Time Spent in the Garden

I decided to start gardening again. When living in the Memphis, TN area, I was part of a garden club and even became president one year! But when we moved to the East Bay of San Francisco, there was no room. Brianna wanted a beautiful garden when she got well. Oh how I longed to fulfill that dream for her. Eventually we moved to a home with a yard and about a year after living it, I decided it was time.

We have very clayey soil, so I did have to amend it, probably not enough! But last fall, I threw our rotting Halloween pumpkins in this side yard patch hoping that I would find plants next season. We had a lot of rain in the spring and I was so excited to see squash plants growing! This was the plant about a month ago, and this is the plant now!

In fact, I have about five pumpkin plants growing in the large side yard and am so excited to see large fruit growing! But I have to keep the pests off them! Here is another view.

The wire mesh is used to keep the critters away. I'm finding small holes in the rock hard dirt nearby and try to plug them up as soon as I see them! They are either ground squirrels or dare I say...rats?

I have always been a believer in a mulch pile. All my kitchen scraps go into it. No meat, fat, or anything that will attract vermin. Just veggie scraps, coffee grinds, egg shells, ash and believe or not...dog hair! (The protein is good for the soil!) I do try to avoid too much fruit due to those nasty fruit flies.

But I've planted corn, tomatoes, zucchini, lots of pumpkins and I even have some potatoes that started in my mulch pile.

We also have a peach tree and several Asian pear trees. This year, I decided I would try to keep the fruit for us instead of leave most of it for the birds. So I've placed a large net over it.

I used a tip from Martha Steward and placed plastic planting containers on top of tall wooden stacks and then laid the net over it. This way, I can just slip under the net and harvest the peaches without having to bend over! You can see I'm into recycling too. In the background is Trevor's mylar graduation balloon, which is keep the birds away too!

I don't do this all myself you see. I do have a helper, although he tends to sleep on the job!

Sir Winston is our 9-year-old shepherd who loves to chase bugs and the running hose!! Now that I've given you the tour of my little starter garden, I'll leave you with a few shots of some little magical blossoms that sprouted this year from one of our sedums.

They are just so delicate, about the size of my thumbnail. And the color just doesn't seem real. I want to paint little fairies in them! In fact, I'm sure I saw a little wee one poking her head out just before I took the picture! I hope you are enjoying your summer and the fruits of the season.

Comments

[Pamela Leah Humberston]

Oh Iva I love seeing your garden! I have helpers too! My Boston terrier, my yorky poo and my chubby Corgi! I had two pumpkin plants growing and those little helpers broke off to vines! Ugh! I have one vine left, keep your fingers crossed for me. :)