Garden thoughts from Xmas to NYE

Making the list and checking it twice. Not a Xmas gift list, but a list of garden seeds and plants for the garden of 2016.  The garden always starts anew every year, and the failures and the successes give us hope and give a sad face. So much hope! So much reward! and some failures. Just like life.

The container garden worked out pretty well. Just pretty well. I won't repeat it because: the no5 plastic boxes were very heavy, and cracked at the end of the summer since they aren't meant to last a long time (and not meant to last outside either).

I was surprised by a seedling that turned out to be a cherry tomato....probably a Sweet 100, since I do grow it every year, except 2015, but one came up on its own anyway. It's tough and I highly recommend it to novice and old-time gardeners alike.

The plants in the boxes didn't grow very well (probably  not high quality dirt), except the peppers and the marigolds.

The garden of 2016 will have more cherry tomatoes, more striped tomatoes, and my favorite peppers... Corno di Toro. Those amazing little Japanese eggplants and more pickling cucumbers because of their smaller size, and they are multi-purpose. Pickle them or eat them fresh! Another Meyer Lemon because Lemon! And I'm buying a miniature fruit tree or 2 to grow in a big wine barrel or 2.

More marigolds, more morning glories and nasturtium, more zinnias, more sunflowers. More alyssum, more daisies. 

On the other hand, the morning glories were glorious! And self-seeding.
pics from 2015 --- Oh, we didn't have any Japanese beetles but we had a late season tomato hornworm. UGLEEE. and a darling praying mantis lived in the wild geranium weed for a week or so.
The mantis is hard to seeeee, but he is there, right in the middle of this picture.

But the tomato hornworm is pretty easy to see. It did take us about a week to find him in the cherry tomato.

Here are some pics that I especially like from 2015. The weeds in the cracked concrete were especially adorable.

When last we spoke of the container garden, we had just planted the heirloom tomatoes and other such old-fashioned things. And we discussed the #5 plastic bins that we, the royal we, will plant our old-fashioned things in... and we have and they are up and look at what is going on now in the trailer park garden in early June!
For a quick review of the plantings and doings in March '15, clicky here, and then come right back! 

We are letting the weeds grow, and they are providing a lot of blooms now and look very adorable in a cottage garden kind of way. I practice an organic and biodynamic style of gardening. Weeds for the bees, butterflies and worms and caterpillars and lots of ladybugs, and lady bug larvae.
I am quite sure the manager of the trailer park is not happy with my weeds! But they are very important to the success of my garden and my produce I hope to have........ the tomatoes, the zukes, the cukes and all the lovely flowers too.

Here we have lettuce and tomato seedlings and they have grown so much......as you shall see in the pics nearer the bottom.
I planted seeds of 2 kinds of cukes to climb on the patio, and a zuke to grow all over the place. Okra, beans, bell peppers, and Jalepeno, and basil, mint and sage. Lots of flowers too for the beeeeeez and butterflies.
Indigo Rose is a great black little tomato that's new to me, Cherokee Chocolate, a relative of my all time fave Cherokee, Garden Peach (new heirloom to me), Black Prince ( love a dark tomato), Silvery fir tree with fine lace leaves and a red tomato, a big orange and yellow beeksteak weirdo named Hazel Mae, which is also new to me this year. This is gonna bee fun. ha ha ...

I re-use old plastic tags, mark them with a Sharpie, or use popsicle sticks or little random pieces of wood to mark the seeds and tiny plants (and big plants if memory might fade)

Cukes, Zukes, okra and peppers. Lots of tomatoes!!
The beans are running along and have had a lot of snails to attack and eat them so Sluggo to the rescue! I do love and need some bugs and spiders and worms and such, but I need far less snails and slugs. Go Away!

 Here's my Meyer Lemon. I LOVE my lemon. So much. At cocktail hour I pop out for a fresh lemon and put a sliver of fresh goodness in my martini.

OK, I planted the heirloom tomatoes, the peppers, and a basil and lots of flowers in the bins with yummy organic soil. Then I did a covering of the dirt using the  plastic from the big bags of organic soil, to A. Keep the soil warm and moist. and B. Keep the cats from taking a crap in my pots of dirt and tiny little garden plants.
I love the cats. I do not want them in the dirt, pooping.

The tomatoes and other tiny little things were transplanted at the end of May '15, and in a week they have doubled in size!
The marigolds, the sage, the lobelia....... are all blooming and attracting lots of bees all day.
We get California carpenter bees.... big buzzy and black velvet.
We get Apis mellifera, the good ol' Honey bee that Monsanto and Bayer are hellbent on KILLING OFF. And lots of teeny teeny bees, and lots of ladybugs too.

Here is the big view. I took some bamboo poles, that I grew in Tacoma and lugged them down here with me, and I stuck them in the bins of dirt and tied them together for a frame to hold the tomatoes. Will this be strong enough? I don't know. But I can add more sticks and stuff later as the season goes on if the plants threaten to grow as high as an elephant's eye.

I have 4 more big pots that I'll fill with more organic soil and put in the cukes and zukes and other stuff I wanna grow. I use Kelloggs Organic soil , or Black Gold, (Organic Materials Review Institute) OMRI ok'd, and supplement it with organic compost.

so, yes, since we are very bee and butterfly friendly and we never never use poisons, and only grow in organic soil, we are lettting the weeds grow. Weeds are lovely plants with bad press.
Many plants have self-seeded from last year.... tomatoes, alyssum, lobelia, chamomile, dusty miller.... We have lots of sow thistles, and tiny other things, and I'll add my little film in a few days and make a list of the names of the weeds I've been able to identify. That there is a subject I want to know more about.

The butterfly bush and  a tiny tiny bee on the Luther Burbank from Santa Rosa Shasta Daisy.
It is all Heaven!

the patio is much more bohemian

..this year than last.  This year, honestly, only because these 40s barkcloth drapes were the easiest to pull out of my great big box of old fabrics, did they make the cut for this year's fashion in decorating the trailer park patio.

 More color, more pattern but it is the same furniture. I moved the dresser to the side, and hung a big piece of black shade cloth as the "front door". Soon, once it heats up towards 80+ everyday, we'll need to toss the big BIG shade cloth over the roof, aka Big white tarp.

Last year I used a lot more neutrals... canvas, raw silk, faded vintage fabrics.
 Here is before...

When you live in a tiny house, an rv, a trailer or a camper or van, the outside spaces become much more important. That's the best part of living tiny, is you spend more time outside.
so, the 99.00 patio was destroyed in the hot sun, so we bought a 50.00 white tarp and tossed it over the frame, tied it down with bungie cords, and beefed up the legs with the bamboo poles we had on hand. The floor is pallets, and the big wood box is made from pallets and scrap wood and holds tools. It locks, and it is really nice to have them all together, and out from under the Winnie in blue bins.
All the furniture is the same, with just different fabric tossed over the cushions. There's still more tiny lights.... from yard sales.... to hang up around the edges to light it in the night. 

The fireplace on the patio is from yard sales....  sitting on some marble squares.


I love hearing the birds twitter, the buzz of the bees that visit my flowers and the sound of the breezes.
I am not a fan of traffic, stupid kids with sub-woofers or loud misogynistic rap noise.
But, outside, is where I spend a lot of time. And in California, shade is so very important. It's cooler under there.


The garden is all in pots, and this year I'm trying out #5 bins from the hardware/thrift store to grow the tomatoes in.

I move the potted plants around but I think this is the best garden for the day...

I made a trellis around the front of the shed to hold morning glories and a lot of cucumbers.

Those big #5  Sterlite bins will hold the tomatoes and herbs. The black pots will hold the peppers, the okra, tomatillo, and eggplant.

The first sweet peas of Spring 2015. Cheri Amour from Renee's Garden seeds company. Sweet, pastels and two-tones.

The Victoria blue blooms came back, and the nice little merlot pansies go well with a faded pink flamingo.

I'm letting the weeds grow. They are food for the bees, and they are actually really interesting, but more about them another time.