My latest project

After we removed our front lawn in 2014, I elected to cover the area underneath our Magnolia tree with mulch rather than place plants there to compete with the tree's extensive root system.

Photo taken in December 2014 after the lawn was removed, the flagstone path was laid, and the front beds were planted.  I covered the entire area under the Magnolia grandiflora with mulch for lack of a better idea.

My husband subsequently built a bench surrounding the tree to occupy some of that bare mulched space but I always thought that I'd attempt to plant at least a portion of it someday.  What better time than when I'm stuck at home during a pandemic?  My original thought was to replace the mulch with more creeping thyme but I couldn't really get excited about that, and then the start of the summer season isn't great for establishing thyme plugs anyway.  So, when my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I suggested three half barrels - and that's just what he got me.

In addition to the three barrels, he bought planting soil specifically made for large containers and raised beds.  I played around with alternative placements for the barrels before deciding to line them up along the western edge of the mulched area.

Thursday morning, I grabbed my face mask and made a trip to my local garden center, which reopened its doors to customers on May 1st after shutting down for over a month.  I spent the entirety of a gift card given to me by a friend and more on plants to fill the barrels and got to work.  In addition to the bagged soil my husband had purchased, I mixed in compost and a dry slow-release fertilizer.

I filled one half-barrel mainly with vegetables, a second with flowers (heck, you really didn't think I was going to change my stripes completely, did you?), and the third with mostly herbs

This one has buttercrunch lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots and sweet alyssum.  I also sowed baby carrots here.

The purely decorative flower barrel contains Gomphrena, Prostanthera ovatifolia 'Variegata' (aka mint bush), a Penstemon mexicali, three Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink', a burgundy-flowered Pelargonium peltatum, and more sweet alyssum

The third barrel contains sage, three kinds of basil, and a chocolate-colored pepper plant, as well as alyssum

I'm hoping this area will provide enough sun for these plants despite the partial shade offered by the Magnolia early in the day.  At least the gopher (still here!) shouldn't be a problem.  The raccoons pulled one plant during their overnight visit but they don't usually make a habit of poking around in raised planters here, and I'm hoping that'll remain the case.  The peacock that popped in the week before last hasn't returned, which is good news for my new plants.  However, some new visitors have made an appearance.

The first tiny bunny showed up in the back garden this week.  As long as he limited himself to the weedy yellow-flowered Cotula lineariloba and the rampant Gazanias I'm not too worried.

Baby doves showed up in my cutting garden yesterday but, seemingly ignored by their parents, I think their main focus is just staying alive

We've been lucky to have milder weather than projected this past week.  Forecasters are saying June is likely to be toasty but my fingers are crossed that the marine layer we've had in place most mornings this week will continue to keep our daytime temperatures on the low side.  I can hope that, anyway.  May your weather be more pleasant than anticipated as well.  When the daily news brings nothing but sorrow and grief, we all need as much time in our gardens as we can get.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Corn! (And an update on a supporting cast of fruits and vegetables)

As described here, vegetable gardening is a relatively new experience for me.  My former garden was too small and too shaded to allow me to grow much of anything edible.  Now that I have a dedicated area designed for this purpose, I'm trying out all sorts of herbs, vegetables and fruits, although most of my selections are fairly mundane.

What could be more mundane than corn?  Yet, as I've never grown corn and didn't imagine that I could grow it even in this new garden space, corn is exciting!  I put in seedlings from a 6-pack container in early June, half-expecting that they'd immediately die or just lay there not doing much of anything (like my peppers).  Instead, in a month, the corn stalks have grown from some 6 inches tall to 55 inches tall.  (Yes, I got out a tape measure.)  Tassels are emerging.  For the first time, I'm imagining that these stalks could actually produce real corn.  The stalks are even pretty, especially with the light shining through.

This picture was taken a few days ago - the tassels are already much further developed

The green pole beans are also growing like gangbusters.  Put in from seed just days before the corn was planted, the vines have already reached the top of the 6 foot high support structure.  No sign of any beans yet, though.

I thinned the beans a little after this picture was taken but they may still be a little crowded

While the basil plants are finally beginning to fill out, the few peppers my 3 plants have produced are still stunted.  Too little fertilizer?  Not enough heat yet?  The peppers were late to develop last summer too.

These green peppers turned red while I was waiting for them to achieve their predicted size

My Rumex, grown as much for its ornamental appeal as for its use as a salad green, also remains puny in size, while otherwise appearing healthy.  It's supposed to be kept evenly moist so the periodic disruptions in my watering schedule may be accountable.

Rumex 'Raspberry Dressing' (aka sorrel or dock)

Meanwhile, the lemon cucumber is producing more cukes than we can use.  The leaves are badly disfigured but that doesn't seem to affect production.

The squash has been slow to develop but it looks as though it's picking up speed.

Based on this photo, it also appears that some leaf miners I hadn't noticed may be working on a couple of leaves

The plum tomato is beginning to pump out tasty fruit but the larger-fruited variety, planted late, is just getting started.

Just one unripe tomato so far

Despite periodic interventions on my part, the squirrels managed to strip the blueberry plants on the back porch; however, it seems that they've yet to discover the strawberries.

There were more strawberries here than shown - I ate about half of them while picture-taking

Unfortunately, the lone ripe plum was sampled by birds (or squirrels) and left to wither on the ground.

The grapes are ripening and there's no sign of pillage yet.  Maybe the bird scare tape is working.

'Red Flame Seedless' grape

On the citrus front, the lemon tree is still producing its continuous supply of fruit.  There are a few Mandarin oranges left at the top of the tree, where I can't readily get to them.  The naval orange is developing new fruit but it's months from ripening.  The lime tree is also developing fruit.

What new and exciting edibles do you have on the way to your table?

Vegetable Garden: Warm Season

I wasn't able to grow fruits and vegetables at our former house.  I made periodic stabs at it with a few herbs and some strawberries but my postage stamp-sized garden didn't get enough sun to grow these successfully.  One year I put a tomato plant in a tub on a platform with wheels I could move around our driveway following the available sun and, while I did manage to produce some edible tomatoes, it wasn't a practical growing strategy.

When we toured our current house prior to purchase, I was delighted to find not only sunny areas suitable for growing fruits and vegetables but also an area with 3 raised beds constructed just for that purpose.  The first planting I did was in this area.  Although it was January and late for cool season planting, I put in broccoli, carrots, lettuce and some herbs.  All except the carrots did fairly well, even though I didn't do as much soil preparation as I should have.  I discovered that the beds were filled with the same rocky soil as the rest of the garden so I've invested a lot of effort since in improving it.

I'm still learning what vegetables do well here, when to plant them, and how to ensure they get the support they need through the growing season.  I recently pulled the last of my cool season crops, replacing these with plants suitable to the warm season.

The first raised bed, which gets the least sun, is planted entirely with herbs.

Bed #1, planted with a mix of herbs

The last owner planted it with mint - lots of mint - because, as he told me, "it did so well."  I spent a good part of a week trying to dig this spearmint out of the bed after we moved in but I suspect that the only way to eliminate it would be to remove the raised planter and bulldoze out a couple of feet of soil below where the planter now stands.  I do my best to keep it at under control but, as shown below, it even grows through the wood sides of the planter.

Mint growing through the wood side of the raised planter

A Westringia is planted in the center of the bed, which also contains parsley, sage, lemon thyme, lime thyme, Stevia, salvia, chives, oregano and a sunflower.  The sunflower, planted about 4 weeks ago, bloomed today.

Salvia officinalis 'Tricolor'

Oregano ('Hot & spicy' I think)

Vigorous lime thyme with newly planted 'African Blue' basil

Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'

The second bed contains a mix - herbs, vegetables, and a new raspberry bush.

Bed #2 with a mix of herbs, vegetables and fruit

The bed is currently dominated by 2 prostrate rosemary plants (shown on either side of the fairy in the photo above).  I underestimated the mature size of these when I planted them and may have to remove at least one to have adequate room for vegetables in the future.  There are also a couple of basils, an ornamental oregano, a lemon verbena, an agastache, and coriander, spouted from seed sown a couple of months ago.

Origanum rotundifolium 'Kent Beauty', slow to establish but worth the effort

Lemon verbena (Aloysia citrodora), also slow to establish

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), grown from seed

In the vegetable category, this year I'm growing a squash (just one as they all appear to over-produce) and a new tomato.

'Sunny Delight' squash, a small-sized variety

Tomato 'Believe It or Not', a new variety for me

My prize addition to this bed is one of the new dwarf thornless raspberry plants.  It's supposed to get only 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide.  In the ground for about 6 weeks now, it has produced a few berries but, according to grower Monrovia, it will be a few years before much can be expected (assuming it survives our hot summers in this location).

'Raspberry Shortcake'

The third bed, which gets the most sun, is full of different varieties of vegetables.

Bed #3 contains mostly vegetables

This bed has another tomato, onions (my last cool season leftovers), a lemon cucumber, 3 varieties of pepper, pole beans, planted from seed, and corn, which I've never tried to grow before.  The lemon cucumber is doing better than it did last year but I also planted it earlier in the season this year.  The peppers, like last year, are off to a very slow start - I'm trying not to be impatient.  The beans, as usual are off to a quick start.  I didn't think I had room for more than one or 2 corn stalks but the nursery I bought the 6-pack from showed them planted fairly close together so I put in all 6 plants - I'll thin some out if they struggle.

"Red Pear' tomato

Leftover onions

Lemon cucumber

Yellow bell pepper, still green and under-sized

'Blue Lake' pole beans

Corn! (a bi-color super sweet variety)

Elsewhere in the vegetable garden, I've got some barrel pots with strawberries.

Wine barrel with strawberries, a leftover lettuce, and an artichoke I couldn't find another place for

The vegetable garden is also home to 3 citrus trees, positioned along the back fence bordering a neighbor's yard, and a persimmon tree and a plum tree, planted by the prior owner in a narrow bed along the side fence separating the vegetable garden from the dry garden.  The plum tree suckers continuously - is there a remedy for that other than regularly cutting the suckers back?

On the left is a mandarin orange tree; a naval orange is in the middle; and a lime tree sits on the far right

The 'Fuyu' persimmon on the left and the 'Santa Rosa' plum on the right are underplanted with ivy geraniums

If you exit the gate from the vegetable garden, there are more fruit trees, a grape vine, and blueberries scattered elsewhere.

Garden gate separating the vegetable garden from the dry garden covered by an arbor built by a prior owner

Most of the trees aren't bearing fruit yet.  However, my blueberries are going full-throttle and the grape is also beginning to fruit.

Blueberry pots on the back patio ('Bountiful Blue' and 'Sunshine Blue' varieties)

'Red Flame' seedless grape

Maybe this year I'll get some grapes before the birds take all of them.