Push n' Pull-em 4th of July Parade

The Push n' Pull-em Parade in downtown Ventura is open to all who wish to be in it; kids and parents decorate their vehicle of choice (strollers, wagons, bikes, scooters) in a patriotic theme and throw candy to the parade-viewers.

This year Aaron decided to watch the parade instead of walk in it. We had a lot of fun and got a ton of candy but Aaron says he wants to go back to being in the parade next year.

In the garden - end of June update

Our first plot is going strong - it's too crowded really. Some of the crowding we will have to live with, it's too late to move most items, but for others I am doing my best to make it work and move around what I can.

We've rented a second plot and have slowly begun setting it up, framing beds, etc. Today we made really great progress and I was able to move over two globe artichokes that were literally choking one of the beds in my first plot. Here's hoping they survive the transplant! You can see them below (before I moved them), squeezed between the corn and some beans and tomato plants.


Aaron's teepee from the first plot is growing really well and should be at the very top in a couple more weeks. In the pic above you can just see his head to the right of it's entrance, and here he is playing in front of it:


We harvested the almost-last of our first batch of lettuces today: red romaine, buttercrunch, and salad bowl. I do have two buttercrunch heads still in the ground that should last another week before I will have to pull them out. I've also transplanted seedlings of a lettuce variety called black-seeded simpson. It's supposed to handle the summer heat well, so we shall see.

Also harvested this weekend was the first of the bush beans/green beans. We will have them for dinner tommorrow. I also got, literally, a handful of soybeans this weekend. I think I would need a lot more plants to really get a soybean crop (I have 4). They were a yummy snack.


We have been harvesting carrots here and there. I really understand about soil condition now with carrots, how loose and small the particles need to be to get a good formation on your carrot. You can see from the pic that some of mine are a little wonky in shape! The last of the radishes were a harvested a few weeks ago. No one is eating them but myself so I don't think I will bother growing them again. They were a pretty variety though, Easter Egg!


I also harvested literally dozens of small maui sweet onions a week ago. I didn't understand about thinning out the sets from the nursery so they were all growing too close together and when I did try to thin them out it was too late and the tops died. So I pulled them out, dried them in the sun for several days and bagged them up to give away at work (keeping the biggest ones for ourselves). There are still about a dozen in the ground that have not died so I am hopeful those will be bigger.


Something is eating my broccoli . It's been doing so for some time but I didn't care because it was all just leaves, but now it finally has flower heads and its disappointing to see them get munched too. One of my fellow gardeners recommended next time I grow it under one of my cages so I will try that. I've also read about netting the flower heads. So we'll see if I get any harvest at all this time round and if not I will have to try something different next time. Meanwhile, all the tomato plants have tomatoes forming. This one below is the furthest along, a red pear. As for my flowers, all are doing well, and I have been able to cut roses once or twice now.


My eggplant has flowers but no fruit, it seems to be suffering from its placement right next to the broccoli. But my Anaheim chile has several chiles growing. And the corn is doing well .


That's all for now!

Wise Thoughts From a Bear

"You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to
come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."

-- Winnie the Pooh

Beach fun

Aaron had a great time today at the beach - beautiful weather. He and Michael were 'chasing' the waves...and being chased.

Our garden is flourishing

This Memorial Day weekend we trekked out to the garden to lay down some more mulch on the paths and check on its progress. It's doing really well. We now have 4 cages Michael built to protect swaths of plants from squirrels and gophers, and they work great. We have some caterpillars on the broccoli, and the birds like the strawberries, but that's about it in terms of pests.

I finally got to meet Judy...the master gardener who has 3 plots next to ours and of whom I have heard so much about from the other gardeners (I had specially chosen the plot I did because I liked the looks of hers). She did not disappoint; she was very friendly and helpful. She answered a bunch of my questions yesterday and gave me one of her extra seed catalogs and some leeks from her garden. I made a soup with the leeks but the recipe I used was too watery. I will have to try again when my own leeks are ready.

We've been harvesting lettuce on a regular basis, so lots of salads at our house, and Aaron does eat them! We did spot a ripening red pear tomato yesterday, so hopefully we will be able to add tomatoes to the harvest soon. I am still hoping to do a "summer bounty" dinner later this summer with the bulk of the food coming from our garden.

We have decided to rent the plot next to us as well. We just don't have enough room to do all we want to do (pumpkins, vine tomatoes, etc.) It may take us a while to break ground - but we figure we better get the plot ASAP before someone else does, as we are otherwise surrounded...

Here are some recent pics from yesterday. First, the usual angle...(if you want to compare it to last month's picture from the same angle, click here: Garden Update - into the home stretch! )

Now from the opposite corner....you can see the plot we want to rent in the upper left corner with a tarp on it (and lots of weeds in the path)...

And a close-up on one of the flower beds...

Here is a close-up on one of the veggie beds; this one is actually a couple of weeks old, but it shows one of the wonderful cages Michael built:

Aaron will start kindergarten in the fall

Today we received a phone call from the Ventura Charter School of Arts & Global Education (SAGE). Via their lottery, Aaron got one of the 30 kindergarten slots. So we have decided he will start kindergarten in the fall.

Here is a link to their website.

Guy's Night Out

Cheers!