March 22, 2015

Still no rain and none to come, temperatures still averaging 5-10 degrees above normal. There was a little spritz this morning and maybe a little more tonight but should total up to no more than .1" at best.

I'm starting to pull a fair amount out of the boxes now, mostly to eat but some to clear space and get rid of boltings. I'll probably turn Box3 over next weekend to prepare for tomatoes, turning the soil, replenishing with manure, and reconfigure the irrigation for the tomato plants. Although the cauliflower plants grew tremendously, it's only now one of them is showing any signs of a bloom. I finally thinned half of them out this week to see if the crowding had been affecting the lack of flowering. Regardless, it was just an experiment as I had a box I wasn't really planning to use until April, which is in 10 days.

Box 1

lettuce, radishes, lettuce, radicchio

Lettuce, radicchio, arugula, mesclun

I've pulled almost all of the radishes now as the remaining ones were getting close to a growth surge. Best to eat them before then as they can get quite hot and bitter. Some of the mesclun is starting to bolt so they won't be long either. And I need to give the arugula some room to grow as it's been pretty much buried and now is getting to the point of being useful. 

Overall I pretty much grew things a bit too close but this year is the time for evaluating how to grow things in these boxes. More spacing next time.

Box 2

Lacinato kale

Rainbow chard

Beet seedlings

I've pulled the remaining chicory. Very tasty leaves but I only know have learned about the hearts. There were some forming when I picked the last ones but they weren't really large enough to use - next time I'll know and plan to leave them in to a good size.

Pulled a bit more chard. The peas are flowering and making some pods. These (Progress #9) were labeled as shelling peas but the pods are early enough to be edible on their own. I'll see how these progress.

The first seeding of beets are starting to form below so will be thinning these out now.

Box 3

The first cauliflower head forming.

The experiments with the celery, broccolini, cauliflower, and chicories were very interesting but now time to get ready for the tomatoes. I pulled half of the cauliflower as it wasn't close to forming any heads and had gotten quite crowded. We had enough of a broccolini harvest this week for a side dish for dinner - very nice and definitely will be growing this again in Autumn.

Box 4

Not much change from last week other than both the dill and cilantro seedings have grown quite a bit. First seeding was Jan 15, the second Feb 15. Since the first seeding will be useable for a while yet, I'm holding off on a subsequent one for now as I figure out what the schedule should be to have them consistently available.

Box 5

peas with cheap support

I re-purposed the lattice that came with the camellia for the snap peas seedlings. Otherwise everything has just progressed a bit. The celery doesn't seem to be growing as quickly or as well as the plants in Box 3. As with those, I bought these at Berkeley Horticultural but obviously were from the same batch. It may be that this second set had sit in their small pots just a tad too long so haven't thrived quite as well.

March 15, 2015

No rain at all the past week and no significant events on the way. Still very warm, about 10-15 degrees consistently above normal, in fact many local records were broken for the date yesterday. It hit about 81° here in Richmond but back down to 70 today as the sea breeze is starting to kick back in. So weird, that's something someone should only be saying in summer.

The veggies are booming and now a lot of the other material - rhododendrons, roses, etc. - are starting to bloom, about 3-4 weeks ahead of normal. Things have done so well that already I'm starting to rotate things. We've gotten quite a bit of food and lots more to come. Feeling lucky enough to have planted a couple of padrón peppers and a basil plant today, 3 weeks ahead of schedule.

The cauliflower experiment was interesting but it's starting to look like they won't form heads in time before I need to take the box over for the tomatoes. The plants have gotten huge but I may have forced in too many in too little space. I've heard that it needs chill to set blooms and there certainly hasn't been enough of that! They have a couple of weeks still to show but if they're not ready to do something by the end of the month, they're gone.

I also probably planted too many chicory plants in my enthusiasm to try it fresh sautéed. Very tasty but not really something I'd like more than once a week. Definitely will show some restraint on the next batch.

Box 1

garlic

radishes, lettuce, arugula, mesclun

mesclun

Been pulling out mesclun, pulling lettuce heads now that the thinning is more or less complete. Pulling radishes before they get too large and hot but it's turning out to be a bit more than we can use. Still clipping the mesclun but it's getting rather large.

Box 2

lacinato kale

Rainbow chard

chicory

beet seedlings

I pulled a couple of chard and kale but still plenty left. The beet seedlings are really getting there, thinning out for greens but backing up on what we can use for salads.

Box 3

celery

broccolini, caulflower

cauliflower, chicory puntarelle

puntarelle, cicoria blanca

I probably planted too much chicory as we can't keep up but it was an experiment anyway. Now I have a better idea of how much to plant.

Box 5

(inadvertently placed out of order)

celery, mesclun, lettuce, beets

padrón peppers

sugar snap peas

We stopped at Westbrae Nursery and saw some padrón seedlings so decided to go for it since the space where the peppers will be planted is already fallow. I guess I'll be needing to provide some support for those snap peas soon.

Box 4

(inadvertently placed out of order)

parsley (pulled the second one today)

cilantro, dill, parsley, chives, sage

thyme, marjoram, basil

marjoram, oreganos

One of the two parsley plants I planted in January was showing signs of bolting so I pulled it. I got it in a pot at Berkeley Hort so it may have been in its second year already. I planted a new one more or less in its place. I also added another on the far side and amy trying a basil seedling too. I plan to seed some basil but not for a couple of weeks and in their own spot in another box.

The remaining Italian oregano seems to have settled in as its finally established. The Greek plant from the pot last year is also progressing well.

Containers

Trees

Ye olde lemon

Satsuma

persimmon leafing out

Radishes 2 months from seeding

Large lettuce heads after considerable thinning the past few weeks

Mesclun 6 weeks after seeding

March 8, 2015

Well it looks like the 'winter' rains are just about done in these parts. There's a couple of systems poised to brush the area over the next week but nothing that will be measurable in tenths of an inch, more like in hundredths. However we still received 18" since October so it's much better than it might have been. Maybe things will change over the next few years in terms of rain but I think overall we're going to be in a much warmer climate.

Things are growing very well thanks to the persistent warm temperatures we've had this 'winter'. The cole crops in Box 3 are making do without much cool so not sure how much we'll see before I turn it over to the tomato planting next month.

The soil level in all of the boxes has settled a bit, so much so in Box 4 that I added quite a bit to the east side and raised the plants to account for it. I also reconfigured the irrigation layout as the first attempt was a stab in the dark, as it were. I think the standard I've settled on now is the most efficient and feasible one to use going forward.

Box 1:

We've cleaned out the Raab, picked a couple of the radicchio and several of the lettuces. I've been snipping the mesclun almost every night for dinner and pulling the larger radishes. Box 5 will be replacing the salad greens and radishes soon.

Box 2:

I've picked a couple of the chicories and chard, about to start on the kale as well. The first planting of peas seem to be ready to produce flowers but again something seems to be picking out the seeds before they sprout, my guess is birds but not sure.

Beets are still coming along, may be ready to start pulling some leaves for salad, a couple of weeks at least until the roots grow large enough to use.

Box 3:

I used a couple of each of the chicories, clipped a couple sprouts from the broccolini. With the warm temps, still not sure about the cauliflower. They're going to have to get going soon though as the plan is to entirely redo the bed for tomatoes no more than 4 weeks from now. That will also involve a new layout for the irrigation.

Box 4:

The second seeding of dill and cilantro have sprouted pretty well and I'm now able to use the first seeding as plants. I should get a better idea of the seeding schedule for these once I become familiar with their lifetimes. I had to pull one of the Italian oreganos as it simply k'foo'd. The other one is still growing so not sure what happened there. The parsley has grown quite a bit but one of them appears to be in its second year. I may have to seed some to have reliable plants through the summer and fall.

Box 5:

The seeds have come up pretty well and the peas are really growing now. At some point the peas will need some support, unlike the variety in Box 2. Still have a couple of fallow rows as this box will hold the summer vegetables like eggplant, peppers, and perhaps a couple of squashes.

Containers: 

Citrus trees:

The lime tree seems to have survived the planting and the 'winter'. Though I've yet to see any real growth, it has a lot of flowers popping up and ready to bloom. I should probably fertilize it again in the next week or so.