Tag Archive for Flower

I Need a Garden Plan.

Yes folks we are presently heading into the third week of  February.  I live in Southern California, the land of sunshine and warm weather.  I have got to get my garden plan together early this year.  Got to!!  Last year I had a pitiful tomato harvest, and I’m sure one of the reasons this happened was just because I started way too late.  I have vowed, mostly to myself, that this year I WILL get my garden going earlier, get the tomatoes started earlier, and cross my fingers for a bountiful harvest.

After quite a few rainfalls over past month or so, this is what my garden plot currently looks like.  There are a few raised garden beds off to the right of this photo, and they are the only thing weedless in the garden right now.

1-how did this happen

The weeds, of course,  have completely taken over and dashed any hopes I may have had of making this an easy Spring clean up.  I say Spring because it’s Southern California, and as soon as the rain slows down for us it is Spring.   Flowers are blooming, weeds are bustling, the time is right for getting ready to plant.

My plan for this Spring is to try to add one more raised bed, and of course the weeds will be obliterated before any other activities can begin.  My favorite veggies to plant are; zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, butternut squash, bell peppers, and jalapenos.  We had a bumper crop of jalapenos last year, and they make for great cooking all year round.  Oh and I will definitely be adding some cucumber plants for making our yummy homemade pickles.

Getting the soil ready for planting is definitely the most time-consuming part of the gardening process.  Over the next two weeks Travel Man and I will be rototilling, digging and raking all of those rotten weeds out-of-the-way.  We have a fairly good-sized composter that will have some pretty magnificent dirt in it right about now.  This premium dirt will get added to one of the existing raised beds to make the soil all healthy and wonderful for the new garden.  Then we’ll finish making all the dirt really pretty and smooth so we can get the planting going.

I’m looking forward to getting this year’s garden going, and getting some dirt under my fingernails.  There’s something so refreshing about digging in the dirt.

Are you planting a garden this year?

The Colors from My Summer Garden

This afternoon I have been working on getting the summer photos organized.  There are just a few that I want to share with all of you from my garden.  Especially since the summer gardening season is winding down for many of us “green thumbs”.

First up – the lovely jalapenos.  Mild and yummy just for me, since I’m a huge “spice weenie”.  I don’t like the heat, just the jalapeno flavor.  I’ve harvested close to 8 dozen of these beauties.  Can’t wait to share my daughter’s roasted salsa recipe with you. 

Next up – the mini pumpkins.  This is a Burpee variety of pumpkin, called Small Sugar.  They can probably be used for pumpkin baking, but for my purposes they will most likely just be decorating the house for fall.

Then there are the sunflowers.  Evan and I had planted the huge, big sunflowers, and right after they bloomed they got attacked by this ugly fungus and I ended up chopping them down.  But they were gorgeous for a little while.

There were also had the small sunflowers, which made a great backdrop in the garden. I had cut some of these and brought them in the house too.  But, they still had so much pollen dropping I only did that once.  They were a little messy, but very sunflower pretty.

Then there was this little sunflower, and I think he was saying, “Do I have to wake up today?”  Kind of funny.

Last flower of the day is the lovely zucchini blossom.  I took a lot of pictures of these blooming, because the flowers are huge.  This is one of my favorites.  I’m still harvesting a few zucchini, and making all kinds of baked goodies from them.

Now I am in the process of planting for a winter crop of cucumbers, sweet corn, spinach and lettuce.  This is the first year I have attempted plantings after the summer harvest.  We are fortunate here in California to have a second growing season, and this  year I will be taking advantage of it.

How did your garden grow this summer?  What is your favorite fruit or veggie from your summer garden?

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