Lightweight Eats

Over the past few weeks, Dan and I have started to plant our garden. Our new place has a yard!

In the back, it's mostly covered with a concrete driveway, but has 2 feet of edging extending along approximately 75 feet of fence. There is also a small patch of grass (~20'x10'), half of which is taken over by the orange tree. All of this will get fantastic year-round sun.






Our front yard is really just a tiny patch of forlorn grass and wet dirt. I don't expect it to get much sun, making it a prime candidate for a lemon tree--in NorCal, they produce so much fruit that poor growing conditions are probably a good thing.

Getting the garden planting ready has taken quite a bit of work, not all of which is completed. The edging was completely overrun with weeds. Although the soil was otherwise in excellent condition (it appears some previous owner had lots of roses and cared for the soil), some of the weeds had deep roots. There were also a few plants with extensive bulbs.

Weeding was cold work--I wanted to get the beds ready for planting as soon as possible. Most seeds say plant 6-8 weeks before the last frost. I'm guessing the last frost just happened; last year, we planted in December and things just kept on trucking through winter. This year has been unusually cold, but the ground should be ready.

In already are carrots, peas, cabbage, Chinese cabbage and our pepper plant that successful overwintered. Inside, we have cilantro, basil and tomatoes starting in pots. Outside, we have spring mix in a pot; I'm hoping to plant radishes and beets shortly as well.

We have big plans for watermelons, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, blueberries and stone fruit. We may also grow some green beans and a few other vegetables, depending on how much space we've got once everything goes into the ground. It's awesome having so much room to play!

Our seeds aren't certified organic, but they will be grown in a pesticide-free environment. I expect that the harvest will reduce our food costs by 10-15%; already having oranges on our tree has helped our food budget significantly. We'd like to keep that savings with the addition of vegetables and more fruits.