This year we’ve decided to go the “no-spray” route in regards to pests because of the honeybees. Every day I’m amazed by the biodiversity in our crops. A couple of weeks ago I saw my very first Green Lacewing. The larva of which feeds on soft-bodied insects, such as aphids, spider mites, immature bugs, and…
Squeek and her pumpkin As discussed before, Squeek prefers to romp around the vegetable garden rather than stay on her side of the fence. Since she insists on being in there I’ve decided she might as well be useful (other than chasing rodents with fluffy tails). Sitting politely next to one of our volunteer pumpkins you can get…
Part of our ornamental garden What is that tipping point between being a gardener and being an urban farmer? Is there a checklist one must follow before they can legitimately call themselves an urban farmer? To me there is a definite line between “gardener” and “urban farmer” but it doesn’t involve some complicated list of…
There is always something to learn, and I think writing them down here is a good way of not only keeping track but of letting others know my lessons as well. So here’s more of what I’ve learned (you can find my first list here) now with livestock! Beans we’ve missed 1. Green beans must…
Greenhouse will go on far side of beds It’s never ending around here. A week doesn’t go by where we don’t have some crazy project in the works. And it’s always a mad rush trying to find the time to get everything done before winter. Some projects just seems to take on a life of their own and end…
Old picture without shrubs, but you get the idea We have a big front yard. I may have mentioned that before. Anyways, currently it only has a few plants and is mostly just mulch. I may have mentioned that before too. I’m just waiting to get notified by the city that we have to landscape…
The vegetable beds are beginning to open up now that we’ve taken out all of our peas (after saving the seed of course), and almost all of our garlic and lettuce (waiting for lettuce seed). The chard is bolting so hopefully it won’t be too long before we get seed from that and are able…
I’m seriously starting to feel like Jack. This year’s bean trellises were put in at around 10′ high. We thought that would be plenty of space. It apparently isn’t. So now they are producing quite heavily. I think I may have planted too many. For the last three days I’ve been picking about a pound…
Not this past weekend, but the weekend before was my birthday. Tom asked me what I wanted to do and the answer was simple, though kind of odd. I wanted to go to the 1 year anniversary celebration of the Seed Bank in Petaluma, CA. The Seed Bank is run by Baker Creek Heirlooms. It’s…
Baby Cucumbers This has been a rather productive week here on Dog Island. The summer veggies are starting to roll in. The biggest harvest this week was our very first harvest of cucumbers. We had been keeping an eye on them, but as anyone who has grown cukes will know, they are sneaky and can…
Dog Island Farm is a small urban farm in the San Francisco Bay Area.
