So she grows.

The garden's doing great. It's providing for us just enough without requiring too much sweat or backache. We had to harvest all of our beets since we had bugs eating all the leaves. But they were a great size when we pulled them and we have really been enjoying them so there was no loss there. Plus we aren't really worrying much about bugs since we did that. The tomatoes are doing awesome. Erin put in a drip irrigation system today. I added eggplant, acorn squash, persian cucumber, and some new peppers to the mix. I'm looking forward to it all. We've had great luck with the zucchini. The cucumbers were doing well at first but they haven't been making full-sized fruit lately. We're still trying to decide what we'll put in where the beets were. We'll probably do it soon since Erin added the compost in today.

Here are some photos I took this evening.

The Jesusita Fire

Yesterday the Jesusita Fire started burning. The night before the wind was so severe it was hard to sleep. Since, the wind has been gusting heavily at the coast, swirling and spinning, hot to cool, making the ocean white cap and stirring this fire up like a pot of stew. Here are some images from our back porch...essentially, this is the view from our living room.

Grow Baby Grow!

Lots to report since the last post. Sorry, I've been trying to avoid the computer but I think I'm back in the blogging game now. Our starter seeds are doing really well. We've actually moved them outside, transplanted some into bigger pots, and put a few into the garden. Here's a photographic timeline:













Erin's been clearing his own patch in the garden for the tomatoes. The great news is that our landlord is going to let us use the timer to slow water and he's even got drip line and sprinklers to donate. The tomatoes are going to love that. Just a lot more work we have to do, but it will be worth it in the end.




Here are some photos of the squash going in. Yay!




The lupine and poppy seeds are coming up. I'm looking forward to the flowers.


Here's an example of one of the tomato starters. They're doing very well and were just transplanted into bigger pots.


The peas are starting to get big enough to reach the trellis.


The beets are doing the best and the greens are looking really healthy. They're going to be great in a salad soon.


Our most recent backyard sighting: an alligator lizard. His tail's half gone but he seems like he's doing pretty well otherwise. We have lots of fence lizards in the backyard too. I'm thinking that I might have to do some type of survey out there, because I'm sure the species go far beyond just fence and alligator lizards.


All in all she's doing well. We still need to do the chicken wire fence around the bed and the bird netting over the top. I think we're safe for a week or so. We're also planning to head out to get some more driftwood to stabilize the hillside.


And a hello from Pepe, our favorite household skunk. He's around a lot and if we don't see him his scent is always vaguely lingering in the morning. Behind him is Kai's doghouse. I think Kai has lost the territorial battle on that one so he hasn't slept in there at all. Pepe's kind of cute actually and he's pretty small. I like him, just as long as no one gets sprayed.

Sowing the Seeds

We've made some strides in the garden and are on our way to the point where we can just water and wait.

I've sown my herb seeds in the front yard. The light is really filtered so I'm hoping that they fair well. I also did a pot each of cilantro and basil in the back where there is a lot of full sun. I think the challenge out here is just going to be keeping the duff off them. Our front yard vegetation is dropping leaves pretty rapidly lately.



The upper herb box (if I can remember what I planted where correctly) has parsley, basil, thyme, and chives. The lower box on the left has leeks, basil, parsley, and oregano. I planted chives and dill in those little pots. I don't know if it will work but it was worth the try. The lower right box is all lettuce. I think it might explode with lettuce, the way I put seeds in, so we'll have a lot of thinning to do. The lettuce box usually gets less light than the others, but this is the small window where the sun filters through right there.

Erin also used the bamboo in the yard to make a trellace. This will be used for our peas and cucumbers to climb on.



He also planted some seeds in small starter pots. I think he did broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, and some native shrubs, which we'll use to vegetate the hillside. They're residing in our living room currently. We get great morning light in there so I think they'll do well.



After nearly falling down the hill yesterday (and believe me, this would have been a sure-fire injury) I decided to put down some stepping stones and woodchips, based on what was lying around the yard. Hopefully we can get this a little more stable over time but it's a good start for now. That soil is really slippery after a rain.


I also planted seeds straight into the bed. I planted our root vegetables, which are red onions, beets, and carrots and I planted eggplant, cucumber, and peas (asian and shelling). The rest of the planter is reserved for the squash and broccoli.



Erin's going to clear some more of the hillside and plant the tomatoes out there. That means all that's left is to put the chicken-wire fence up around the planter and bird netting over the top.
Speaking of birds, we had a good sighting today. A pair of adult nutmeg mannikins. They are an introduced species of finch native to Southeast Asia, with established populations in southern California. They were really pretty. ...I hope they don't go near the bird nets.


photo taken from livingonearth.org

El Sueno Garden

My husband, Erin, and I just moved to Santa Barbara. It's a great little house with two yards. The first yard, which we call the front yard, is fairly dark and moist and there are a lot of tropical plants. The other yard, which we call the backyard, has a patio and deck and is mostly brick, wood, and wood chips. Neither is entirely suitable for a garden. But, behind the backyard there is a hill which is currently covered in grass and weeds. We've decided to convert this into a garden.

This is our dog, Kai's, favorite place to hang out and graze on grass. It's quite sunny and the soil seems pretty rich. We plan to do our warmer weather crops out here and do the cooler weather crops in planters in the front yard.

We are recycling some lumber that we had lying around to make the planter. Really, it will be a retaining wall, more than a planter. We also plan to lay chicken wire on the bottom, to keep the gophers out, and to make a small chicken wire fence around the planter to keep out rabbits, etc.

This is the result of about a couple hours of weeding:

Erin tackled an enormous rock. ...this is the point where we get slightly nervous that we're compromising the stability of our house. However, we kept on digging .

So far, we've pulled out the soil, put the boards in, layed down the chicken wire along the bottom, put the soil back in, and made a walkway. Well done for a day's worth of labor.