Vegetable Garden: March 1

Yesterday was the last day in February, and one of the only ones since December with no rain.  We do live in a desert climate, even though the last two months of rainy season seem to negate that fact.

I went out this morning and took these update photos of our gardening endeavors.  I've pretty much had to abandon the original radish/carrots to the ants and monkeys.  More on that, later.

While the bed is a nice height to work from, it is also shaded for much of the day.

The mesclun mix is coming in nicely.  I thinned today, and there was about 1/4 cup of lettuce.  Not much of a salad, but a baby green salad taste, anyway!

Spinach .. not growing quick, at all.

Romaine.  Only about 75% germinated.

Onions.  They are planted closest to the house, I suspect they do not get any where close to the sunlight they need.  Still green, so I will just keep watering.

Leaf lettuce is also doing fairly well.  

Radishes, as usual are growing.  

Down by the pool fence the bean plants.

The the corn field the gardener planted?

We'll just have to wait and see.  Not much hope here, either.

As I said earlier, we will be composting.  And after trying various ways, we believe we have landed on the perfect solution (at least for here.)

These two concrete planters are on the terrace adjacent to the giant rain gauge (aka: swimming pool).

The one in the back is the one we chose to use.

It is difficult to see but at the back edge of this hole is the remnant of a tree that was grown in this planter, probably a long time before we became the tenants.  The soil was reasonable, so I had Richard dig it out.  Now when the compost bucket is half full I dump it in, then cover with a layer of soil.  

Neither of these planters are in an area of sunlight, as the tree canopy is quite dense and high.  Beautiful trees, not so great for veggies that need a sunny spot.  A close by hose bib will allow us to water, once the rain really does cease.  Another local lingo:  garden hose is called "hose pipe."  And you can only purchase rolls of the pipe.  Fittings are extra!  We have seen several times that the hose pipe is just wired onto the faucet.

To gain some perspective on the size of the yard, and position of these two planters, I took a "round the spot" series of photos :

This is looking directly to the back of the yard, toward the Nchanga Golf Course.

More banana trees.  Tom and I spied a new "flower" stem, with a very few green bananas.

And that is a view of the back middle part of the yard from the terrace area.  Now, the next post ...