Garden – The Beehive

March 1, 2010

Playing With Fire

Steve and I have had our fair share of problems with weeds in our yard since we moved into our home last April. Our neighbors were not too pleased with our brand of yard maintenance, and weren’t shy about letting us know (in an anonymous letter). And while we tried to convince ourselves that it really wasn’t that bad, we did find some pretty hideous weeds.

Last year, we finished the task of clearing the major weeds from the yard, and swore we would never let it get like that again. The idea was we would nip the weeds in the bud, so to speak, and with some frequent low level maintenance, they would never get out of control. With the recent rains, that hasn’t been too easy. Our busy schedules limit the time we can spend in the yard, and there haven’t been any weekends recently that weren’t too wet, cold, and yucky to go out and work in the yard. As a result, the weeds have grown like, well, weeds. So we find ourselves right back where we started.

Enter the Weed Dragon weed torch.

The best way to describe it is a mini-flamethrower. Powered by a standard gas grill-type propane tank, it subjects the weeds to super-high temperatures, bursting the cell walls and killing the weed. The Weed Dragon consists of the aforementioned propane tank, a handy dolly to transport the tank, and the hose and torch itself. We also chose to purchase an optional trigger valve.

The standard weed torch emits a constant flame which can only be controlled by adjusting the flow of propane into the torch. With the trigger valve, you do still always have a small pilot flame in the torch, but it won’t be shooting out the big flames until you pull the trigger. We thought this would give us more control and make using the torch safer overall.

There is one additional essential piece of equipment:

In addition to having the fire extinguisher nearby, we decided that weed torching would always be a two person job, one manning the torch and one with a garden hose to wet down any dry looking areas before torching them and to spritz out anything that did catch fire or smolder after being torched.

Since Sunday was nice and sunny, we were finally able to take the Weed Dragon for a spin. First, Steve tested it to make sure there were no propane leaks by pouring soapy water over all the connections and watching for bubbles for a few minutes. When he was satisfied there were no bubbles, he rinsed it off and we lit it up.

It didn’t take long for us to recognize that just a few seconds of heat from the torch was enough to kill most weeds. When they wilted and turned bright green, like vegetables do when you cook them, we knew they were toast. Our test area was a rock-covered area in the back yard. This is what it looked like when we were done, and then a few hours later after the dead weeds became crispy.

Notice all the still healthy weeds in the background along the fence. We didn’t have a chance to get to those, but we did cover a lot of area in the front yard.

The process was certainly a lot more fun than pulling each weed out by hand. So far, it also appears preferable to Round Up. You get more instant gratification because the weed wilts right before your eyes instead of a few days later. It’s also nice to know we aren’t spritzing all kinds of chemicals into the soil. Hopefully we will continue to be pleased with it as we get to use it on more areas of the yard.

General Sherman would be proud.

August 3, 2009August 10, 2009

Nectarine Nabbers!

As I mentioned in my last post, I intended to go out and pick a ridiculous amount of nectarines from our productive tree to share with my parents and Steve’s parents this weekend. That tree was full of nectarines just waiting to be picked and gobbled up. I grabbed a bowl and walked out to collect some of that sweet summer fruit. My jaw dropped when I reached the tree because it was EMPTY! Not two days before I had surveyed the crop and there were more fruits in that tree than I could count. This was all that was left when I went out to harvest:

nectarinenabbers

It’s difficult to tell because they blend in with the rocks, but in addition to the slightly gnawed fruit there are multiple pits lying on the ground beneath the tree. So no nectarines for us this year. Next year, netting will be required.

July 31, 2009August 10, 2009

Growing Pains

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about our garden. Unfortunately, it is because there is not much good to report.

Our tomatoes look puny. In the past when I’ve planted tomatoes, they grow out of control even if you ignore them! Ours are still small, with thin leaves. The tomatoes are small too. All three plants have fruit on them. The Brandywine (in the topsy turvy) has a whopping three whole tomatoes on it, amazing considering the amount of flowers it had. The largest of the three is starting to turn color, and it is barely the size of a cherry tomato you’d find in the supermarket. There are a good number of tomatoes on the Burbank slicing plant, but they are also small. The largest is also starting to ripen, and it is about the size of an apricot. The orange cherry tomato also has many fruits on it, none ripening yet, and non with a diameter larger than a nickel.

The cucumber is worse off. I was so excited to see little baby cucumbers on it, but each one shriveled up. I did some research and learned this is because they aren’t really baby cucumbers yet, it’s the female flower of the cucumber plant. They have to be pollenated by a male flower in order to grow into cucumbers. Armed with this information, I watched the plant intending to pollenate any new flowers with a small paintbrush. Every time a female flower bloomed, though, there wasn’t a single male flower in sight to pollenate it with, so they continued to shrivel. I doubt we will get a single cucumber off that plant.

The strawberry plants look fine, but we haven’t seen any new berries since the critters ate the first batch that ripened.

ripening-nectarine

The only thing that seems to be doing well is the existing nectarine tree. The fruit is ripening, and I’m sure there are some just waiting to be picked. Maybe there will be enough nice ripe nectarines that we can pick a bunch and share with our parents this weekend.

June 26, 2009August 10, 2009

Backyard Bounty

It looks like the backyard may yield a fair amount of fruits and veggies for our eating pleasure this year, and we haven’t even done much to it in terms of amending the soil, new planting, etc.

There were several fruit trees here when we moved in. We’ve got three trees that appear to be citrus of some sort, one of them with fruit on it. It looks like lemons, but it’s hard to tell until they either turn yellow or don’t.

lemonmacro1

There’s also a nectarine, which is one of my favorites. It looks like it’s got a problem with some curly leave disease, so we’ll have to take care of that, but it’s still got fruit on it that I can’t wait to eat.

There is a persimmon as well. Did you know that persimmons were known in ancient Greece as “fruit of the gods”?

Then there is the mystery bush. It’s got tiny berries on it that look dark purple or black when ripened. They may or may not be edible, but we are staying away from it for the time being.

Of course, we planted a few things ourselves. Three tomato plants, a cucumber, and some strawberries, to be exact. The strawberries may be done. We previously posted pictures of the small berries, but they’ve since been eaten. One of the tomato plants has some fruit on it, as does the cucumber.

June 20, 2009June 20, 2009

Mulch it Over

It’s been a few weeks since we put our two tomato seedlings and cucumber in the ground, and they seem to be doing pretty well.

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I’ve noticed a few weeds in the bed, though, and I think it’s time to add a little mulch to the top of the soil. Here’s the after picture.

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Although I turned in some rich potting soil when I planted these babies, it seems to have blended in with the hard-as-rock dirt indigenous to our backyard. The mulch certainly makes the top look a bit healthier and uniform. Hopefully it will help the soil to retain moisture longer, and maybe even keep the weeds at bay a little bit by blocking the sunlight.

While I’m at it, I always take a look at the topsy turvy. Still no actual fruit on it, just the blooms, but I wouldn’t have expected anything just yet anyway.

The strawberry pot looks good as well, but alas, some critter has eaten the fruit off of it. I did get to taste one first.

strawberry3

June 15, 2009June 15, 2009

Our Productive Weekend or House Tour Part 1: The Family Room

I’m totally amazed by the amount we got done around the house this weekend. First, Steve made some amazing progress with the weeds in the back yard. I didn’t take any before and after pictures because I didn’t expect him to be outside too long, or to make too much of a dent in our forest of weeds. Boy was I wrong! He cleared a huge area along the back fence and around the patio, and the yard is actually starting to look, well, pretty. I also did a fair amount of weeding myself, and got started with a little painting project.

This is our family room. It sits just off the kitchen, and because we’re getting started with its make-over, it will be the first room on our house tour (although logically a bit out of order). We’re tackling the family room first because: (1) the family room and the kitchen are probably the two most used rooms in the house, so we want them to be comfortable places that we really enjoy being in; and (2) it’s pink. Really, really pink. And the seller left us some fabulous curtains.

We’ve got a whole plan for the family room here. This weekend, I started by painting the ceiling. Of course this involved a bit of prep work first. I removed all of the curtains and hardware, removed and/or taped off the light fixtures, and laid out drop clothes before slathering a coat of paint on the ceiling.

Just taking down the curtains made a huge difference and really lightened things up. I started with just the ceiling because we’re taking baby steps on the painting; neither one of us wants to spend a whole weekend painting, so we’re doing it one wall at a time.

June 13, 2009August 10, 2009

One Tomato Two

We neglected our two tomatoes and burpless cucumber a little bit too long. Although they get regular water, they were getting too big for their little plastic containers, so we found a spot for them and put them in the ground.

Those seedlings are getting a little too big for those plastic pots!

There just happened to be a little patch of earth next to our lower deck that had nothing but weeds in it. I cleared ’em out. I turned the dirt over and mixed in some rich potting soil and in went the seedlings. Looks pretty good, no?

: After

Hopefully this will turn out to be a good spot and they will thrive.

Of course I always check on the topsy-turvy when I’m outside.

topsyturvy3 topsyturvy4

I’m pretty surprised that the main stem is twisting up, rather than growing down as it seems to be in all the example pictures. There are a number of blossoms on it, though. Hopefully we will get lots of tomatoes.

The strawberries are ripening too!

redstrawberry

June 10, 2009June 10, 2009

Summer Days

topsyturvy1

topsyturvy2 I think it’s so strange to arrive home at, say 7:30 and still have plenty of daylight, but it’s a great opportunity to get out in the yard (and weed, what else?), something that would normally have to wait for the weekend. I like keeping an eye on plants as they grow. In this case it’s pretty much limited to the few veggies Mrs. B gave us, since virtually everything else was here when we moved in, and not of our choosing. So I tend the topsy turvey, the tomato seedlings, cucumber, and strawberry pot when I get home.

It’s hard to see when you look at them every day, but when I look back at the pictures I took when I first planted, there has definitely been some growth. There are actually tiny green strawberries on the strawberry plants!

porchplants greenstrawberry1

June 9, 2009June 10, 2009

Super Succulents

This lead certainly drew me in:

Spice up your garden with unusual, low-maintenance plants from the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society’s annual show and sale next weekend in Golden Gate Park.

We’ve spent so much time weeding since we moved in, a low-maintenance yard sounds like a dream. I’ve actually been thinking about xeriscaping for a while. Low maintenance + low water bills = good. I don’t know that I really want to tear out the existing landscaping, though. Maybe as we make small changes over time we’ll consider more draught-friendly alternatives. In any event, it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about it.

See “Darlings of the dry garden” for more info about the San Francisco Succulent and Cactus Society’s annual show this weekend.

May 7, 2009June 10, 2009

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Steve’s mom, “Mrs. B,” is a pretty avid gardener. She has raised beds in the backyard with all kinds of different vegetables, –multiple varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, squash, fennel, I don’t even know what else. She starts them all from seed, and actually ends up giving quite a few away to friends and family, as well as donating some to a local charity to sell. I usually get a few different tomatoes and a cucumber, which I’ve grown in my parents’ garden the past few years. This year, Steve and I have our own yard to plant them in!

The catch: the former owner had some interesting landscaping ideas. Both the front and back yard are filled with rose bushes (with a few other types of flowers scattered here and there), and what is not occupied by roses is covered with decorative gravel. In other words, there is nowhere to plant anything without tearing something else out. Which we fully intend to do . . . when we have some free time. For now, though, one of the tomatoes, an heirloom brandywine, was in pretty serious need of repotting, so we grabbed a “Topsy-Turvey” on impulse at Fry’s and hung the brandywine upside down from the trellis in the backyard.

I’m really curious to see how this thing works. The last time I tried a novel gardening gimmick was a complete disaster. It was a raised bed with a special soil mix. Because you start with weed-free soil mix, you were supposed to have no weed problems. Further, the mix was “friable,” so if you over watered it was supposed to flow right through and not hurt your plants. It was supposed to be idiot-proof, but everything died within a couple of weeks. Notably, the items I planted straight into the hard clay soil next to the raised bed flourished.

We still have to figure out what to do with the additional plants Mrs. B gave us, a Burbank slicing tomato, and orange cherry tomato, and a burpless cucumber. They don’t look like they are outgrowing their pots just yet, so we have a little time. She also gave us some strawberries in a strawberry pot, which of course won’t need to be transplanted. I hope we do well with the plants this summer; it would be fun to have some super fresh fruits and veggies straight from our garden.

Two tomato seedlings, a cucumber plant, and a strawberry pot.