Sept 2011 Flood

A snapshot of the front yard under water during the September 2011 flood. (Test post from my new iPhone blogging app!)

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And we're off!

First sprouts for 2012 - Artichokes Started 2/10

The very first seedlings are up and growing for the 2012 garden! The little guys above are my artichoke starts. These little guys will end up being about 2 - 3' spiky wonders! It is hard to believe that they get their starts as such innocent looking little sprouts. I planted multiple seeds per pot because the envelop said that artichokes are notorious difficult to sprout and get good seedling but it looks like I have multiple sprouts in almost every pot. started these guys in 4" pots so that I don't have to re-pot before transplanting them.

Here's what they'll look like eventually:

Photo by ChapmanLA

This week I also started my eggplants and the first round of romaine lettuce and endive. Currently we have to shelves up and partially running in seed central  thanks to Jason's handy wiring project. My project for later this weekend is to tap into the water pipes overhead to be able to water everything without having to go up an down the stairs constantly with my watering can.

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2012 Kick-Off

It is officially time to get to work on the 2012 garden. (Yes, I do realize that I missed most of 2011... I'll post a few additional snapshots a bit later on.)

Now that we'll actually be in the house for the entire planting season, I'm going back in action and getting the plans ready for our first full-fledged veggie garden. While the long-term master plan calls for the "working" garden to be at the back of the property, there is still a LOT of work that needs to take place to clear out the area so that it can house the garden. It is currently still very overgrown and has way too many trees to have enough light. That means that the current plan is to once again site the vegetable garden in the front of the house. 

The current plan calls for the creation of at least 6 new beds which will provide approximately 275 sq.ft. of planting space. Considering the garden at our old house topped out at about 100 sq.ft. it will be quite an increase. The beds will be just slightly raised unlike the beds at the old house which were up about 11 inches. These are eventually going to be converted to perennial beds, so I don't want them to be very high.

Here's the current planting plot...

2012 Planting Plan

As you can see, the overall shape is more or less a triangle, due to the shape of the space. The approximate location is indicated by the orange arrow on the very aspirational master plan below.  (It is side down in the plan view). The longest side borders the sidewalk to the front door. The three empty triangles are still TBD. They most likely will be paved and then hold either the concrete standards, potted plants, or may be planted out with standard roses and / or an arbor.

The "Master Plan"

Here's a current view of the "Master Plan". I'm working from front to back, so currently the only thing complete are the beds at the top right of the image which is the side that borders the street. (You can see the eventual long-term location for the veggie garden at the bottom right.) Of course this version of the plan does not take into account the CRAZY slope at the back of the lot, or the location of the massive trees that will eventually have to come down. You can at least get a feeling for what it might look like some day!

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