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The tomatoes were started on January 15th, and transplanted on March 5th. We got our first tomatoes coming in about 20-days later. Amazing. The ones in grow bags are taller and fuller than the ones in the new raised beds, and those are taller and fuller than the ones on the slope.… [more]

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, my biggest learning is that soil, water, layout, timing, and restraint matter more than any single plant.… [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]