farm with a view

We haven’t checked if this is factually accurate, but we’re pretty sure our plot’s the only one at Ocean View Farms with random concrete pieces/rocks for our walls. We’re actually quite proud of it – well, Andrew, mostly. We didn’t have to pay a nickel to construct it, and surely we absorbed plenty of good karma for turning some dude’s construction trash into something that serves a real, hopefully lasting purpose.

What didn’t cross our minds at the time was how our walls would also become Club Med for Snails.

Indeed, all the nooks and crannies are the perfect habitats for these slimy gastropods to gather, stay cool and chillax during the day:

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We harvested and ate our windowsill micro lettuce. It didn’t grow as robustly as we hoped, but we got a decent single-serving side salad out of it, dressed with a touch of olive oil/dijon vinaigrette, and it was pretty tasty and very lettuce-y.

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I have no good excuse for not posting anything in nearly a month. Except that the holidays came and went, and then things got super busy at work for both of us.

Here’s how our plot is lookin’ these days. Fava beans on the upper left, peas on the upper right, Tuscan kale below them and Swiss chard along the bottom:

(Compare with this Dec. 23 farm update)

(Sugar snap peas, about three inches tall)

(Munched Swiss chard)

The bites on this chard plant indicate a snail/slug problem. And the crushed eggshells I’ve scattered don’t seem to be working so well. I think they’re doing some damage in our mini pea patch, too – I can see their shimmery trails all over the leaves. Ugh. What to do. (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…)

Let’s rewind five months to May, when I first posted about our self-irrigating planters (or SIPs). We had shiny recycled bucket systems, vigorous adolescent plants and high expectations. The plan was to compare the effectiveness of above-ground SIPs to traditional in-ground planting.

So how did we net out?

The short answer: The ones in the ground did much better. What follows is the long answer and lots of questions.

We started off with six buckets – one Champion Bush tomato, one Brandywine tomato, one Black Krim tomato, one Yolo bell pepper and two cucumbers. For comparison, we also had Brandywines, Black Krims and Yolos in the ground.

In June, the cukes died off, most likely due to above-ground temps being too cold. OK, fine. The Champion Bush looked great for awhile, with lots of flowers. The Brandywine, Black Krim and Yolo were all right – not nearly as robust as their in-ground counterparts in terms of foliage, but were lookin’ OK.

July came around, and the in-ground Brandywines and Black Krims started getting loaded with ripening fruit. But the ones in the SIPs only had three or four at a time. On July 25, we dismantled the Brandywine SIP altogether for “lack of activity.”

Come August, everything started to really go south. (Although, to be fair, the tomatoes in the ground were beginning to get ugly, too.) Flowers and leaves were dropping off. The Yolo set forth two or three peppers before going into permanent hibernation, while those in the ground continued to grow. The Black Krim got really spindly, and its tomatoes were about 1/6 (maybe even 1/8?) the size of the fruits produced by the in-ground plants:

BUT, the few cherry-sized tomatoes that we did get from the SIPs were significantly more tasty. I couldn’t resist eating them right then and there in the garden. The Champion Bush ended up producing some decent-sized fruit, but they were pretty bland. (more…)