ASSASSINS!!

I've been noticing chunks and chews being taken throughout the garden and now I know why. They are called Tomato Hornworms, but they are actually caterpillars, go figure.

I found a website telling me as an organic gardener I should put in companion plants that would attract a certain type of miniature parasitic wasp. (Click on that, it's pretty awesome.) I'm not sure if there's room for anymore plants, so I'm just going to put a 25¢ bounty on each of them and let Julie Stone's kids make a little extra cash.

Potatoes fulfill their destiny.

And their destiny was delicious. On Friday I dug up and passed out most of the potatoes for people  to enjoy. Not sure what everybody else did with theirs, but mine were damn tasty.

These will not be my last crop of potatoes that's for sure.

This is what 32 Southern California days will get you

We're 32 days into the summer planting effort and it's pretty fair to say things are exploding. I went out of town for a week ( thanks for the coverage Shannon) and came back to a lot of green stuff. It shouldn't be long before there's a lot of red, yellow, and orange stuff to go with it. Stay tuned.

Looks like there's gonna be jack-o-lanterns for the whole office.

The beans are going bonkers. I might should have put in a taller trellis.

The potato confusion is now behind us. You're welcome.

For those of you who have been holding your breath wondering when I should pull the potatoes, you are now free to exhale. I'm going with the wait-for-the-stalk-to-die method over the wait-for-the-flower-to-die route.

This is a potato from a stalk that has dead flowers yet still green. The color looks good and all, but it's pretty dinky compared to...

...a potato from the dead stalk. It's definitely bigger and more ready to be smothered in butter.

I love the smell of fresh mulch in the morning.

As much as I love the garden, I can understand why it hasn't been as inviting to others as it could be. It's on a slope, it's a bit out of the way, and it can get pretty muddy.

Well now there's one less excuse for not taking a visit. As of yesterday there's a fresh layer of shredded bark to help keep your fancy work shoes looking spiffy. So have at it people, a few moments in the garden can do wonders for a heavy head.

That was fun. Let's do it again.

It's that time (actually it's past that time)! Out with the winter/spring, in with summer/fall. Other than a couple of late blooming Integro cabbages, everything has been pulled out and given away. And hopefully eaten, btw.

So, what's for summer? Let's take a look at the planning wall shall we.

For summer the plan is to share. So I have a lot of sharable things: more carrots and radishes, squash, two types of cucumbers, pole beans. And lots and lots and lots of tomatoes. 6 varieties and 14 plants to be exact. See below for the actual planting map. You can tell it's real by all the dirt.

Funny thing about the tomatoes. I started one set at home several weeks ago and they moved very slowly. Image above contains said tomatoes.

Another set I started more recently in a little greenhouse kit and they exploded over a long weekend. Height-wise they were right there with the first group in no time, but not nearly as girthful. (Is that a word? Should be.)

Regardless, I put them both in the ground and have high hopes for big juicy tomatoes in 70 - 80 days.

Carrots out the wazoo

Today is 91 days in and the carrots look pretty good. In fact I think I'll take another shot at it - very few of them got a big as I expected and I think I can do better.

But they are tasty.

Who knows potatoes?

Seeing as how potatoes do most of their business underground I'm having a tough time deciding when to pull them up. I looked for answers on the Google, but I got conflicting reports. A few sources say to wait until the green tops die off before digging them up. And just as many sources tell me to wait until the flowers die, cut off the tops, and then wait 7 days before digging.

I guess I could try a little of both. But I hate to waste even one precious, delicious spud.

Any thoughts from my millions of followers?

Who you calling tiny?

 Looks like I may have to retire the name "World's Tiniest Farmer's Market" soon. The garden is producing at an impressive rate. There were a lot of comments like, "You grew this?" Which is a compliment, right?

The word was getting out pretty quickly so the 1st floorers jumped in before the 2d floorers could respond. Looks like Griffin recognizes the Oscarde Lettuce she put in.

There should be a couple more rounds of Farmer's Markets before the season is complete. The next one should include carrots and the final installment should provide tons of potatoes.

Garden 2.0

We're 71 days in with about another 30 or so to go, but I'm already thinking about what's next. I haven't made a full plan but I know it will include tomatoes. More specifically these tomatoes. I have high hopes for these. Last year's crop did not go so well. (They were not Seeds of Change tomatoes btw.) I think it just didn't get hot enough last year to really explode like the ones the year before.

 I started these at my house last week and I'm planing to put them out in about a month when they are nice and strong.

Any thoughts on what I should put in next? Besides tomatoes of course.