Sugar snap peas, mustard greens, and lettuce on my patio farm.
The blog may have gone dormant over the winter, but not My Patio Farm. This is Southern California dudes. We’ve got a winter growing season here.
I’m already scheming for my spring/summer garden, but first I’m going to catch you up on what happened over the past few months:
In December I planted sugar snap peas, mustard greens, parsley, two pots of lettuce, bok choy and a blackberry stick. We’ve enjoyed (a few) mustard green and bok choy sautees, but I completely ignored my lettuce. I think it’s time to give up on the dream of salad fresh off the deck. The sugar snap peas are flowering like crazy, but so far they’ve only produced enough sweet and crunchy pea pods to pick off the vine and eat right away, not enough for a side dish. The blackberry stick has made a total of about 8 leaves. I’m not holding my breath that I’ll have blackberries any time soon, but it was definitely worth the seven bucks to try. And I haven’t given up yet. Plus, I put it in the same half whiskey barrell as my bok choy. I’m trying to get better about putting a mix of plants in my pots. We’ll see.
That's a blackberry stick surrounded by bok choy.
What’s happening this summer? Lots of tomatoes, another zucchini, herbs galore, maybe carrots, and perhaps some flowers. I love the idea of edible gardening, but I’m ready for some more color out there as well.
And the final idea I’m toying with: Expanding the farm with an actual bed on the hillside below the deck. Lisa Boone, one of my colleague at the Los Angeles Times, wrote a story last year about a no dig garden. It’s basically a raised bed made out of compost, bone and blood meal and hay. It’s supposed to need very little water, and Lisa says hers has been producing like crazy. Apparently all the materials only cost $30, so if it doesn’t work, it’s not like I’m hundreds of dollars in the hole.
I’ll keep you posted. And if anyone has had any experience with blackberries in pots let me know. I want to give that little stick a fighting chance.
Awesome!
“basically a raised bed made out of compost, bone and blood meal and hay. ”
This is a great way to attract ghosts! Be careful. Though they’re handy for scaring off rodents…
I like the raised bed plan especially for Mt Washington clay. My dirt is like glue mixed with hair and I spent hours and $$ brushing it out with soil conditioner and Bumper Crop. I’m still not sure what we’ll get: Tomatoes like the withered hem of a thrift-store wedding dress, or big bumptious beefsteak beauties.
What size container are you using for the blackberries? I just ordered some raspberries that I’m going to try growing in a container, but I’ve found little to no info on whether it’s even possible. I hope your berries do well, and if so, that you’ll share your tips!
I’m using a half-barrel. As you’ll see in my next post, it’s actually started growing, so I’m feeling moderately hopeful. I read that you can grow grape vines in containers, but never read anything about blackberries or raspberries. Let’s keep each other posted, because if you can get raspberries to work I’m putting those in next year.
Just found your blog and I love what I’ve read so far. I’m looking at creating a no-dig garden myself, after following the link you included. The Virginia clay here is great for grapes and, apparently, the tea rose that has taken over the side of the house but sometimes makes it difficult to grow other veggies. This might be the way around that.
Wonderful stuff, keep it up!
Meg from nerfgunbobbins.com