Spring 2011

Here are the latest photos of the garden. The weather has been unseasonably cool again this year but not nearly as cold and wet as last spring. Although not ideal it's been nice enough to not completely hamper the tomatoes' growth.

May 15

May 28

Unlike a lot of home gardeners I've talked to I don't ever use the stakes sold at garden stores for my tomatoes but use steel-reinforcing wire cages fashioned from mesh I got back in the 80's. I simply put them around each plant when I first plant them in the spring and train them to stay within the perimeters.

May 28

 I work well-rotted manure into the soil box prior to planting and water the plants about 3 times a week very deeply. As the raised beds are on top the soil, the roots are able to go well into the ground as the plants grow and the deep watering gets to their depths. I've had very good success with tomatoes the past 30 years even in our fairly foggy summer climate so it seems like a good system.

This bed contains lettuce, arugula, radishes, mesclun, lacinato kale, chard, beets and basil all growing from direct seeding. I do a light watering every day or so.

May 15

May 28

I started this bed with bean plants a couple of weeks, a mix of french beans and kentucky wonders.

I'm growing fennel on the left (not up yet) and more beets here. On the other end of the box will go one or two zucchini plants within the next week or so.

Greek oregano from last year that's returned in this barrel.

My old thyme pot and another Greek oregano plant.

Garlic planted last Fall just starting to brown for harvest.

The Bearss lime tree we planted in 2009 is finally starting to deliver. Hopefully it will reliably produce within the next couple of years for some Mexican dishes.

The Satsuma mandarin tree here left some fruit this past winter but way too bitter to eat. My hope is that it was either due to the abnormally cool weather in 2010 and/or due to the fact that it is still a youngster.

Since the rains in 2010 our lemon tree has gone bazonkers (as Regis Philbin might put it) and has been great for all kinds of lemony goodness in our cooking.

Last but not least for this week, the parsley seedlings have yet to show themselves. I've had good luck with seeding parsley since using a technique of soaking the seeds overnight in lukewarm water prior to planting. Can never have enough parsley around!

Tomatoes

April 17

It looks like we're going to have a much better spring for tomatoes this year than last, which was the worst in the 30+ years I've been growing them. I purchased and planted the usual kinds best suited for our Zone 17 yard. We get less fog than the City but not as warm as Oakland or Pinole as we tend to get quite a bit of fog in June and July.
Plants this year are Better Boy (the closest thing to a Beefmaster we can grow here), Costunuto Genovese (an Italian heirloom), Early Girl, San Marzano (a plum/paste), Sungold (cherries) and a Russian variety new to me.
I've been using reinforcement wire as cages since the 80's as the cages I see in nursery centers are close to useless as far as I'm concerned. I added a lot of well-rotted steer manure to the beds and planted the plants in fairly deep bowls as I only water 2-3 times a week but spend about 20-30 minutes doing so to make sure the deep root system gets the water it needs in the height of the growing season.

I'll keep posting updates on the tomatoes and the other vegetables I grow throughout the season. I just seeded some arugula (which always does fantastic here any time of year), lettuce, mesclun, chard, Loscinato kale, and rainbow beets so I'll have photos once they start coming up.