Locally Grown

Many months ago, we began a project to create a "kitchen garden" or Potager in this section of our yard along the driveway where a somewhat reluctant though resilient Meyer Lemon tree resides. This is one of 3 original trees that survived our landscaping project (the orange and pepper trees are the other 2) and we have been trying to get it to produce to the level of my expectations for lemonade, zesting and general juice needs since we moved into this place. Inspired by a few books, a sunset magazine article, and the current trend toward locally produced and organic fruits & veggies, we resolved to install our own little garden in this little sliver of our universe.

Here is the area BEFORE:And here are a couple of photos of the hired help, building the 3 boxes: Kelly, Grandpa Reed and the Bit. (I was strictly design director, documentarian and GC.)

Here are photos of the area, taken this weekend. The boxes have been planted for just about 7 weeks and we have had some tremendous spring growth. I finally realized I better get in there and check things out since I hadn't pruned or weeded it at all since we planted.

Rabbit keeping an eye on any would-be snackers.

close up of the boxes

Herb garden under the lemon tree (closest to the kitchen steps)

I just harvested my zuchinni plants and found that I had one in there as big as my forearm and 2x as thick! (Most of them looked more like my middle finger.) OOPS. I cut that big daddy out and set it aside.

Then, to thin things out and get some sun/air into my tomatoes, I lopped some of the very large leaves off the plant. They look better, but after googling I learned this might not be the right thing to do! This whole gardening thing is all about trial and error, right? One big mighty experiment. Here is a photo of what we will snack on from our garden: my first 2 tomatoes, a couple of strawberries (50% of them looking scrumptuous!) some sugar snap peas and a few nice looking small zuchinni. Oh, and don't forget my mother-load zuchinni!

I actually liked getting out there in the dirt, playing with my sharp scissors and man-gloves!

I've realized I could never feed a family with this scale of gardening, so I must take my weekly trip to the Farmer's Market where the real fruit and vegetable harvests from this area reside. I'm learning so much about seasonal and local foods. fortunately California is blessed with being able to grow A LOT of variety year round, but even we should consider that tomatoes, asparagus and blueberries really only appear for a short time. We are enjoying them at their most fresh and moving on to other goodies when their time runs out. It's fun waiting for the watermelon!
If you are interested in finding farmers markets where you live, check out this site:
http://www.localharvest.org/