Memory jar

This would be filed under "make" rather than "grow":

1. Clean out jar.
2. Cover with scrapbooking paper and decorate.
3. Add slips of paper with descriptions of happy memories whenever the thought strikes you.

Composting

This morning I attended a composting presentation put on the East Bay Regional Parks District. I had signed up because I curious about composting, but not expecting to actually do it at my current residence. However, it turns out that it's much easier than I'd expected, and now I am inspired to go ahead with this project!

I will be composting on a small scale, since I'll be producing most of the food scraps for it on my own, and I'll just be using the finished product in my small garden. So instead of getting a big tub for it or building somethig, I will buy a large black plastic bin at a home improvement store, drill holes in it, and add worms.

Here are some of my notes from the presentation:

Layer your compost about 50/50 with green stuff (food scraps, grass, fresh leaves) and brown stuff (coffee grounds or tea, dead leaves and small twigs, dry grass, shredded newspaper or other papers). No meat products or dairy. Turn it regularly -- if you turn it more than once a week, you can get good compost within a month! Keep it fluffed up and loose, and moist (about the moistness of a wrung-out sponge).

It needs heat to kill off pathoges and keep it moist and active. A minimum size of 3' x 3' x 3' is suggested, although you can go smaller (as I will) by keeping the dark-colored bin in the sun and adding worms to help process the stuff.

Use a hardware screen as a sieve over a bin or bucket to get the finished product from among the still-decomposing stuff. I will endeavor to stack two bins together with a screen between them, so that I can just shake the worm bin and the finished compost will fall below.

When using your compost for your veggies (as I will!) or heavily flowering plants, mix 50/50 with high quality soil, or add a half inch layer on top of the existing soil (then add mulch on top, to keep the compost in place). When using compost for decorative plants, use a smaller ratio.

"Compost tea": water the worm bin and collect the run-off, dilute, and use as liquid fertilizer.


I am so jazzed about this! First step is to go to the store and buy two black plastic bins, hardware screen, worms, and a hand rake for turning the compost.

Garden pictures

The peas sprouted last Monday. They're already a few inches tall! I waited a bit too long to thin them out, even.

Look at all those roots!

I also thinned out the dill - my first opportunity to eat something from my own garden!

In the words of the Thug Kitchen, "Put that shit right on that motherlovin' sandwich."

You hear so many people say that it's more satisfying to eat something you grew yourself. They are absolutely right.

The forget-me-nots just broke soil today.

Up in the succulent garden on the deck, we have a few getting ready to flower. (Click on any picture to see it come up in a bigger format.)

This one has been growing the stalk for the flowers for months! They're finally, slowly, blooming.

A few others that are looking good:

That last spotty one looks exceptionally like an alien plant. It's some rare succulent that I've only seen in people's gardens twice. It's planted next to something that is not a succulent, but was also planted in someone's succulent garden, so I harvested it. It's growing a purple flower. I have no idea what it is.

Tiny sprouts in the tiny garden

Peas and scallions which just sprouted, and the healthy parsley and dill (which I need to thin out again).

One of my friends visited on Saturday and asked, "Aren't you planting pretty late?" Our Bay Area climate is so mild that many plants can be seeded and harvested much later in the year. Plus, the lady at the edible plant store is counting on our typical "Indian summer", in which September and October are still hot. But if the plants fail, oh well, I'll just try again in the spring. There are plenty of seeds left in the packets.

Just bloomed!

Some sort of succulent.

The State of the Garden

As promised, pictures of my entire garden. You can click on any picture to see it come up in a bigger version.

The most exciting part -- the new vegetable and herb garden! In the back are two baby cucumber plants who are already twice as large as they were a month ago. After I took this picture I finally got around to giving them help to reach skyward via string. They have baby trellises above their pots right now, but obviously eventually they will need more.

The tupperware on the bottom left has one freshly planted row of spinach and scallions each. Once those sprout, I will plant another two rows, and so on. My first try at the critical skill of succession planting. Next to that is a container of just-sprouting dill, then parsley, then a freshly planted container of English peas, which I will trellis straight onto the pen. The pen, by the way, is there to keep both dogs and cats out of the "digging boxes"/"litter boxes".

Close up of the dill on the left and the parsley on the right. I've already nibbled on the shoots which I pulled when I was thinning the plants, and they did not disappoint.

This boring shot is of my freshly-planted Forget Me Nots and my big new watering can. The house I live in has on-demand hot water rather than a boiler, which saves energy but means that you have to run the shower for a while before the warm water reaches you. I save the cold water in a bucket, then transfer it to the watering can. (I also use the water for cooking, since it's the same water that comes through the kitchen faucet.)

This as my first non-succulent plant, a fuschia. It's got a few buds right now but isn't showing very well. It grows happy pink flowers regularly.

A big ol' fern which has been growing quickly during the past couple of months. It's in a huge pot because its mature size should be three feet tall and wide.

The succulents which like shade, blocked off from the dogs' pee by little fences.

And here's the entire rest of the succulent garden! I can't stop myself if I'm walking my someone's yard and they have a type I haven't seen before. Succulents are super easy to take care of -- you grow a new one simply by picking off a branch and sticking it in soil, and they are drought tolerant. They come in all kinds of funky shapes that are fun to look at. They were a great starter plant for me and allowed me to discover the joy of gardening. It is the most relaxing and fulfulling activity I can turn to if I am feeling stressed or depressed. My garden is a big factor in my sense of well-being.

Close-up of the strawberry pots. There's one plant in there that's not a succulent, and I don't know what it is, but it has pungent leaves and pretty purple flowers.

Shower caddy provides a space-saving way to display many small pots.

Close-up of left side.

Close-up of middle.

Close-up of right side.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog, Grow, Make, Learn, Thrive. This is primarily a place for me to keep track of my gardening activity. I have been growing succulents in containers for a couple of years, and in the past two months I've decided to expand to edible herbs and vegetables. I will also be posting about my crafting and sewing projects, and other creative endeavors.

With my decision to grow edible plants, I've realized that my ultimate goal is to progress toward homesteading, at least at a simple, beginner's level. At my current residence, growing a small number of plants is the extent of what I can do -- physically, anyway. I can still learn and plan for a future home in which I may be able to harvest more plants, raise chickens for eggs, and perhaps other animals, too. Fortunately I am very lucky to already receive delicious eggs from a friend's chickens.

At this point in my life, my ideal home would be a tiny cottage or Tumbleweed house located on a large property, on which I would do small scale farming and have a dog training field with agility and obedience/rally equipment. You see, my day job and passion is dog training. Currently I teach basic obedience/manners and do behavioral problem solving, but I am on my way to also teaching the dog sports of agility and obedience, and probably more! You can see my professional website at Ruff Translation, and my blog for tracking my own dog's training at The Legend of Chimera Monstra.

When daylight returns, I will post current pictures of my succulent, edible, and decorative gardens.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.