December Garden

 Bakersfield December Garden

Strawberries doing great!

All the gardening websites and books say that Bakersfield is in a zone 8b and 9, a prime area for winter gardens. No wonder it's known for carrots and other winter vegetation. Living in the midwest for 15+ years, there was no such thing as winter gardening. It was a blanket of snow. However, Bakersfield is quite the opposite. Thank God!

What's up with my garden though? I've been waiting anxiously for the past few months to pull the tomato plants and peppers out of the ground. Yet, they keep blooming and producing! The tomatillos have more blooms now than they did in July and the tomato plants? Holy Moses! There's at least 5 good sized green tomatoes on it! Granted, the birds and a yucky tomato worm ate most of our precious tomatoes this year. Plus an ant invasion in the garden this summer. I'm still looking for a homemade ant repellent. Maybe I will have to plant some companion plants to deter those pesky pests.

Purple Broccoli under plastic sheeting

We are well into December. Everything should be withered, brown, and dead. The only thing I have covered are my spices and purple broccoli. The strawberries under my DIY greenhouse are doing really well too. I just can't believe it's December and the garden is still growing. It makes me wonder why the people of Bako don't have a winter garden? It's so easy! All you have to do is throw a plastic sheet over your garden (when there's a chance of frost). No hoop house required. Just make sure the plastic doesn't flatten your plant so prop the plastic sheeting propped up.

In the future I want to build a greenhouse and that brings me to another point: why aren't there any tax credits/incentives to build a vegetable greenhouse? It reduces the carbon footprint and here in the valley and we need anything and everything to reduce the filthy smog.

Here's to stocking our fridge and pantry throughout the year- no matter how cold it gets.
Thanks for reading!

October 2012

I can't believe October has pretty much flown by. Luckily, we already have costumes from last year that the kids want to wear. My daughter wants to be no one else but Cinderella. My son, really into trains, is going to be Thomas the Tank Engine again. Yay! The neighbors have decorated their yards yet again and it's quite funny to see two houses trying to out-do each other for Halloween. Halloween has more decorations in our neighborhood than Christmas. Not that its that cold for Christmas here. One more reason to love Bakersfield in the winter.

October has been a good month. Monopoly is at McDonald's, so lunch lines are shorter elsewhere. The Christmas junk is proudly displayed in stores, and we are able to get outside to walk while the sun is still up. The temperatures have been jumping from 70s-90s. Today is suppose to be 99 degrees. My winter plants really don't like this heat! Our winter garden is primarily planted: purple broccoli, spinach, and iceberg lettuce. I need to get to Home Depot to get the rest of my lettuces.

I'm hoping I can keep the tomato plants growing and producing for a bit longer. Bako's frost is November, so as fast as that is coming, the plants don't have much longer.

I'm also researching hydrogen fuel cells that we can make at home. One step to getting a "greener" car. Our macho SUV and the $4.69 gas prices apparently do not mix well for our budget. I've been filling up when the gas hits half a tank just because that's a big enough shock! I'm so sick of paying bills when we could actually NOT be paying bills. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

This weekend (or next), we are going to try to build a small scale fuel cell to see how it works. I found a great website that uses most items from around the house: http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html  There's only one item that I have to order, but since hubby is in Sac, he's going to look at Fry's before I order. I'll definitely post those results!

October 2012 is also the Presidential debates. Did anyone else watch? It was definitely a debate unlike the first one. I'm not going to get too much into politics since everyone is entitled to their opinions. Since you're reading this and it is my opinion, our country is doomed either way. They both are running to protect and fund their own wallets.

Overall, October has had confusing weather, a new garden, and extremely high gas prices. Our neighbors are going all out for Halloween, the kids have inexpensive costumes, and we're taking that first step to become "green". It's a very exciting month at the Bako Depot!

Thanks for reading!

The Garden

Another summer is over. Am I going to miss it? Not really. Sweating through triple digit days plus intense smog are never my idea of a good time. You couldn't even stand in the shade without breaking a sweat.

It seems our garden didn't really have a chance. Between the hot weather and my lack of attention/selfish desire to stay in cooler weather, the garden suffered a horrible death. All because of me. I intended well and next year, I will be better armed to fight for them.

My wanting to stay at home largely depends on how much food we can grow and preserve. This didn't happen this year, but the upside to it, I did some research and found what should work better and best for next year's garden.

Although now that the triple digit days are officially over, the cooler weather has brought me outside once again. I absolutely love it! There are a couple plants still doing producing, but once I get the weeds and other objects (weeds) under control, I can finally plant my winter garden. It's primarily lettuce and green leaves, but with us eating salad most nights with and sometimes for dinner, it's a huge money saver. Yes, I can buy salad for $3 for 6 organic romaine hearts at Sam's, but really, what's the harm in growing my own?

Our fruit trees have been much, much better since the weather has cooled down as well. They aren't producing yet, but I'm sure they will be bountiful in time -especially my dwarf lime tree. The pear tree came up all by itself with the trunk half rotted, so I think we're going to pull it out and plant a new one (if we don't move). We'll also pull up the olive tree that branched up as well since we're not sure its fruitless or not. Apparently there are a ton more fruitless olive trees than fruited trees.

I can get back to weeding the flower bed as well, too. I'll begin spraying the flower beds (since they are primarily rock and fruit trees) with vinegar. Vinegar kills 99% of plants- weeds or not. It will kill the seeds they spread while I pluck them out as well. So protect your wanted plants if you spray vinegar on them.

I've learned how to compost as well. Not quite as appetizing, but its a gardener's best friend. It's what creates that expensive top soil. Dog poop really should be picked up out of the yard since it has too much nitrogen in it even for grass. Livestock (chickens, cows, etc) manure is the way to go, however, it needs to be decomposed before being put in the garden. If it's not decomposed properly, it will burn the plants. Believe me, I tried putting chicken manure in my garden and the plant died within a day.

Back to the fall season. Cooler temperatures. I should say reasonable temperatures, have lulled me back outside to enjoy my garden and yard again. The house needs a lot of work and if we are going to get it ready to sell (fingers crossed), then we (not only myself) need to get a few projects done.

After doing my research, I found that zone 9 can actually grow a winter garden. How awesome is that? It makes me wonder how and when we move back to the Midwest how we will get to have a winter garden? I really want to avoid the greenhouse route, so any input would be great.

With gas prices rising above our expectations, food prices will of course be rising as well. Will you be able to handle the rising cost of living or will you be stuck like me, having no choice but to raise my own food?