Sprouting Seeds!

The first sprout in only two days after planting was lettuce, then radish on the third day. I was so surprised. I am sure that soaking them overnight helped speed sprouting. On day 5, a spinach, two carrots and two peas had popped up. The next day cilantro poked through the yummy soil.

This has been so much fun! Today, 12 days after planting, the entire bed is full of sprouts and it will soon be time to thin them. That will be hard to do but necessary to produce the best crop as the radish and carrots will compete for room to grow under the soil if growing to close together.
I am having fun watching them all grow.
Think I really will have veggies next week!

Planting Seeds

The third day of the project was planting seeds. After they soaked overnight, I took all the little seeds out to plant. This is a new experience for me. I have thrown a few seeds in my herb garden before, some come up, most don't. So, I am trying to do it right. Well, the wet seeds stuck to my fingers and the smallest seeds were impossible to plant 1/2 inch apart. So there are several clumps of seeds going in. Oh, well, they all don't come up anyway, right?
Here it is, my own 'square foot garden'. Each section planted with it's ID stick. I fudged a little on the square foot sections. Some of mine are 1 by 2 feet.



So, I am sitting back admiring the finished product and dreaming of veggies next weekend...
Then I thought of our night time guests that love my garden, the raccoons, opossums and daytime squirrels and an occasional rabbit. I knew they would be digging my seeds up. I had seen a couple of nose pokes in the soil from the night before.

Back on goes the thinking cap. I dug in the garage and found this black plastic netting I have used to wrap around the little peach tree to prevent the night time visitors from eating them. I made a netting to cover the entire bed and hooked

it on the sides with cup-type hooks so I can easily remove it when harvesting time comes.

Talk about harvest time! Two days later the lettuce is popping up! and the next day the radishes are breaking ground! I am so excited. I go out several times a day (when I am home) and check it out. Maybe we will be harvesting veggies next weekend.

Building a raised bed

A big Labor Day weekend project.

I have often thought of building a raised bed. I have heard speakers, read the book Square Foot Gardening and know that anything will grow in a raised bed with the best soil.

A friend gave me some old Trex (non-wood deck material) so I recycled it into a frame that Mike built and I was on my way. We made it 3 boards high, less stooping, but then realized it would take much more of that yummy soil to fill all of that space. So, I filled the bottom with a layer of upside down empty (recycled again) plastic nursery pots. I have done that in large containers before.

The second day we added a drip system by hooking into the existing sprinkler line.

It took 8 wheelbarrows of special soil...mixing 1/3 each of Sphagnum Peat Moss, Compost and perlite. The bed measures 3ft. by 8 ft. and 16 in. high. That was a lot of work. But next is the fun part, planting seeds. So I bought Heirloom seeds of carrots, radish, spinach, lettuce, beans, cilantro...all the stuff we like to eat. I soaked them overnight in water. You should have seen my kitchen counter covered with all these little dishes with seeds soaking with their seed packet close for ID.

Chasing pigeons

Aubrey and Garrett love chasing the pigeons on the pier. The city would love to hire them!
You can see Dana Point in the distance.

Beach time with A & G

It was really a special 5 days with our grandchildren. We spent first 2 days with Siena and Tegan, the middle time with all of them, then the last 2 days with Aubrey and Garrett.

Beach time! The water was cold but had fun in the sand, walking to T Street...

and lunch at the end of the pier.

Uncle Randy's Birthday Party

OK, all the grandchildren are here the evening Randy is spending the night. A week before his birthday. Great idea, Grandma, lets plan a birthday party. So, we decorated cupcakes.

Randy asked for a flashlight for his birthday so we let the children each wrap a special one for him. They wanted to play with them all evening! Luckily I had light sticks for each of them for later when they made the tent over our dining room table and we put pillows and blankets for their slumber party.

The fun continues with the little ones

Randy is entertaining Aubrey, Garrett, Siena and Tegan. It is amazing how much fun they can create on the deck and in the garden.

Apple juice and cookies in the 'children s garden'. Garrett helped me refilled that little 'tea pot'
several times as they were all so thirsty.

Playing on the deck with a tent...selling goods to each other from the toy box.

And More Grandchildren

Our children had special commitments and asked if we could watch the grandchildren. We love that opportunity! Just so happened that both families of the grandchildren had commitments during a 5 day period. So, we went in to Grandparent mode and spent wonderful one on one time with them.
Randy came for an overnighter and the 'girls' were having fun playing with him.

We set up the portable play pool on the deck that Siena is enjoying and anxiously awaiting Aubrey and Garrett to arrive.

Garrett and I are trying to blow up one of those really looooooong balloons! I think Aubrey finished it with the hand pump blower.

Aubrey and Garrett having fun on the deck.
We enjoyed blowing bubbles, playing legos, swinging from our deck tree, exploring the gardens and trying to keep all fed with their favorite foods.

Special time with Grandchildren

Siena, 3 and Tegan, 1 spent some Grandma and Grandpa time while parents had other commitments. We had so much fun.

Tegan, checking out my flowers. She loves exploring.

A trip to the Casa is so fun. They are facinated with the water in the fountain. Tegan was frustrated because she could not get in the water.

Siena was so cute, posing for me to take photos at the Casa.