A little winter gardening in California

It's time to start the garden year for 2015! I'm so happy I wet my plants. ;-)

It's true, that tomatoes and marigolds will come later in year, there are so many seeds to plant now, for growing your own food. Whether you garden in pots like me, or have a 1/4 acre plot, a big big backyard and front yard, there is simply no greater joy in life than to grow your own food.
You feel strong, you feel smart, you feel a connection with the humans from centuries past, and since you are what you eat......
doncha wanna eat good and healthy? Yes, you do!
Even if you can't grow everything, I can't certainly, but I can grow a lot of food in a few dozen pots and planters.
Follow along with me this year, because we are gonna see some miracles of life, and some of the best food any human has ever eaten!

 Oh yes you can!  if you live in a climate that has a few easy frosts in the winter, say below 32 degrees only a few times during winter, you can plant so many seeds.

Here's a short list of what you can plant, and what I planted mid January here in Northern Cali.

Spinach, beets, radish, lettuce, pak choi, broccoli, mustard, parsnips, rutabaga, and kale.  I always check the back of the package to be sure it says, NO GMO.
Why in the hell would you trust a for-profit corporation that specialized in pesticides to sell you seeds to plant for food?
GMO's are not safe for you. I don't plant them, and I sure don't eat them when I buy food at the supermarket. I have been buying organic, which is 100% NON-GMO, and I read all the labels to be sure it isn't GMO.

See, it will say on the package.  Here is a list of NON GMO seed companies.
The saddest news I have to report after almost 60 years of gardening, that MONSANTO now owns about 40% of the seeds sold in the US and worldwide, where GMO's are allowed, which is almost nowhere!!
They also own some HEIRLOOM names of very old seed varieties. How's that for Evil!!
Monsanto bought Seminis, "Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc. (“Seminis”) has grown to be the world’s largest developer, grower and marketer of vegetable seeds. Monsanto Company purchased the Seminis business in 2005. Seminis offers seed for commercial farmers and home gardeners. For the home garden market, Seminis offers bean, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, melons, onion, peas, peppers, spinach, sweet corn, tomato and watermelon seed."

Beware! What home garden seed sellers are OK? Here is a link and a list.
Good Seeds........ 

This link to the Wayback Machine, the Internet Archive, has an article, a long long list, and it will take time to read, if you want to avoid Monsanto. And I know you do!

What seed companies took the Safe Seed Pledge?  Here is a list.
You can depend on these, and many others.
Renee’s Garden , Seeds of Change, TomatoFest Organic Heirloom Tomato Seeds, Lake Valley Seed,  Select Seeds Company, The Pepper Gal , Henry Field's Seed & Nursery Co., Seed Savers Exchange,  Ferry Morse Seed Company,  Johnny's Selected Seeds , Annie's Heirloom Seeds,  Nichol's Garden Nursery ,  Territorial Seed Company, Cooks Garden,  Ed Hume Seeds, Jung Seed Co. , and many many more.

2005, Monsanto grabbed approximately 40% of the US vegetable seed market - See more at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-four-steps-required-to-keep-monsanto-out-of-your-garden/#sthash.QlvfHe2a.dpuf

2005, Monsanto grabbed approximately 40% of the US vegetable seed market - See more at: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-four-steps-required-to-keep-monsanto-out-of-your-garden/#sthash.QlvfHe2a.dpuf

first I had to pull all the dead plants from the frost last month, and here are the last blighty tomatoes. This year, I'm gonna start tomatoes that are blight-resistant.

Then in all my pots, I stirred in some organic compost, some chicken poop and stirred it up.
I made little indentations, and dropped in some seed according to the package instructions and gently covered them up, and watered with a gentle stream from my watering can with a rose.

A few weeks ago I bought a few pansies to brighten up the winter garden, and I trimmed back the alyssum, and gave the garden a general clean-up.

The potted garden is a little bleak, I'll admit, but it is nice to see what survived the frosts:
Alyssum, nasturtium (with a few damaged leaves), and all the perennials, that I just cut back to half, or some, to their stems leaving about an inch.

I also tossed in some winter flowers to bloom ASAP! These all have tiny seeds, so only cover them just slightly.... about 1/16" to 1/4".
Godetia, Evening Stock, Garden stock, calendula, more alyssum,  all are reliable early Spring bloomers.
I have some sprouts... so next bloggy post, I'll show pics of what some of the first ones up look like.

another winnie post

jewelry hang ups. blah blah. the succulent-growing and multitudes of flowers,  and the vegetable harvest of 2014 was fantabulous! Lots of tomatoes, peppers, bell and mild munching kind, tomatillos, string beans, eggplants, oh my.

Eggplants galore! these did better than I thought they would. This variety is dairyu ichiban, Japanese eggplant. They are still producing now in late October after being planted in my big big pots in May. I water everyday and feed a diluted hippie dippie fertilizer.

So yeah, UP with Japanese eggplant.

and when I wasn't being outside in the sunshine, I do live a perfect life, I was inside in the air conditioning making my home look better and work better for me.
 We are finding that we are happier living in the Winnebago than we thought we would be. We thought it would be cramped and crazy. But once you get rid of a lot of things.... and reduce down to what you like right now, it is really quite calming.
We don't want to go back to living in a house unless it is very small.

The steps made from pallets and the pots and pots of flowers and vegetables and Homegrown Tomatoes, and the patio with comfy furniture has made it like a little paradise.

Or like we are on vacation everyday.

I made a jewelry corner, and re did the closet. Hung up hooks and hung things on the hooks.
The Winnie has the tiniest closets.
Up there I do keep clothes, both summer and winter storage and under here, Shoes and Boots!

My favoritest trick was to hang my bracelets on the curtain rod, and to hang a lace doily on the wall, and hang my earrings on it. I also pin some brooches there on the curtain, but most of my jewelry is in a box on the shelf. This adventure has made me really really cull out my 43 boxes of clothes.

The Potted Garden of Eatin'

 

My garden this year was planted in pots, big big pots and a few smaller ones. I scored all of them at yard sales, and I shoulda bought more than I did. Well, next time I will. I bought organic vegetable starts because I got such a late start this year with traveling and moving in March and April, but I did plant some seeds.

In the big pots I stuffed my favorite heirloom tomato of all that I've grown in the last 45 years... the Cherokee Purple, and one Early Girl, and a mini tomato, Sweet Million. Damn, those little ones are so sweet and tasty.

I also planted 2 kinds of eating and grilling peppers, a tomatillo, a small zuke, and a Japanese eggplant.  Since mid-June we've been eating tomatoes and peppers, and now the tomatillo and eggplant are producing.
I planted some climbing purple tiger beans and red flowering beans. No I didn't plant everything I wanted but I did get a lot......
Also, marigolds, sunflowers, nasturtiums, alyssum, geranium, fennel, zinnas, morning glories, chartreuse potato vine, rosemary, lavender, lots of succulents, and  a few corns for fun.

Here's what we started with in the yard.......

We got rocks, cement and asphalt. We got a back fence. And empty space. So...we put up a cheapo pop-up, and a shed. So far so good! Then I planted all the pots with 1/2 good organic potting soil, and for substance, 1/2 of organic garden soil.

this was the garden in early July and then I decide to move all the pots around for less hot sun exposure. This ain't Washington! It gets HOT in California. Too much sun dries out the plants in the pots, even with careful morning watering and a mid-afternoon watering for the smaller pots if need be, when the temp hits 90. Which is almost everyday.

Here's a little tour of the yard. This is right before everything Took Off!!!

The patio under the pop-up, the shed, the backyard, a view from the street, the pallet steps and front yard pots of flowers, a vintage wood dresser for cooking outside (the Winnie gets hot....) and lots of flowers, and lots of good food from just a few pots this spring and summer.
In August, the fall crops will go in the new pots I intend to score at the yard sales around town.

pallet steps (love them!), lots of pots of succulents and sedums. A wood spool (so hippie) and a big pot of trailing nasturtium.

Looking under the awning towards the back yard, the patio with pots of flowers and climbing beans across the front.
To the right is the  shed where we make stuff. I hung a lace curtain in the doorway to help block the sun, but it doesn't keep the neighbor cats from coming in and taking a nap.

Inside the patio........ oh yes the Avocado made the transition just fine and is loving the shady warm patio. Hung up fabric and shades on the sides for sun protection and look.....a cat!

Looking to the backyard between the shed and patio and sunflowers!!

this here in the bottom of the pic is my Meyer Lemon. I am so excited because it's gonna bloom any second now, and then this winter Lemons! yummmmy.

The first Japanese eggplants in early July, and below a zuke with marigolds. I like to plant a lot of annuals that are very attractive to bees and boy are they!
I had 3 pretty bright green squash bugs come a visitin' and a eatin' so I had to squash them. They are hard to kill with chemicals, which I don't use anyway, so squash squash squash.

We're getting something from the garden everyday.... a few tomatoes, a few peppers. Next year I'll start everything I can from seed, and put in pumpkins and squash, and lots more corn too. But for the little effort and the few big pots, we're pretty darn happy.