June Planting List

Welcome June, and welcome summer! Oh, I know it's not official yet, but June is summer in spirit from the very beginning of the month. The end of school is nigh, the start of camps around the corner, the coast calls, vacations must be planned! (Yes I know I'm a little late in the planning department!)

Here is your June to-do list. I would add: Keep seeding flowers! Deadhead those that have bloomed, unless you want them to go to seed, and continue to add lots of new seeds or transplants to keep the flowers going all summer long. 

Also, sow more basil. I've been seeding it every two weeks, to have a constant supply. I also need to get some more cilantro in the ground so we'll have some for salsa when the tomatoes and peppers come ripe. I also just seeded winter squash - a kabocha variety - a little late, maybe, but I had some room and wanted to give it a shot.

An acquaintance who hasn't started anything yet asked me what she could do in containers - and I told her, go ahead and plant everything now! You could still seed cucumbers and summer squash, beans and herbs, and even lettuces if you have a cooler spot. And you could start determinate tomatoes from seedlings now, plus peppers - I mean, the hot summer weather is yet in front of us!

And while you're at it, it would be a good time to check your canning equipment. Make sure you have labels, rings and lids, and more jars if you need them. Where's the huge pot and the magnetic lid lifter? Do you have large ziplocs for the freezer? Time to get all that stuff ready to go. My first project (Tom's already made jam) will likely be pectin from the windfall apples. Next come the peaches, and we'll make jam and also pack some plain for the new pressure canner. If we're lucky, we'll get enough blueberries to freeze some for muffins and pancakes over the winter. And then the tomatoes will roll in....

Happy Planting!

April Planting List

Here is your planting list for April, if you live in zone 9. The Master Gardeners recommend that you start your cucumber seeds indoors; I have never done this myself, rather seeding directly into the garden soil. However they always take a long while to germinate and get started, and I'm not ready to directly plant into the raised beds anyway, so I'm going to try to start them indoors this year. I've planted six pickling cucumber seeds and six slicers. I'll let you know how they come along.

Hope you're in the garden, enjoying a beautiful April day! Happy planting!

Checkerbloom (Sidalcea malvaeflora) with lavender blossoms

March Planting List

Happy March. The photo above was taken where my 'Weeds in the Urban Landscape' class met this morning, Cesar Chavez park, in the Berkeley marina, with a view west over the bay to the San Francisco skyline. Not bad, huh. I kept thinking about all the Merritt students stuck behind a desk in an old building, hearing a lecture and taking notes. I couldn't help but feel that it was much better with clipboard and pencil, hiking around an urban park, looking at the weeds and bugs. I brought a bulb of fennel from the garden to a classmate who requested it; he said he'll make fennel-onion jam and bring it next week for all of us to taste. I told him I'd make bread to have it with, and before you know it, other students were volunteering cheese and pickles. We will have a feast at our next location. I think I love school.

Then I got home and opened the mailbox. Check out what was inside.

I order a pound of red wigglers every other year or so, to go in our small compost bin. I do this because the bin is too small to heat up and decompose the contents quickly; the worms do the work and it finishes much more quickly. I got these from The Worm Farm, my usual place, and they were packed safely and lovingly. 

I dumped them in, and there they will be happy and multiply, I hope.

Here's your handy-dandy printable for March. I must confess, I did all of this in the past week or two. I just couldn't wait, even though the Master Gardeners told me to. However, if you haven't jumped the gun like I have, now's the time, so get busy!

I know more rain is on the way here, and possibly you're having a March-coming-in-like-a-lion thing, and I'm so sorry if that's the case, but at the moment the sun is shining and I've had some vitamin D and I can't contain the sense of possibility. Spring is coming!