Week 6 - Getting there!

Friday, March 27 2009



Time in: 4pm
Time out: 8pm

This is the day that we really laid down a lot of the ground-work for the tomato patch. These tasks included:

• Deciding on a layout for the tomatoes, then planting them. We used a theme for each lot. One for the classic red kind, one for the extra-large kind, one for color (striped red and orange or purple) and one for "odds and ends" (we both picked out a variety we thought sounded odd or interesting).

• Planting marigolds and sowed nasturtium seeds.

• Installing individual lines (from the main drip-line) to each tomato plant. We also snaked a line through the marigold plants and one for the nasturtium seeds.

• Adding extra hot chili pepper flakes around the tomato plants

• Mulching

• Creating small cages for individual tomato plant for added protection from squirrels
  

• Setting up timer for drip irrigation. Since the tomato plants are still seedlings, it was suggested to us that they should be watered a little more in the first couple of weeks, so we decided to set the timer on for 5 minutes every 48 hours at 7:30am and pm. We are crossing our fingers that it will work!
  

Next week's tasks:

• Plant eggplant, squash and cucumbers in 5 gallon containers

• Set up the drip irrigation for the 5 gallon containers
  

• Plant legumes alongside tomato plants (more on this later)
  

• Plan for the small lot on the other side of the shed
  

Week 6 (part one) - Tomatomania!

Friday, March 27 2009

Time in: 10am
Time out: 2pm

This is the first tomato festival we ever visited. It was packed!

There were so many varieties to choose from (approximately 300), so what was first suppose to be a project of 4 varieties, became a project of 12 varieties!!

Week 5 (part two) - Trench digging

Time in: 9am
Time out : 11am



On this post, we'd like to share our appreciation for our dear friend (and Kelly's dear fiance), Jared for all of his work and support with our project. He didn't hesitate a moment to help us dig the trench for the main line from the spigot to the garden.(Ayumi, after promising to be there overslept and showed up when it was done!) Thank you, Jared!!





Next Week's Tasks:

• Visit the Tomatomania! Festival this Friday (it will be held in Encino)

• Buy more potting soil, mulch, and chili pepper flakes

• Plant nasturtium and marigolds
  

• Plant veggies in 5 gallon containers

• Install drip lines to individual plants

Week 5 (part one) - Happy Spring!

Friday, March 20, 2009 - Spring is officially here!

Time in: 10am
Time out: 2pm

We had planned to install the main line to the drip irrigation system the next day (Saturday). So on this day, we decided to take it easy and enjoy the beautiful spring day!

Here are some pictures we took from the hidden botanical garden and greenhouse we visited.

Week 4 - Friday the 13th Gardening Day

Time in: 12 noon
Time out: 7pm

A perfect gardening day! It was beautiful weather and we had the entire day to spend. We had a very productive day of working on various gardening things.


We have two gardens. One is at Kelly's parent's house, where we set up an 8x8 ft. garden patch. See above

The other is a small container garden in front of Kelly's apartment (Ayumi lives across the street). Right

The garden at Kelly's parent's house is mostly dedicated to vegetables while the plants at the apartment are all in containers and include a wide range of plants including orchids, herbs, bulb plants, and some vegetables. Many of the container plants are random experiments like seed mixes or give-aways, and sometimes we don't even know what just sprouted, but that's part of the fun!

Things we did today..

Project at Square Foot Veggie Patch

• Dumped out all of the apartment compost bin's contents into the large compost bin in the back of the shed. Time to start new.

• Laid out the plans for the veggie patch such as irrigation installation, and placement of plants. We decided we have to dig a small trench from the side of the house (where the spigot is) to the garden patch. This way, any foot traffic or mowing will not disturb the tubing.
  

Project at Das Bauhaus ( the apartment)

• Reworked compost bin - We created a double-layered bin by making holes in the bottom of one and stacking it on top of a slightly smaller one. This way, the organic materials can aerate and drain a lot better!

• Transplanted squash, cucumber, eggplant and sunflower seedlings - Some hardening off (slowly introducing seedling to their outside environment), and they'll be ready!

• Planted Roma, grape tomatoes, basil - Still waiting on the special-ordered heirloom seeds (lost in the mail?..), but we've got a couple varieties to choose from in our seed bank to compensate for time.
  

• Organized seed bank - We desperately needed this! Definitely an accomplishment we're proud of!

Next week's tasks:

• Dig trench

• Plant nasturtiums by the veggie patch

• Install drip irrigation system

• Plant heirloom tomato seeds (hopefully they'll get here!)

• Buy chili flakes to ward off squirrels
  

Week 3-Where are you seeds?

Time in: 9pm
Time out: 10pm

We are patiently waiting for our tomato seeds to arrive. In the meantime, the bulbs we planted in late December are in full bloom. We planted narcissus, iris, tulips, crocus, garlic and onion. It's been fun to watch them grow since we get to see a noticeable change everyday.

We got geared up to garden only to be met with rain this week. We know it's much needed rain and love the way the tulip petals look so saturated but we are ready to begin. Drip irrigation kit and water timer was purchased which makes us feel like we are serious gardeners. A few more supplies to pick up and we are in full gear!

Next week's tasks:

• Purchase potting soil for 5 gallon containers

• Transplant seedlings in containers (eggplant, cukes, squash, sunflowers)
  

• Plant basil and heirloom seeds