What's Growing?

I'm starting a new segment: What's Growing?

As temperatures soar in the Central Valley, the benefit is the abundance of fruits and veggies. This is also true in my own little garden!

Ta-dah! My garden!
LtoR: climbing rose bush, zucchini, tomatoes,  and cilantro.

The Garden Plot: 

I planted my garden in April, I think, from seeds. I learned a lot: about irrigation, timing, watering, sunshining, etc. I planted everything from seeds. The squashes did well. The tomatoes, not. The cilantro sprouted and grew, but not the parsley. (I think area flooded the seeds out.) In May, my mom and I put in some tomato plants. Katie taught me that if you trim off the lower branches when planting, and stick them in the ground, they trimmed branch will sprout roots and grow. And it's true! I bought only two plants and currently have about five or six tomato plants due to this method. 

Zucchs!

 The Fruits: Plums, Nectarines and Pomegranates - Oh, My!

Plums Galore! Slider has to be monitored when he is outside now. The pits of plums are bad for dogs. Dave and I don't like plums but our friends are benefitting.  

Nectarines! DELICIOUS. A great addition to breakfast!

Pomegranates are starting to form. I spied a humming bird at the tree last evening. These will be ripe in September/October/November. Remember the pomegranate jelly I with Katie made last year? 

 The Flowers:

Succulent pot with some Aloe Vera growing! 

These lilies were transplanted from a friend's garden last spring. They started out very meager, but have exploded. I will probably have to thin them out this fall and spread them some more around the yard.

A Sunflower's Tale:

In April, I planted about 15 sunflower seeds in two varieties. One variety sprouted better than the other but it didn't matter in the end: The caterpillars - originiating from the fruit trees I expect - mowed them all down. ALL OF THEM. Save one. This lonely sunflower! I planted new seeds again in May - this time in a raised pot. I had about 10 sprouts. One morning I went to check on them and I was down to TWO. The Caterpillar Bandits struck again! And then one morning a few days later, one of my two was just wilting and not doing well. Hm. And then there was one. I nurtured it and transplanted it last week to be near the lonely sunflower. 

So I gave up on planting any more sunflowers of my own this year. I didn't want to buy another package only to have it ravished by caterpillars and snails. On to Plan B: Transplants. There are a multitude of wild sunflowers in the vacant fields around my house. I enlisted Dave's help. We grabbed gloves, shovels and plastic bags, and took a walk, filled our bags and returned home. So these guys will have a different look than the traditional one-headed sunflowers. 

The transplants. 

The only survivor of the original seedings. 

The lone survivor of the Sunflower Experiment: Round 2. I planted this guy next to his brother, right behind the air conditioning unit. 

 TLC Projects: 

This past weekend was the first time in a long time that Dave and I spent some time on the house. We did some furniture chess and purchased this gem: An antique-wood table! I'm currently using it as a gardening/potting station. The cat - who has been enjoying yard-time - believed it was a gift for him. You should have seen him. He'd hop up and then peer inside at us and meow, as if to say, "wow, that was nice of you to get me this cool perch!" 

Old Wood potting station

Future garden project: irrigation for the pots. 

The Squash Garden: Future location of garden expansion. 

Last week, after visiting Katie's plot at the Community Garden, I was inspired and planted pumpkin and butternut squash seeds. I have this vision of making Diane's Pumpkin Soup from a pumpkin I grew in my backyard. I planted the seeds in pots and plastic cartons to intimidate caterpillars and snails. And just today I've got a sprout! With my success with squash I am hopeful that I will have a pumpkin in September or October. Just in time for soup! (It was easy to find jack-o-lantern pumpkin seeds but harder to find "sweet" pumpkin seeds. Hopefully I found the right kind. 

 The Pots: 

Look closely! There's a sprout!

The potted plants. LtoR: Zucchini, with basil under some of the leaves, tomatoes.

 Feels Like Home:

The Guard Dog. Doesn't guard against snails and caterpillars. 

Decorations: A Christmas gift for the Wrigley's is up in use!