My Garden, My Love

The garden has exploded since I came back from our cross-country excursion in August. We’re picking tomatoes daily and enjoying the bouquet of flavors from the heirlooms. I love the citrusy taste of the Green Zebras mixed with the super sweet and juicy Black Zebras. I’m starting to poke pigeon peas and scarlet runner beans in the ground to fix nitrogen around some areas of heavy activity. I can tell from the size and productivity of the tomato and squash plants that they’ve depleted nutrients from the soil below. When the beans pop up I’ll cut them down and turn them under so they can release the little white balls of nitrogen around their roots back into the ground for winter and spring planting.

How can you tell your garden is healthy? Well, a praying mantis recently jumped onto my arm while I was pulling weeds. I screamed for my sister to grab the camera – I was so excited! These little critters will eat up some of the “bad” bugs in the garden. I now have praying mantis to add to the butterflies, bumble bees and worms that have returned to an area that used to be just ants, snails, and gravel. It’s amazing how quickly the natural order has restored itself. I’ve left a few beets in the ground to keep the ants happy. In truth, my produce looks pretty good. There might be a few holes and chewed edges on some of the lettuce, but that’s about it.

It’s amazing how much production you can get out of a 20′ x 10′ space, some soil, seeds and water. I’ve never gardened before and I love it. It’s become an absolute obsession. I’m studying under my friend Jay Rosenburg to become certified as a permaculture designer and spent a day volunteering for Noah Small who owns the organic farm Creston Valley Farms just outside Paso Robles. If you have your own garden I highly recommend researching some of the design principles of permaculture to increase your garden’s efficiency.

Here’s what I’ve harvested so far: heirloom tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, patty pan squash, zucchini, kabocha squash, carrots, beets, arugula, kale, mizuna, butter lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce, rainbow chard, broccoli, broccolini, bell peppers, scallions, chives, rosemary, basil, sage, thyme, oregano, lavender, mint, and parsley.

Garden Pictures: