Springy Spring Spring!

I don't know what it is about Spring that makes me want to bust out this blog, dust it off and start writing but here I am. Again!

This time I want to talk about composting!

Mmmmm garbage

After moving in to a house with a lovely back yard, we felt the pull to create a garden. Yummm, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers....

We can hardly wait to see these little guys sprouting up

Mike found a nice spot in the yard that will serve pretty well as a garden. He has started prepping it by putting all of our green scraps in the dirt and mixing it around. Kind of like a hillbilly compost pile.

Well, the dogs have really enjoyed this. It is like a treasure hunt for them. A gross and smelly treasure hunt. It is not surprising to find pineapple tops, potatoes, avocado pits and lemons strewn throughout our yard. Lily likes the lemons for some reason.

Anyway, I think the detritus scattered around is probably not accomplishing our desired effect so I did a little googling and found that the City of Phoenix offers mulch cans for $5! Score! Here's the link. Other Cities offer info on backyard composting as well. City of Tempe , City of Peoria , City of Scottsdale.

The City of Phoenix is the best deal as far as I can tell. You don't have to be a resident. Just go to one of their locations, pay the $5.00 and grab a can.

Lots of cans ready for all your composting needs

Here's a good resource for how to compost, what to compost and where to compost. 

I will keep updating as our composting progresses! Happy Spring!!

Broccoli!!

We have broccoli! I am so excited! Our first little bud. Check it out!

Doesn't it look delicious?

 And here's the before, after and after picture collage. I really need to take them all from the same angle so you can get the feel for how big these plants have gotten.

I can't believe how much these plants have grown in such a short time.

Dave at Harvest to Home has me on his e mail and text list to tell me when to cover the plants which is really a great idea because this has been such a no-brainer that I have forgotten about these guys a few times. This service has really helped keep the plants healthy.

Hopefully soon I will have some cauliflower to show!

Garden, Week Three!

This little guy is really growing! Check out the before and after:

I was a little concerned about this Fall edition. I didn't know if our patio would give the plants enough shade and then there was the self watering issue. When David from Harvest to Home installed the system it was leaking a little bit. I told David about it and he came right over and fixed it. The problem was my diverter. He fixed it up as best as he could but since the diverter is messed up we have to leave the water off and turn it on to make sure it gets enough water.

This of course has me a bit panicked because I am not exactly responsible in the watering department. The dogs and the cat have taken to drinking out of the toilet and staring at me pointedly when their water dishes are empty.

So far though, the plants are looking great and the watering is not an issue. I am salivating in anticipation of the crops of broccoli and cauliflower soon to come!

Garden, Fall Edition!

It’s here! It’s here! The new garden from Harvest to Home is here! 
David and his assistant Ralph delivered the new container garden last weekend and I am SO excited! 


The great guys at harvest to home were kind enough to offer me a complimentary fall garden to replace the cucumbers from the summer season. Turns out no one expected those plants to turn in to Godzilla cucumbers and they sucked out all of the nutrients in the soil which is why they didn’t produce the way they were supposed to. It was really great of David to give me a complimentary garden and I hope to do him proud this go round.

First off, they provided me with some stuff to keep the caterpillars and other pests away. David was leaving nothing to chance and he WROTE ON THE BOTTLE the water to mixture ratios. He was taking no chances on a repeat of THIS.

The garden I chose was a cauliflower and broccoli mix. I am super excited to mix up some of my famous broccoli salad and to cook up some cauliflower with cumin cream sauce. Yummolicious!

Here’s some pictures of the plants.

Hi little guys, welcome to your new home. Good luck to you!

From the depths of despair....a cucumber rises

Well, it has been a while since my last garden post and I am sure you are all just on the edge of your seats waiting to see what has transpired at black thumb central.

The cucumber plant has lost it's luster and is now in the death throws from who knows what. I was out checking on him this afternoon and lamenting to the dogs about how we won't be pickling or having fresh cucumber salads when low and behold....!

What do I spy??? A full fledged cucumber!

 

 

 

 

 

I believe this is one of cucumbers from project pollination. I didn't post about this but here's the short version.

All of my cucumbers were going from the cute little cucumber buds to, uh... dead so I did a little googling to see what could be causing this problem and gardeners around the valley suggested that they are not getting pollinated because I don't have very many bees. The suggestions ranged from hand pollinating and planting some bee attracting flowers. I did both. I planted these pretty flowers in hanging pots on the patio

And then I crossed my fingers and hoped that some bees would get interested and come my way. Ha ha just kidding.

Of course, we all know that would not be the end of project pollination. I couldn't just sit by and do nothing so I read up on how to tell the difference between a male cucumber flower and a female cucumber flower and then I read about how you can hand pollinate them. I tried it on a few of the flowers. I believe the giant cucumber pictured above is the product of my intervention and there's one more that refuses to succumb to whatever else is eating the cucumber plant. See the sad pictures below.

Come on buddy, LIVE!

What is eating you my friend?

 I tried to get a shot of the one little cucumber that is trying to grow but it is pretty windy today and I couldn't get a clear shot. Plus he may be camera shy because he knows what happened to the other cucumbers buds that I took pictures of.

The tomato plant, on the other hand,  has been very prolific! Here is a shot of the whole plant exploding out of it's cage.

Yowzers!

 

And here are a few pictures of the future pear tomatoes. There are lots and lots of them.

Now, the desert red tomato was looking like he wasn't going to do much producing so I tied back the pear because he was totally being a cage hog and now we've got a few reds coming in. Most notably there's one that I have spotted that I will give you the last two weeks of pictures so you can see how he is growing.

May 22nd

May 29th

So, I am holding out hope that the cucumber will make a comeback but if not the tomato will more than compensate!

Oh garden, my have you grown!

I know I have been a little slow in posting, it has been a busy few weeks and I have been out enjoying these beautiful days before we are hit with the sweltering heat.

While I have been out gallivanting around the garden has gone from being a cute little bunch of leaves to a full fledged monster of buds and flowers! Here are some pictures.

Remember this little guy? Well, he is now a full fledged cucumber plant!

 

 

And remember this one? We thought he was a goner a few times but look at him grow!

I also noticed a few new developments on both plants. We have some cute little pre-tomatoes and pre-cucumbers coming in. I have, of course, taken pictures of these future salad ingredients.

Well, helloooo little cucumber

Can you see those two delicious little orbs in there? They are well camouflaged.

Also, David from Harvest to Home checked in on me to remind me to do an extra check on the water supply during these hotter days and to make sure we are still growing. After seeing the monster cucumber plant he offered his wife's pickle recipe. I will for sure need it.

So, that's it for now. I have three sets of eyes watching and waiting patiently for me to finish up so they can go on a hike.

Who can resist these cute little faces?

The little garden that can!

So, we had a little bit of a scare at black thumb central. The tomato plants had some yellow spots on them and the leaves at the bottom of the plants were crumbling and dying.

Oh NO!!

 

 

I sent Ben at Harvest to Home a panicked e mail with pictures of the damage and he responded quickly and calmly. He told me to look for bugs (didn't see any) and then to spray the essential oil spray on the affected plants. He reminded me to DILUTE the oil this time and to spray either at night or in the early morning. 

I sprayed the spray on the tomato plants and now look at them!!

Ta-DAAAHHH!

 

 

I would like to do a little comparison of the before and after.

 

 

Sad diseased plants

Happy perky plants!

Ben came by to see how the plants were doing (how's that for service?) and he was very happy about how they are looking. The cucumber plant has become a monster. Here's a before and after taken one week apart.

Last week, not yet at the top of the trellis

This week! Holy cow! 

As you can see, the cucumber plant is growing like crazy, his little feelers are grabbing on to everything, including the light fixture,  the tomato plant, the dogs if they stand still for too long.  We had to move him to his own little section of the patio.

I can almost taste the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers now. Yummm!

Garden update and Weekend goings on

Well hello! Just wanted to update you all with some new garden pictures. I can not believe how big it has gotten! The cukes are crawling up the trellis and the tomatoes are getting taller. There are lots of flowers on the cucumber plants and a few on the tomato plants. Check it out!

Hello there little cucumber to be

 

Look at them go!

A lonely little tomato flower, hopefully he will be joined by lots of BUDdies- get it? heh-heh

 

Now, on to the events for this weekend!!

Here's something that you film aficionados might want to take a look at, it's the Arizona Film Festival. There will be over 150 films by independent producers from around the world, premiere screenings, filmmaker presentations and workshops. This event starts today and goes until April 20th so you've got some time to get down there and check it out.

If you like good food get yourself on over to the 2011 Scottsdale Culinary Festival. The festival begins today and runs until April 10th. The festival features Demonstrations, Great AZ picnic, Le Tour Culinaire, Southwest Festival of Beers, Wine Country Brunch, Best of the Fest, tastings & Epicurean events. Holy cow! How could you think of missing it? YUM!

Also,  Country Thunder  started today! If you haven't gotten tickets yet it isn't too late and there are still lots of acts left to see. Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Little Big Town and tons more!

And one last event that is FREE! The Tempe Town Lakes Regatta. The Canoe racing, outrigger canoe competition, music & entertainment go from 8AM to 5 PM on April 9th, bring lawn chairs and blankets and, uh, maybe an umbrella. 

Even if we get a little rain this weekend, go enjoy some cool stuff.

It's Alive!!

The garden is going gangbusters!  The cucumbers have survived my "help" and they are flourishing! The tomato plants are perking up and getting bushy. I even see a few little yellow flowers on the pear tomato plant.

I can hardly wait for fresh veggies! No more stopping off at Trader Joe's to get salad fixings.

Here are some pictures so you can see the progress.

The cukes are looking really happy!

 

Tomatoes are bushing out and taking over!

Here they are on the first day

And here they are now!

Also a big thank you to Ben at Harvest to Home. He has been checking in on the little guys to make sure they are still thriving. 

I am very excited to look through the catalog for the next planting season to see what else I can grow.

Garden Update, still alive, sorta

So, Mike has been overseeing "project garden" and last night he came in and asked if I did something to the plants because they look burnt. Oh Nooooooo!

Ben left me some essential oil stuff to mix with water and apply to the plants if I happen to see bugs on the leaves. He underestimated my ability to "help" the little plants even if they don't appear to need help.



I decided that even though I haven't seen any bugs maybe I should spray them anyway. It's all natural essential oils and water and it smells really good, how bad can it be? It turns out that without the proper dilution the answer is, well, kinda bad.

 Take a look at my sad little cucumber plants.

Poor little guy, he didn't know what hit him. 

Here's another shot. You can see they are trying to live. They are perky even though their poor leaves have been decimated by my good intentions. 

He was starting to look so cute too!

The tomato plants look like they escaped harm from this round of my trying to nurture them.

I e mailed Ben my pictures and he responded right away. He was very calm and helpful and said that the plants will probably make it and just give it a few days and send him more pictures. He didn't use the all caps TO YELL AT ME for not properly diluting the spray and applying it when there weren't any bugs. He offered a suggestion on how to use the bug spray when needed. Applying it in the early morning or in the evening is best. Again, WHEN NEEDED. Ben also offered to replace my plants if necessary. How nice is that?

So, all is not lost. The plants look like they will recover and Harvest to Home stands by their stuff.

The garden has been delivered!

The garden is here! The garden is here! Yay for fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. I am very excited.
Here's a step by step of the installation.

Step 1- install planter bases. This will keep the mutts from knocking them over and save my dainty back when I am harvesting all of the tomato and cucumber-y goodness. 

 

 

 

 

Step 2- install the planter boxes. The boxes came pre-planted with two tomato plants and two cucumber plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3- install a trellis for the plants to climb and sprout bounties of tomatoes and cucumbers

Step 4- Ben from Harvest to Home installs the watering system and says a brief prayer for his little plants as he leaves them in my care

 

 

 

The installation was quick and simple. Ben explained how everything worked and told me how to care for the plants, what bugs to look for and how to make sure the watering system is working. Hopefully in 6-8 weeks I will be harvesting some yummy pear tomatoes, desert red tomatoes and armenian cucumbers.

Spring is here, get your organic veggies planted in time for delicious Summer salads. If you are looking for a low maintenance garden option, give Ben a call or check out the website. Harvest to Home

Stay tuned for weekly updates!