Bits and Pieces

I have arrived at Tommy's. As usual it is a whirlwind. Before I got here they went to a party at Intel for the kids and after I arrived we went to a church Halloween party - but more on that in the next post.

There is some catch up to do first.

You mean you don't have a regulation sized hockey net in your living room?

Above are the last group of beans I planted. By now I am sick to death of beans and find they aren't as versatile as other veggies.

They are also completely infested with aphids. Yuk. There are a lot of ladybugs munching away but not enough of them. Hint: I learned today in Modesto (see below) to spray aphids with ice water to get rid of them. I can't wait to try it.

And they were shading out the celery, which have been teeny forever and I would like to give them half a chance. So I pulled them out and moved them away from the garden in the hopes that the aphids will die and the lady bugs will migrate.

Sweet potatoes. How cool are they? This is a little 2x2 plot where I planted 5 SP sprigs. I will get many pounds worth before I am through, as I have said before.

I pulled out one of the plants just to look and this is what I got. Please excuse the dirty hand. I had dug down first to see if they were ready to be picked.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Sacramento

I was intrigued with some people on my forum who started a community garden in their mobile home court. They have been keeping all of us on the forum up to date on the progress of the garden. Sheila pitched the idea to the management group and they ended up being very enthusiastic. Long story short, they have a thriving garden. Each box is 'owned' by someone and they maintain it themselves. Friendships have been forged and food bills have been lessened.

Anyway, in the course of reading all about it, I realized that they were in Modesto which is right up the 99 between the grapevine and Sacramento. So for this trip we decided to meet. And it was well worth it. Sheila and Al have a gorgeous garden and are great people and very hospitable. We could have visited for a few more hours, but I had a deadline to meet for the H'ween party at Tommy's so we had to cut it short. What fun to meet normal people through an online connection!

An overview of the boxes.

A prime Brussel Sprout plant

Sheila and myself. It is called Apollo Garden because the street is named Apollo. It sits in place of an empty motor home space and each box has its own water and its own shut off valve.

Happy Halloween!