setting up netting during a breeze is not fun. i hope none of this blows away next week, because it ended up being like 30 bucks for 2 nets and 2 sets of poles. there is something called “landscaping staples” that are in the mail to secure the edges of the nets but they probably won’t get here til christmas. i’m pretty sure this will keep the birds away for the time being.

my daikon are doing pretty well, considering i didn’t even really dig up the soil under them that much. i think the nets are keeping the bok choy and radishes safe so far. hopefully the rain will encourage some growth to make up for what the birds got.

i planted some lettuce here around the tomato cage. there’s a cucumber planted in the middle of the hill, but i think a bird must’ve gotten the seed. i didn’t want the cage to get thrown out, so i’m going to keep it here for when i start my cherry tomatoes in a few months.

you can just barely see the chinese cabbages coming up in the centers of the little circles. behind the cabbages are my carrots and radishes. i’m looking forward to purple carrot salads in february! it’ll be neat to have all this stuff that i would never buy at the grocery store.

in other news, i finally measured my garden. 18 by 18 feet! (it’s 6 of the 3-foot long bamboo poles) that’s much bigger than i thought! i guess i’m no good at estimating. i’m hacking away at the edges of the little dirt paths i wore down so i can plant more lettuce and things in what space i have left, and i’m already trying to figure out what i’m going to plant in february and march when i’ve harvested everything in there. i bought a tray of peat pots to start seeds in, and my first batch of starts will be lobelia and marigolds for the borders around the veggies. next batch will be orange and purple cauliflower, a couple more chinese cabbage (i think i can use them to fill in space at the end of rows), and “freckles” lettuce. i keep swearing up and down i’m not ordering any more seeds, but it seems like i keep finding more space to plant things in. ideally, i’ll always be planting something new, and always harvesting something.

i spent too much time setting this up. we’re supposed to get a week of storms starting tomorrow night, but in la that doesn’t really mean anything. as soon as the sprinkles start, it’s STORMWATCH 2009 and all the anchors are out on the street in fishermans’ raincoats. it might get maybe 2 inches over a week. (everybody who doesn’t live in california can stop laughing thank you) it doesn’t sound like we’re supposed to get wind, but i’m going to go check on the nets if we get any breaks in the rain before next weekend. in the back you can see i kind of made a tent over the sprouts that are up, and in front i just sort of stretched it really tight. i think i need to go back tomorrow with some sort of mallet to hammer in the stakes a little more.

the peas have definitely been pecked at, so i think this will give at least the ones towards the middle a break. i don’t see anything from any of the carrot seeds i planted, and it’s been almost 3 weeks. the radishes are all thriving, so at least i’m doing something right there. my lettuce is slowly coming up, and maybe around christmas i’ll be making salads. that would be pretty awesome.