the most use of. I had quite a bit of basil here too from plants but the cold last week finally finished them off.

Containers
Almost all of the bay leaves had really gotten some scale or rust so I did a healthy pruning of the tree today to see how it handles it. There are a few healthy looking leaves that remain. I'm still trying to determine how feasible keeping this in container will be in terms of providing fresh leaves for cooking.

The cilantro and dill are long gone, they really need to be babied but do ok when handled well. The tarragon has died back for the winter, the mints and epazoté have survived well with continued pruning.

Citrus
The lemons are more or less between growths but still enough remain for use in the kitchen. There are plenty of blooms and green fruit to indicate a good rebound soon.

The mandarins are ripening much later this year than last year when they came out early, from October to December. I think this was due to the warm September and October we had in 2015 as opposed to the normal temperatures this year. We've only picked a few so far as they are still ripening. The ones we've taken have not been quite as sweet as last year and seem to have a thicker skin and pith as well.

October 28, 2016 - Mid-autumn

We're well into autumn now and even getting regular rain coming in. I finally planted the onions and garlic once I removed the tomatoes. Next up will be more greens and beets in Box 1 then when the peppers and basil have passed, fava beans and spring peas in Box 4. Although we've received a few weather systems coming through, they have been warm rains. It looks like we'll be getting something from the north later this weekend and one more after that but looks dry for a while afterwards. WeatherWest is warning of another RRR winter which may mean that the drought extends into yet another year but we'll see. There's really no way of knowing what's going to happen.

Box 2

Onions on the right, the garlic on the left popped up very quickly.

Box 3

The broccoli is growing well after the rains.

 Box 4

The peppers are turning red and ready to go. The basil is hanging in until cooler weather.

Box 5

The herbs are hanging in there, hopefully until at least February. 

September 22, 2016 - the autumnal equinox

First day of autumn and the plants are showing it to indeed be the end of summer. The beans have stopped producing flowers and the harvest is getting to be too fibrous to eat. The tomatoes are starting to ferment and we're getting some pests on the herbs.
We've started pulling the ripe tomatoes from the bushes in order to peel and freeze for later. I've been organized enough this year to freeze the varieties separately so we know what we're using when we pull them out of the freezer later on.
The chives that thrived so well all year was suddenly infested with aphids. Next year it might be best to keep it pruned a bit so that I can keep an eye on it.

Carmelo 

Costoluto Genovese

I had to pull the chives as they suddenly succumbed to a severe attack of aphids

This padrón pepper plant seems to be stressing for some reason although still producing heavily.

This padrón is doing fine.

This calabrian has been flowering but no fruit yet.

The tomatoes are still hanging on but time to pull the fruit.