A New Fence for Pole Beans

That trellis on the left was supposed to be a bean arbor.  My plan had been to arch the rabbit fencing from the bed on the left to the one on the right and allow for this cool bean tunnel to walk through.  I don't know why, but somewhere in the process, I decided to stick to my standard trellis instead.  The bed on the right will be full of sunflowers as long as the slugs don't eat the seedlings.

It's all been planted.  Pole beans up the trellis with some peppers and cucumbers planted to the east of them.  I scattered nasturtium seeds everywhere and threw some dill and parsley seeds in some empty spots.

It's all been watered, drip system is in place and I've got everything covered with netting and Sluggo to keep the pests from ruining it all.  Now, it's just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the garden to grow!

New Bird Guide Added To Blog

I'm expanding this blog by adding some pages that you can find listed on the right-hand column under "Guides and Tutorials".  The first entry is my new Rohnert Park Bird Guide.  This guide offers a dynamic photo listing of birds commonly found in Rohnert Park back yards.  And keep an eye open for more to come!

The Bird Village

I used the Lowe's gift card I got for Mother's day to buy a few bird feeders.  This spot is outside our kitchen window and I'm working to bring the birds back.  We lost a lot of them when we tore out a large privet that used to be here.  Since then, I've planted plenty of new shrubs and trees but they've been slow to come back.  Hopefully, this will push them along.  I miss watching the birds from our kitchen.

A Year In The Making

But Mr. Sea is finally done!

Here's a pictorial of the progression.

Started by creating the basic shape using scrunched up newspaper and masking tape.

Using galvanized wire, I covered the shape by "sewing" diamond lath around the form.

Spread layers of mortar over the lath until it is completely covered.

In the future, I would do the base before the mortar, but in this case, I did it after.  The base was custom formed, then simply poured concrete.

I used a slurry of Portland cement and brushed it over the form when complete to give him the smoothest possible surface prior to the mosaic treatment.

Then the loooong process of covering the surface with tile.

Last up was to simply grout him and enjoy!

Best Thing Ever: Pelleted Carrot Seeds

To you, these are little white dots in the dirt. The fact that you can even see them makes them the best thing ever! I discovered pelleted carrot seeds from Johnny's last year, and I'll never plant carrots any other way. Yes, they are a little more expensive, but in the end, I swear it's cheaper.

To plant three rows, I used about 1/2 a packet of seeds. If they were regular seeds, I would have used the whole pack but I would have ended up with the same amount of carrots in the end. Why? Because unpelleted carrot seeds are sooooo tiny, you can't see them much less spread them sparingly. So instead, gardeners toss them in a line, wait for the plants to sprout, then go through the daunting and backbreaking task of thinning.

With these little beauties, I plant exactly what I need and let them go. The only danger I have is the neighborhood cats, but that's another post for another day. ;-D

First of the Summer Plantings

This weekend marked the time to get the summer plantings going. In went my tomato starts, zucchini and butternut squash, and (see next post) carrots.

I'm also giving herbs in the barrel another try. They didn't do well here last year, but the weather was much different and I've added some different dirt. Logically, this should be the most ideal place to plant herbs. Logically.

Spring Harvest

Pulled in the first of the broccoli this morning.  Since I don't have any spring plantings that need to go in their spot, I can leave the broccoli for as long as it will produce side shoots for me.  Would be nice to have broccoli all summer long.