The Vintage Husband goes Gardening

Hello - Another beautiful day here in sunny California! So, after a morning of "junkin", Erika and I spent some time outside in the back yard. There was a time when I had a really big garden and it took up most of the backyard. We had big raised beds, with tomatoes, basil, peppers, squash, cucumbers and corn - all the wonderful foods of summer. Straight from our own backyard. (I wish I could find a picture to post, but alas, no such luck!)

The old garden was tore out when our kids got big enough to start walking and playing outside. We went to Costco and bought one of those swing set/slide/sandbox things for them to play on. Not as pretty as a garden, but you gotta give to get. When the kids are outside playing you get peace and quiet inside the house. Once the kids outgrew the swing set, I decided to put a garden back in. I wasn't as ambitious as in the past. Instead of the raised beds, I just removed areas of the lawn and tilled in some compost. Erika kidded that it looked like I was digging graves in the yard! Here's a picture of my old garden a couple years back.

Once the garden was in and growing I discovered one problem. The trees in the backyard had grown bigger while the swing set was in the garden's place. My plants didn't do as good and we didn't get the veggi's like before. So, I once again ripped out the garden and put the lawn back in.

This year I am trying a new approach. We are going to use some wine barrels on the patio were things should get plenty of sun. So far I've got the tomatoes in and some peppers. I know we are going to put some basil and chives in also, maybe some lettuce. Not really sure what else yet. One thing I will need to do is put a drip watering system in to get everything through the summer. Gardens don't like our 100+ summer temps very much and on the patio, the barrels won't be watered by the sprinklers.

Update: 4/23/09 - Tomatoes are on the grow!




What a great way to spend a Saturday. The yard is starting to look nice and with the great weather, it's so nice to sit out back and enjoy the yard and the birds. I'll try and post some updates as things get bigger. We've got about 75 days until those tasty tomatoes are ready to eat. I cant' wait! :0)

Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow's my Birthday, so I am finally going fishing. The kids and I are heading out to Folsom Lake. I'll post some fish if I catch any. Have a great week!

TVH

Made it out to the lake, but No Fish :(

However, there were lizards!! :)