farm with a view

Six consecutive days of rain. Can’t remember the last time that happened here in L.A. By day three I was getting a little worried about the kale and chard seedlings we’d just transplanted the weekend before the storms. The most inconvenient thing about having a community garden plot is – duh – having to go out of your way to check on it. As in having to drive to get there. And since Angelenos are notoriously bad at driving when the tiniest sprinkle falls from the sky, we decided it wasn’t worth risking our lives to drive more than what was absolutely necessary and left the plants in the hands of the garden and weather gods.

Today – the first clear day – I finally stopped by the garden. I was fearing the worst after reading this ReadyMade post about rain and drowned seedlings; it basically says they should be OK as long as they’re in raised beds. Of which ours are not. I envisioned being welcomed by dead, flattened plants.

Thankfully, they are still upright:

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Now that we’ve been lording over this community garden plot for about a year, I thought it would be good to get an idea of how much money we’ve spent during our first year of vegetable gardening. Start-up costs, if you will. (more…)

I’m not sure what happened, but our compost worms seem to be disappearing. Either that, or they’re hiding out deep down at the bottom of the Gusanito bin … but I kinda don’t think so. I used to dig around quite frequently, but haven’t lately after Andrew told me to stop it. (“Would you want to be poked by a giant fork every day?”) Anyway, I don’t see nearly as many worms as I used to.

The veggie scraps and brown paper bag bits are still breaking down OK, but when there used to be a few worms lazying about on top when I pull up the lid, or slithering around on the sides of the bin, there haven’t been any in awhile. (more…)

So while Mother Nature can’t make up her mind about what season we’re in, we’re going to try growing micro lettuces and a few spinach in our apartment, under a west-facing windowsill that spans 8 feet across. In addition to being fast-maturing, these greens are shallow-rooted, so don’t require a ton of space or dirt. We’re planting them in 2 ½-gallon water containers, with the spout side down for drainage.

First we sheared off the water containers’ backs and flipped them so that they’re now open on top. Then we put in some lava rocks to help with draining during watering. Note the containers’ handles, which used to be on top and are now sideways in the up/down position. We’ll use the hollow handle to water the plants from the bottom up.

In goes the growing medium (about 4 inches deep, not counting the layer of rocks). We’ve got potting mix in one container and potting soil in the other, to see which is better.

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I was born and raised in Los Angeles. Which means I’m pretty clueless when it comes to the weather. I know it gets chilly in the winter here – when it dips into the 40s and 50s, brr! – and we usually get rain in the spring. I know that June is gloomy and the dry Santa Ana winds usually blow through in late summer or early fall. Sometimes that causes fires.

As everybody knows, when you have an outdoor garden, you are at the mercy of the weather. So, I’ve been much more attentive this year. And boy, did we pick a no-good-very-bad year to start a vegetable garden. (more…)