Calabazas!

Well the first four are out and many more to come. Here we have the first eight ball zucchini's. Let the harvest begin! At first I did not know when to harvest these zucchini's, but after reading they grow up to a size of a golf ball, I thought it was ready to harvest the first ones. I also noticed that the flower was dying out and beginning to rotten the base of the zucchini. Well, time to cook these bad boys...

Community Supported Agriculture

I had heard of programs like these CSA (community Supported Agriculture), but never really looked into it much. Recently, as I was reading our local community journal, I ran into an ad that stated it still had a few openings available. I didn't know what it all meant, so I began reading their blog. There's groups of people (farmers) locally that like to grow veggies organically and share them among the community (click here to see blog). How cool is that?! When I read this, I was surprised this existed because I myself grow veggies during the summer and supply my friends and family with a variety of veggies as well. I found it very interesting and in fact, I signed up to give it a try. Besides, the veggies I'll get from them will probably be a mix of veggies that I am not currently growing in my own yard.

There's a cost when joining the group, but it is very reasonable. My wife and I compared our expenses when purchasing veggies and it came out to be about the same price. A big difference is that you're supporting your community and eating healthier. We're taking it as a adventure. Why you would ask? Because every week, this group will share their weeks harvest which provides a variety of veggies. Among the variety, there's veggies that we never knew about or never purchased them because we did not know how to cook them. Now, as we get a fresh basket of veggies each week, we will begin eating healthier and learn how to cook new veggies or recipes. This week we'll begin our first batch of veggies and begin our adventure

Sun Flower - Alitza

Alitza's update: Alitza has planted her sun flower in the backyard. We'll watch it grow from here on out. We can't wait to see the big sun flower to open. Although, recently here in San Diego, the weather has not been to cooperative. Oddly enough, we just a received a new rain storm with unlike low temperatures. So, hopefully the weather will not affect the growth of this beautiful sun flower.

Sun Flower Project

This year, I thought it would be a great idea to engage my nieces in growing a little something... So I chose a sun flower. Who doesn't like sun flowers? I initialized the growing phase for them and as soon as the sun flower popped out a stem, I let them take it home so that they can watch it grow. I'm hoping this activity will encourage responsibility and curiosity how plants grow and unwrap their beauty. The sunflower is still in the planting container at this stage, although it will soon get transplanted in their yards. We'll update the sun flower status soon!

Pesticide

This year I am adding some "organic" pesticides and I decided to go with Pyrethrin. After some quick research, I read that this was the best organic home garden pesticide. Although, there's a lot of controversy about this product, I will give it a try. Last year, a lot of mites, worms and other insects really put a dent on my garden and this year I will try to avoid that. I haven't applied it yet because the plants are still delicate after a weeks transplant, so I plan on applying it within a week or so.

On duty...

Everyone meet Lucas! Here's a snap shot of him on gopher duty.

Progress Update

Progress...
Here it is folks! So far so good with the seedlings and they're sprouting just as planned. From left to right: cherry tomato, ruby red corn and tomatillo. Notice the chicken wire I have placed on top of the row crops. I had to invent this technique so that I can keep the rabbits and birds away. If it wasn't for the birds eating the seeds and the rabbits eating the leaves, the poor plants will never have a chance. Depending on where you live, you may not need to apply the chicken wire.

Irrigation

My garden is simple when applying a drip system irrigation. The main water line comes from a 1/2" poly tubing that breaks out into 1/4" drip lines. I like to use the poly tubing because connections and extensions are very easy to add or remove and be reused year after year.

Compost

So the dirty works begins... As springs begins, my yard work begins to increase. I enjoy it so much because I use it as a workout. Who needs the gym when you can shovel compost all day long! I have a nearby neighbor that gives away horse compost for free. So today I picked up two truck loads for my trees and garden. You can't really tell in the picture, but that's a lot of horse compost to shovel down from two trucks. I was reading an article earlier today that I can water and collect the "compost juice" and apply it to my plants. It's something to try, and see what results I get. I can see my lemon trees are in need of a good fertilizer.

Seedlings Update

Update on seedlings... Here they are! The plants are getting bigger everyday. On the upper left you can see the chili peppers and on the right are the white onions. I think we're getting very close to transplant them in the ground.

Seedlings

It's still cold outside and I'm getting anxious... So the next best thing to do is to start my seeds indoors. I actually messed up a little this year. I forgot to germinate my seeds and I'm now seeing some bad results. This is why you should plant more than what you actually need. This tray holds 72 plants and I am averaging about 45 percent of germination. Well let's look at the positive side of it, I will have enough to plant and keep me busy this season.

Snow in Jamul. What!?

Here in Jamul, we are not used to having any snowfall at all. This February, we had a small amount of snowfall at about 2000 ft. Looks so cool on the row crops. At this point, there's not much work to do on the little farm but to cuddle up and enjoy the fireplace. This is where most of my reading about agriculture gets done.

Early Prep.

Yes! It's that time of year. So I begin tilling my tiny farm. The section I farm is about 26 ft wide by 30 ft long. It sounds like a small piece but once you start working away, it all of a sudden seems overwhelming. But that's okay, the goal of farming your own vegetables is priceless.

Clip of Last Season

Last season was a success! This was my first time farming on my small piece of land in crop rows. It was a lot of work, but as you can see in the pictures, it paid off. There's no better feeling than being able to produce your own vegetables. The pictures you see were from the first of many harvests. The vegetable selection included zucchini's, cherry tomatoes, onions, corn and tomatillo. The soil must have been very fertile because all I used was the basic Miracle Grow product found in any hardware store and water. Problems I experience with sweet corn was the fall armyworm. At harvest time, I was not aware of such insects until I realized more than half of my harvest was lost due to this worm. I thought I was going to have a pesticide free garden, but I was wrong. I think I will have to use a small amount of pesticide to prevent insects from destroying my crops. I wonder if there's any safe pesticides I can use? Any ideas? My grandmother used to spray soap with water on the leaves, but I'm not sure if that worked...