Just put in the winter/spring vegetables

SE corner is Romaine lettuce starters and Grow Organic Carrot Danvers Half Long seeds.

SW bed is Iceberg starters and more of same carrot seeds.

SW corner is Iceberg, Bibb, and one broccoli plant. Put down Carnival Blend carrot seeds.

NW bed and corner are broccoli. Will transplant carrots here when it's rooms to thin them.

North bed is bok Choy.

NE corner is Romaine.

I have a cherry tomato plant and an eggplant in containers until it gets to be past last frost.

Winter 2010 Update

I transplanted a few lettuces out of the seed starter and set them in the southwest corner of the garden. I covered them with bird mesh hoping to keep out whatever it is that's been eating my plants!

The corn I planted a few weeks ago never came up. Probably too cold for it, still. Some of the bok choy is coming up, but not much of it. Sometimes it's bountiful and sometimes, like the last couple of years, I just can't get it to grow.

The dwarf orange tree that I planted 3 weeks ago seems to have taken hold and is doing well. It's enjoying all of the rain we're having.

Finally, Mama Aloe is in bloom again. It's so pretty!

Full Moon Sage Harvest

My witchcraft student and I took a trek out to a desolate field under the last full moon. The breeze was light and the air was slightly chilly, but we were armed with layered clothing and a healthy dose of enthusiasm!

As we crested the hill, we could see the silvery leaves of the white sage plants glowing with the moonlight. We didn't need to use the flashlights we brought with us as the light from Her fullness was ample and we could easily see our way.

We stopped when we reached Grandmother. She is the plant near the top of the hill who is the oldest and the largest. It is her seeds that populated that hill with others. After casting a protective circle, asking our animal spirits to watch over us, and saluting and thanking the Mother Goddess for this rich field, we paid our respects to the Grandmother plant with offerings of rice and energy. Then, we asked permission to harvest from her children and explained why we wished to do so, and we felt agreement from her.

We respectfully approached each plant and made it an offering of energy and rice. Then we asked it whether we might harvest from it and why we wished to do so. If we felt hesitation or a "no" in return, then we thanked the plant and moved on. But, if we felt agreement from the plant, then we would swiftly cut off a branch or two with my boleen. (1) Then we would thank the plant and move on.

We only took what we needed. And, when we were done harvesting, we once again returned to Grandmother and thanked her again and offered her more energy for growth and health. Then we thanked our animal spirits for watching over us. And then, we prayed to the Goddess that she would continue to protect the field.

As I opened the circle and lifted the protection energy from around us, the mundane world swirled back in like a fog. But we were still charged and excited from our activity, and the walk back to the car seemed effortless.

I showed my student how to bind sage for a smudge, and then I showed her how to properly hang the sage so that it would dry evenly. My share is hanging in my kitchen, and when it's dry I will store it with my other ritual herbs and share some with witch friends.

(1) boleen - a white handled knife traditionally used by witches as a working knife, it is only used when harvesting plants for magickal use or other magickal works, it is often crescent shaped, but sometimes not.

Lughnasad Update

Greetings, and blessed Lughnasad!

First harvest went well. Brought in the rest of the corn, but it was too underdeveloped to be edible. So, I composted it. My composting worms have filled their bucket with wonderful worm castings, so I have to make them new bedding this week!

Seeds started. Yesterday I started lettuce, leeks, and some herbs (chamomile, lavender, lemon verbena) in the seed starter for the surrounding garden area. I also started a bok choi patch using seeds in the garden itself since it doesn't like to be transplanted.

Carrots. I also thinned the carrots. I hope the neighbors like carrots. I hope the coworkers like carrots, too. There's lots of carrots! I transplanted some to the east part of the garden which has been a little bare this year. They also take up half of the south beds and about 1/8 of one west bed.

Chamomile. The chamomile got transplanted to the area next to the garden entry; the west. I started it under the golden roma tomato plant so it would be sheltered from the worst heat. It's going to get a lot more sun, now, and I hope it doesn't mind. It's big and established, now, so I wanted to move it so that I could more easily harvest the flowers and it wouldn't crowd the carrots or get caught in the tomato plant.

Beans. Cherry tomatoes. I ripped out the beans because they weren't producing and we weren't eating them anyway. I moved the strawberry runners to where I wanted them. And, now I'll be training the cherry tomato plant to take over the bean trellis. It's producing like crazy, but bugs are splitting the fruit so I have to use my organic pesticide on it.

I don't have enough helpful bugs, which is why I'm going to hoe up the area north of the garden when the runoff goes and make a small in-ground raised bed and grow a bunch of herbs there that hepful critters like ladybugs like.

This is just a note to self: Seeds were started this year on 20 February 2009

Mid July Harvest

I pulled in quite the harvest over the weekend. What you see here is three golden roma tomatoes, two onions, three ears of corn, two heads of Bibb lettuce, nine cherry tomatoes, eight small and nine large rose hips, a sprig of chamomile and a sprig of mint.

It's been very hot these last few days; over 100. I've been watering at night to keep everything from wilting. Should have bought that shade cloth last weekend!

July Progress and First Harvest

Well, the whole place is booming. Yesterday I harvested the one fennel that survived the earwig attack in March. It will be a salad tonight. This morning I harvested three lettuces, six golden roma tomatoes, and a bunch of basil leaves that I will dry and store in jars. I've been out for ages! Obviously, we're having salad for dinner tonight.

I've had to seriously trim back the tomato plants (the golden roma in the west and the cherry tomato in the north) as they were getting out of control. I ended up trellising both of them and tying them up and positioning the vines so that the fruit is off the ground and not all tangled up in itself.

These are white beans. When I started them, I thought they were long green beans. D'oh! I pulled one off the other day because it looked strange for a green bean and found several small white beans inside. Oh, well. I guess I should read the package instead of looking at the pretty pictures!

The corn stands a couple of feet over the garden's top rails, now. It started to tassel at the end of June. I think next year I'm going to plant most of the corn on the north side of the planter. The ones growing there seem to be doing the best. I started two new corn plants three weeks ago to see how they would fare through fall.

Finally, I have carrots. They're doing well in the south and west. The ones I planted in the east never came up. Lack of sun, I think. The strawberries haven't grown much. They're tucked away out of the heat next to the green onions and under the beans. They have a few years to develop, so we'll see.

The lettuces on the east side and the one in the west all bolted. I've had to harvest two and cut the rest back. The ones in the south, which get afternoon shade because they're right next to the planter wall, are doing fine and growing fast.

The bok choi is not doing that well and neither are the peas. The bok choi keep dying; I only have about 6 plants left. I think the earwigs were getting to it. I don't know what's wrong with the peas. They're planted in the south. I had to pull one out because it just wasn't thriving. the other has a couple of pods on it, but it's not growing and it doesn't seem to like the trellis. I may try a different location next year.

Seed Starter: I have broccoli started in the seed starter. I have some that are going to be 3 weeks old this weekend and ready to transplant. I have more that I started just a few days ago. That will be one of the winter crops.

Containers. The oregano I've had for a few years flowered when I wasn't looking. The bees love it. So, I trimmed off half the flowers so I can still use the herb, and the other half I left for the bees. It's good to see bees around. I planted yarrow for the first time. It's flowering like crazy. It's beautiful; I love it! I just bought a jojoba plant that I'm going to put in the runoff location outside the garden perimeter. I also got a Thai ginger plant. I love to use ginger medicinally for upset stomach; it works great for me. Not sure if I'm going to keep it in a container so I can control the amount of sun it gets or whether I'll put it in the garden.