Fruits of labor!

About two months ago on a relatively hot Sunday when KT was out shopping, I was pondering what would keep me engaged and be productive. Voila, the idea of making my own vegetable bed, which I've been thinking for a while sounded exciting to start with. Unfortunately I didnt have any tools to start the project. Off I go to Home Depot to secure the required material. Here are the items that I bought:

• Spade that looks similar to this one: Fiskars 9667 Garden Spade
• A Trowel like this: Fiskars 7073 Big Grip Trowel
• Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Garden Soil - 1 Cubic Foot - 2 of them
• Concrete bricks - 10 large ones and 6 small ones
• Tomato, Chilly and Cucumber plants 

Parag was also idling at his home. So I called him to join my small experiment. He joined me enthusiastically and had been quite a help in the process.

We scouted for a place and found the alley to the right of the house is the best place since both Tomatos and Chillies need a lot of light and damp soil. We marked the perimeter of our vegetable bed. We dug out the native soil thats almost like clay, instead of nice soil. Well thats San Diego for you, very infertile soil. Loosened up soil and sprinkled some water to help loosening up. Placed the bricks to hold the perimeter. Had to secure them in place and make sure they are aligned etc. I wont say the job is perfect, but it does meet the basic requirements for vegetable bed. Mixed the garden soil with the native soil, and let it air for sometime. The soil had to be as loose as possible for any plant to grow quickly.

Once we were happy with the quality of soil mix (lol, speaking like a pro here ;) ), we put the plants in, and watered them. Had to space out the plants to maximize the small vegetable bed.

About four weeks later, the Chilly plant bear its first fruit. I was so excited to see that pepper. KT didnt want to pluck it. I plucked it anyway and she had it in the refrigerator for almost 3 weeks without using it. LOL! After a week or so, the tomato plant bear its fruits too. But the plant was bending towards one side since it was not able to take the load from the fruits. So I had put in some wooden supports and tied the plant to it. Now it is holding up pretty good. Here is the progress after 2 months: I sure do hope this continues. In fact I am planning to get another vegetable bed now :)