Speaking of more changes...

We're buying a house and moving!! So much for the garden I've worked so hard for. I ended up planting some seeds in containers, buying some started herbs and summer squash, and trying to do a quickie garden that will be ready to harvest by mid June. We won't have time for longer growing crops like peppers, watermelons, and tomatoes, so I am just doing 3 types of squash, bush beans, and a cucumber. It's still something. I figure I can move the containers with plants fairly easily and harvest as many squash as possible before we move.

I am really liking the old kids water table planted full of leaf lettuce. The lettuce is really coming along, I'm happy with it. My radishes are basically done, there are a few stragglers trying to still grow, but it's really getting too warm for them now.

I"m still planning on gardening at my new house, even though the yard is smaller. It may not be much a summer garden this year, but hopefully we can do some fall and winter gardening with peas, radishes, and lettuce and the like.

Exciting changes!

I've been working hard to create some raised beds for our garden area. There has also been a ton of weeding to do and a lot of soil amending as well. Will has used some 4x6's to make the edges for the beds. They were left over from the illegal addition built on to the house that we took down.

My bulbs are up out in front and are looking good! Note to self...plant more muscari this fall. I just didn't have enough of it. I love it so!

The easter egg radishes are getting close to harvest date, but still aren't round enough. They should be done by now. I'm not sure what is going on with that, but the leaves are big and healthy so I think they are ok, just growing slowly. I also started some baby lettuce in the other half of the water table. That was put in on March 9.

On March 11, I planted chocolate mint and peppermint in the front bed behind the roses (and currently, tulips). I want a ground cover that will flourish there and I wouldn't mind having some mint to add to my food and drinks, either.

The picture is of our rough garden area, with compost bin and 4 beds (so far).

Our compost seems to be cooking along too, can't wait for some chicken poo to add to it to make even better compost.

Radishes are up!

That's right, the radishes are up and have been since Thursday. I am planting a new set today. The kids are excited.

Welcome to my garden blog!

I'll keep track of the goings on in my new garden here. It's mostly for my reference, but maybe someone else out there can learn from my mistakes or good fortune.

I bought my second garden book, the Burpee Complete Vegetable and Herb Gardener. Man, that book has EVERYTHING. Totally worth it. I have been following it closely. I bought my soil pH kit and found that (surprise, surprise) our soil was a tad too alkaline. I was not surprised to find out we have heavy clay soil. That is just what we had in Marysville, CA and it was a pain to deal with their too. I have worked with the dirt in this yard enough to know that I should probably buy a potter's wheel and get busy. Ha. We have started composting and have had a wintering crop of clover which should help build up the organic material in the yard. There used to be a hot tub where we are building our garden and the previous owners were not very into GREEN things, shall I say. They paved over most of the yard for an RV.

My husband has decided he wants to have a few chickens here at our place, and as I embark on this gardening adventure, I am finding this could be a good thing. I am eager to get some of the chicken manure in the ground as it's supposed to help amend alkaline soil. How weird is it that I am looking forward to having chicken poop in my yard??? We won't be having any roosters, but 2 or 3 hens for eggs and to be outdoor pets.

Today we planted some radish seeds, Easter Egg II. We used the old kids water table (drainage plug open, of course) and a container. We next plan to grow carrots in there. I'm using some good soil there instead of our clay crap.

I have planned for and have seeds for: bush beans, cucumber, zucchini, round baby Romeo carrots, Sugar Baby watermelon, and a variety of flowers suitable for cut flowers, just for fun. My oldest loves flowers and I loved growing them in our garden when I was a kid. I may also buy pumpkin seeds if I have space and the inclination to grow something else. I don't want to do too much this year and burn myself out.

That's the news from the Contra Costa garden!