Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 10)

This will probably be my final post of the year about gardening.  I finally gave up trying to protect my food from the squirrels; it became far too costly and aggrevating.  I can’t win.  There are too damn many squirrels in this complex.  Too bad they’re so cute or I’d do something drastic to control their population.

The squirrels were not satisfied to simply eat the fruit and vegetables that my plants produced.  They instead decided to eat the plants as well!  I had a big broccoli plant that hadn’t even made broccoli yet.  It was just leaves.  One day, when I went out to water my plants, I found that the broccoli was just a stem!  They did the same with my bell pepper plants, eating the tips that were sticking out of the cage.  They even started to nibble on and destroy my Jasmine plant (not edible!) and succulent plant (also not edible!)  Stupid squirrels.  So I craigslisted my remaining crop and decided I’d try my hand at gardening at a future time and a future place.  All I have left is my nectarine tree and blackberry bush.

In spite of all this, I did manage to harvest a few fruits that the squirrels couldn’t reach:

Yes, they are tiny!

I’m moving soon, and I will have a yard of sorts.  It will certainly be bigger than my balcony, and will hopefully have fewer squirrels prowling the neighborhood searching for food to steal.  Until next time, check out my other blogs which I WILL be updating on a “regular basis.”

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt. 9)

My my it’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing!  I’m very sorry.  I have been extremely lazy!  It’s just so difficult to… sit here… and type… it takes effort, you know?

Check out this bell pepper:

It’s a red bell pepper, but hasn’t changed color yet.  I also have some miniature purple heirloom peppers (no photo, maybe next time), jalapeno, anaheim chile, green, and yellow peppers growing.  The squirrel has shown no interest in eating this obviously very accessible pepper which makes me happy.  Seems as if he doesn’t have an open pot of dirt to bury his peanuts in, he doesn’t even bother.  Hooray!

Here you go, Shell, this is for you:

My blackberry bush.  This is an older photo.  Since it was taken the berries have turned black and we harvested them.  Not bad… a bit sour, but not bad.  The bush was actually doing very poorly before I moved it to a shadier area.  Everything I see on the internet says that blackberries are not picky about lighting, but this one sure was!  In the full sun region of my deck, the plant was doomed.  Its leaves were turning brown and crispy, and there was little to no new growth.

Then I noticed that there was a vine growing under the banister where it was shady.  It, unlike the rest of the plant, was healthy and green!  That was when I decided it might be a good idea to move it.  I spent most of the afternoon fashioning a tomato cage around the plant, and wiring bird netting around that so the squirrels could not eat the berries.  Then I moved it to a part shade area not 3 feet from where the plant had been before.  Within a week or two, new growth!  In the photo, you can see the old crispy leaves from when it was in direct sunlight.  There are tons of new leaves and vines now, including one that has grown through the netting! (see photo)  I had taken the trellis off when I moved it, but I am thinking of reinstalling it since the vines have taken on a mind of their own.

Mmm heirloom tomatoes!!  Not ripe yet

And my Early Girl tomato plant:

There are about 4 that are ready for harvest right now.  The plant has close to 50 total tomatoes that are forming!

And last but not least, my green beans are almost ready as well.  Talk about delicious stir fry!!

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 8)

Once again I apologize for not updating this as often as I should.  There isn’t too much to report.  All my plants are growing, they are afterall… plants.  That’s what they do.  I have waged a battle with my neighborhood squirrel as he seems to have an insane obsession with digging in my pots.  Why?  I have no idea.  You’d think there would be better things for a squirrel to do with its time… gather nuts, harrass the resident ducks, practice walking across power lines… but no, this particular squirrel thinks digging up my plants and annoying the crap out of me is the coolest thing ever.  Um, no.

My next battle plan is to take a picture of the squirrel red-handed, make LOL SQUIRREL pictures, and post them online.  Let’s see how the squirrel likes being humiliated on the internets.  Maybe then he’ll rethink his strategy!

I purchased a coiled hose sprayer that attaches to the faucet.  BEST PURCHASE EVER!!  I sprayed my plants with it yesterday, and then turned it to “jet stream” and blasted my nectarine tree.  At the very least, it made me feel insanely evil to blast my plant with it, picturing little spider mite carcasses being blown off the branches some 20 feet.  Muaha.  Whether or not it made a difference with the mites remains to be seen.  But I digress.  Time for silly pictures.

I found this little guy on my soybean plants this morning:

You rock, little ladybug.  Please eat all of the pests on my plants.  No, don’t fly away!!

I got two of these sugar snap peas out of the whole lot.  The squirrel kept digging them up and breaking the stems.  I gave one snap pea to my boyfriend last night.  I ate half of the other one, and offered some of the remainder to my parrot, Bubba.  She insisted on taking the entire half from me, so I only actually ate half of a snap pea out of the harvest.  Oh well, at least she’s cute.

NOM NOM NOM

Growing Food on a Deck (Pt 7)

I apologize to any of my “loyal viewers” (Miles) that I haven’t given any garden updates in a while.  I’ve been rather busy picking up a few extra shifts at work and doing band-related activities such as shows and practices.  I have some rather sad news to report, actually.

Sir Mandarin Orange Tree is no longer.  I have been trying to nurse him back to health for months from a spider mite infestation.  For those of you who don’t know, spider mites are tiny jerk arachnids invisible to the human eye.  They build a network of webs among the leaves and branches of a plant and basically suck it dry, causing the leaves to curl up and fall off.  I’d been trying to spray the leaves with organic insecticides, dish soap, rubbing alcohol… whatever I could get my hands on.  But, I lost the battle.

Warning: Graphic images follow

Poor tree.  It had such delicious fruit, too.  And the mites have been building web “highways” to my nectarine and blackberry trees, attempting to rape and pillage the resident leaves.  I’ve been spraying those trees like it’s going out of style, hoping I can save them before it’s too late.

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 6)

Hello again!  First of all, I would like to thank my loyal viewers for looking at my nerdy plant blog.  I shall invite you all over for a delicious stir fry when it’s time to harvest!

My Zucchini plant has more blooms:

Gorgeous!

And alright, I’m a liar.  I said I didn’t care much for plants that were sheerly for ornamental value… but I was walking along the apartment complex and found geranium stem lying on the ground.  I thought I’d give it a shot and put it into an old watering can.  And it bloomed!

I may not be able to eat it but… it’s pretty.  So I approve.  No further questions.  Next!

My sugar snap peas are blooming, too.

Aww!

My new thornless Blackberry bush:

Lots and lots of berries.  Message to the squirrels of the complex:  Keep your filthy, thieving, chubby rodent paws off!  I am skilled in the fine art of manufacturing rubber band guns.

One, count em: ONE nectarine(s) on my tree.  I wonder how many jars of jam I could make with this?

My soybean plants are so strong theyre breaking through the chicken wire.  RAAAWWWWRRRR!!!!!!

Annnd my new pepper/herb/strawberry cage.  The front is reinforced with metal chicken wire and the sides and back is reinforced with plastic chicken wire.  That stupid evil squirrel could potentially chew through the plastic sides, so I sprayed it with stinky squirrel-be-gone stuff.  Muahaha.

Last but not least: a wide shot of my entire deck.

Excessive?  Maybe.  Delicious?  Oh yes.

…Till next time!

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 5)

4/29/08:

New blooms are appearing on my vegetable plants!  My Zucchini has 2 flowers… big orange ones.

And my Early Girl Tomato plant:

I had some strawberries, but the stupid fat squirrels ate them.  I fixed that.  Round 2: FIGHT!

I took an old metal shelf and wrapped chicken wire around it.  I left the bottom open and put the shelf/cage over the strawberry pot.  This way, the squirrels can’t get to it and if I need to harvest some delicious strawberries, all I have to do is lift the cage up.

Same thing with my bell pepper plants:

I still have a lot of work to do to protect the rest of my plants from the squirrels.  I haven’t quite decided how to do it yet, and I am on a very limited budget so it will have to be cheap.

Comments/suggestions?

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 4)

I thought it was raccoons at first.  I would go out to water my plants every day and find pots tipped over, dirt spilled everywhere, holes dug, and plants uprooted.  I blamed raccoons because they have those bandit-looking black eye stripes, so they look like criminals to me.  Also I thought that the incidents were occurring at night, and raccoons are nocturnal.  I had even bought some powdered coyote pee to sprinkle around the plants. (This is supposed to deter them, and yes you can buy this at a hardware store!)
However, through some detective work, I discovered that raccoons probably weren’t the ones doing this.  This was happening in broad daylight!

So, my attention turned instead to squirrels.  Ah yes, squirrels.  Cute little buggers, ain’t they?  I used to think so.  UNTIL THEY DECIDED TO COMPLETELY DESTROY MY GARDEN EVERY SINGLE DAY!!  Now I’m with Rosie O’Donnell on this one: squirrels must be eradicated.  Or at least… stopped.

So this past month or so I’ve been at war with them.  I’ve been  constantly researching and inventing methods to stop their destruction of my hard work and (expensive) investment.  I read something about using chicken wire, so I bought a $20 roll of chicken wire and put it over the tops of the pots, tucking it under the corners.  The mischievous squirrel bandits would have to be pre-tty strong to be able to get through that.

Above: Soybean seedlings

This worked like a charm!  No more uprooted edamame seeds.  I also put some wire over my strawberry plants and carrot seedlings (squirrels LOVE to dig in fresh dirt)

Let me tell you what DID NOT work:

Haha.  I didn’t think it would, but I was being lazy and thought I would try it out.

Check out my pepper plant shelves I put up to conserve space:

I figured that once I have enough time to do so, it will be easy to wrap these shelves with chicken wire.

I am always trying new methods of deterring these pesky little pests so…

Stay tuned for more episodes of “SQUIRREL WARS!”

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 3)

Growing Food, Part 3

Wow, you must be pretty bored if you’re reading this! Well, you’re in luck, because you will be entertained for a few minutes because you will looking at PLANTS! Ooh, exciting! I know!

Well, I like it. But then again I’m not considered “normal.”

Here we go: It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on my plant situation. Everything’s going well! Except I had to transplant a lot of my strawberries that were in the strawberry pot because, while it looks cool, it’s poorly designed and it’s impossible to keep it adequately watered. Speaking of strawberries though, check this out:

The flowers are turning into little strawberries! Aww!!

The tomato plant is getting HUUUGE. I’m going to be getting one if not two more tomato plants on April 12th when Bountiful Garden has an heirloom tomato plant seedling sale. (http://www.bountiful-garden.org/)

I plan to can a bunch of homemade spaghetti sauce, salsa, tomato juice, ketchup, etc. with all of the tomatoes.

Ummm what else. I got a bunch of new bell pepper plants not too long ago. Yellow, red, and “chocolate.” I also got a jalapeno plant.

And the chocolate bell pepper plant:

It already has a flower! Tasty flower.

My carrots are FINALLY sprouting. Bout time, it’s been 3 freakin’ weeks.

See it? See it? I swear it’s not just a picture of dirt.

And, of course, my sugar snap peas and zucchini are getting big:

I also planted 11 soybeans about a week ago. They haven’t sprouted quite yet. Edamame, anyone?

I’m such a freakin’ hippie. I should move to Santa Cruz. For the record though, I do believe in showers and shaving, and I don’t believe in patchouli.
Thank you very much.

Anyone want to come over for a salad and/or pasta and/or nachos and/or stir fry as soon as these plants produce food? I promise it’ll be delicious!!

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck (Pt 2)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Growing Food, Part II …Continued! Yesterday, we went to the nursery and got some new trees! Yes, apparently you can grow trees on a deck! Check it out: Fremont Mandarine Orange tree! nom nom nom Also: The tree on the left is a Fantasia Nectarine tree. Those mandarines, by the way, kick ASS!

Growing Food: Container Gardening on a Deck

Growing Food

Recently, I decided to take up the fine art of gardening.  I’m not really interested in ornamental plants like flowers, since they serve no real purpose except for their beauty.  Instead, I wanted to grow plants that will feed me and my household when Mr. Bush sends us spiralling into a depression.

Ahem.

I live on the 2nd floor of an apartment complex, so I have no real backyard to speak of, but fortunately I have a very large deck.  And I plan to take full advantage of every square inch of it!

I started by purchasing some containers, dirt, and seedlings.  This was no easy feat considering I am almost completely out of money.  However, I justified this investment because it will eventually pay for itself in the form of food.
Here are some pictures the day after planting my first seedlings:

Left to right: Strawberries/Marigolds, Zuchinni, Green Bell Pepper,
Anaheim Chili, and Sugar Snap Peas

Early Girl Tomato plant, and Jasmine

More Strawberries!

I’m very excited about the prospect of growing my own food.  If anyone
else has any gardening experience or comments, let me know!