Vermicomposting

We first got our Worm Factory Worm Bin in July right after the holiday. We set-up our bin on July 8th and on the 10th our live worms (Eisenia fetida or red wigglers) arrived in a relatively small cardboard box with holes punched all around it.

I hurried to the door soon after it was delivered around 4pm to retrieve it from the hot front porch. The high temperature was 106 degrees that afternoon. That was the hottest day we had had. Very unfortunate. I know the mail trucks don't have air-conditioning. We had watched the Worm Factory video about vermicomposting and we knew that the worms handle cool temperatures much better than warm and 106 degrees is very hot - too hot for the red wigglers. 

After bringing them into the house and opening the cardboard box to cool down for awhile, I opened the sack they came in and poured them into their new home. They were pretty limp and not active. Now was the watch and wait period to find out if they could recover from a horrendous mail trip like that. My take on it is that many of them (1000 to start I think) did not make it. After their rest period they did not go through the handful of kitchen scraps as expected. It has been very slow going.

We bought the 5 tray Worm Factory bin and of course started with one tray. Finally in Sept.-Oct. we graduated to two trays, with the first tray still containing egg shells with what we hoped were nests of babies and also some material that was still not completely broken down. 

Finally in December, after adding a third tray, I was able to make my first harvest of our very own worm castings. This is one trays worth of worm castings. This is so exciting!

The worm bin and its contents are so fresh. It smells good - a very very mild earthy scent and feels good in the hands. The small pieces that are not dark brown in the mixture are pieces of egg shells (brown eggs). I crushed many of the shells, but also added some that were half shells as well as small pieces. Part of the mix sent with the Worm Factory kit included some small pumice rocks which a couple can still be seen.  No other material is evident in our very first harvest of worm castings. Pumice rock and Coconut coir block for worm bedding came with the bin, as well as a thermometer, a scraper and the yellow rake shown in the picture above.

Below is some great information from the Worm Factory - there is a difference between Vermicompost and worm castings.

First you need to determine if you have true worm castings, or vermicompost.  What's the difference? 

Worm castings are essentially worm poop.  Worm castings are the result of the red wiggler worm eating the decomposed organic matter and passing it through their gut.

Vermicompost is a combination of worm castings, decomposed, and/or partially decomposed organic matter that has not yet been processed by the worms.  Vermicompost may contain some organic matter that is still identifiable.  Generally, vermicompost will mostly be made up of worm castings.  However, if you still have a small amount of decomposing organic matter it will decide how you store your vermicompost.

The partially decomposed organic matter in vermicompost continues to break down during storage. If you store actively decomposing organic matter in an airtight container it will cause anaerobic decomposition, which results in foul-smelling, plant-toxic by-products.  Also if the vermicompost dries out it prevents further decomposition, and often causes it to become impossible to re-wet (hydrophobic).

The best way to store vermicompost is to first dry it until it is damp, not wet.  This will ensure sufficient air penetration through the material to prevent anaerobia.  Once it is damp, you will want to store it in a non-airtight container.  If you store it this way the vermicompost slowly stabilizes in an aerobic environment and has a shelf life of more than three years.

Storing true worm castings is much easier, since they are essentially stable and can be both stored in airtight packages and dried to 5% moisture with no loss of plant growth impact.

In order to test if you have vermicompost or true worm castings you can seal a small handful in an airtight plastic bag.  When you open the bag after a few days and it smells like deep, earthy soil, then you have worm castings.  If it smells putrid and foul then you have vermicompost and should be stored in a non-airtight container.

I believe Spring is finally here!

This month we have had a lot of rain and thunderstorms, (much needed after such a dry winter with no snow to speak of in the mountains) and even had hail one day. A very cold and dramatic April it has been. A true 'April Showers for May Flowers' event!! 

As a consequence of all this cold weather, our usual spring plant date of March 23rd has been put off. I do believe that it may now be warm enough to plant my peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. They have (well some of them) been hanging out in our greenhouse and the others I will have to purchase still. 

Another reason to NOT get right out in the garden, is that everything around my raised beds is all disrupted with some hardscaping construction. My sweet husband pulled out the old redwood walkways that were starting to be a hazard to us due to their age and he is replacing them with concrete cobblestone on one part and we are working on another section to blend in with the brick walkways. 

I do have leeks, garlic, green onions and carrots that are doing well. I just pulled out my Kale last week that I had planted in early spring last year. Of course there are perennial plants and herbs that are always doing their thing too. 

The big job ahead of me is completely cleaning out the greenhouse and rearranging some of the furniture and staging (shelves). I couldn't do it before now because I couldn't leave the plants out over an extended time in the cold. 

I believe next week will be clean and plant time. It should be energizing, since working with the soil helps generate/stimulate the serotonin in our brains which makes us feel good (happy) and takes any blues away. The other part of it that makes me feel good is just being close to nature. It is always so satisfying. I will have pictures to share next blog post.

I do have to say that lots of baking has been going on in this extended winter season.  Each loaf is an experiment with different grains and seeds, and some with sourdough and some not. We have several favorites, but all were wonderful. Here are a few of the loaves.

This first loaf is made with whole wheat/unbleached, sourdough starter and two-seeds (sunflower and sesame seed).

This loaf is another sourdough whole wheat loaf with molasses and three-seeds (sunflower, sesame, poppy seeds).

This is called Indian Bread. This is a three-grain (whole wheat, unbleached, cornmeal) with sesame seeds.

This is a three-seed (sunflower, sesame, poppy seed), whole wheat/unbleached loaf.

This is a a three-seed (sunflower, pumpkin, poppy seed), whole wheat/unbleached loaf. I added the seeds after the first kneed, which leaves more on the top. Yumm!

This is another whole wheat/unbleached loaf with sunflower and sesame seeds.






This last loaf is a three-seed (sunflower, sesame, poppy seed) whole wheat/unbleached loaf. It had about 1/2 tablespoon of liquid too much, so the center is just a little sunken. It sure was wonderful though!!! I think this last loaf was our favorite so far. We eat a slice for desert. It is that good!

Tomorrow I will make another loaf, but don't know what yet. It will probably be sourdough, since my starter is bubbling really well tonight after being used for sourdough buckwheat pancakes this morn. 

But soon my energies will be focused more on the garden! It is all part of creating our own environment. So, I will soon post garden pics.

Is Spring really here?

The Vernal Equinox

Ah, it is spring! The Vernal Equinox, which is the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere was on March 20, 2012, at 1:14 A.M. (EDT).

The word equinox is derived from the Latin words meaning “equal night.” The spring and fall equinoxes are the only dates with equal daylight and dark as the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

It is this season that brings increasing daylight, warming temperatures, and the rebirth of our flora and fauna.
Spring is all about "new" - new life and growth!

According to folklore, you can stand a raw egg on its end on the equinox. Is this true?

One spring, at the minute of the vernal equinox, (Pacific Time) I tried this. For about 1/2 the day my egg stood on its own end, then I took it down. Try this yourself and let me know what happens!


  
We can all envision what we think of when spring arrives. Maybe it is the tender new light green growth we see, or the smell of warming soil or a flower in bloom, the feel of warm rain or a light breeze. 

Spring is also the time when green buds appear and blooms cover many trees, birds are active and insects buzz by, and flowers begin to bloom. Daffodils, Lily of the Valley,  and other spring flowers provide a sight for sore eyes after a long cold gray winter.

The vernal, or spring, equinox signals the beginning of nature’s renewal in the Northern Hemisphere.

Gardeners have been waiting for this day to arrive. Winter provides lots of time to dream, to look through garden catalogs and decide what new things to grow this year. This is spring, the beginning of a new growing season and a time to again be in harmony with Mother Nature.

Finally planting a Spring garden in May and June

So we finally got some spring weather about three weeks ago, which came right after our full day of hail! Mother Nature is not happy! It sure is very evident this year with all this crazy weather and events around the world.

Alright, back to my little piece of nature. We have a city lot with some very old fruit trees and many I planted years ago. The (white) fig tree was planted in 1920 and the Santa Rosa plum was planted some time between 1920-1950. There are two Loquots, one old and another was a baby volunteer, a Meyer and Eureka lemon tree,  a pink grapefruit tree, a large Bay tree, Vitex tree, and Elder tree. There is a three year old Suncrest peach, a two year old Fantasia nectarine and a two year old Royal Blenheim apricot (replacing my old 25yr. old apricot that died a couple years ago).

We have several blackberry plants in several beds and this picture shows some of their pretty flowers that will bring fruit soon.

The raspberry bed is shown below. I have had it for several years and it is finally acting happy. Hope it bears well this year. I think I love raspberries best of all!

This next picture is of our new boysenberry bed, planted in mid April. This picture was taken 13 days ago and the plants have filled out significantly since then. I haven't built the supportive structure to hold up the vines yet. All the berries are doing well this year.

My red potatoes are looking really good in this picture. You can see the Calendula (yellow flowers) in the background. Calendula is a wonderful healing herb. Really good for the skin.

The bush beans (below) were planted as young starters. They sat here doing nothing for a couple hot weeks, but now they have buds and are happy. Since this picture, I had to separate them more, because when I planted them I thought they were climbing beans which can be planted closer together.

So this is a little abbreviated inventory of some of my sustainable urban gardens.

August greenhouse construction

So, the solar panels are up on the roof. They are generating electricity. Two panels go to batteries and an inverter changes to AC power. Now the "snap" fan is installed too. 

The roof vent was framed too.

So the polycarbonate installation began. The first piece was the south side which is the widest side.

And here is another shot of the south panels when they are first being fitted. You can see where the framed "snap fan" is installed on the left side.

A lot of work has been done by this picture. The sides are all in place, the roof is installed and some of the trim has been applied. What a difference a few days make. Thanks to my creative and skilled husband, who designed and is building the greenhouse.

This is a good picture of the "snap fan" installed. This fan runs off the variable DC power from one panel. We do need to put a regulator/controller on this fan to slow it down much of the time because it feels like a wind tunnel in the greenhouse.

This is one of the two temperature regulated cool intake vents. So, the greenhouse is coming along really nicely.

Working on the Greenhouse

Over a year ago we made our decision as to the covering for our redwood framed greenhouse. In this photo it is shown covered in 6 mil plastic which pretty much destructs after a year in our Sacramento sun. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to replace it now. Too many! So we chose Sundance Supply to purchase triple walled polycarbonate panels, which are sitting in their very heavy packing box on our patio.

Never in a hundred years would I have imagined that no one would know where to purchase exhaust fans and intake vents for a greenhouse that would close when not in use, so that all the heat built-up passively during the day would not be exhausted during the cold months and run on DC power from solar panels and batteries.

Well, a year later we have learned a lot about what is available and what is not. It was a long road with many dead ends. We finally found a fan for the greenhouse that is DC (generated by solar panels) run. It is called a Snap fan. In fact it runs straight off the solar panel and doesn't go to a battery. We still have to choose the shutters that will close to block unwanted cold in the winter. The Snap fan will be placed low on the south side (under the shade of my large Vitex tree).  We found our fan at Real Goods Solar Living Center in Hopland CA.

We have a pretty large window in the roof that will open with a Gigavent (automatically opens by temperature). We got it at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply in Grass Valley CA.

Here is a picture of a panel like one of ours. I took it at the Real Goods Solar Living Center. Of course ours will not be set-up on a portable frame like this one in the  picture. They will be on the roof of the studio which is attached to the greenhouse.

Ours are not up on the roof yet, but it will be exciting to see when they do get up there.

Locally Grown Organic Food

Making affordable, locally and regionally-grown organic food available to all, rich, middle-income and poor, must become a top priority for city and county governments across the nation. We are very pleased to say that we were able to change the front yard landscape ordinance in Sacramento CA to allow diverse plantings which can include fruits and vegetables.
More local organic food is beginning to be available with every new front and/or backyard home garden. New community gardens and local farmers markets are also supplying fresh local organic produce.

Making the transition to organic food and farming stimulates the local economy, improves public health, sequesters enormous amount of climate destabilizing greenhouse gases, and protects the environment. As global warming intensifies, scientists warn that a continuation of current "business as usual" practices will lead to a catastrophic 8.6 degree Fahrenheit temperature rise by 2100. Our only hope is to make energy-efficient and climate-stabilizing organic food and farming the norm rather than just the green alternative.

Tim LaSalle, Ph.D., CEO of the Rodale Institute, explains how organic farming techniques pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it as carbon in living soil—an overlooked, but significant, route to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. More at www.rodaleinstitute.org.

Gardening in 2009 and 2010

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year with a great year of garden successes in 2010!!!

We had lots of successes this last year. Our raspberries are getting better and better every year. We added two new peach trees, a nectarine and an apricot to replace the big beautiful one we lost. We have added blueberries to the garden, but have not been gifted with a harvest yet.

Our peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, zucchini, chard, basil, peas, beans, potatoes, onions and leeks did really well. The spinach did not provide a large crop this year, nor the garlic or the eggplant. I think the eggplant just did not get enough care (too little water). As usual we had an abundance of lemons, grapefruit, loquots, figs and blackberries. This year was our first year for tomatillos and we had them coming out of our ears. With only two plants, they provided much too much to process. I still have some sitting on the counter.


(I think I might try #4 this year if we continue to have a wet year)

The Amazing Cucumber

This information was in The New York Times several weeks ago as part of their "Spotlight on the Home" series that highlighted creative and fanciful ways to solve common problems.


1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Late Fall Harvests!

This is a late October/November harvest basket with lots of ripe tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, onions, zucchini, and even more of every type of pepper (from bell, anaheim, jalapeno, cayenne and everything in between.



This next picture shows more fruits and vegetables in our fall harvest. Basil was also still going strong.


This is also the time for harvesting Evening Primrose seed pods. Then the process of separating the seeds from the seed pods. A pinch of seeds a day is good as an alternative to taking commercial and intensively processed Evening Primrose oil. The seeds really don't have much taste, yet I think they taste good.


Also, this is the last of the fennel seed harvest for the year. Soon after this harvest the rain and strong winds strip the last of the seeds to the ground. A pinch of fennel after a meal is helpful for good digestion and also tastes refreshing. A nice ending to a great meal.


There is a real richness in fall harvests. The completion of so many life cycles are coming to fruition. Nature is showing her strength by making changes on many invigorating levels. It is a stimulating time of the year for many of us.

Dandelions

I love my dandelions. Many are in my postage-stamp sized lawn. Many around the edges of several flower beds. I pick them and feed them to my cat and dog. They like it and it is good for them. Dandelions have wonderful healing qualities. I use dandelions in several herbal preparations I make.

Here is a nice video about all the things that dandelions have to offer.

Worm Composting - Fine Gardening Video

Worm Composting

Worm castings can be even better than compost for you plants. I use it as an inoculant in my gardens. Wonderful stuff.












Click the link below to view video. Click your browser back arrow to return to this blog.

Worm Composting - Fine Gardening Video

Turn your kitchen scraps into nutrient-rich compos twith Jodie Colon
Length: 2:43

Vermicompost, or worm castings, are surprisingly simple to make. Give your worms a dark, cozy home with plenty of food, moisture, oxygen, and a comfortable temperature and you'll be rewarded with piles and piles of worm manure.
In this video, Jodie Colon of the New York Botanical Garden, demonstrates how to make a worm bin.
Shot by: Daryl Beyers; Edited by: Cari Delahanty

From the South Lawn, a Sweet smell of Honey

First just a small White House Vegetable Garden.
Now the White House Garden is beginning to expand
into an even better example of sustainable urban gardening.
A key to a sustainable garden is an emphasis on diversity.


This is a fun Multimedia Audio Slide Show by the New York Times.
Click on the photo to jump to the New York Times page so you can play this show.

At the end of the show click on your browser's back arrow button twice
to return to this blog page. Enjoy!

by Viktor Koen
Multimedia
Audio Slide Show

Pale Blue Dot

Wow! My words cannot do this justice.
Listen to Carl Sagan's words.




Pale Blue Dot
Source: www.youtube.com

This is taken from the book. Having him read to you is something else. Enough said. Take a listen and share this video. It is your moral duty.

Making a Strong Case for the Environment - The Future of this Planet

The Girl Who Silenced The World For 5 Minutes

She addressed a UN Meeting on the issue of the environment.
I was so moved the first time I heard her speech and everytime since.



We need more than ever to learn and be inspired by the bravery and emotional maturity of this girl. She literally moved the world with her speech.

Probably the most representative of all environmental speeches.
Watch it.

Fall is here!

Today was the first day that has really felt like fall.
What a wonderful day.
Now if I could just clone today's weather!

The garden is still providing overwhelming amounts of tomatoes, zucchini, beans, onions, leeks, eggplant, tomatillos, herbs, and all sorts of peppers!

The grapes are still hanging thick from their trellis and the blackberries are still turning black. The raspberries are between crops now and the figs are just finishing up. The black elderberries are still hanging from their limbs and the rosehips are turning orange and red on many different plants.

Yet, with all this bounty, it is weighing on my mind that I have not started fall veggie seeds yet.

What should I grow this fall?
Well, of course, lettuce, spinach, green onions, swiss chard, potatoes and broccoli. Oh, and I must not forget peas. In fact I have one plant that volunteered about 2-3 weeks ago. Fresh raw peas from the garden are a delicacy that everyone should experience.

It is late I know, but I have a lot of sweet potato starts with a nice set of roots which will go into the garden this week. Yes, it is late, but if they don't develop fully in a few months, then they will be ready in early spring.

Then I am thinking about growing brussels sprouts again.
Oh, the choices are many!

In the ornamental arena, I am including more native plants into my landscape. Native plants strengthen and build diverse beneficials in the garden.

This is all part of sustainable gardening.

All is well!

I am well aware of the effects of pesticides and herbicides on the land and all the life on this land.

Last year and a couple years before that, my neighbors had two chemical lawn care companies (Chemlawn and Scott's) come and spray chemicals weekly and even bi-weekly. What was especially disheartening was that both companies would spray during high winds (14mph sustained winds with gusts up to 25 and sometimes 35mph). I would have the heads-up that they were doing this because I would be knocked out by the smell coming into my house on the second story level. These same neighbors also had and still do have a chemical company come and spray poisons all around their home.

Small blessings, the neighbors do not have the two lawn care companies anymore. They came once this year, but I think that was the end of their contract. So, my roses in the front yard are beginning to have green leaves (instead of a brown-green color) and are starting to have typical growth and leaf shape again. But the most exciting part is that I have honey bees, bumble bees and other native bees of all sizes and shapes. I have seen lots of butterflies, ladybugs and praying mantis this summer and moths that are really pretty too. The birds are plentiful and life is just buzzing all around in a harmonious manner. My vegetables are full of flowers and the fruit is plentiful. My fig tree is loaded with huge figs and the Thompson Seedless grape is heavy with huge bunches of ripening fruit. All is well on my sustainable piece of land!


This is the trailer to a movie called "A Chemical Reaction." This is a documentary about making change for our future. One small step for mankind, one huge step for this earth!



I think they are entering the documentary in film festivals first before national release. It would be fun to go to a film festival again, but also it would be great to see this film come to my town and for all of us to get to see it. If change can take place in one town and spread to several others, it can spread all across North America and eventually the world. This is an important step in saving the health of this whole planet.

And now I am off to pour some compost tea on a few of my flower and vegetable beds. It is a glorious day with temperatures in the mid 80's!

Oh, life is beautiful!

A pretty good summer!

Considering the fact that my gardens have been pretty much on their own for two months, it has been a good summer.

Why? My organic garden was mulched well in the spring and I have had time to keep up with watering mostly.

The other reason, and a very big one IMHO, is that I have insects. I have had many honeybees and other native bees, butterflies, and lots of beneficial helpers. I have seen butterflies that I can't identify, such as a very tiny (1/2") pretty black and tan shaped just like the stealth plane. This guy was in my vegetable garden and also in my frontyard mostly ornamental gardens. In fact, I saw a larger variety today with this stealth shape (1") with two very white distinctive shapes on each wing.

There are lots of birds this year. I have had hummers, mourning doves, lots of small birds, a couple hawks, crows, blue jays as usual, and nesting mocking birds with the juveniles bathing in the saucer of water on the deck and trying to jump from vine to vine in the climbing roses.

I have one young squirrel living on my deck. His mother used to be around, but for the last two-three months it has just been "little one" - his name.

So, as you can see, it has been fun watching the wildlife when I get a chance.

The harvest from the garden has been fun too! Fun to eat! Here is a fruit and veggie basket from last week. This is before the grapes were sweet enough to harvest yet and the grapefruit was a little high for me to reach. The herb in the basket is basil. Oh we love basil.

If you count tomatoes as a fruit. This is something that seems difficult for me to change my mind about - they would still be on my veggie list. But if you do, then this basket includes four types of fruit and four types of vegetables and basil to make everything taste even better!

By the way, I am feeding the neighborhood wildlife with my huge white fig tree. Actually, they are green in color. They are right ontop of the white eggplant in the basket.

The Jalapeno pepper is sitting on the figs and they are all sitting on the zucchini. I did sneak in a few blackberries in the very front of the basket. The raspberries are taking a rest and the blackberries have really come on big-time!

Now the bell peppers are starting to turn red and the tomatoes (mostly indeterminate) are ripening when I need them. The paste tomatoes (mostly determinates) are going to require processing to make sauce and then freezing within a couple weeks. And the lemons, well, I am nearing the end of the onslaught of lemons. I was getting approximately 20-25 lemons a day. Friends were finally saying, I still have plenty when I would offer more.

Since I am done with the "first" EcoLandscape California newsletter that took all of my time for two months, I am finally getting to update the various websites I have and care for and this blog.

And of course I am putting in time in the garden with some much needed maintenance, mainly pruning and volunteer and sucker removal. I am also getting a chance to feed several gardens with some newly brewed compost tea! A wonderful gift from a friend. In fact, I am going to say bye for now and get out there!

Happy July

Wow! was June a mixed bag or what? We had some unseasonal cool weather and then very hot weather near the end of the month. My plants didn't know what to think about it and the newly planted plants were not happy campers at the end of the month. It was wilt city during direct sun.

Yet, with all of these weather changes my plants grew and grew. Today I only had time to deadhead roses and prune back a tiny bit of my wild Wisteria. Well I did make time to harvest tomatoes, onions, raspberries, zucchini, plums, lemons and grapefruit.

Many things are in full bloom and I am thankful for everyday that I hear the buzzing of the bees. My Vitex tree is still electric with their sound. There are native bees flitting about and today I even saw a tiger swallowtail.

The bees are also covering my El Grosso Lavender in the front yard. The lavender is so happy that I will need to harvest it soon.

All another day!

Tour the White House Kitchen Garden with Sam Kass

Finally, we get a good look at the White House garden, and it's looking fantastic. The cooks are using these wonderful organic vegetables and herbs every night. Yum! Yum! Can't wait to see their summer vegetables.

Time Flies When Working in the Garden

For another week now I have spent non-stop in the garden. Well, I have seen clients with my two businesses. But that did not take more than three days away from the garden.

The only reason I have time to blog now is because it has been raining yesterday and all of today so far. We broke a record for the most rain on May 1st since 1905. We got .65 inch yesterday. Actually they had predicted more rain, but there still is today and tomorrow.

Yesterday I spent sometime in the greenhouse replanting some African Violets and today I just came in from the greenhouse starting some new African Violets from the leaves that snapped off in the transplanting. There was water in the greenhouse from a leak, but I have a pile of plastic containers that can be used for mini-greenhouses and they collected the bulk of the water. The floor will dry out. My 5 gal. container under the drain for the huge greenhouse sink/table (was a darkroom sink) is full and the excess is of course ending up on the concrete floor. I am really hoping we can get the polycarbonate siding install this spring/early summer. It will free up a large patio too when it happens.



So, back to the garden. Here is a sweet little color spot under my Crepe Myrtle tree in the front yard.





I have now installed three very large trellis structures along the west side of the front yard. It supports my Brother Cadfael, Cottage Rose, Mme. Alfred Carriere, and an Apple Rose. They are beautiful structures I think. I am pleased with my find. They are handcrafted by a guy in El Dorado Hills, therefore supporting local small businesses.

Here are three pictures of the trellis from left to right as it travels along the side of my property. They are hard to see in the photos, but each of the three sections has three sections with arched tops. I believe they are made of rusted steel. These pictures don't do them justice.

The second photo is of Mme. Alfred Carriere, who was a solid white blush all over with flowers.

The third photo is of Cottage Rose was almost covered with pink blooms. Then we had 35 mph winds for several days and then the rain yesterday and today have eliminated the beautiful show they were displaying.



I have put compost tea on my gardens two and three times for some parts. This all started when I transplanted a three year old Suncrest Peach that hadn't been doing well in its old home in Newcastle. I had been unable to find one anywhere this year for sale. A dear friend found this one for me. Here is a photo of the peach tree, still somewhat in shock.




Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as paint, and the soil and sky as canvas. ~ Elizabeth Murray