Sprouts

Sprouts still moving along, still mostly about a foot high in general. At this point, it looks like they wont be gracing my christmas table. The Cos Lettuce is likewise not really bulking up that much, so I'll probably start harvesting mid-sized lettuces. I guess with Cos, one is enough for a meal anyway.
The French Breakfast radishes grew thick enough, but still without lenghtening. I'm not sure what it takes to grow longer roots, but clearly planting in a bucket of compost isnt enough.
The Parsley is looking good, already big enough for a leaf here and there. This really makes a good winter crop; its a great green for soups. Last year I often ate ramen noodles with a few parsley leaves thrown in as vegetable.
The beets are still at the 2-leaf stage, but the white turnips are starting to look like radishes, at least in terms of the tops.
The Swiss Chard got knocked by that leaf miner again, but the new leaves look clean so far. I'm hoping the cold weather keeps all these pests down. Similarly, the aphids on the Brussels Sprouts and the caterpillars on the Kale and Sprouts are appearing more infrequently.
The Kale at this point is about a foot high, and I have been doing some very light harvesting of lower leaves. Its looking like Kale is a successful crop here to add to my list. Finally, the Fava Beans are pretty large plants now, most are a foot high or more. I'll continue to plant more to find out whether planting them earlier helps their crop or not.

Gulf Fritillary

Unfortunately no photo from me for this (the above is from Wikipedia, but was taken in Berkeley), but I spotted a Gulf Fritillary today. Not something I have seen before, and the Bay Area is on the edge of its range.

From Wikipedia:
The Gulf Fritillary is commonly seen in parks and gardens, as well as in open country. Its range extends from Argentina through Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean to the southern United States, as far north as the San Francisco Bay Area on the west coast. It is occasionally found farther north in the US.

Shogoin Turnip

Tried some Shogoin Turnips today, planted seeds in a bucket left over from the Tomatoes topped up with fresh commercial compost. Lets see how they do over the winter. They are supposed to mature in 45 days, which would be mid-december, but I'm not holding my breath. This is going to be a small crop - even at 2-inch spacing, a bucket wont hold much - but it should be a test of how these things grow at this time of year.

Speaking of which, over the past few days, we have dropped down to cooler temperatures again, from the low 80's to the mid 70's during the day, and cold enough at nights to close all the windows and put a jumper on. Its also been getting darker; I'm switching the lights on inside about 6 pm now, summer time.

I notice the first sowing of Fava Beans has had pretty much 100% germination between the Kale plants, and are now about 3 inches high. The Kale itself is about 6 inches with about 6 medium-sized leaves on each plant - nowhere near harvesting yet, but well-established young plants.

I have noticed a plant disappearing here and there, a Kale or a Lettuce, so I reluctantly hauled out the old metaldehyde. I dont like using poisons, but slugs destroy plants - they dont just nibble. My entire sowing of a lettuce mix by the grape vine, about 12 square feet, has nothing now, just some Nigella, a garlic sprout here or there, and one or two adventurous weeds. Like the sowing of Lettuce, Radish and Carrot where the Leeks are now, I suspect that baby slugs just took out one seedling after another. I have no problem growing from seed in pots, but nothing survives at that stage in the ground. You see a few germinating seeds, then POW! Nothing left. So chemicals it is.

The Cos Lettuce continue to do well, so last week I sowed another few in small pots to replace these ones when the are harvested. Finally, I noticed some bumps appearing in the joints of one of the brussels sprouts, so it looks like these are going to start developing over the next few weeks. The plants are still 6 inches to a foot high, depending on the sowing, but there is a noticeable thickening of the stems to about thumb size.

October plantings

The Brussels Sprouts are doing quite well now, actually looking like plants, rather than seedlings or plantlets. It has been now since seeding (mid-July), and the stems are starting to thicken a little and lengthen. The weather is quite good, being not too hot, no too cold (70-80°F), and a little light rain here and there (nothing much, so I have to water, but it has evenly dampened the previously baked soil). I'm quite happy that a decent amount of growth has taken place by now, before the cold weather starts.

The leeks were finally put in about a week ago, and are starting to put on some growth. It's about time, because like last year, they have done almost nothing until now. Its as if they wait for replanting to get going, whether thats from soil (last year) or a pot (like this year). Maybe next year I will try seeding earlier in a bucket. In the picture, you can also see some of the Parris Island Cos; that, along with the Kale and Swiss Chard from the same sowing (early September), has all now been planted out, and is looking established, although still small. The space for the leeks was that ealier used for lettuce/carrots/radishes, none of which really did much more than throw up 2 or 3 seedlings.

The Kale you see here was sown earlier, pricked out into small pots, and has finally been planted out. I have planted some Fava Bean seeds and peas among the Kale, with the idea that these can provide nitrogen to the Kale, and take over in early spring when the Kale has all been harvested. I think the Favas are supposed to have deep roots, so they may not interfere with each other that much. Another experiment.

Winter Tomatoes

I cant say I'm optimistic, but seeing something labelled "Winter Tomatoes" at our local garden center sparked my curiosity enough to buy it. Apparently these varieties (the one I bought is "Siberian") set fruit down to about 40°F - that's a couple of degrees above freezing in Centigrade - but I can only imagine that the taste will be dreadful. Still, they are also bred to fruit rapidly, so maybe they will develop before things get really dark. If they are successful, I should be able to extend the tomato season by a couple of months either side, we shall see.
The main tomato crop is still coming in, but the fruit, taking far longer to ripen, tend to be soft, mushy and not as good as they were. OK for sauce though. I've also dried a massive jar of dried tomatoes by now, probably equivalent to 20 pounds or more of fresh fruit. So if these "winter tomatoes" dont work out, I'll still be OK for winter lycopene.

Brussels Sprouts woes

On the down side, Nature has thrown nearly all it has against the Brussels Sprouts; the first planting has somewhat lacy leaves, and the second planting has also seen some attacks. First it was the birds pecking the leaves (I put up netting), then I see some slug trails (did I wrongly accuse the birds? I think not because I saw them flying up from there and I know they eat the Sunflowers and Zucchini) and finally there are a few Cabbage White butterflies decorating the underside of the leaves with eggs. I put up some birdscarers, bought some new slug poison (Metaldehyde seems to work best, the one poison I will be using apart from peach leaf spray) and have been brushing off the butterfly eggs and killing the parents by splatting them. Three so far. Sometimes they come in pairs, and I only manage to kill one, so I feel a bit guilty as its partner will be lonesome, but goddammit, keep off my veg!
Or Else.
So far, I havent had club root. Touch wood on this one.

The plants seem to be surviving and developing, so hopefully they will get past these trials soon enough. I have more plantings to follow as soon as the ground opens up.

Fall Plantings

Alas, Summer is drawing to a close. While there are still plenty of tomatoes wandering in, its clear that no new ones are forming. Most (but not all) of the Zucchini have been pulled up, and the space has been used to sow some new seeds (see last post). Of that planting, so far the radishes have emerged, and I think a carrot. But its still early days on that. Today I started some Black Kale, Parris Island Kos Lettuce, and a small amount of "Five color Silverbeet" Swiss Chard and Lovage. Of the Lovage, I only need one or two plants, because its quite strong tasting. Its very useful though in soups and stews, with a very strong celery-leaf flavor. The Chard, like the Carrot, Brussels Sprouts and Kale, should hopefully provide meals through the winter. I'm hoping also for Leek (if they ever get bigger) and perhaps Broad (Fava) Beans. Now that I have saved my own Broad Bean seed, I have plenty to experiment with regarding planting times.



The Insuk's Runner Bean, above, is over now, and the only thing keeping me from tearing it all up is that I'm waiting for a few more seeds to ripen for next year. I have fully replenished my stocks at this point, but given the hardship I had this year in starting plants, the more the merrier. I also want to plant them more thickly next year. While I did get about 10 meals, I'd really like a few more. I'm also hoping that the steadily improving soils will help in yields.

I threw three buckets of home-made compost in the hot dry bed (about 5 feet by 3 feet), and its looking quite good. About 5 buckets went into the radish/lettice/carrot planting, and another 2 into the Brussels Sprouts by the door. More will be going into the ground wherever I prepare for a new crop. I know I said I was trying a no-till system, but I do want to get the fertility and texture of the ground up a bit more first. Then it will be top dressing only, I hope. I do notice a major improvement in soil texture this year, so previous compost additions have been working well.

If anyone in the area is reading this blog, feel free to give suggestions for Fall and Winter plantings.

Fall seeding

Above, I'm sundrying some of the August crop of tomatoes. This year, August appears to have been the glut month for tomatoes, and I have been freezing tomato sauce, sundrying, and giving tomatoes away to anyone who dares come near.
Sun drying seems to work here, but its clear from a failed experiment last week that you need to take all the seeds out and get down to a thin shell (otherwise they grow something that looks like either bacteria or yeast - undoubtedly unhealthful.

Above is what I assume to be "Omar's Lebanese", although I didnt label this one. The closest alternative is "Black Krim", but this plant seemed much more like the one "Omar" that was labeled. On average, the fruit are 1 lb each.

Today I cleanout out the Zucchini from the morning shade bed - they hadnt been doing much for a while anyway. In went a few buckets of homemade compost, and despite my desire not to dig, I lightly spaded it in. The soil had a fairly good crumby texture. The compost dug in last year seems to be doing something useful.
Threw some "Tom Thumb" lettuce, "Kuroda" Carrot and "French Breakfast" radish on, a little old potting soil on top, and watered it all in. I'm not expecting much from the carrots, given past experience, but maybe the improved soil and fall planting will make a difference. Time will tell.

Bought a dehydrator today, lets see if its useful.

Tomatoes; the good news and the bad.

First the good news; all the tomatoes are coming in now strongly, and picking 2 or 3 pounds isn't a rare event. Here is the Japanese Black Trifele, which has produced about 5 pounds so far, with obviously more to come (note the peach tree behind, about to get ripe anytime soon).


This is a Black Krim in a bucket (I have several plants of this), showing just how heavy the crop can get. Most of these I expect to ripen any day now, and they just keep on going. Ten pounds harvested so far, mostly from 2 plants (the rest were planted later, and in less ideal spots as the ground filled up fast). There is probably at least twice that waiting in the wings, already filled out.


Here is my forest of topsy-turvey planters, showing advantages and disadvantages. First, the one near the front, stitched up with insulating tape, is pretty much on its last legs. Two seasons and thats it. Not exactly the durable UV-resistant material promised on the box. The advantages are that these consistently crop well and are easy to manage - no staking, no crawling into festering jungles to pick. Despite nearly falling apart, this planter with a Red Brandywine has managed 6.5 pounds so far, with more on the way. Thats $20 in the shops folks! Despite all the talk about Brandywines, I haven't yet found a red one that really stands out in taste. The yellows, however, are delicious. Still, the reds are decent enough and give a nice thick, meaty slice.


So here is my main non-hanging tomato paradise - containers sitting on what passes for a lawn in our garden. I'm discouraged from ripping it up and turning it into a vegetable plot, but having plants in buckets soak up the sunshine isnt a problem. I think this is the way to go for now, and every year I plan to expand my bucket collection. The expense is the problem; first, the buckets at about $4 each, then the compost to fill them. Of course, the compost can be re-used and supplemented with home-made. Generally, I fill the buckets half full with my own stuff, then fill up with stuff out of a bag. This too should get cheaper with time, because I plan to throw these in the soil when finished, together with more of mine, and then refill the buckets with the mix for the winter season. And so on. I'll probably keep topping off with commercial stuff because it has wonderful goop in it like bat guano (yum!), but that should get proportionately less every time (depending on how many new buckets I start).



Finally the bad news; here is Hornworm number THREE. These are really difficult to spot. In fact, the damage is what brings them to your attention. They strip branch ends and even attack the tomatoes themselves. Fortunately, once spotted, they arent hard to deal with; squish or otherwise remove as you wish. They get to be the size of your thumb.

Brussels Sprouts planted out

I'm trying to manage the transition between summer and the cool season better this year, so about a month back I sowed some Brussels Sprouts seeds and later pricked them out into pots. So now came the hard part, ripping up crops that are still bearing to make way for something that isnt (yet). Fortunately, the french beans made it easy. They have been pretty much a disaster since the get go, and each plant has produced no more than about 5-10 beans each.



I need to work on why that was (there are several possibilities), but rather than have them take another month to produce one more meal, out they went.



Now there are 16 Brussels Sprouts enjoying the spot, hopefully to do a little better. One of the problems that may have caused poor bean growth is of course that this area only gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight a day, but hopefully, as Brussels Sprouts are a cool season crop, they wont mind too much. The shade will disappear in November when the leaves fall. I still have more plants to deal with, but there are more beans in other spots not doing much :)

The Zucchini have slowed down greatly, and as I used the last of the seed this year, I left one or two to go to seed. They dont appear to be an F1, so the seed should work. Overall, I suspect the slowness of the Zucchini this year is their rotation into the semi-shade beds, but to be fair, I wasn't short of them this year; I gave away two thirds of the crop. I'm beginning to notice some mildew spots appearing, and thats usually the sign of the season nearing an end. Maybe next year I'll try one in a bucket to see how well it does.

The Leeks are still too wispy to think of planting out, but there is plenty of time yet.

Tomato Harvest

Its late July, and finally the tomatoes are coming in in a reliable manner. Serves me right for being tardy in sowing/planting them. Above are the Black Krim that I sowed from seed saved from last year's harvest. Below are some Green Zebra, also from home seed.

Today, I harvested 3.5 pounds of Yellow Brandywine, Green Grape, Druzba (large, but somewhat commercial tomatoes), Black Krim, Mr Stripey, Black from Tula and Green Zebra. In terms of quantity, the Brandywines and the Black from Tula are dissapointing so far, but the Red Brandywine is holding many large green fruit. The Green Zebra were the earliest, with Mr. Stripey, and the Black Krim are just really bearing crops now, a little later, but heavier. Its a little unfair to compare cropping times, however, as the Zebra and Stripey were my first plantings, together with the Red Brandywine.
I'd say that on balance, the Zebra, Krims and Yellow Brandywine of the second sowing are coming in together. Tastewise, I made good decisions. However, I'm not sure Black from Tula will be on my list next year. Druzba is likewise not at the top for taste, but it does have nice, large fruit, and by the looks of it, lots to come.
Japanese Black Trifele had only one fruit so far, but it looks like a good crop is forthcoming.
All the Cherry Tomatoes that I sowed late, are still to ripen, but are looking good at this stage. More anon.
Last years Topsy-Turvey is falling apart at this stage, so I dont think I'll be buying any more. $10 is too much to pay for one year's use, although I did buy two more on sale at half price. The idea is good, and they shade the patio nicely, but something sturdier and cheaper is needed. I'm thinking of painting buckets next year and hanging those. Something else worth trying is planting them upright, and letting the bushes fall over the edge, definitely for the Cherry Tomatoes, which dangle more easily.

Summer is starting

Its finally getting hot, and our friends need water. Here is a swallowtail taking advantage of a few splashes. I must remember to splash a little more.

Everything is finally taking off; I'm doing my final harvests on the Fava beans at the moment, both for the table on my second sowing, and for seed on the first sowing. At about 7c per seed, it wasn't really financially viable to keep buying these. But if I can keep some of my crop every year to use as seed for the following year, things should work out. When saving seed, its important to wait until the pod is black and dry (or mostly dry). Next year, if I remember, I'll mix some peas in with the sowing with the idea that the pea tendrils might hold the beans together as a block and prevent them from the odd one flopping around.

The Bush Beans and Runner Beans are starting to come into production, so far it looks like there are no pollination problems, and a bumblebee has found the Runner Bean flowers. However, its been relatively cool up till now, so thats no predictor of summer success. Hopefully the Insuk will live up to its promise and do well in the hot weather as well. Otherwise, I'll have a pretty windowshade, but not much else. Fingers crossed.
Harvesting some lettuce here and there; the small butter lettuce (Tom Thumb) grows and tastes well enough, but it seems to trap a lot of compost/slugs in its leaves and cleaning it is a bit more trouble than other lettuces. I have some "Red Sails" coming in soon with bigger leaves, but after that, its probably the end of lettuce for the season.
The tomatoes are all doing fabulously. Some look stressed (notably "Mr. Stripey", which is very dark with curly leaves), but all are throwing out tomatoes and growing healthily so far. I should be getting the first ones on the table soon, maybe a week or two. I tried one of the "Green Grape" cherries last week, but it was still obviously underripe. Hard to tell on these, hopefully, like "Green Zebra", they'll become apparent when they actually ripen. "Green Zebra"has a nice yellow background to the green stripes when ripe.
The Zucchini are finally into harvest season; I have been taking and cooking 2-inch stubs recently, because they werent growing fast and the plants were just throwing these out 2 and 3 at a time, none of them getting anywhere fast. But now they are settling down and beginning to produce 6-inch ones that expand as normal (Day 1: pollinate, Day 2: to 4 inches, Day 3: harvest at 6 inches in the morning).
Last night I planted out the bean plants in pots, as the roots were bunching up at the bottom of the posts and the first real leaves were unfurling. Hopefully most of the slugs have packed up for the summer. The beans all had problems germinating, but I think I have it worked out; after a couple of hot days I got a flush of new seedlings, so I think they really need heat - say, 65-70 degrees - to germinate. Next year I think I should wait until we have warm weather before sowing. Warm as in impossible-to-stay-out-too-long warm. The garden is finally looking full, now my only question is where the heck do I put my multicolored cherry tomatoes? I sowed them later on a whim, they're planting size now, but not much space available. Under the Runner Beans so they too can climb the wires? Among the roses? Should I harvest the last of the Favas and use that space for 4 of them?

Decisions, decisions...


Going through my phone, I came across this picture of the leek bed in winter. I guess its a reminder to sow leeks for next winter.

Zucchini harvest

Some miserable ones trickling in this week; looked like they were going gangbusters a week ago, strangely with female flowers more abundant than males, but then we got cold cloudy weather. The Zucchini at that point just sat back and didnt grow much. Hopefully we'll warm up soon and get going.
The beans came crowding through 2-3 days ago, again before sitting back on their heels. They have been beset with germination/growing difficulties, all of them, bush and pole, so maybe that a warmth thing too.
Still, some favas and lettuce have been gracing the table, along with a pea puree made from a handful of plants I ripped out to make way for patty pan squash yesterday.

Bee plants, Runner Beans

Soaked a handful of Runner Beans last night (Jim Wright's Insuks), and placed on the soil today under the window. Same principle as last year: Provide summer shade (as well as enriching soil, providing beans, color, etc.).
Some more young zucchini seedlings planted out too, in the shade bed (they really had to be planted out).
2 of the 5 gallon buckets planted with the young tomato seedlings, one tub with Green Zebra, another with Yellow Brandywine. I'll be moving these under the Topsy-Turvy pots so that when I water them, the ones underneath catch the drips/fertilizer.
The sage is looking fantastic at the moment, and is attracting a few bees. I think its important that we plant as many bee-friendly plants as possible. Next to the sage you can see some blue-flowered borage, which the bees also love (although they appear to be giving it a miss at the moment).

In the front garden, in what used to be essentially waste land, as its far from a hosepipe, I have planted a mix of native flowers with some drought-resistant non-natives. Here you can see predominantly Blue-eyed Grass and California Poppy, but behind there is a red Geranium under a White Sage. The White Sage is a desert plant, not native to the Bay Area, but is very drought-tolerant and has nice spikes of flowers that the bumblebees love. I'll be putting some more of this out next winter, hopefully, along with some more bright-colored Geraniums to show up against their silver leaves. There are other plants you cant see in the picture, wildflower seed from the packet, but also 2 kinds of onions now coming into flower, and some nice tulips that have just finished flowering. Altogether its been great for a month or more now, and promises to continue at least for another month.

Spring madness

So much going on at the moment. First, all those seedlings had to be planted out

On the left are heirlooms saved from last years seed - pretty much 100% germination. They are now on about the second pair of true leaves, and potted 3 days ago. The spindly looking things are summer savory, which have now been planted out looking more healthy.
I've been putting out bush bean seeds and lettuce plantlets all over, and the zucchini finally went in.
The good news is that it finally looks like a good broad (fava) bean crop is on the way, despite all my worries. I've seen some bumblebee activity of late:

On most plants I can already see 3-4 rows of 2-3 beans, so they clearly were getting pollinated earlier, just took some time to turn into beans (see top picture).
Some of the Insuk runner beans are starting to take off, others have been succumbing to something (slugs?). Time to throw out a few fistfuls of seed, methinks.

Against the fence, some burgundy and "pencil pod black wax" (yellow) bush beans are popping up, and today I sowed a full packet of about 40 "Greencrop garden beans", all from Lake Valley seeds. Hopefully Bush beans will succeed where the pole beans failed in the heat last year and the year before.

Looking at my peas and favas this year, I had an idea - Favas tend to flop over a little, especially in the rain, but if I were to plant a few peas in their midst, the tendrils might reinforce the fava block a little. The favas dont need support, as a block, but one or two fall out. The peas might solve that. Next year, if I get the favas in early enough, say the start of November, then plant peas in say, January, then I might get both crops out, having fertilized the ground, by, say, Mid-April.

The sowing season; first bush beans sown

Things are moving fast at the moment; seedlings are popping up all over the place; all their heirlooms sown a week or so ago are showing, pretty much close to a 100% germination rate. Everything else in the same tray - white sage, cilantro, summer savory - are also looking strong, except the later sowing of zucchini, which havent shown yet. Yesterday, Mar 16, I sowed 6 pots of Bush Beans "top crop", and from now on, I hope to sow more beans every week or so. Today I'm pre-soaking some "Insuk's Wang Kong" (or, as I fondly call it, "Insuk's Giant Wang"). These are supposedly heat-resistant runner beans, something extremely important here in Almaden Valley. This is just the first wave - I picked out six of the blackest seeds to sow, and will harvest some of these as seed for next year. I'll also keep some of the pinkest ones together and save the pinkest seed from them. No particular reason other than tinkering with evolution.

Everything else is doing well now, the first pea sowing in the allium bed is showing plenty of flowers given the few plants that survived the ?slugs? and even a pod. The first Fava sowing is showing nice flowers now (about a foot high), and the second sowing is several inches high.

I am taking apart the winter compost heap at the moment - everything is unrecognizably black, but its still a little clumpy - and spreading it over the bed by the fence. The worms and rain should take it in, and it will protect the soil somewhat. I'm attempting to convert to no-till, but I'm not convinced on that yet. I'm not a purist though, I'm still digging in some stuff like chicken bones (from stock) to provide phosphates and calcium while avoiding rats etc. Overall, my goal is to make this ground the richest, blackest, most friable topsoil you ever saw, at the same time saving a load of rubbish from the county waste pickup system. I firmly believe that there is a massive crunch coming in terms of civilization, largely tied to the end of peak oil, and that we need to start thinking as locally as possible. Disposing our garbage as close as possible, and harvesting our food as close as possible. Of course, presently there are limits to what is acceptable in the urban environment, so I'm mainly limiting myself to composting grass clipping, street leaves and vegetable trimmings. But the day will come when we no longer discard our own manure and foul up some faraway place with it. Instead, it will be growing massive amounts of great food. I also foresee backyards with chickens and rabbits providing protein and wonderful eggs. Some people in San Francisco are even raising mealworms for human consumption. Like I say, there are limits.

Summer Winds is selling nice square wood planting fixtures, about 5-foot by 5-foot by one foot high that you can fill with soil/compost/etc. for raised beds. They look good, but at $60? $80? (I can't remember) they ain't cheap. The design is simple though, maybe worth building something with wood from Home Depot? The main advantage I suppose is that you dont have to dig - just stick it on the soil and fill.

Sowings, plantings

Last weekend, I sowed (indoors) 3 types of saved tomato seeds from last year; Black Krim, Green Zebra and Yellow potato-leaf brandywine. Also some white sage (also home-saved), Cilantro (I now have three sowings of Cilantro coming up) and Summer Savory. I have never grown summer Savory before, so this will be interesting.
All seeds are now sprouting; the sage and savory were up after about 5 days, and the others are barely poking through today.

Yesterday I bought some tomatoes at the garden center, as I got the sudden feeling that I might be getting behind (I had gone to buy some bush bean seeds). I also found topsy turvy planters in Rite-aid, and bought three given how successful this had been last year (double the crop of a soil-grown twin, easier to pick, and no staking required).

The tomatoes, (planted today from strong small plants) are potato-leaved red brandywine, Black from Tula (Indet.) and potato-leaved yellow brandywine (I really loved this last year, although the tomatoes were few and far between; the fruit were huge and the flavor magnificent).
I'll be picking up some more soon enough. Possibly even a green-zebra, despite my having germinating seed. Next year, I really should sow my tomatoes indoors and early - maybe mid-Jan?

First flowers this week on sugar snap peas (first sowing) and Broad (Fava) Beans (first sowing).

In wild, drought-resistant garden in front, Scilla Siberica flowering, California Poppy about to.

Second broad beans up

About half of the second sowing of Favas are showing today, presumably the rest will follow soon enough. That is about 16 days since they were sown as soaked seeds. The sweet peas sown Feb 5 (a month ago) are poking up as thin spears about an inch high now, and the Cilantro hasnt sprouted (about 2 weeks now, in a container). The broccoli sown also on Feb 5 are still at first-leaf stage and seem to be just sitting there. About a third germinated (and/or survived possible slug attack).
Last week, I put a few boiling onions in a few out of the way spots at the back of the roses - a lazy way to get a few onions later.

I was of course optimistic on the leeks earlier - these really grow slowly, although its great to look out and see something growing besides parsley and self-sown arugula. The peas (both sowings) are doing fairly poorly this year and appear to have germinated poorly. I'm beginning to suspect that if it rains while the seeds are germinating, they dont do as well. Maybe the seeds rot, maybe it forms a hard crust on the soil... Either way, I think I need to find larger packets of seeds to work with.

The garlic and shallots are going gangbusters however, and should do well. The garlic has done most of its growth already and should hopefully be starting to thicken its bulbs.

Finally, the Tom Thumb lettuce has germinated 2 weeks now, but its still pathetically small. Barely at second-leaf stage. I'm not sure if the record heat/record cold has been good for things.

Feb 5 sowings

Sweet Peas (which, according to the packet, should have been sown in the fall for midwinter flowering?); another sowing of Broad Beans, and some broccoli and carrot just thrown on the ground (lets see if that works better than my last attempt at sowing carrots!). Cleaned up the roses today - now I can plant some veg between them AND have nicer roses.

End-of-January update

The broad beans are showing about an inch; about 20 of them so far.
The radishes and lettuce sown in the open ground came to more or less nothing, while the lettuce sown in compost (Tom Thumb) in plastic boxes w/lids are tiny seedlings. The leeks are still moving forwards, and should be ready for some thinning/harvesting this month, with luck. Note to self: For ground cover/winter harvest so far, I can recommend late autumn transplants of Parley and Leek, and sowings of Rocket. Hopefully I will add some other types to this next year.

The peas arent doing that much yet, neither the first nor second sowings. They do seem to be germinating though. The first sowing showed some losses due to suspected slug attack.

The late fall compost pile is starting to look good, and may be ready for spring use.

New year sowings

Broad beans sown ~Jan 5, Tom Thumb Lettuce ~ Jan 1. I hate using slug pellets, but I'm sick of seeing every green vegetable sprout taken out when there is a whole lawn full of weeds.