After the rain

 I can't wait to harvest! The rain has worked wonders for the lettuce.

    This can make a beautiful bouquet.

The fava bean flowers are so pretty.

They seem so common in the garden but they always seem to surprise me. I usually pull them out before they develop their pods. This time I will wait for them.

Leeks with the beets

The leeks have taken a very long time since I started them indoors.  Leeks are surprisingly flavorful.

I turned the soil and pulled out

most of the junk that was growing there.

I replanted the buckwheat.

 The false garlic is just a pain in the rear!

The brussel sprouts seedlings are finally doing their magic. The girls hate the bitterness but I love them dipped in spicy Korean chili pepper paste. You lightly steam the brussel sprouts before you serve them.

Why do I garden?

Why do you garden? I love the feel of the rich dirt and all the worms in my soil. Growing your own food is good for your health and your wallet. Spending money on herbs can be ridiculous. You use so little of what you buy. I also like seeing all the plants growing and producing fruit.

When I am driving to work in the morning, I think about what my garden might look like that day since I don't get to visit it every day. It makes me calm in the middle of all the traffic. I can garden without thinking too much. Thinking too much can be hazardous.

Rain Rain...thank you but...

Wow, I think we got a year's worth of rain in a day. Seriously. In spring of 2005, it rained like this except the rain poured for days. Why would I remember March of 2005? I almost bought a house with a little garden in Pasadena. The rain exposed a lot of structural damages to the house. After the inspection, I happily paid the guy and rescinded our offer to buy the house. Ok, I made a good decision. I am happy to live in an apartment. I like having a garden plot in a place where I can greet people. I get to see what they are growing. The advice sometimes flows and everybody has some. I do have some but I only share it when someone asks or if you get on my nerves with the know it all attitude.

Okay Rain..please be gentle to my seedlings

OMG....it is raining literally cats and dogs in Santa Monica this morning. The LA Marathon is also going on and people are getting soaked out there. Our pine tree that we used two years ago is getting a good wash. It needs to be planted but it sits on our patio stressed out. We have a few cymbidiums that I had for over a decade still blooming here and there. They are nearly at the end of their life due to my lack of time to pamper them.
It is gray, cold, and rainy out. Yesterday I had a chance to check on my plants at the garden plot. They all seem to have that I love this cloudy day look. My peas might have rotted in the mulch. Who knows? My mustard greens all seem to have germinated fine. The seed packet said that it had a very low germination rate. Well... it looks like all have germinated. We rode our bikes to Third Street and passed by the Santa Monica Community Garden on Main Street. Then we decided to eat dinner at Urth Caffe. As we approached a pole to park our bikes and trailer, there was a whizzing sound. One of the tires had a puncture. So we ate in frustration and decided to put the bikes on the bus. At 7:50pm, we all hopped on the No.1 BIG BLUE BUS back to our place with the bike trailer and all. It was a lovely sight.

Radiation?

Well, I live near the coast of Southern California. My community garden plot is about 3 miles from the beach. There was some rain today and my garden enjoyed it. Who knows how much radiation is in our food anyway? Am I worried? Yes...I have two little girls who eat all the herbs right out of the garden without the occasional rinse. Anyway, my youngest ate the cilantro right off the bat as she walked into the plot and I didn't stop her. This is life as we know it.

Getting ready for spring...what will I plant?

Sometimes, I wish the weather was more consistent and predictable.  It will take a few months to get the edamame, tomato, and other summer seedlings to be mature enough to plant in May or June. I usually like the old fashion way of sowing my seeds in the dirt and waiting for the seedling to merge from the soil.
Wait...I forgot. There are way to many snails, cutworms, and other pests that will in a few minutes eat and destroy a whole section of my small plot. Yikes. I just have to figure out what I want to do. I only have a few weeks or less to start my seedlings.

Ok...gardening involves cooking

When you grow your own food, you must at least try to use it in your cooking. I have met people who grow lovely things yet choose not to eat their harvest. Don't give it to me then. Is there something wrong with it? Sometimes you get overwhelmed with the bounty that the garden provides but if you grow it you should at least eat it because you put a lot of love into growing that food.

My garden looked liked this...

This was a few months after I started gardening in this community garden. I was so ambitious, I must have had more than 30 different vegetables growing at one time. My plot is only 15x15.
One problem that you can encounter in a community garden is having a neighbor who lets his plot go. We are also dealing with a constant barrage of false garlic seedlings and nut grass. We grow food, not too much food. You also have to rotate crops in the small space. I tried it all...intensive gardening...only 6 months gardening...companion planting...summer gardening. Snails are a big problem here.

This is a school garden bed behind my class. There are five of these plastic lumber garden beds that are filled with soil. The kids love planting seeds and smelling the flowers. It is still a garden in progress.

This is my garden...

Spring is coming and I am so happy to see my garden flourish in Southern California. My garden is located in a community garden called Ocean View Farms.  Please vote for our garden at http://www.deloachcommunitygardens.com/. We also love Solano Gardens as well!

Do you see my cauliflower? I had already harvested a few heads. I am letting this one go just for all the insects out there. It has been unseasonably warm in Los Angeles the past few weeks. All the winter crops are confused.

This is the front of our plot. Right now I have an abundance of swiss chard in a rainbow of colors. The lettuce is looking lush and full. I also have brussel sprouts taking their sweet time just barely showing anything. In the front, I planted pineapple sage, lipstick sage, rosemary, and other drought tolerant plants. They seem to love that section of the garden. The horse manure mulch keeps the soil moist and fertilized. The smell is great too.
The gopher deterring plant seems to be working.
I recently planted carrots seeds. The snow peas were pulled out.

This is one of my favorites. Since I want to take it with me if I have to relocate myself, the plant is in a black nursery pot. Can you guess what it is? The lavender plant behind it is not helping right? Well, it is a blueberry plant. I enrich the soil with acidic fertilizer and use my coffee grinds to make the soil just so perfect for this heavy fruiting blueberry bush. I have buckwheat growing next to it as well. The other blueberry bush is quite young so it is not as productive as this one.