Rabbit in the Garden

All winter I saw bunny tracks in the snow. I finally caught a glimpse of the rabbit in my backyard one rainy spring afternoon. Cute, but potentially troublesome to my vegetables. I'm using chicken wire over my transplanted seedlings while they are still small. This also prevents squirrels from digging in freshly seeded beds.

Rainbow chard seedlings safe under chicken wire

Interplanting of strawberries, onion, and spinach

Sprouting Sprouts

My sprout growing device resembles a tiny greenhouse with a mesh screen at the bottom. I got it from Tony Hornick. You can sprout in mason jars with screen, but I like how sprouts can be grown to have leafy green tops using this system.

I have mung and adzuki beans, and green lentils to sprout.

Below is a photo-documentation of the sprouting of mung beans over the course of about 7 days.

3 tablespoons of mung beans and just enough water so it's touching the seeds.

Water must be replaced and beans rinsed every 12 hours to discard of the 'afterbirth'

Sprouts are delicious on their own, or in stir fries and other dishes. They're super nutritious and a great way to get live green food during winter months!

the architecture of tomorrow

Ladybug Life Stages

Below is a short documentation of the lady bugs that came and lived on my balcony.

Lady bug larvae were the first evidence we noticed of this bug's presence:
July 16, 2008

July 18, 2008

After checking under leaves of the plants on my balcony garden for ladybugs in various stages of life to document, I was rewarded with these two found on the Gerbera daisy. As we pulled back the leaf to take a shot, this orange encased pupa flailed and pulsated around.

The second one was just emerging from the pupa state you see the bug above in. I have included times of the shots taken to give you an idea of the pace at which this lady bug emerged and changed colour from yellow to the bright red we know them for.
July 31, 2008 11:17 am

July 31, 2008 11:18 am

July 31, 2008 2:40 pm
August 1, 2008 5:51 pm - last sighting.

I haven't seen many lady bugs lately but I've enjoyed their presence in this urban garden.

Vermicompost: Storing & Using on the Balcony Garden

We used our worm compost on all of the plants on our balcony garden by spreading it around the topsoil. We are making a vermicompost tea solution to water our indoor plants with.
Once I had obtained my vermicompost I had to deal with the issue of how to store it. I did a bit of online research and what I read in this helpful blog post is that if you have vermicompost (a mix of worm castings, partially decomposed bedding material and other stuff from your bin) then it should be stored in a container that is not air tight. The reason is that all of that extra material will continue breaking down and if there's no ventilation it could be really smelly and foul. This article also suggests that you first dry out your vermicompost so it's not too wet before putting it in a container. If you have vermicastings (only worm castings, ie you've taken/sifted out all of the other matter) then it is best to store this in an air tight container.
I know from looking at what I harvested from my bin that I do not have pure castings, although they compose the majority of my harvest's contents. There are still remnants of hay and newspaper that were on their way to being broken down completely. It is not wet, but just damp. I figure I will just use a plastic tupper ware container and punch some holes in the lid to store my vermicompost in.
I think the addition of the worm castings to our potted plants is already helping them and am noticing that they are retaining moisture better, requiring less frequent watering (although it could just be the humid weather we're having).

We tightened in our plants, bringing the marigolds off the rails closer to our tomato and other plants in the hopes that their pest repelling properties will help. There are no longer aphids on anything on the table (below), plus the ladybugs are kicking ass on the morning glory vine on the wall. What remains in terms of edible crops are 5 tomato plants (3 cherry, 2 pomodoro), spinach I planted a few weeks ago (enjoys cooler weather than this), garlic chives, mixed herbs, and the pole beans (haven't produced any beans yet - have been spritzing with water). Here's a few pictures of our garden these days:

The blue variety of Morning Glory I planted this year (above) and an awesome show of flowers this morning (below)

The first flowers on the tomatoes we started from seed! (above)
A wasp (?) on the bean plant (below)

Good Things

insects visit
flowers bloom
tomatoes ripen

Pinecone & Clover

Spinach

The spinach has been great this year. It's so nice being able to cut and eat fresh spinach and lettuce right from my balcony garden and it's so easy to grow.

Below are taken June 6th:

Below: taken today, June 19th. The spinach is getting taller and going to seed. The leaves are not as green and luscious as the younger ones. I think I will cut it back and do a second sewing of seeds.