Backyard Revolution

The more people I talk to, and based on a class I attended today, the more it seems the world is making an attempt to grow its own food - backyard style. My mom's been doing it for years. Apartment living doesn't exactly provide you with the means for growing your own vegetable garden. Last year was our first attempt at gardening in a small space outside our apartment. It was a shining beacon of life amid a very dark, dreary place that was our last apartment. We have since moved to an equal sized abode, but one with nearly ten times the amount of light. It really has made a world of difference in my general well being. We have a pseudo-yard that we have basically transformed into a little backyard sanctuary, complete with a patio, patio chairs, fire pit (yes, built by JE,) plants in beds (highly drought-tolerant for our dry CA climate,) and a pea gravel area to allow for adequate drainage. The side yard of our house finally got cleaned out and proves to have the most sunlight, ideal for veggie growing. Today I attended "Gardening in Containers" held at the Love Apple Farm. If you are new to gardening, have limited space, or just want to understand why your tomato plant didn't grow to its full 7-foot potential, this is the class for you. Plus, I left with potato tubers, a tomato plant, a zucchini, an ancho chile, various seeds, and some herb plants. All of which I added to with the purchase of worm castings, a worm box and an additional tomato plant to replace a cherry I gave as a gift. Now my two 15 cu feet boxes have exploded into the entire side yard with plans for two 15 gallon pots with potato tubers, 2-15 gallon pot with beans, another with cucumbers with the possibility of creating a vine teepee. Okay, so it got a little out of control. I'm waiting for JE to come home and say, "you bought a what?!?"

There was a man there who was, little by little, tearing up his yard to grow vegetables year round. He had taken work off to take the class. I think I might have too, if I didn't have Spring break this week. So this year's garden should be a vast improvement to last year. I'm pretty excited about it all.