Finally, a person that understands it all!

My sister told me about this book, "The $64 Tomato."

Since I usually bore her with my gardening stories of disease on my tomato plant, which plant(s) died today or which disgusting insect I found today and how many of them, she knew this book was written for me.

The author does an amazing job sharing his pursuit and trials for his kitchen garden through humor. Ultimately, through his obstacles he brings encouragement that the reader is not the only one having problems in the garden.

In attempting to grow anything from tomatoes to strawberries, I find that I have taken my gardening troubles personal. Any disease that lands on my citrus, an attack. Any slug or grub that I find in the garden, offensive. And the teeth marks (not even a bite taken) on my ripe tomatoes still on the vine, a slap in the face.

So, as the book says:

"The cost of growing one tomato: $64.

The joy of finding a gardener who is more obsessed than you are: Priceless."

Made by my wonderful husband!

My husband decided to pick up a new hobby, woodworking.

It luckily benefited me and my gardening!

Unfortunately, I think I definitely pushed him to pick up woodworking due to my "disorganized" side yard. So, my only problem now is that I have no excuse to not keep my gardening materials and tools organized.

The Accidental Bee Keeper

While trimming the trees in the backyard, I noticed an odd amount of bees flying around a certain tree. They seem to be making a hive from the leaves and along the bark of the tree...

Hopefully, I'll get some honey out of the deal!

Carrots!

The first carrot harvest! They're about 6 inches, so I might have picked them a bit early, but I couldn't wait. Hopefully, my patience will get better for the rest to get bigger!

Nutri Red Carrots and Multi Colored Carrots grown from seed

SunChips

The brand 'SunChips', has recently come out with a chip bag made of plant material and is compostable.

http://www.sunchips.com/index.shtml

I'm really excited about composting, so I feel I need to support 'SunChips' good behavior.

Tea Time

I am a big tea drinker.

My favorites are Green, Oolong, Yerba Mate, and Red Tea.

Recently though, I have found that I love and appreciate chamomile and sleepy time teas.

In researching what herbs to plant in my garden, I found that there are many herbs that can be used to make a relaxing cup of tea.

These are a few of the herbs and plants that I have planted in my yard to be used for tea:

Camellia Sinensis- The plant where green, oolong, and black tea comes from.

Mint and Lemon Balm- Perfect additions to a cup of green tea, or other tea.

Chamomile- The flowers, picked and dried, can be used for a relaxing tea

Valerian- the root and the leaves are used for a bedtime tea

Skullcap- Any part above the ground can be used for a bedtime tea.

Fever Few- Leaves are used for help with headaches.

Hops- the flower part is great for a relaxing cup of tea (or beer)

Pineapple Sage- Leaves are used for anti anxiety and anti depression.

Things are growing!

Composting 101

So, I'm beginning my composting trial.

The location that the compost pile/bin is placed is very important.

I have mine along the side of our house, which is sheltered from wind.

The Earth Machine Composter is meant to be a "Hot Compost", which if done right, will heat up the contents leading to compost. Hopefully, the composting works, but unfortunately I won't know for about 3-6 months.

If you live in the city of Costa Mesa, they have an amazing program to start composting! For $20, they will give you the Earth Machine composter and kitchen pail. They will even set you up with a worm composter which I have yet to do, but am toying around with the idea.....

http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/recycle-newsletter/one-person-trash.pdf

The kitchen pail is a perfect size which fits under the sink. It has a snap top lid, so it does not smell or attract flies.

Brewing Time!

I have recently ventured into growing Hops. My husband is learning how to brew beer, so I figured eventually we would need to have Hops growing in the backyard. I'm growing the 'Mt. Hood' variety, which I believe is good for Ales and Pilsners.

Hops can also be good for a soothing tea, which pushed me over the edge in deciding to grow them. Any sort of herb that can be used for a soothing tea belongs in my garden.

Coming Together

After a year and a half of dirt and weeds, our yard is finally a yard and ready to enjoy !

Newly planted strawberries!

Tea Time

Right now, I am trying to grow my own tea plants.

I love the idea of being able to pick the leaves to make my own green, oolong, or black tea.

The seeds are in a thick shell that need to be weakened, then soaked for a few days and then planted.

They take about 40-60 days to germinate. So after almost 2 months, I will know if it worked or if I need to start over.

They definitely aren't like radishes that germinate within a few days!

Just like the germination process, making the tea will be a process. So if all goes well in the planting, I'll definitely be researching how to pick, steep, and brew the tea leaves.

The First Planting

Spaghetti Squash!

Closer!

Simon dug inside the flower beds about a foot down.

Next my mom and dad helped us amend the soil that we put back inside. We used Gypsum, perlite, planting soil, Gro Mulch, a dash of sand, and dirt that we had removed originally. We did levels of each, mixing the dirt as we went along. It felt like baking a cake,.

Simon supposedly on a five minute break for coffee.... then off to finish the drip sprinkler system.

It's a go!

Dirty Work

Breaking Ground

Simon and Tom built the raise flower beds out of redwood.

And Designed the sprinkler system, with help from Griffith Company!

After a lot of hard work they were able to admire their work....

Especially since it went as planned and worked perfectly!

Thanks guys!