January Plantings

I was buying lettuce at the grocery store yesterday and my 9 year old son says, “Can’t we just make lettuce?”  Huh, I thought...make lettuce?  “What do you mean?”  “You know, can’t we just plant some seeds and grow it?”  Yes. Yes, we can.

So today, on a cold day in January, "we" planted lettuce, kale, and beet seeds.  I also pulled some weeds while they dug holes looking for worms.  It was nice to get the rest of one side of my garden planted.  The ground was still soggy from all our rainy weather but by the end of our gardening session together, we began "making" our lettuce.  You know it's a good day when your shoes are full of mud and you're growing food for your family.  It was a good day.

A Sneak Peak at the Winter Garden

It’s 11am on December 23 and I should really be at the grocery store...BUT, it rained.  A LOT.  It rained for 5 days straight and that’s a lot for our desert climate.

Moss!!!

My garden was calling me to come out and play.  I left the cinnamon dough rising (recipe in the next post), the laundry on the bed (in the washer and in the dryer), a table full of Christmas crafts, and threw on some gardening clothes.  The boys followed me out to the backyard...not dressed for gardening (no shoes...just socks), but I knew I only had a small window of time before it was time to feed lunch to everyone and put the babies down for a nap (it’s a whole routine that involves teeth brushing and books, snuggling...etc.).  I wanted to see the progress of my winter garden and to see how much it really rained.

I found this tub full of water right at the gate to my garden! 

The pathway had sprouted a lot of weeds so the shoeless boys and I weeded the garden together.  I never mind weeding when the soil is completely soaked because the weeds pull out so easily and I feel a huge sense of accomplishment.  I sprinkled some fertilizer throughout the garden and "watered" it in with the rain water.  Even though it didn't need to be watered, the package said to "apply to wet soil then lightly water in"...so I did.

Here's what's growing in my winter garden this year:

The flat leaf (Italian) parsley is still going strong.

These Christmas oranges are perfect this year!

The garlic patch is sprouting nicely.

My celery is growing strong!  I'm so excited about these...

The onion patch is taking off...nice.

Baby carrot plants...

The curly leaf parsley smells so good.

And, the boys played nicely waiting for me to finish.

While the kids ate lunch, I rolled up the cinnamon rolls and set them in the oven to rise then then bake.  I love my “delay-oven-timer” feature on the oven.  It remembers to cook things when I’m too distracted.  Can’t imagine why I’m too distracted!?!?

Now it’s 3:15 and the babies are asleep.  My daughter has a friend over, my son is enjoying some TV time and I’m ready to tackle the kitchen and the laundry...oh, and take a shower...or maybe I should get to the grocery store!?  But first, I NEED a cinnamon roll.  :)

Plant It To Eat It

A few years ago, my husband signed us up for a weekly CSA basket.  CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  We bought from an inspiring little store called, "Road Less Traveled." So, each week I picked up this basket full of vegetables and fruits and we tried our best to eat them all or preserve them.  We were introduced to many new vegetables and fruits.  Check out Delilah's blog:  projectsmall.blogspot.com/ for CSA basket information and recipes.  I admire her outlook on life.

After tasting these new vegetables each week, I decided to make a goal to do my own backyard personal "CSA."  Why not?  I have room in my backyard, my kids love being back in the garden with me and I live in the best place for growing food year round!  With that, I began paying attention to what we received in our basket throughout the year.  I began researching what to plant in each month in Orange County.  I am embarking on my first real year of growing what we will eat, cooking it up, preserving it for use in other seasons, saving money, eating healthier and living better.

I love how easy it is to plant onion bulbs.  They just grow so effortlessly!

It seems that "what to plant" varies depending on who you ask.  So, for now, I am just going to experiment.  However, I checked out a book at our Orange Public Library written many years ago by a guy who grew everything.  The book is called, "Year Around Gardening in Southern California."  No joke.  This guy lived in Orange and typed up this book (on a typewriter) and published it himself.  He was born in 1903 and published it in 1975.  I trust his research based on the fact that he grew everything he could.  I often wonder what he was like and if he was married, what his wife was like.  Did they preserve their bounty?  How did they use it all?  Did they have a big family?  Fun to think about as I use his passed on wisdom to benefit my family.  I feel it has been tested, tried, and successful.  I use his guide plus pamphlets from Flower Dale and OC Farm Supply to know what to plant and harvest each month.

My gardening motto is:  Plant it to eat it!

Here's what I'm /planting in October:

broccoli, kale, beets, carrots, celery, lettuces, swiss chard, garlic, onions, leek, peas, potatoes, parsley, and if I can find an artichoke start, I'll plant that too... at the request of my daughter.

Other vegetables that you can plant in Orange County in October are:

cabbages, cauliflower, kohlrabi, collards, endive, turnips, rutabaga, salsify, spinach, curly cress, parsnip, asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish.  I'm not ready for these yet... but someday I will be.

Soil, Soil, Soil

Both my grandfather and my dad were Realtors.  In real estate, they say there are three important aspects to consider when purchasing property.  They are: location, location and location.  In gardening, I’d say that it’s soil, location and water.  But this past week, I focused on soil, soil and soil.

In the past, I have just bought a few bags of potting soil, mixed it in with my existing dirt and planted whatever.  I am finally ready to learn how to do this right.  Last week, I went down to Orange County Farm Supply and talked fertilizers with the guys who work there.

I had read in one of my favorite books about gardening, “52 Weeks in the California Garden” by Robert Smaus, about fertilizing.  I wanted something organic.  Here’s what I bought:

My neighbor across the street (an older guy...wise in the world of gardening), mentioned that after you plant tomatoes (of which I had 15 plants this summer), you’ll need to add calcium back into the soil.  Great.  How do I add calcium back into the soil?

Egg shells!  That’s the answer, so I began saving my egg shells.  (We tend to eat a lot of eggs).  I’ve got it down to a system.  I collect them in a small container like this:

Sometime during the day, when I’m finally cleaning my kitchen from the morning mess, I rinse the egg shells and put them in a tray on my potting bench.

Then, after a week or so, when they are nice and dry, I’ll crush them.  I usually take a piece of newspaper and cover the pile and press down.  Then, I’ll bring the whole  tray in and use my cuisenart mini-prep to further break them down.  This is probably not necessary, but I’m impatient and want it broken down in my soil as quickly as possible.   I then store the shells in a jar till I’m ready to add them to my soil.

Today, I added it right to my soil, added the fertilizer, and mixed it all up and watered it in.

A sprinkling of egg shells and fertilizer before I mixed it in

 Today, I planted onions, garlic and celery in another part of my garden.

New celery plants... 

I have never planted celery until this year... only time will tell!  I just bought plants from OSH, but I have seeds to start as well.  I have found that I use a LOT of celery while cooking... and onions, and garlic and CARROTS!  Yes, carrots are next.