Garden Boxes May 22, 2011
Well I know I said I would try to post more often this year, but so far there hasn't been much to post. My knee is still causing me a lot of problems and pain. I haven't been very active until recently. Might be that the weather is finally warming up, but really everything seemed so deary before.
Where to start, well after almost getting selected to be on Turf Wars (see my post from last July on Kimberly's Turf Wars for more details on what the show is) only to be told my street is too busy for them to film, I decided to start my own backyard makeover. I'm tired of every summer coming out and wishing the backyard was just DONE and all I had to do is maintain it.
Well its nowhere done, but its a little closer. My neighbor has been asking me for sometime to remove an oak tree that mostly hangs in her yard. While it provided a lot of shade for me, it provided a lot of clean up on her side. Plus it did shade the entire side I wanted my garden boxes to go. My mom and I had built a garden box probably more than 2 years ago and I had yet to use it except to store weeds and debris in while cleaning up the yard.
So I decided to increase my credit card debt a bit more and have the tree removed. My neighbor (yes the one who has been asking me to remove the tree) had a recommendation for a good cheap tree guy. Luckily he was. He quoted me $450 to remove the tree, after getting permission from the state as it turns out Valley Oak are protected trees, another $75 for trimming back the mock orange, $25 for removing my butterfly bush I poorly planted back there. I figured since Turf Wars won't be doing it for free, this was the best deal.
They showed up bright and early and right on time (shocking for any of you who have hired contractors), by the time I left an hour later they had half the tree gone. My mom was here to
supervise, and pay them for me, sent me an email an hour later saying they were done with everything and took out another renegade tree I had for free and cleaned up after themselves.
Sideyard May 14,2011 after tree removal
Sideyard ready for a garden May 14, 2011
You don't really realize what all space the tree took up until it was gone. I felt so exposed to my neighbor and immediately wished I didn't remove the tree. The following weekend my mom, dad, stepmom Cindy, sister and niece all came down to help me do some projects around the house including building another garden box. My dad and Cindy have built plenty of garden boxes at their own place, so they were kind enough to provide the free wood and put one together.
Since there were so many cooks in the kitchen, it took all day to build the other garden box and the following weekend my mom and I went shopping for all the veggies and dirt. I had NO idea how much dirt these boxes would take. It ended up taking over 18cuft of dirt to fill both garden boxes and repot the Lemon tree and pot my new Olive Tree (a.k.a. Ollie). I ended up planting the following veggies: Zucchini, Artichoke, Eggplant, 2 types of Corn, 4 types of Tomatoes, Lemon Cucumber, Sage, Basil, Green Onion, Italian Parsley, and Olive tree.
May 22, 2011
This box has eggplant, artichoke and zucchini
This box has green onion, 4 different tomato plants, sage, basil, lemon cucumber and Italian parsley
I thought let's try to grow some corn,
had to immediately cage it as Charlie thought it was a weed to chew on
Mr. Ollie (Frantioi Olive Tree) finds a new home in the old lemon tree spot
The next few weeks I continued to water, even though for some reason Mother Nature did most of the watering by not realizing it was Spring and having temps in the low 70s and raining. This did not please my Lemon tree who promptly dropped all it's leaves from the shock of being repotted and then having no sun to help it along. I kept hope that it would recover as I've had that lemon tree for over 8yrs. I kept a vigilant watch over my garden and lemon tree. I also planted a forsythia plant that dad and Cindy brought me in the ground and hoped everything would make it through the rough weather.
Lemon tree loses it's leaves
Luckily the weather caught up with the calendar and the second weekend of June I saw new growth in all my plants. I had a few zucchini blossoms (always heard chefs making recipes with them, but I want mine to grow into actual veggies). My tomatilo plant was covered in yellow buds, but my other tomatoes had nothing. My basil from Trader Joes was growing so well, I even had enough to give some to my mom and her friend John who lives down the street and stopped by for a visit. And luckily my lemon tree started to show signs of regrowth!
June 16, 2011
Zucchini, artichoke and eggplant
Those wonderful zucchini blossoms
The tomato/herb garden
Tomatilo plant is exploding with buds
Lemon tree comes back to life
The next week was filled with more sun and A LOT more growth. My tomato/herb planter box is completely filled with green leaves and yellow buds. My lemon cucumber is finding a place to climb. My tomato plants are all about waist high and showing lots of potential for many tomatoes. My zucchini plant is bigger than I ever expected. I have countless number of blossoms and even have 2 almost full grown zucchinis. My eggplant is looking great and growing strong. The biggest surprise to me is my corn. I never thought I would be able to grow it, let alone have it produce 3 ears. I always thought this was a back East type of veggie, but I can't wait to grill them up.
June 25, 2011
Charlie watches over the bountiful garden
Zucchini plant, how much bigger is it going to get?
More zucchini blossoms than I know what to do with
Eggplant, big and ready to start showing some veggies
Sage, Basil and Italian Parsley thrive along with the tomatoes
Light shines on a new tomato bud
Lemon cucumber start their climb
Green Onion ready to pick
Corn, 3 stalks, get the grill ready!
And most of all my Lemon tree is coming back big and better than ever. The new leaves are growing so fast and I hope to finally have lemons next year, since I haven't had one in over 5yrs. Mr. Ollie is doing well, especially since I trimmed back the rose bush near him and he gets sun all day. The roses are also in full bloom and giving off wonderful scents through my bedroom window. I'm always surprised how fast they recover from being cutback to nothing and coming back bigger, full of color and that wonderful rose scent. I can never have enough to fill the house with their scent.
Lemon tree coming back strong and green
Ollie is happy and at home by the fountain
Roses outside my bedroom window
The perfect rose that smells as good as it looks
I'll keep posting updates to the garden. It looks like its going to be a wonderful SUMMER!
