Why not do your best with what you've got?

In the past I've had others make garden beds for me. Or I've used an existing community garden bed. But now that I have

1. More room
2. More time
3. My own space, with no one (such as an HOA) telling me how it should look
4. Secret weapons (scrap materials, kind neighbors, helpful family members, leftovers from other projects)

... well, all those things made it easier for my family to do it on our own.

I'm proud of anyone who takes on the task of growing their own food, no matter how it is accomplished. Of course, I think it's important to challenge yourself, but you've also got to be realistic about your capabilities and use what you have! That could mean searching your attic or shed for materials, hitting up neighbors for help or scrap materials, or even asking a handy friend to build your garden for you, if that's what it takes.

The process (which took more than a week):

What's that? A shed? Let's check out what's inside.

Look at all these construction materials the former owners left in here! What can we use to make a raised bed? There are unused fence posts, drywall, untreated 2-by-4s, bricks, cement, tiles, paint buckets, a mirror ...

I think I know what we'll use.

Now, I need to choose where we want to place the bed. A nice sunny spot near the house. Sounds great! Only problem is that I have to dig up about 4 inches of pebbly cover material before reaching the soil.

So I scrape it off, then double-dig about 4 inches lower to till up the sandy soil underneath.

I carry a bunch of the 2-by-4s over to my neighbors', and he uses his table saw to cut them into the pieces for my keyhole design. Then I take them back and drill them together with galvanized screws ($8.50 a box).

I am not handy. This drilling takes a long time. And it probably is not done "correctly."
Good thing my main man is working on the sprinklers out front and we have a bunch of extra soil. I need that soil for the garden!

We truck all the soil back in a wheelbarrow. Now I'm mixing all the sandy desert soil from the front yard with mulch and other good stuff.

My 2-year-old and 4-year-old help me carry the 12-by-6 frame over. We set it on the hard gravel material, then start filling it up with soil. Note the bricks from the shed, used in the keyhole! A soaker hose left over from last year's community garden bed is installed an inch underneath the topsoil.

The finished bed is ready for planting. I'll let it settle for a few days.




Total cost: about $25 for the box of nails and the soil amendments. The rest of the materials were on site.



Let's see if we can get anything to grow in here!

A Case of Gardener's Block

Temperatures have been lower, so the past few days I've been walking my backyard, sketching it, considering it, photographing it, considering it ... everything but DOING something in it.

I started a few seeds indoors for broccoli and lettuce, but my mental now-now-now push to plant a vegetable garden outside, well, it's been waking me up in the middle of the night.

Warning: "Before" photos ahead!

Former planned site for vegetable garden.
South-facing back fence, shed and
black cat Deuce (she says hi).

I thought I knew where I was going to put a huge lasagna mulch for the foundation of my vegetable garden. Now after studying it for a few days, it seems like that area is too shady. So am I going to cut down two trees or choose a new spot?

Something must be planted soon or I think I am going to miss this growing season.

Plus: Close to house. Irrigation ready.
Minus: Close to house. Not a large space. 

My other two potential vegetable garden sites are not as ideal; they would require more work (removal of gravel or pebbles) before mulching. But they do get a good deal more sun.



Plus: Well situated by shed.
Minus: A ton of gravel covers area.
Not a large space.



Suckers!

We just moved in to a home with 5 citrus trees and a peach tree. Now that I've had some time to look them over, it appears that I have three grapefruits, a peach and two big suckers!

These suckers -- which are defined in my "California Master Gardener Handbook" as rapidly growing, upright secondary vegetative shoots that develop from the root, crown or stem of a plant -- occurred when the trees' fruiting (grafted) stock was pruned off or died, and the rooting stock took over. It's not good.

This is my peach. The fruit is small (could use some thinning in the future) and it needs some pruning. But I think it may do all right.

This is my old granny yellow grapefruit. The poor thing has been underwatered for years and needs a ton of pruning. Fruit is OK.

Here is one of the suckers. Note the long shoots, lack of flowers and fruit, and spiky spines along the trunk.

Sucker #2. Long, leafy shoots. Again, no sign of fruit or flowers. Just lots of shoot.

And a close-up of a Sucker #2's "trunk," which is just a long shoot coming up from the base. Get a load of those spines!

Ahhh, this is nice to see. My second grapefruit -- don't yet know if it will be yellow or red flesh. But please note the thick trunk, evidence of fruit and outward (not just upward) growth.

Thankfully, I also have this wonderful and delicious ruby red grapefruit (at left and above left) that is doing fine.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Now that I have identified the suckers, they are on the pull-out list.

They will never grow fruit!

I need contributors, not suckers! I'm thinking an orange, a lemon and a lime, for starters. Any suggestions for good desert varieties?

Oh no, you don't!

Caught the first interlopers today on my tomato plants.

While watering upstairs in Tomato Heaven, I saw some little black dots on the leaves of my Yellow Pear variety ... and then right above them ... a small green worm. The same type of cabbage looper worm that got my plants last year!

I said aloud, "Oh no, you don't!!" and grabbed it in my fingers, squishing it to DEATH.

Yes, gross. But this is war, kids. I am so not joking about this. All vermin who try to eat my tomatoes, or leaves or stems ... or even try to look sideways at them ... will die horrible deaths.

Later, I was on the lookout in the Condo Raised Bed, and I saw a dusting of tiny eggs across both the Jubilee and Black Cherry varieties, plus caught two worms. Mine Mighty Hand of Worm Death smited both loopers down, and then I hard-sprayed the affected leaves with water to remove the eggs.

This afternoon I'm getting some natural pest control, such as Bacillum thuringiensis. No one but humans will eat my tomatoes this year.

Ready to Plant

It really is a thing of beauty. My final touches: Paver stepstones and mulch for the walkway. About 100 shovelfuls of compost and soil mixed into the dirt/sand that occupies the bottom half of the box. And my bro Nick gave me some compost/worm tea to add to the mix.
Once I get in touch with my gardening cohort, we are going to rock this box! I've got three tomato plants that are ready to be planted, plus about 15 packets of seeds. I'm thinking lettuce, radishes, carrots, broccoli, rapini and strawberries.

So, who's with me?

Now it has been a little more than two weeks since I first planted everything. Notably absent? The spinach and the broccoli.

Spinach should show up almost immediately, and there has not even been one tiny sprout. I'm mystified, because the rest of my greens have sprouted fine. Is my soil too acidic? Spinach (from what I've read) doesn't do well below a pH of 6.0.

The broccoli (or what may have been broccoli) looks like a tiny stalk with its leaves eaten off. For what it's worth, most gardening books say to start broccoli inside and transplant the seedlings outside.

Best so far from seed? The sweet peas (below). So tall and healthy I'll need to make a teepee for them soon.


The transplants (tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries) are thriving. Only issue is spacing: my neighbor's absolutely gigantic tomato plant shades over onto my side. Just look at that monster (below, far right). Harrumph.

Edited to add: Owen and I yesterday replanted the spinach seeds, and I bought and planted a broccoli seedling Nov. 5.

Now the waiting ... (or "High Hopes")

Hooray! Here is my Square Foot Garden (and the lovely Charlotte), modified a teensy bit to fit my raised bed's overhanging interior lip.

I've got 3 kinds of tomatoes, 6 types of lettuce (including arugula and other spicy greens), spinach, carrots, broccoli, onions (white, red, green), leeks, peas, 2 kinds of strawberries, eggplant, basil, parsley and cilantro.

Charlotte and I met our raised-bed-sharing friend Cathy today. (She has the other 8 feet of the 16-foot bed.) She got her plot the same day I did and also is not a Palm Desert resident. Cathy already has some thriving tomatoes, basil and strawberries.

Another angle: