Steve's Garden Journal: 2001

2001: the first year after moving into our first house that I actually have a real garden in the back yard in which to grow plants. Before this, I was restricted to plastic pots on a very shaded balcony.

Latest garden picture

February: Far too early to plant directly in the ground, even for California, but an ideal time to start seeds indoors. I planted peppers, tomatoes and some broccoli in seed trays, set them under the window and waited.

March: More waiting. I planted more seeds in each cell than I would need, and thinned out all but the strongest. I also started the hardening off process this month, only to find one morning that snails ate half of the pepper plants. The middle of the month saw me rototilling and filling up the garden area with good quality soil. Then near the end of the month the first transplants were done.

April: Almost everything else is planted, and some stragglers (due to the snails) are started in peat pots inside.

May: Warm weather is finally here and the chilly days are behind us. Explosive growth this month and first harvests.

June: Water, fertilize, harvest, repeat. This is what it's all about.

The rest: I got lazy, no entries here. Everything turned out pretty well, but I will make some changes next year.

Go to 2002