Exploring Tide Pools

Seaworld

Tickets are purchased and now we're just waiting for the park to open.
The Marcus family should be here any minute.

Aaron Loves Hotels

We're in San Diego and Aaron is thrilled to be in a hotel. Honestly, I
think it's the highlight of every vacation for him. Tomorrow is
Seaworld with his friends Jacob and Ben. We're keeping our fingers
crossed that he'll conk out soon. But does that look like the face of
a little boy ready to sleep?

Vacation Destination... San Diego!

Other than a couple garden updates by Bridget, our blog has been pretty slow over the last month. Fear not! I have a bunch of photos and video updates that I'll be adding soon.

But first... its time for a vacation! We're staying close to home this year and heading down to San Diego for a week of fun. Plus, our trip overlaps with the Marcus family vacation so we'll be strategically overlapping to maximize the fun!

Lots of prep work to do before we leave so I'd better get to it. I'll be posting throughout the week so check back if you'd like to see what we're up to.

Made a lot of progress on Plot #2 today

Last Thursday Michael placed my last box in plot #2 so that I could spend a lot of time this weekend getting caught up with planting since the last two weekends were kind of a wash what with colds and heat waves. I did make a lot of progress, everything is in the ground except the flowers I am planning for the central spot (where a bird bath will go), and whatever we end up doing in Aaron's playhouse corner, which will also be flowers (plus one aloe vera plant that is a gift from a fellow gardener).

I planted today in Plot 2: 3 pumpkin seedlings, 3 tomato vines, 6 pole beans, 1 watermelon, a new eggplant (because I moved my existing one and am not sure it will make it), a new long-variety Anaheim chile (because the chiles I am getting from my current one are too small for chile rellenos which is what I wanted them for), and some Walla Walla onions. I also transplanted all of my leeks, piling dirt higher on them in order to blanch the stalks. Then I moved a bunch of marigolds from Plot 1 to Plot 2.

Back in Plot 1 I planted more soybeans. Now that my first 4 soybean plants have produced, I saw that I need a lot more plants in order to get any real harvest, and they had them at the nursery today so I planted 12 more plants.

I also planted some lettuce from the nursery (Rainbow Crisp, although I also have my own transplants in the beds going strong (Simpson), and some more red romaine and buttercrunch have been started at home and will be ready to transplant in a couple of weeks. I need to sow some more carrots, and just a few radishes. I will probably get to that tomorrow.

Here's a long-view of both plots. From the center bottom of the picture going counter-clockwise: artichoke (and strawberry bed); eggplants, onion, pole-beans and watermelon bed; chiles, leeks, tomato bed (cherry, box-car willie, and beefmaster varieties); and then the lone little pumpkin seedlings. Some of Aaron's toys, the aloe vera, and and my trash can are in the center spot, and the bottom left is where the playhouse area will be.



In the near center of the picture, above the proposed bird bath circle and in-between Plot 1 and 2, I plan on having a chair and a teeny table on which I could set my lunch or just take a break. Eventually, I picture an arbor there with a climbing rose or other climbing flower.

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!