Growing Beans, Squash & Pumpkins in Southern California

Here are some updated pics of the bush bean, squash and pumpkin seeds that we planted on August 11th. These pictures were taken a couple of days ago and reflect the growth of our seeds at day 50. They still have a long way to go, as you can see.

Bush Beans. These beans are supposed to be yellow, so we are waiting for them to change color a bit before harvesting them. The seed packet says that they will be ready to harvest in 60 days, so we're almost there.



Squash. The seed packet says 53 days to harvest. We don't even have gourds growing yet to harvest at 50 days, so we'll wait patiently and see what happens.



Baby Mini Jack Pumpkins. We have some big, beautiful flowers that will be pumpkins some day. The seed packet said 90 days to harvest, so we hope to have some pumpkins in November.

Seedlings

The squash, pumpkin and bean seeds that we planted on 8.11.09 (read about it HERE) peeked out of the soil FIVE days after planting. These pictures were taken this morning, SEVEN days after planting. Aren't they so cute?!


Squash



Pumpkins

Bush Beans

Growing Pumpkins, Squash & Beans

The boys wanted to grow an autumn harvest, so we chose mini pumpkins, squash and yellow bush beans. We are especially excited about growing pumpkins. It is a little late to start growing them, but since we live in sunny Southern California, we thought that we would take a chance. The pumpkin seeds that we bought (Botanical Gardens: Jack Be Little) take 95 days to harvest, so we will be probably be picking them in November. We are hoping that they grow faster than normal so that they are ready to pick near Halloween. For those of you who have gotten a late start like us, we found pumpkins seeds by Renee's Garden called "Baby Mini Jack" that has a harvest time of 85 days.



When planting pumpkins or any type of gourd, it is necessary to make little mounds or hills to plant the seeds in as shown above. We did also did this for the squash.



The pumpkin and squash seeds are to be planted 1 inch below the dirt. Six seeds can be placed in each hill as shown above.



Water thoroughly and regularly(as shown above).



Make sure to mark each container or area. We chose to put the seed packet with the picture inside each container.



UPDATES
Click here to view these seeds seven days after planting.

Here are some links to our favorite seeds. Click on the name to go to their websites.

Bontanical Interests
Renee's Garden
Seeds of Change

...and this is our FAVORITE gardening book. It is so inspirational!
Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children

Our Edible Garden

By growing an edible garden, Tennessee and California are learning how to be sustainable in a consumer-based society. My hope is to one day have a garden large enough that will yield fruits and vegetables to share with the poor and disadvantaged. Right now, we only have enough to share with the birds and squirrels...they love us for it though.

Tomatoes (picked off the vine this morning by California)



Grapes (Cabernet)



Blueberries (pic taken in the Spring...notice the hummingbird)



Everything in our garden is 100% organic. Edible gardens lower the carbon footprint of food and provides an interconnectedness within the community by uniting family, friends and neighbors around a common cause. Be a part of a common cause! Grow an edible garden in your yard, on your deck/patio/balcony.

Spring is in the Air

I went out to water the garden today and was delighted to see the first signs of Spring! It is as if it happened overnight. Here is what I saw:

The bouganvilla has started to bloom...

The grapevine is getting leaves again...

Blueberries are growing...

Orange blossoms...

Flowering Jasmine...

Lilacs...

and one single red rose bud :)

100% Organically Grown

Back in April, we posted information about organic gardening and pictures of our own organic garden on the terrace of our condo. Click HERE if you want to view that post for the first time or to refresh your memory.

We have fruit and vegetables growing now. The raspberries were the first to produce fruit and many of them have already been eaten by Tennessee and California. Here are some pics of our fruits and vegetables...

The beginning of Merlot grapes...



Little green tomatoes...



Blueberries that haven't turned "blue" yet...



and Raspberries that have already been picked :)

Organic Gardening...Condo Style

I recently saw a statistic that more than 70% of the residents in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are renters. A high proportion of those renters live in condos and apartments. When we moved into our condo in Santa Monica, I thought that my dreams of raising our own organic fruits and vegetables were over because we didn't have a yard.

I also struggled with the notion that it would take a lot of water to grow these fruits and vegetables and I wanted to be green. I didn't want to waste water, but then I realized that by growing our own fruits and vegetables, we will HELP the environment in the following ways:

* growing plants and trees puts oxygen into the air which helps fight global warming
* cutting out the necessity for a truck to deliver produce to the store to be purchased and consumed (which cuts down on pollution, emissions and reliance on gasoline and oil)
* using less water and land than traditional farming
* teaching my children (THE FABRIC OF YOUR FUTURE) the Science of gardening and the importance of organic gardening
* not using chemicals or pesticides, all of which cause irreversible harm to humans, plants, animals. They also leak into our drinking water, into the ocean and pollutes the air.

Yes a light bulb literally clicked on in my head when I realized how incredibly wonderful this is for the environment so...

I went to Armstrong Nursery and made sure that all of the fruits and vegetables that I chose would do well in containers by speaking with one of the gardener's there. The only one that I chose that wouldn't do well in a container was an Avocado tree...so I didn't get one :( I bought organic soil and special acidic soil for the grapes and berries and planted our garden in FULL SUN on the terrace!

Here is a list and pictures of the crops that we are growing together as a family:

Merlot grapes

Raspberries

Blueberries

Washington Dwarf Navel Oranges

Better Boy and Champion Tomatoes

Cucumbers & Jalapeno Peppers

Mammoth SUNFLOWERS


Here are some great ORGANIC GARDENING links to check out:

Organic Container Gardening

Organic Gardening for Kids

Earthbound Farm Organic

Gardening with Kids

Mothers of Organic

The only real pests that I think that we are going to have to deal with are birds, aphids and squirrels. So I plan to order eco-friendly netting to keep the birds out of our goodies from Gardens Alive and ladybugs to eat the aphids. I also plan to get hot pepper wax spray from Clean Air Gardening to make sure the squirrels don't eat our yummy goodness!