jjmcgaffey's garden

fuzzi and qebo say I need to be over here...

I've been posting garden pictures and notes in my 2013 75 Book Challenge thread. I don't know whether I'll double-post or just come make a pointer over here whenever I put a garden post over there, but I'll start out repeating what I've said over there.

I live in Alameda, on the San Francisco Bay. It's winter, which normally means lows in the 40s; this year it's being colder than usual, with lows in the 30s.

I got a garden plot in a community garden this year - although I've been gardening since I was a kid, this is actually the first time I've had a large plot of ground (16x16 foot). I've mostly been gardening in pots (including EarthBoxes) on my balcony and the like, whenever I had the room and the sun for it. I've gotten rather heavily into gardening in the last 6 years, in my current home; it's still pots on the balcony, but I've grown (am growing):
tomatoes (4-6 plants a year, mostly cherries)
garlic
snow peas
parsley
basil (sweet basil, and last spring I got African blue basil - it's still alive out there, hope it survives these temperatures)
oregano
mint
strawberries
lettuce
carrots
spinach
New Zealand spinach
strawberry spinach (weird, but tasty - leaves and "fruit" both)
blueberries (well, bushes anyway. No berries yet)
marigolds
nasturtiums
potatoes (not very successful)

and probably more I've forgotten.

And now I have this big plot, and vague plans for it...should be fun.

The plot was held by someone last year who, reportedly, planted it in the spring and then never came back. So it's knee- to chin-high in weeds...most of which are edible and were probably intentionally planted. I'm keeping a few things, but mostly I'm not interested in what she planted. I need to clear the ground, anyway. I also have to clear the paths around the plot, as my "payment" for the plot - sweat equity. Some spillover plants and a lot of grass of various sorts. Once I've got the plants out, I can cover the paths with (supplied) wood chips. There's also a communal compost heap, to which I'm contributing. And the faucet is right by my plot, and they supply a hose.

I'm also a member of Alameda Backyard Growers - a small but rapidly growing group of local gardeners, sharing info and running various projects to help gardeners and the community. We do gleaning - find fruit trees or other crops that are going to waste and offer to pick them for the owners. The owners get some, the pickers get some, and most of it goes to the Alameda Food Bank (which can really use the help these years - usage has gone way up and donations are pretty flat). We also do Grow-a-Row; a seed company donates seeds (last year's, of course, but most of them are viable), gardeners choose some, and we're supposed to plant a row for ourselves and a row for the food bank. I've tried, but it's really hard to do that with container gardening - no spare room. So this year I'll be able to manage it properly.

Copied from 75 Book Challenge thread:

I've been busy the past week - I finally got the community garden plot I've been wanting for several years, and trying to get since last autumn. The plot was planted last spring by a woman who apparently never came back after that - so it's knee- to chin-high in weeds. She apparently planted lots of lettuce of various sorts (but I'm not keeping that), mustard (probably for greens, but it's bolted nicely - the bees love it), mint...probably other things. Oh, and at least one tomato plant, so I'm going to have volunteers (I can see rotty tomatoes lying under it - can't get at it yet, it's too buried in the weeds). And mallow is growing all over. It's an edible plant, but not one that's attractive to me - but it's going to be a pain to remove. It's slippery when you pull on it, and it's got a looooooong taproot...gonna be fun. But the soil is nice and soft - she did work it over thoroughly last year - so it's not hard to pull most of the stuff. I'm working on it now, when it's too early to plant most stuff, so that it will be ready when it is time to plant (and also to make room for garlic, which should be planted about now in this climate).

Pictures, as promised. I have a 16-by-16 plot, which is, as I said above, pretty well drowned in weeds - here's some images of my work.

Done Monday:





Done Tuesday:





Mustard plant in the garden:





Opposite angle, as of Tuesday (from the other front corner of the plot):





I really need to get into that back area, and get the mallow out. I see other things there, including something that's already seeding (looks like dandelion flowers, on a tall woody stem). There's also milk thistle tucked under other stuff - not hard to deal with, as long as I don't let it touch the backs of my hands where my gloves are soft (they're those nitrile-palm things, absolutely wonderful _except_ for prickly stuff on the backs of the hands).

Those two plants left in the front corner are the mint. I'm going to dig them up and put them into big pots and half-bury the pots at the front corners of the plot - so I still have mint, but it can't (or at least, is less likely to) escape and take over the plot. I'm also responsible for the paths around the plot, which are pretty full of stuff - and the mint had started to wander out there, too. Looking at Tuesday's picture, you can see the path has a little less greenery showing.

She planted a lot of edible stuff - but if I can't identify it, or if I'm not interested, I'm just going to pull it. I _like_ edible plants, but not enough to take up space in my garden for them (note that this is mostly reminding myself of my decision...). Milk thistle is another with uses, but not enough to give it space.

This is going to be fun. Hard on the back and arms...but that's good, it's exercise! The kind I'm most likely to take, with an actual reason for it (I never go to the gym, or do something _just_ for exercise. Walking or biking to go somewhere, walking up the stairs, yes. Spinning or stairstepping? not so much. Let alone something like Jazzercize or lifting weights).

Just a little more done today. I got at that back area, and pulled out three large mallows and quite a few small ones, as well as lots of grass and some kind of vine. I thought it might be oregano - that kind of soft triangular leaf - but it just smelled green when I squished a leaf. And I discovered that at least some of the mustard has gone to seed, so I need to harvest them tomorrow (when I bring a bag out to put the seedpods in), and that maybe I don't have tomatoes. She seems to have planted quite a bit of peppers of various sorts, so I'm not sure what that one with the rotted fruit under it is (still in among weeds). I pulled one plant of orange bell peppers (or at least, a pepper-looking plant with a plant label for orange bell peppers next to it) - the peppers were only at the berry stage, round and green - and haven't yet pulled another pepper plant with narrow bright red-orange peppers on it. That one I'll harvest and give the peppers to the food bank - _I'm_ not going to eat them, but someone might be quite happy to see them. You can see the bush just above my kneeling-pad in the NE picture (click through, and zoom in).

Wednesday's work, northwest corner:





Wednesday's work, northeast corner: (you can actually see what I've done)





Wednesday, southeast corner: (same shot I've done each day)





The mallows weren't as bad as I thought - tough, and took some work with a dandelion digger around the roots, but they came up with some effort. I didn't have to break them off and leave the root, which I was afraid I'd have to do.

Tomorrow I'll work on that big mallow in the center, and start on the southeast corner - one mallow and a lot of mess. And that maybe-tomato. It is nice actually getting something done - visible progress each day.

That's quite a variety for pots on a balcony. Blueberries? Strawberry spinach -- never heard of it, but now I want some too!

Well, I bought two blueberry bushes. They grew OK for a while, and flowered, and threatened to have berries - then some kind of moth found them and they're kind of skeletonized. The moth lays eggs, the caterpillars (very small green - half an inch?) eat the leaves then mesh two together with silk and pupate in there. I've caught caterpillars in the mesh and moths, never seen an egg or a caterpillar eating (darn it!). We'll see what happens - I'm hoping to move them to the garden, but not if they're going to bring the moths and let them eat other things.

It's an odd little plant - the leaves look a bit like dandelion, very toothed, but reddish. It grows a stalk out the middle with squishy red drupe berries (like raspberries) on it - the fruits (which I'm told are actually seed clusters) are slightly sweet and very tasty, though I never got enough to do more than pick and eat a couple at a time. The leaves are supposed to taste like spinach - I think that's the vegetable equivalent of "tastes like chicken". I used them in pesto and they tasted...well, I couldn't tell they were in there. Both my plants died, but apparently they self-seeded because now I have 4-5 little ones. We'll see if/when they really start growing (they've stayed very small - 2" across? - for more than a month now, so I figure it's still too cold for them). I got the seeds from a local nursery, for cheap because they were old. See if you can find the seeds somewhere - it was easy to grow.

http://yourorganicgardeningblog.com/easy-gardening-plants-strawberry-spinach/

I've always called that strawberry blite - it grows wild around here, although not too common. I didn't know it was edible, so I'll have to try it next time I see it.

Hi, Jennifer!
I look forward to reading your gardening posts!

6> I'd forgotten the 'blite' names until I googled it to get that link. They were listed on the package - and I googled it when I got the seeds, to see what people said about it. I'd never heard of it (or seen it) under any name before I got the seeds. Note that the berries go from firm and bitter to ripe to squishy and over-sweet in about one day (which is why I never got more than a couple at a time) - so you have to grab them quickly.

7> Hi, Shelley! I spotted your name in the Intro thread - it's nice to see someone I know.

Wow, your plot is a lot of work! Doesn't it feel great, though, to clear out the weeds and see all the nice clear dirt with so much potential for growing things you actually want? I love that feeling.

Yes, exactly. And visible progress day by day.

Woo! Nice thread!

Keep it coming!

And I like getting my hands in the dirt, too...very gratifying...

I'm still making it to the garden every day, and I've even taken pictures. I just haven't had the time or energy to post about it. Later. Nothing new, or not much - more ground cleared. I have a tin bee, too (found it in the weeds). And I harvested some mustard and peppers.

OK, this thread is about to get tremendously long. I've been taking pictures, and noting what I'd actually done - and I'm going to add a post per day, to catch up to where I am now. Hopefully from now on I'll be able to do it a little more smoothly.

Oh, and you may note the directions have changed - I was actually 90 degrees (or pretty close to it) off in my estimation of direction. Wow, the sun sets far south this time of year. So what I've been calling the north side is actually the west. Of course, I seem to have mislabeled at least one picture, so what's called southeast in Msg 3 is in fact southeast.

Catching up post - this is what I posted in my 75 Books Challenge thread.

I've been too busy to post, but not too busy to do. Still going to the garden every day, and seeing real progress. Today it's raining, and I still went out - it was only barely drizzling off and on when I got there, so I worked for longer than I expected. Got out a lot of the center, and left just as it started to really rain.

I've gotten quite a lot! Compare these two, taken from the same corner.

Thursday, 1/17:




Wednesday, 1/23:




That orange spot in the background is my tote bucket - it's actually on the path on the far side of the plot, you can see right across the plot at ground level!

There's still two big mallows I'm (literally) struggling with - they're both in the picture, but you'd never know how nasty they are from looking at it. The many-stemmed bushy thing just above the center, lying down; and one of the long sticks in the background, just in front of the orange bucket (also lying down). I've heaved and pried and loosened them as best I could; today it's raining, so I _hope_ tomorrow I'll be able to pull them. I've lost one root - that is, there was one mallow whose root cracked off deep below the soil where I couldn't get it. I'll settle for that with these, too.

The northwest corner is the least done - but the whole north side was basically lettuces and grass, which aren't hard to pull. Lettuces are really nice, actually - they're huge plants (if allowed to grow), so when you pull them there's a big hole in the ground cover, but they're shallow-rooted so they're very easy to pull. I've been leaving that corner - this one, northwest:





for last, because it's only small stuff. The tall things visible in the Wednesday picture above are mostly mustard and will be staying until they've set seed. I've harvested a lot of seedpods, which should give me mustard seed once they dry. We'll see - I'm not sure, now, that I should have cut them green. But I wanted them out of the way. I left the mustards that are still flowering, because the bees love them. There's also another plant that I haven't been able to figure out. It grows very like a mustard - tall juicy stem, compound flower, and the flower extends into seedpods when it's done - but the flowers are shaded purple instead of bright yellow, visibly cross-shaped, and considerably larger than the mustard (1 inch across, instead of 1/4 to 1/2), and the pods are enormous compared to the mustard. More like beans. You can see some of the pods, looking very lumpy and beany, just right of center by the mallow leaf. Anyone recognize this?





Very busy, very fun days. And the sun this last week hasn't hurt - today is the first rainy day in two weeks, and the last few days have been really bright. Not warm, exactly - highs in the low 60s, for whole minutes a day - but bright and lovely.

(the mystery plant was identified as wild radish by fuzzi.) (and this is where the wrong directions are really visible - not going to edit, though.)

January 24

Went very late, nearly sunset (that's why the pictures are so dark). Worked mostly in the center – some grass, a lot of mallows. I got both the big mallows – had to break off their roots, so I'll have to watch out for them regrowing, but they broke off pretty deep. I think I've gotten all the sizable mallows – may have missed a few in among the mustard, and there are certainly seedlings in the grass and lettuces, but those are easy to pull. And I can not only see but walk through the center. Finish up the east side, clearing out around the mustard, then work on the small stuff on the west side, and done (probably another week total). And then it's ready for me to start planting – better start planning now!

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January 25

Late, again – not quite as bad as yesterday, but I got out there about 1645. Finished up the east side and the center, started on the west side – the northwest corner is pretty well clear now. Still mustard all over – east, center, west – but not much else. Southwest and center west are still full of grass and some lettuce, and I still need to do the paths though I've been working on them a bit as I worked on the plot near weeds in the path. Harvested a bit more mustard (perforce, as the plants fell down). Amazingly clear! Need to start planning garlic, at least. And peas – which need the stakes up. Work out the potato bin too.

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January 26

Very little time – I was late getting started and had to be elsewhere. And then, because it was a sunny Saturday, there were other people there – Marvin & Pam, who I knew from ABG, and Stuart who has two plots next to me and is one of the organizers of the place. So I pulled a few bits of lettuce and grass, out of the northeast corner and the path on the south side – barely a third of a bucketful, rather than my usual overflowing bucket. But I learned that there's worm compost going to be thrown out (because the owner died) over in one corner of the garden – I can get some and add that to my clay-ey corner.

Southeast - you can see the pots I mean to put the mint in, in the corner of the picture.




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January 27

Didn't go. Couldn't make it in the morning before I had to be elsewhere, and I didn't get back till well after dark (and the garden closes at sunset).

January 28

Still went late – got there at 1700 – but I got relatively a lot done. Cleaned out the southwest corner, though there's still more to do further in and in the center west. There was something that had been planted after it got potbound – once I pulled it loose, it came up as still a solid cylinder of roots and dirt. Poor thing. It was quite dead, and unlabeled as far as I could tell, so I've no idea what it was. I meant to get some garlic in the ground, but didn't have time. Tomorrow I need to go early – at noon or earlier. Marvin and Pam have some garlic coming up already. Also ordered some tomato seeds for growing seedlings – besides the ones I collected from last year's tomatoes.

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Southwest - you can see the hole from the potbound plant, and a red lettuce just above it.




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January 29

Got out there decently early today – 2 pm. Cleared out a good bit of the southwest corner and the west side. Still two patches of grass and lettuces to go. Also worked on the west-side path. Didn't plant anything. I also need string and a yardstick, for setting up Square Foot Gardening. And need to turn the soil and add compost.

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January 30

Very late – arrived about 5:20, or 5 minutes before sunset. Got a chunk out of the northsouthwest corner though. Also discovered/figured out I had the directions wrong – need to refigure*. It's not northwest, it's southwest, I think... And my condo has tools I can use, so yay.

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*This is when I figured out I was wrong, but I didn't change what I said for a while (until I was sure). But I've been changing what I wrote in the messages above. So from after the catch-up message, the directions are correct.

January 31

Actually got there early – in the morning! And finished – got _all_ the weeds out. Well, all the big patches. Still lots of little stuff everywhere, but I'm just going to turn that under with the compost. Still need to harvest the peppers, harvest the mustard that's ready, add compost and turn the soil, and grid for Square Foot. Then I can plant the garlic and peas, and start building the potato box – got some wood for it, though not enough to finish.

Southeast - weird being here in the morning, my shadow's on the wrong picture!




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February 1

Got one patch of mint dug up and potted - what would fit, which was less than half. I took the rest home to dry. Also met Sylvie. And cut up the first boards for the potato box.

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February 2

My parents came out with me, and helped a little (not really up to stoop labor!). Got the second mint into a pot, harvested more mustard and the peppers. Pulled up the pepper plant and assorted dead mustards – and two more (small) mallows. Worked a bit on the path, as well. Steve helped me cut the 2x4s for the potato box, and gave me four more (wider) planks as well. I got the tap screws and bolts, but that would be expensive for the whole thing – the guy in the hardware story said just use drywall screws. I'll try it.

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South path - the dark patch was as covered in grass etc as the area beyond it.

February 3

Brought over a bucket of worm compost (from the corner) and dug it in to where the garlics will be and the tomato bed*. Set up the poles to hang the tomato net from. A little weeding.

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West bed (with stakes)




*Once I figured out the directions, the "tomato bed" changed - that was on the west side, and would have shaded a large part of the garden. Now I'm planting peas and strawberries there.

February 4

Mostly weeding the path. I meant to bring the garlic and plant it, but forgot. And there was a very noisy flock of starlings in the tree across from the garden entrance - quite a crowd!

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South path - cleared




Starlings




Starlings, zoomed in a bit

February 5

Didn't go.

February 6

Missed again. This is a problem. Get that garlic planted!

February 7

Finished weeding the front (south) path, planted (some of) the garlic. Also discovered that the plot next to mine has a ridiculous cilantro patch...

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Garlic planted (southwest corner). If you look closely, you can see the little craft-stick labels for the types of garlic.




Cilantro next door

February 8

Worked for nearly an hour and a half. Weeded the west path – a lot of cilantro. Moved some of it to the front of the plot, and watered it. The dirt very nearly repels water – odd! Got a lot of cilantro, quite a bit of grass, a large milk thistle and a couple small mallows out.

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West path cleared (of cilantro, mostly)

February 9

Weeded the east side – not much, some grass. But a bit of a pain due to the mustard. Eventually I'll weed under the rosemary. Also transplanted a poppy (I think) to the front of the plot. Just the back path to do now. And borrowed Stuart's pitchfork and dug the tomato bed decently deep. Started planning the garden in GrowVeg.org Garden Planner...still need to work on that, mostly put in what's already there. Need to work out what more to put in where. Need to start seedlings of basil and parsley now, tomatoes next week or so.

http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=347812 - this is actually later, I've been working on it as things come up. For instance, this has the celery that won't show up for several days in my posts. And I removed most of the mustard from the plan, because it was hard to think around - it's still actually in the garden, though (most of it).

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February 10

Worked about an hour – weeded half the back path. Which is apparently actually the north – I was turned 90 degrees (directions already corrected). Also talked to a bunch of people – Stuart, Logan up front with the kale trees, James (?) near me.

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February 11

Didn't go. Planned the garden instead (I have to move the tomato bed, since I had it on the west side and it would shade things too much).

February 12

Went out late. Planted peas in the west-side bed (where I dug in compost before). Planted poppy seeds in two squares in the front, around the transplanted one (which is quite thoroughly dead, even more so than the cilantro). Watered a little.

I have no idea why the foggy effect - weird sunlight, or a smudgy lens, or something.

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West bed - peas planted

February 13

Watered again, with the new hose nozzle. The dirt is amazing – the top is wet to muddy, and a quarter inch down it's powder dry. I need to do a long soak...or it needs to rain. I planted more garlic and some celery – I didn't buy enough of either, though the garlic will be OK. I need more celery, though. Next year start those seeds in the first week of the year (so I don't have to buy starts). Also hammered in more nails marking the foot spacing – and corrected what I'd done before. The south side is all correctly marked, need to work on east and west. I think I'll just put string on the bed edges, leaving the internals unmarked, at least for now. String and staples. Also need to add compost – before I plant any more, or stretch the string – and turn the whole thing. And before I do that I need to harvest mustard, and pull as many plants as possible. And a bit of re-weeding, in the center and on the north side – grass and small stuff has popped up. So make seedling soil and start seeds at home, and work on creating the soil and the beds there. Oh yeah, and put peat moss and pine needles in in the northeast corner, where the blueberry bushes are going.

Southeast - you can see the celery, and the sticks I was using to mark the corners of squares.




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February 14

Didn't go.

February 15

Didn't go again – nor make seedling soil. Sheesh.

February 16

Went around 2 pm. Harvested mustard and pulled dead plants (some of those aren't actually mustard, though); dug the front beds down to about 4 inches, and watered heavily. Couldn't dig further back until I remeasure on the sides.

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February 17

Put in the nails everywhere but the east side, where the mustard is growing heavily. Watered the beds again. Tomorrow mark and dig the back beds, and add compost. There's a gorgeous tiny blue flower growing in the northwest corner, by where the potato box is going - if it's willing to continue to grow, I'm willing to let it. I'd like to know what it is, though. The flowers are barely a pencil-eraser width across.

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Tiny blue flower*




*ETA - fuzzi says (and I agree, looking at the images) it's corn speedwell. Considered a weed, but sounds fine to me; it only flowers about now, though it grows all winter (when the weather's mild enough, as it is here). Very pretty.

February 18

Marked, dug, and watered the beds – didn't get compost in, but did get all of them except the quinoa bed (where the mustard is, on the east side) dug up ready for the rain tomorrow. Also moved some of the garlic – I was afraid some of it was overlapping the path, and it was (because I planted before I measured the squares properly). That was a Nootka Rose sprout that needed moving. The rest of the sprouts are Gilroy, I think - I got the garlics I'm planting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Probably California White, or California Early, but I'm not sure. There are probably more garlics overlapping - I'll have to be careful walking on that path, or just not do it - but I'm not going to look for them until they sprout.

Still need to get compost into the beds. Try to do it tomorrow, if the rain isn't too heavy.

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Northeast - note the pine needles and wood chips lightly dug in.




Garlic sprouting (Gilroy, right by the mint in the southwest corner)

OK! Up to date. I'll try to keep up, from now on.

(27) If the soil repels water, you NEED to add a lot of humus/compost to it. If you've already planted, try just laying it on top of the soil, around the plants, and work it in a little with one of those hand 'forks'.

I've even mulched with well cooked compost, the cool stuff. The earthworms and plants love it.

The dirt is amazing – the top is wet to muddy, and a quarter inch down it's powder dry.

You need more humus in that soil! See my comments above.

You also might consider mulching to help prevent water evaporation.

BTW, I love the day by day diary, and reading about what you've been doing. Nice job!

Yeah, it's fun. It's not quite a 365 photo project, because I've already missed quite a few days, but it's really nice to have the tracking. It's also - because of the tracking project, I'm less likely to just not go for a few days/weeks (which is all too likely, around midsummer). I tend to forget about my gardens, even the one on my balcony, after the planting and before the harvest. Which is not good for the garden! I'm hoping the tracking will short-circuit that tendency.

And yeah, I definitely need more compost (I've been planning it, the last couple days). The problem is that, while there's compost available in the garden, it's varying distances away - and I don't have a wheelbarrow available. There is one, but I have to catch someone and ask to use it (get it out of the locked shed). Hauling compost in a bucket is a literal and figurative pain - I got some, but it was a scant supply for two small beds and I have three more small and six large ones to compost, even if I (deliberately) ignore the paths. It will happen, preferably before I plant any more (it's a lot easier that way!).

And I just discovered where there's a wheelbarrow available in the garden. So yay. Probably not compost today, because of the rain, but tomorrow. Unless the rain stops reasonably early - it's supposed to be raining on and off until 4 pm, though, and that's awfully close to sunset...yeah, and I'll be busy at that point. I'll go out and look at the garden (and take pictures) but I don't think I'm doing any work today.

Hi, Jennifer - your mystery weed in #14 is wild radish, either Raphanus raphanistrum or Raphanus sativus. I don't think they are edible; in fact the first one is toxic to horses, don't know about people. They are classified as invasive weeds - yep, I'll go along with that, we had a heck of a time pulling them out of our back yard last year. Not that they were hard to pull out, but there was so *much* of it!

Right. I've got a lot more mustard than radish - and the same throughout the community garden, this year anyway. Though there's some along the back fence (technically outside my plot, but apparently I'm allowed to plant there...). I'm leaving the mustard up for now, and the radish along the fence, because the bees are all over it. They like the mustard even better than the rosemary that's a hedge along the east side of my plot. But I'll pull it all pretty soon, because I want to plant where it's growing.

I've got a lot more pictures and reports, but no time again to put them up. It'll just have to be in bursts.

Waiting for more pictures... :)

So...two months later....

February 19

It rained pretty hard, off and on, last night and this morning. I just went out to look – not enough time to actually do anything – but that powdery-dry soil got soaked all the way through and feels wonderful. Still going to add compost – it can only help – but crisis intervention seems less necessary now. What I need to do is get things planted so the soil isn't sitting naked in the sun... Oh, and the garlic – 7 sprouts of Gilroy, one each of ABG (I got it from someone at my gardening group, and if I wrote down the variety at the time I can't find it), Nootka Rose and Inchelium Red. And one that could be any of the last three – it's sort of on the border of the squares. 11 in all.

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February 20

Got compost from the worm farm (one wheelbarrowful), and black dirt from a heap on the other side (another wheelbarrowful) and distributed it over the beds. Dug in most of them – didn't do the two back beds, quit for an aching back. Oh, and bought more celery – Pascal Giant – and planted that. Also, afterward, bought a lot more plants – bare-root strawberries, too much asparagus, oregano, cauliflower, baby blue eyes seeds. And gave up and bought seedling soil.

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February 21

Dug in the two back beds, re-dug the rest, watered. As long as I keep up the watering, the soil doesn't seem to be doing the powdery thing. 29 garlic shoots – mostly Gilroy and Nootka Rose. Though there are 6 Inchelium, which is pretty good given they were planted 5 days after the rest. Wet the seedling soil, but didn't get around to planting.

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Garlic

February 22

Didn't make it to the garden - doing too many other things.

February 23

Planted a whole bunch of things – asparagus (planted 6, gave 6 to Stuart. He gave me cantaloupe seeds in return – planted those too), strawberries (a row of Quinalt and a row of Ozark Beauty – two of each in each square), oregano, marjoram, cauliflower. Then seeds – carrots (baby French), spinach (my own seeds, from last year, plus some baby leaf from a packet), coriander (gave up on the transplants. Funny, Mom's are doing fine), poppies...maybe something else. Didn't plant the dill or fennel because I couldn't remember which square was supposed to be which. I need to update my plan and put labels on the squares – it really is necessary. Watered. Oh, and saw the first pea shoots! Two tiny little greennessess. Checked my seeds – the Three Sisters seeds I have are uninteresting. Don't want dent corn or rattlesnake beans. So I need sweet corn and Blue Lake bean seeds. It does have sugar pie pumpkin seeds, but they're pretty old – I have newer ones. Going to pre-sprout them before I plant them, which won't be until the corn is 6 inches tall or so.

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Pea shoot

February 24

Bought basil from TJs – plant that, and update the plan. In a hurry as usual on the weekends. Got some of the updating done – need to finish it. Planted the basil, and the marigolds from Mom. I had some very considerate vandals in the garden – they tromped around, and broke all the marker strings, but didn't step on any plants. At least, not green ones – they didn't notice some planted low (asparagus and strawberries), and they stepped on seeds quite a lot. But I don't think they hurt anything except the string. Bought sweetcorn and Blue Lake beans at OSH – seeds, both.

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February 25

Updated the garden plan, so now everything is labeled. But no energy to actually go garden.

February 26

Only had time for a quick watering. No sign of vandals, though.

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February 27

Didn't go. Watered the balcony, though.

February 28

Planted corn, fennel, and dill (all seeds). Still need to plant anise and caraway, but I think I'll start them at home so I can watch (and not get them confused for weeds).

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March 01

Watered, weeded, watered again so it would soak in. I really should be going twice a day to water while it's so dry and I have seeds and transplants...but I don't think it's going to happen. The oregano is happy, the marjoram and cauliflower are barely hanging in there, the celery is doing OK. Most of the basil looks pretty close to dead, though one seems to be doing OK. The marigolds are small but hanging on. LOTS of garlic sprouts (and I had to move one more out of the path), quite a few pea sprouts. I think I see greenishness on some of the asparagus, too. Nothing from the strawberries yet, and no seeds coming up (unsurprisingly).

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March 02

Need to plan the seedlings – how much of what. Basil, parsley, anise, caraway, beans?, pumpkins?, lots (and lots) of tomatoes. And labels for _all_ of them, no confusion allowed. Celery? Also need to empty the (now empty of plants) Earthbox, clean out the roots and boost the soil with compost. Then move what's growing in the other Earthbox over and do it to that one too. And make nets. But not today - today a meeting in the garden, and I want to go out and do some weeding and watering ahead of that. Well, did it after, but got it done. Didn't plant the peanuts, though. Also didn't take pictures.

March 03

Didn't go.

March 04

Dashed out just before sunset – planted peanuts, watered.

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Missed a big chunk of days - didn't go from March 05 to March 10. It rained, so the garden wasn't desperate, and I was sick (a nasty cold).

March 11

OK! Finally made it to the garden. Most of the basil is pretty well dead, including the one that looked like it was going to make it. Might yet - or not. So is the marjoram. Everything else that had sprouted looks OK - peas and garlic, the celery and oregano plants and the marigolds - and tiny little poppy plants, and one miniscule asparagus sprout! Watered, weeded, harvested more mustard, watered again. Talked to Dean & Carmen, in the next plot. Also watered the balcony - the New Zealand spinach is trying to take over the world, but I'm afraid I have to give up on the African blue basil. Mom's is still OK - small leaves on woody stems, but healthy leaves. Check with the nurseries for another start.

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Lots of new and interesting stuff, after nearly a week away.

Aphid lion (ladybug larvae)




Aphid lion on me




Another aphid lion - two of them, actually




Marigold bud




Tiny blue flower - identified as corn speedwell




Peas




Garlic




Poppies




First asparagus shoot. Are the roots supposed to be exposed?

March 12

Didn't make it to the garden. Did go to ABG and give away some of Mom's marigold seeds.

March 13

Went to Ace Hardware in El Cerrito - no bender board. Got starter mix, earth staples and some seeds. Actually made it to the garden, mostly watered. Saw an interesting spider (red means don't touch!)

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Spider (on the hose)

March 14

Washed the seedling pots and the greenhouse in a mild bleach solution, and plotted out what goes where (I actually have room left over...hmmm, what else?).

March 15

Out all day. No gardening.

March 16

Watered the balcony.

March 17

Yay, made it! Weeded - including pulling up all the mustard, the flowers are mostly done and I'm tired of working around it. Watered heavily. Under some of the mustard, found small creeping plants just full of ladybugs; under another bunch, found some well-grown poppies and possibly some other useful plants. Unfortunately (as I may have said before), I'm growing a lot of plants that I don't know how to recognize from second leaves (nothing can be recognized from first leaves, everything looks the same with those). Hmmm - and contradicting that last bit, I have what I'm pretty sure are corn sprouts, which are quite distinctive. No two round leaves, they look like thick grass. 4-5 sprouts (of the 24 I planted...but give them time). The cauliflower looks pretty good, actually; the oregano is pretty well dead, but I'll keep watering it in the hopes it will regenerate from roots. Lots of garlic, lots of peas, I think maybe a few strawberries. Three asparagus sprouts - quite long, 4-6 inches, but incredibly skinny. And a _lot_ of green stuff coming up where I planted seeds...but I have no idea whether it's my plants or weeds. Have to leave it for a bit and see what it looks like later...Oh, and someone (Dean?) put in a multi-spout thing on the hosepipe - but to add a new hose end I'd have to get someone to turn off the water.

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Well, finally got some more listed. Not all - I've got stuff up until yesterday, including the exciting adventure of "went away for a week, during which it rained"... but it will have to wait.

Shaping up nicely! Tell me a little bit more about raising celery.

Well, so far it's a close bunch of plants, slowly growing taller. Two have disappeared, which is weird - one just went poof, one was looking limp (while the others close around it were fine - I wondered what ate celery roots) and then disappeared. No dead plant lying there, no nothing, just gone. Treecats! I've planted two square feet with 9 plants each - both of the disappeared are from the second square.

I'm told that when they get close to harvest size, I should wrap them up - cover up the stalks and let only the top leaves poke out - for a couple of weeks to blanch them. That's the interesting part - the thing that's (pretty much) unique to celery. We'll see.

Oh, and since I bought them as starts I don't know about growing them from seed. I'll know a lot more next year (including whether I think they're worth growing!).

I'm trying celery from seed this year. Have grown it from transplants before. It needs lots of water or the stalks are thin and tough (although tasty!).

OK - thanks! I'll work on that. Hmmm, moats maybe...I'm only getting out there to water every second or third day.

Love the diary and the pictures.

:)

March 18

Didn't go. Visited with Zoe & Shelley at Green Apple Books instead.

March 19

Got out there about 2 pm. Weeded a bit - mostly on the paths, because of the thing where I can't tell what's what in the beds. Though I did pull some grass and mallows in the beds. The oreganomarjoram may be recovering, I see lots of leaves though they're small and yellowish. The three asparagus sprouts have turned green, with purple side buds. Corn still growing; peas fine, not sure if I see any strawberries. The garlics are large and healthy, 42 of them of various sorts. Marjoram and celery doing well, marigolds going, most of the basil still dead - that one may survive, or not. Watered heavily, got more annoyed at the hose. Weeded a little around the hosepipe.

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Ladybug cocoons




Aphid lion (ladybug larvae) and cocoons

Wow. I forget how bare the garden was back then. You'll see.

March 20

Didn't go. It rained last night and off and on today - light rain, but for quite a while.

March 21

Got out there about 4 pm. Weeded a bit, sawed up bender board and built one box. It works very nicely, with the board about half buried and the staples to brace it at the corners and in the middle. Watered. Sawed up more bender board, but not all of them - need to cut some at 6 and 2 foot, instead of at 4 foot. The first asparagus sprout has begun to split up - not a tight bud at the top any more. Still very skinny. Fourth sprout has appeared - only two showing nothing yet.

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Aspargus (and feverfew)

March 22

Didn't go.

March 23

Went late – 6:45 to 7:45. Sawed the rest of the bender board, and got the two long beds marked off – where the berry bushes will go, and where the peas and strawberries are (both are 6x2). Weeded a little, watered, took pictures in the dark. The 4x4 bed works nicely – contains the water and soil when I water. Going to have to figure something for the path edges, too – maybe the fence board tops. I need a bit more bender board, but not going to get it until I've put in all the ones I have.

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March 24

Didn't go.

March 25

Went about 5, left about 7. Did some weeding. Put in two more beds - second square front and the asparagus bed. Dug up the quinoa bed and dug coffee grounds into the blueberry bush bed. My phone was dead, so no pictures drat it - take pictures before I start tomorrow. Fourth asparagus sprout seems to have disappeared again; the first and second are split up, the first is spread wide. Heavy overcast all day, but I don't think it rained.

March 26

Didn't go.

March 27

Quick visit to water. And take pictures.

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March 28

Out of town. Asked Stuart to water if necessary.

March 29

Out of town.

March 30

Out of town. I'm told it rained a couple days.

March 31

Out of town.

April 01

Out of town.

April 02

Didn't go - dealing with stuff from being out of town.

April 03

Didn't go.

April 04

Didn't go. Picture - actually taken before I started work on the 5th, so you can see what a week away did...

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April 05

Finally went! And a rainy week away made several major differences... A _lot_ of weeds, of noticeable size - the lettuces (that had kidney-shaped first leaves) got up to full size. But also some growth of things I meant to grow - I think. I need to do more weeding, with the garden plan in hand to figure out what I planted in each bit. The poppies are growing well, both mine and the volunteers (all over). The one surviving basil is continuing to survive - the top branches died, but it's growing again from the roots. So is the oreganomarjoram. The marjoramoregano is hearty and healthy, the celery has finally begun to get taller, 3 of the 4 cauliflowers have found their feet and grown big. The fourth is still hanging on - I put more dirt around its roots, we'll see if it helps. There are 5 asparagus shoots now, and the oldest three have gotten up to about 12-13 inches and gone feathery. I'd forgotten - of course asparagus looks like that, it's why asparagus fern is called that. I pulled the tip off the littlest sprout, though, I hope it will be OK. The peas are not very tall, but huge leaves (for peas), and waving tendrils around. I hung some strings for them, need to hang more. No strawberries that I can identify - darn it. The garlic is doing well - the smallest is somewhat yellowish and about 6 inches tall, most are twice that and dark green. The marigolds are doing nicely. I can see the corn - I didn't weed that bed, though, so I'm not sure how many I have. The feverfew took nicely, and I think there's another feverfew in the back bed, near the one I planted - the leaves look the same. I'm leaving all the poppy volunteers and several other things that I'm not sure what they are but I think I want them. There's a thing with threadlike leaves in the right middle bed - I _think_ it's a fennel. And several things with feathery second leaves in the left middle bed, which are probably carrots. I put boards around the garlic, and the left middle bed, and one board on the right middle. I need more boards - I have enough to finish the right middle and one more four-square; need 4 more boards for the other back bed and the quinoa bed. And I think I need some outdoor plywood - my bookcase-back plywood did _not_ like being rained on, it split into its constituent plies. The middle one, however, seems to have gone vertically wiggly and quite rigid - it may be OK, if I can get the outer and inner plies off. Need to add dirt and get the potatoes planted - they have very long roots in their paper bag.

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April 06

Went out just to water, and to show Mom the garden. Pulled off the extra sheets of plywood, now there's just the wiggly walls. Put compost and woodchips and such in and plant the potatoes! Got six tomato plants at an HOA event - two Indigo Rose, one Cream Sausage, one Marvel Stripe, and two Nevada Wedding. I'll give Mom one of the Indigo Roses and grow the rest in my garden - maybe Nevada Wedding on the porch, but maybe not. Found five corn sprouts. Found something that looks like cilantro but smells sweet and tastes bitter, in the asparagus patch - pull it next time I weed. Three cilantros now. The peas like their strings, though they're not really heading up yet.

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Marigolds

April 07

Today there was a garden meeting, so I went out ahead of time to work on things. Got a bit of weeding done, and one more board planted. And planted dwarf sunflowers and red nasturtiums, in random spots around the garden (seeds from Meg). Oh, and the sweet-and-bitter is feverfew, I think - very amusing because it's growing right next to the two places I planted Meg's feverfew. But the leaves look the same. It's probably growing elsewhere, too. And I found a lot of spinach in among the weeds, and I believe one cantaloupe. The leaves look right for a squash/melon, anyway. Yay! And BTW, the New Zealand spinach is trying to take over the Earthbox it's planted in. I need to figure out how to get more plants out of it and move them to the plot. Try rooting cuttings.

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April 08

Didn't go.

April 09

Went out - squeezed for time. Got two more boards planted - the second middle box is now complete - and some weeding done, mostly to plant the boards. A little around the cornstalks (which are now 6 inches tall and need beans planted by them!). Also need to move one of the stalks - not many of the corn kernels sprouted (I see six...though I need to weed before I do any fiddling), but of course two are right next to each other. Well, I may leave them anyway. Forgot to take pictures, though. Got a bunch of marigold seedlings from Mom - I'll donate them to anyone who wants marigolds in the garden (in the meeting we set up a place for free stuff to be left). Went to the ABG meeting tonight and got two tomato starts for me (a Black Trifele (truffle?) and a Golden something. And two Black Trifeles to donate to the garden. Also Jasmine has a couple scythes, if we want them - talk to James and Marvin, may have to wait until we have a toolshed.

April 10

Didn't go.

April 11

Went out latish. Delivered lots of marigold seedlings and two tomato starts (the Black Trifeles) to the free bench - hope they get taken. Did some weeding - the front right bed and the asparagus bed, and part of the front left one. And the paths in between, and the paths around my plot. Found a nice lot of spinach (some of it in wrong places - don't know if I put it wrong or it washed over), lots of poppies, the marjoram and the celery (one has been pulled out, leaving a hole, and one is limp. What eats celery roots?), four healthy asparagus and one minimal. The one I pulled the tip off hasn't done anything since then. Hopefully it will improve over time. Oh, and one of the others - one of the first three - has a second, tiny, shoot. And feverfew, and more poppies. Pulled a lot of mint and the pointy-leaved things. And various other familiar weeds. And one thing that may be a parsley - I don't think I actually planted the parsley that was supposed to be in two squares of the right front, but this looks parsley-ish. I replanted it, I'll smell/taste it later. It's little. Watered and left - the mosquitoes were out in force. Oh, I tried rubbing a feverfew leaf on me - it did slow them down. I had one or two attacking me afterward, instead of the squadrons before. Also checked on the horse manure - it's steaming! I don't know if it's composting or it's that fresh. I need to take a batch - but I think I do need straw as well for the potatoes. Now where can I get straw, this time of year?

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Ladybugs on a pole

April 12

Didn't go.

April 13

Did a little - mostly weeding, in the front and middle beds. The limp celery has entirely disappeared! The rest are fine, but it's just a gap, like the one that disappeared before. Very strange.

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April 14

An hour and a half. All the beds with walls are weeded (or re-weeded), plus the quinoa bed; I started, just barely, on the two back beds. Weeding a little fast, a few times - I managed to pull up my poor oreganomarjoram (I put it back), and a carrot, and pulled the heads off several more carrots. There's a parsley in the left middle bed, near the back, and several squash-looking things at the front of the right back bed. Need to ask Meg about some other things. One _possible_ strawberry, but I'm not at all sure. Crinkly edges, but not the dark green strawberries usually are.

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April 15

Didn't go.

April 16

Didn't go.

April 17

Dashed out to water - took a bunch of pictures of unidentified or unsure plants. Need to post those. Where did the peanuts go - or what do peanut plants look like?

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unknown - sage-ish




pretty pink-and-white (blooms like a pea/orchid, with a center bulge and a flare around. But I pulled them all)




one-and-only strawberry (by now, when I get this posted, I'm sure)

April 18

Didn't go. Watered the balcony, though, and checked over the blueberries. I think I got one caterpillar.

April 19

Cleaned out the left back bed and the potato patch - I got tired of those vines. Put boards on the quinoa bed and one board on the left back bed. Bought boards for the potato patch (yet another try).

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unknown - squashy. This developed flower buds on the 30th, so I pulled it - upright stalk in the middle, like mustard.




cantaloupe?

April 20

Didn't go. Bought a Sungold start at the Earth Day fair from Ploughshares. Mom did too.

April 21

Didn't go.

April 22

Bought sweet basil from TJs - try to water these enough they don't die! Going to keep them home, separate and water them and plant them in the garden later. Looked for African Blue basil, but no one had any at the moment - all planning to, sometime later. Got out there - did a bit of remedial weeding, and a little in the back right bed. Put the other three boards on the back left bed. Talked to James. Watered. I need to plant more corn, as well as the beans - but that's the bed that isn't fully weeded yet. And I need to get the tomatoes in the ground, the starts I have, and get the seeds started for the rest! I'm pretty sure that is a strawberry - which means I got one plant from the 24 roots I planted. Sheesh. Also I need to go out earlier, during the day. It's a lot hotter, admittedly (today the high was around 80), but fewer mosquitoes. I am so bitten up... Maybe I'll try an early morning visit. And I completely forgot to take pictures.

April 23

Didn't go.

April 24

Spent about 40 minutes in the garden. Got all the weeding (from my week away) done - now just maintenance weeding. Did three boards on the back right bed; pulled all but one of the fuzzy-leaved plant (there were at least 4, possibly 5 if the huge one is the same thing). We'll see what comes up. If the peanuts sprouted, I've pulled them up - didn't see anything that could be them. I think I'll plant a new set at home so I can keep an eye on them. One more board and the potato bed boards. Oh, and I had some heavy-footed visitors - on a couple of the narrow paths, the boards on one side were splintered. Someone lost their balance and stepped on them, I expect. Bah. The boards are still there, for now - I may replace them later, but they're still high enough to keep the water and dirt in. I don't care if people come into my garden, as long as they're careful about it. And forgot pictures, again.

April 25

Didn't go, but did - finally! - plant the seeds! Only a month or two late. We'll see if it's useful - but even if I transplant them straight from the cells to the garden (rather than up-sizing their pots) they'll have gotten a nice start. They're in little black cells on a heat-mat; once they germinate, I'll put a light on right over them as well. I suspect the germination time will be varied - there's a lot of tomatoes, which will be close to the same time, but also parsley and basil and anise and caraway - parsley's slow, not sure about the others. And oregano. And peanuts, when I get some peanuts, and strawberries when I find (or buy) my strawberry seeds. I should dig up some of those roots in the plot and see if there's any sign of life or they're truly dead. Also clipped off some of my (wildly spreading) New Zealand spinach (on the balcony) and put the cuttings into damp seedling soil - see if they root (the Internet says they're good at that). If so, I can transplant those to the plot. I planted two seeds per cell - if both grow solidly, I'll divide them and plant both (or give away one); if one is spindly, I'll cut it off and let the other grow. I'm growing two cells for each plant I actually want (so four seeds) - I expect I'll have quite a few to give away. I also collected a bunch of seeds to go out to the garden - some to give away (oldish ones, or ones I don't really care to grow), more to plant directly (more corn, the beans and pumpkins, more cilantro (since I have a total of 3 plants), Persian cucumbers, etc.). Take them out and plant tomorrow. Also harvest spinach and make pesto.

April 26

Raced out – left the giveaway seeds, watered, did a very little bit of weeding, and harvested about 3 pounds of spinach (off...10?...plants). Very nice. And updated my garden plan – I made a separate copy that only has what I've actually planted (and took notes when I was out there, for stuff that grew of itself). Also _finally_ remembered to take pictures! I forgot the last few times. No sprouts yet in my seed tray. Made pesto from half the spinach and the TJs basil.

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Spinach harvest

April 27

Didn't go.

April 28

Planted a whole bunch of seeds. More corn, beans by each corn (including the new ones), 3 pumpkins. More carrots, Babette again. More cilantro - I have a _lot_ of seeds, which is good. Parsley...more things, I forget what. Nasturtiums. Also scattered Blue & White (Baby Blue Eyes, yarrow, flax, something else) seeds, and Baby Blue Eyes, over everywhere except the quinoa patch (which needs planting!). Watered first (so the seeds could set) and afterward (to settle the soil). Put up a couple more strings for the peas. Picked (and ate) my first pea! Several others, too small to pick yet. Did a little bit of weeding, mostly in the paths. The spinach has already grown back enough to be worth cutting (not going to, leave it for a little while).

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Spinach, two days later

April 29

Germination! At least one sprout in at least one cell of every box but B and G*. A has one tiny beginning sprout in one cell; H has two sprouts in every cell. Skinny, weedy, white, long things - I took the top off and put the light on. The light's awfully small...I may move them over to the shelves this evening. Also I need another timer, for the light. Found one. This evening I moved all but A, B, E, and G (each of which has 0 or 1 sprout) over to the shelves and put the light right over them and put water in a shallow pan under them. I put the lid back on the greenhouse, adding a bit of water, and moved the light up a bit so it wasn't touching the roof. I need to plant the strawberries. Didn't get to the plot. The sprouts that I moved are more upright and more green even from a few hours under the little light; should do even better under the big one.

*I cut the cells into six-packs and marked each one with a letter so I could keep track of what's planted where.

April 30

Went out latish, did maintenance weeding - lots of little stuff - plus some (grass and thistles) from under the rosemary bushes. Watered. Harvested - a handful of peas, and one carrot (by accident - carrot fronds look very much like poison hemlock, particularly when they're tucked under some other plants). Yummy carrot, though. The gopher came back and ate the roots of the big volunteer poppy. ??? Well, if he decides he loves poppies, I can do without them, I guess... Though I do suspect him in the drooping celery, too (don't know if he came back and took it entire). There were two holes, one under the poppy and one at the front. I put in rocks and bark chips and tamped them down. And somebody knocked over one of the corn stalks - the one near the edge. I suspect a person there, as there were no mounds or loose soil around, and the root is still there - just broken off at the soil level. Bah. Down to 4 corn stalks. I hope some of the others come up. More sprouts, including some basil in A, and the ones under the big lights are now vertical and greener. Looks excellent! I need to do some counting and maybe move the big light up a little. And check whether I should move the ones under the greenhouse over to the big light - if there are multiple sprouts per box, I will. And I still need to figure out the rearrangements necessary because I bought/obtained a bunch of tomato starts - need a place for the Indigo Rose and so on. Moved E, with Dr. Carolyn, over - lots of sprouts. Leave the others for a while longer.

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Peas




Sunflower




Harvest - peas and carrot

May 01

More seedlings at home - some just barely peeking up from the soil, some I think I missed earlier, from their current size. I moved the basil over this morning, and watered. Now don't water again until it's been dry for 24 hours. Two boxes - B and G, both herbs - are still under the greenhouse; I need to add the strawberries, and get some peanuts. Went to the garden, finally got the potato box up (more or less. I may need to put on a strap or band at the upper corners). Now I need dirt. The potatoes are sprouting wildly and shriveling up in their paper bag. Also harvested some carrots - deliberately this time, to make more space - and some peas. Watered thoroughly. Also pulled the milk thistle and the mallows out by the hose. Need to check what I have on the balcony that needs to be transferred to the garden. The New Zealand spinach cuttings are looking rather, but not completely, limp - maybe rooting! I should try some in just water, too. Oh, and two nasturtium volunteers in various boxes - one in the asparagus, amid the poppies, and one in the corner by the marigolds in the center right box.

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Harvest




Sprouts




Cuttings

Wow, I don't believe it! I'm caught up! We'll see how long I can keep it up...

Wow! It looks fantastic. I'm so jealous of your harvests - it's still almost a month too early to plant here.

Neat to see your progress! I think that pink flower you pulled out looks like corydalis, which is related to bleeding heart. We get two varieties growing around here as wildflowers--yours looks similar, but is not either of the ones I know.

78> Ah, yes, not quite a bleeding heart flower but in that class. Orchidy. I had one that bloomed, but I didn't get a picture of it. OK, thanks!

77> Yeah, there are advantages to this mild climate. On the other hand, your weeds get killed off in the winter too (most of them, anyway)...

You are caught up, and I'm caught up reading your thread.

The boxes/boards look nice. What are you using? Some look straight, some are wavy.

It's called "bender board" - very thin slices of redwood. About 1/4" by 4" x 8 feet. They're about half buried - so straight or wiggly depends on how straight I dug the trench. But they mark the edges quite nicely. I put garden staples on the first few, but didn't bother after a while - it doesn't seem to make any difference. I found it at OSH and Home Depot - very cheap, about $2 for an 8-foot board. Being redwood they should last a while, too.

I like that idea! Thanks for the clarification. :)

Catching up. Love the systematic progression. Your boxes make everything so tidy.

70: Where did the peanuts go - or what do peanut plants look like?
SqueakyChu grew one last year: http://www.librarything.com/topic/140760#3653320 .

If they sprouted, I must have weeded them up. Apparently they flower, then the flowers bend over and dig into the ground and form the nuts.



I spent a while on Google Images looking for them while I waited for them to sprout, but I never saw anything that looked like that - that the leaves looked like that. So...

Oh well...better results next time...?

Yeah. I'll plant them again at some point - maybe in pots so I can see what they look like, first. But not right now.