Water

Plants, sun, and water.  At the beginning, I have been watering daily, but I may not need to do that after the plants take root.  The high this summer in Santa Clarita so far has been 116 degrees, which is a nightmare.  It's too hot for plants, and they need lots of water.  I don't use a drip-line because I like watering my garden by hand in the morning.  It gives me a chance to look at all the plants and see what is needed.  I found an article that explains that watering in the morning is best for plants during hot months. 

I am using a wand on the end of the hose; it mimics rain and is gentle on the plants.

String Beans

I planted string beans from seeds, and they took off right away: 6 inches already.  My family and I went down to the Orange County Fair this summer.  My kids like the wild rides, but I like to see the plants and animals.  We saw some string beans in the vegetable garden that grew up parallel trellises and then met at the top, creating a cave that you could walk into.  The string beans hung down from the roof of the cave.  I'm not sure if I'll try the same thing, but I'll keep that structure in mind as I grow my sting beans. 

Plants

I purchased several small plants: a six-pack of bell peppers that come in a variety of colors, which should look good in my salad.  I also purchased tomatoes, strawberries, and onions.  We like to have barbecues in the backyard in the summer--when it's not too hot, and I wanted to grow some vegetables that we could eat then.  I love tomatoes and onions on my hamburgers, along with A-1 sauce and BBQ sauce.  Sometimes, I throw a pineapple ring and a slice of avocado on the hamburger to create a Hawaiian burger. 

My mouth is water just thinking about it.

Aloha.

Seeds

After mixing the manure into the soil, I purchased some small plants and some seeds, including peas, pumpkin, and watermelon. 

I took photography in high school and have always enjoyed it, and I like working on the images for this blog.  The mid-day sun is too bright for pictures, so I try to take pictures of my garden in the morning or evening.  I shot these seeds on a white piece of paper on my dining room table--some natural light entering the room from the right. 

I thought I would try to grow some pumpkins since Halloween is coming up this semester.  I just read that Jim and Kelsey Bryson from Canada grew the world's largest pumpkin; it weighed 1,818.5 pounds.  I would be happy with a 10-pound pumpkin that my kids could carve into a jack o'lantern. 

Manure

When I thought about starting a garden, I took a close look at the soil in my backyard: mostly sand.  I knew that it needed some nutrients for plants to grow.  To get some free manure, I drove over to my buddy's ranch.  Jim said I could shovel as much manure as I wanted for my garden.  The female (right) and her male offspring (left) had produced quite a bit of manure in their pen.  The cows backed up as I entered the pen with my shovel to fill my barrel.  I filled a huge barrel with so much manure that I couldn't lift it.  After I dumped some manure out, I managed to hoist the barrel into my trailer.  Before I left, I snapped a few pictures.