Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween plant give away after 3:30 pm in front of the garden today

Happy Halloween! Sorry kids, we're not handing out candy but we are giving away plants in front of the garden today!

Come by after 3:30pm and check out what we're giving away. We do this once a month because one of our biggest goals is to help encourage others to grow some of their own useful or at least water wise plants. We also do it because some of these plants just multiply like rabbits and we don't have room to keep them all in our small garden. I suppose we could sell them but we'd rather brighten someone's day by giving them away.

Here's a look at what we gave away last month.
Gidget loves giving plants away but asks that you just take one so she can share the love with more people
Today you'll find some nice Aloe Vera and Jade plants, a baby palm tree or 2, some strawberry plants, some Green Arrow English Pea seeds as well as 1 small Johnny Jump Up.

We do ask that you return our pot after you've transplanted your plant by setting it on the inside of our fence. 

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

  

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Photo of the week

Frijole moonlights as a security guard for the corner store

Friday, October 28, 2011

The market harvest

We have a colorful harvest today
Tomatoes:
  • Beefsteak
  • Lemon boy
  • 3 Sisters
  • Garden peach
  • Assorted cherry tomatoes

We only have 1 eggplant this week but expect more next week
Peppers:
  • Green bell peppers
  • Big Bertha bell peppers
  • Purple beauty bell peppers
  • Habaneros
  • Assorted small peppers

We have 3 Japanese cucumbers pictured with habaneros, lemon boy tomato and purple pepper.

Gidget is too tired to comment today, she is exhausted from keeping the whole house awake all night.

We'll harvest the chard and some herbs in the morning.
Email us by morning if you would like some Aloe Vera leaves.
This is the last week for the 8 a.m. start time and then the market will open on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. We hope to see you tomorrow!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

What's growing on as we approach November

I was away most of the day so I didn't do much in the garden but I did take a walk around and thought I would take you with me.

Gidget inside of the structure I made to keep pets out.
This is a year and a half old PVC frame wrapped in bird netting that is supposed to keep animals out. Gidget has no problem getting in but I've been watching her and now I know where the security breaches are. It worked well before and just needs another layer of netting and more zip ties to secure it. We place the frame over our back garden bed after planting seeds to protect them from curious animals.

This is the west side of the garden today

This pepper in the corner of an EarthBox is not getting enough water. To avoid this make sure your EarthBox is level.

Blossom rot on EarthBox tomato
This happened because I did not add dolomite to this EarthBox. The dolomite is critical in EarthBoxes to prevent calcium deficiency which causes blossom rot.


Luckily most of our tomatoes are doing great and we still have Japanese cucumbers that are producing well.

One of our beautiful Japanese cucumbers

From afar the front garden looks pretty good
But we have a number of plants that will be replaced very soon

Other warm season crops are still looking fantastic, I have had my eye on this tomato for weeks

Today is the day I picked it. It weighs 1.48 lbs. and it is not for sale.

Gidget wants to show you the roses. They need to be pruned but they are always a delight. 

An exterior view of Gidget's Garden today

Most of the strawberries look spectacular.

Some of the strawberries look downright abused.
We'll see you tomorrow for the market harvest post.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fixing fried farmer hair

I made the mistake of not wearing a hat while out in the sun in the garden until recently so my hair was suffering the effects of sun bleaching which made it feel coarse and look a little frizzed even after Alison Creel gave me a fabulous new style. Alison has been my hair stylist for over 8 years and she's the best on the planet. I am a difficult client because I don't see her nearly as often as I should, I refuse to use any products and I don't spend a minute "styling" my hair. Still, I get compliments on my locks, and I know it is because Alison is a genius.

My hair was always very soft when I lived in Seattle, probably because there isn't any sun there to damage it. I wanted that silkiness back so I asked Evan Healy if she could suggest anything to help because I really love her products.

The hair I wanted to soften up at the end of a day of farming 
Evan Healy was kind enough to answer my question right away and she suggested her Whipped Shea Butter with Olive Leaf so I splurged and bought it.

It wasn't cheap but her products are the best possible quality and a little goes a long way
I worked a little less than 2 tablespoons through my hair


My hair with the Shea Butter worked through
Then while Farmer D shook is head in disbelief, I wrapped my head in saran wrap just like Evan suggested.

Wrapping my head in saran wrap

And then topped it off with a towel
I slept this way and then in my morning shower I washed it out by shampooing without wetting my hair first, just like Evan said. I thought it was going to be difficult to wash out and my hair would be greasy but that is not the case, it washed out just fine by not wetting my hair before shampooing.

I allowed my hair to air dry as I do everyday and I could not be happier with the way it turned out. It is soft and silky just like it used to be. Thanks Evan Healy!

My new improved soft and shiny hair
Now I almost always wear a hat when it is sunny in the garden, it helps protect my face from sun damage as well.

Even Gidget gives Evan Healy's Whipped Shea Butter her endorsement



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Our rooftop garden is so bright we have to wear shades

The project we started on Sunday to add 2 coats of white weather proofing to the top of the garage has entered day 3 and I am ready for it to be over but we have several more hours today and then a few hours on Friday before we can call it complete.
Gidget is still being held indoors which feels like jail to her. She wonders why we are punishing her.
We did get a first coat on most of the roof yesterday but the bare spot was too damp and needed to dry out first.

We have to wait for the roof to warm up before we can apply the rest of the first coat and then the second.
I went up first thing this morning to water the plants that are huddled together on one corner of the roof so the roof could dry before going back up this afternoon. The directions say it must be warm out to apply correctly which is why we plan to work this afternoon and then on Friday because the next couple of nights are suppose to cool to below 58 degrees. Brrr.

We owe our neighbor a big thanks for helping us move all the plants to the one corner  that is complete
The white is so bright that I actually do have to wear sunglasses but I am excited to see how well the plants like the reflected light and warmth. I am not excited to see how quickly the white gets dingy and dirty. San Diego is a great place to experiment with this but if we lived in a place with temperatures that consistently rose above 100 degrees then I might reconsider as the plants might get too hot in the summer.

While we wait for the roof to warm up, I am going to hunt for leaf hoppers that keep having babies on our plants

The lemon boy tomatoes are looking great and it looks like we'll have quite a few for the market on Saturday

More lemon boy tomatoes as they ripen up - yum!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Rooftop garden upgrades

Our rooftop garden is on top of our flat roofed garage and backs up to 2 parking lots, one for the corner store and the other down the alley is used for the coffee shop. The side that is in the alley was really ugly until this weekend, so much so that I never even got an actual picture of it because I was embarrassed by just how bad it looked. It was a graffiti target for a long time and needed to be beautified.

Not to mention, we were curious to take a look at the structural components to make double certain that the roof is completely secure. Our friend Sonny from Sonny San Diego and Farmer D did a great job and we're in great shape. I know it's not gorgeous but it is far better than it was before. 
Back of the garage after replacing the siding and painting - we still have a little bit of painting to do 

Here's a look at the roof from the corner store parking lot, our banana tree is tall enough to see above the roof now
We also found a great product to put on the top of the garage which will help further waterproof  and it will reflect warmth and light onto our plants, which will make them more productive.

White roof coating by Henry

I started applying it yesterday
And the kitties started adding their signature this morning

Now I'm keeping Gidget inside until I can at least get this stuff applied and let it completely dry. She's not amused. 

Friday, October 21, 2011

The market harvest

I know I am biased but Gidget's Garden produces some incredible food. We have another gorgeous harvest this week.
The tomatoes are magically delicious!

Our peppers just keep on going and we have a nice basket of the  popular dark purple ones this week. 
We also have 2 eggplants which will sell quickly.

We have some various small mild or not so mild peppers
We also have 2 more Japanese cucumbers this week. They are so delicious and the plants just keep on producing for us.

Pumpkin Habaneros

Chocolate Habaneros
I cannot personally tell you how fabulous these are because they scare me. I am told the pumpkin is hotter than the chocolate. We'll only have them for another week after this so if you were one of the people who asked us to grow them, please stop by and check them out. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Gidget could not possibly be more bored by this conversation
We'll harvest the colorful chard in the morning

And we have some new herbs for the morning
We have quite a few varieties of basil, this is simply Italian basil

Seriously, I am not sure how much more of this she can take, she really wants some hens


Please let us know by 5 am if you would like some Aloe vera leaves and we'll bring some along

Almost...
We want to bring avocados as much as we hope you want to buy them but they just aren't ready yet. They will be though and they are fantastic!

We look forward to seeing you at the market at 28th and B Street between 8am and 12:30pm. On November 5th the time will change to 9:30am to 1:30 pm. Thanks for your support of us and of the market.