Garden 2012-06-12

Lots to catch up on since the last post as it's a week before summer and things are really starting to pop.

Above are the current seedlings I've started - marjoram and cilantro in front, dill in the back. My idea is to stagger the dill and cilantro to seed every time I move the previous seedlings out which means I'll be seeding again this week.

These is where the new potting area will be once I get the gravel in. For now the mints are in front, behind are lemon verbena, chives, catmint, Greek basil, and sage L to R. We just potted the chives and basil last weekend which we purchased as seedlings at Berkeley Horticulture. The others were saved from last season which I repotted in March.

Here's my everlasting Greek oregano which seems to have finally stabilized. It didn't have a great year last season as I wasn't as attentive to it as I should have been. Even though it thrives in a dry climate, when it's potted it still needs to be watered and catered to somewhat I've found.

Mesclun and Butterhead lettuce still growing from the seeds in March.

Below are the three citrus trees: lemon, satsuma mandarins (a close up of the new fruit), and the struggling Bearss lime. I've been adding iron chlorate the past weeks to get the green back on the lime as well as feeding and watering it biweekly and the new growth seems to bear out the effort. Hopefully it will be on track by the end of the year otherwise I might have to try with a new one next Spring.

Below is the Bay Laurel. Like they told me it would take a couple of slow years before it would start to boom and now it has. These things will get to 40 ft if given the room to do so, I'll see if keeping it trimmed can help it live as a container plant for cooking.

Two zucchini seedlings we put in last weekend in the new bed. They're already thriving and the hot weather we're having this week should only help them continue.

Here are the first two potted parsley seedlings from the seeds I started in April. They should easily fill each pot and usable through the winter.

Never say die: two pepper plants I thought it would be fun to check out growing. With the lack of real hot weather for any stretch in these parts, we almost never have luck with them. Same with melons and eggplant unfortunately.

Below is the bed for the beans which the peppers and a couple of extra parsley plants are sharing. On the left is a row of bush beans which I'll add to for a second planting in a week or so. On the right are the two types of pole beans. We should be pretty sick of fresh beans by October.

Various seedlings - basil, fennel, carrots and lacinato kale. Kale is not a summer crop generally but we can usually get away with it as well as with chard with the coolish summers we have here.

The chard and a row of beets behind them. We've already thinned the chard somewhat for frittatas and dinners, more to go still.

Now the tomatoes. Notice the large cages used to support and keep them separate. I've been using these suckers for about 25 years and are indispensable for getting good harvests IMO. Along with deep watering 3 times a week, an abundant amount of steer manure, blood meal, and bone meal at planting time, I never fail to get a nice crop. Typically I grow a couple of early varieties, a paste tomato, an heirloom and a cherry tomato.

 Garlic harvest time!

Pulling out the early Russian garlics. These were all hardnecks, next year I'm going to only use softnecks as they're supposed to be better suited for the Bay Area climate. But these didn't seem to do so badly.

The thyme always looks so good in the winter and early spring I figured it just needs more water during the rest of year but so far it still seems to be not so good even with the care I've been giving it since the rains ended last month. We'll see how it goes.