Containers [ Grow bags unless specified pots. ] Plant Count Container Size Peppers 6 3×15 gal, 1×10 gal, 2×5 gal pots Potatoes 1 15 gal Onions 2 sets 2×15 gal Snow Pea 1 10 gal Tomatoes 3 15 gal Garlic 3 in bags, 3 in pots 15 gal, 3×1 gal pots Lemon… [more]

What’s the most amount of dirt you’ve ever moved? I moved 10,000 lbs in three days with a gorilla cart and a shovel. I’m 47 by the way. Father-in-law and my son helped, especially for the last few carts. Alena and I bought some raised beds from Epic Gardening, configured them in… [more]

This week I started hardening off a bunch of plants, including tomatoes, tomatillos, and basil. Cloudy today, and should be this week, so that’s perfect. A couple hours at a time, protected from wind as much as I can, but getting a little is part of the point. Most of these were… [more]

I noticed my seedlings move a bit throughout the day, but none more than the tomatillos. Even before I started gardening, I knew that some plants did this – especially some flowers, but I didn’t really think about it in terms of a circadian rhythm. I’d only ever thought of the concept… [more]

Over the last few days I have kept sifting and re-amending old potting soil from grow bags. Some is rebuilt for reuse in bags; the rest went into the brick planters along the fence. In those planters, I buried a few pockets of kitchen scraps to feed worms and microbes so they… [more]

Potted up 4 Sungold Tomatoes, 3 Tropical Sunset Tomatoes, 2 Tomatillos, 3 Cauliflowers, 2 Broccolis, and 1 Dwarf Meyer Lemon Tree. The lemon tree went from a 4.5 gallon to a 15 gallon pot. I used Gary’s Top Pot mix. After this photo, I pinched off the flower buds – I want… [more]

Recent days and today: Progress: [more]

Our favorite tomato plant, cherry, first planted in March, producing fruit all the way until January, surprised me today. As I’ve been preparing the in ground beds for the spring, I decided to finally let go of this plant, as it has been diminishing, I decided to pull of the roots to… [more]

The Marglobe tomatoes transplanted in September did really well for so late in season. They saw very little pest pressure, and the warmer than average temperatures surely helped. A lot of fruit set, but took a noticeably longer time to begin reddening than tomatoes grown between March and August. Also, there were… [more]

The pole beans growing in the center in-ground bed are yellowing. I think it might just be the end of their life cycle. But it could also be that those beds have been subject to holding water. Something about the slope of the lawn and the fact that some sprinkler pvc was… [more]

I moved the avocado plant to a 4.5 gallon bucket from a 1-gallon grow bag. I used a mix called Gary’s Top Pot, but with a bit more sand and pumice. I want it to be pretty fast draining. This plant grew in a glass of water by the kitchen sink for… [more]

This week I’ve started a lot of seeds. In addition to the Desert Willow trees I started in a 4-cell 4″ deep tray, and the two 6-cell trays of White Grano and Red Burgundy onions, today started some brassicas and tomatoes. I am especially excited for the Sungold Tomatoes. I’ve heard that… [more]

I have two trays of seedlings I’ve started hardening off this week. Both of these were done with re-used potting mix, and the results have been mid. Part of that though is I oversaturated them with water a couple of times early on. Using bottom watering, I left them sitting in it… [more]

I started gardening in March with no experience. I thought I’d learn how to grow plants. It turned out to be more about building systems that make plants grow. By the end of the season, the biggest shift wasn’t yield or technique. It was how I think about the work. Soil, water,… [more]

The second photo shows the peppermint I’ve been growing indoors under the grow-light, and the other two show the wildflower strip on the south side of the house. We have a few blooms in December. I don’t know how much these will die back during the cooler months coming up, but I’m… [more]

After looking at the soil, I am changing the schedule for watering the lemon tree from every 2-days to every 4-days. I thinned the celery in the grow bag further. I don’t remember why I planted so many. It’s the first time I’ve grown this so I think that I looked up… [more]

This morning I carefully scratched two tablespoons of 6-3-3 Down To Earth citrus fertilizer into the top of the lemon tree pot. I watered it in with half a tablespoon of Epsom Salt to the gallon. I let the water drain through and out the bottom completely, then watered again. It was… [more]

The compost pile was at 111°F this morning. I added more cardboard to cover exposed areas and to help hold moisture and heat. I collected a full trash bag of leaves and started a second batch of leaf mold. I watered the lemon tree with half-strength Jack’s 20-20-20. I also used Jack’s… [more]

The compost pile was at 110°F this morning. After moving the thermometer slightly, it read 114°F. It’s been holding roughly this range for four days. I’d like to see it climb into the 120°F to 135°F range, but from what I’ve read it’s better to give it a few more days before… [more]

The compost pile reached about 116°F this morning. I noticed a small sprout in the lemon tree pot and initially worried it might be coming from below the graft. After digging carefully, I found an acorn instead. At some point it must have fallen into the pot and sprouted. I pulled it… [more]