Eagles Wings

We've been debating what to plant this spring and if you've followed the blog at all, you know we've been trying to figure out how to do some square foot type gardening...got some free shelves last year but haven't been able to find any wood or boxes at a good or possible free price....so what to do? well, we thought we'd just use what we have for now....we had this wooden barrel so we planted some lettuce starts in it...this was done yesterday...there are both green and red lettuce varieties.....
and then Alan and Matt removed this long planter he had built several years ago (it was up on the back bank of the yard) we filled it with Miracle Grow potting soil..in one section we planted four different varieties of tomatoes and then the other section has some giant cabbages....
Our patio cover has shade cloth over it that helps this area to stay warmer than the rest of the yard...and the plants get morning and late afternoon sun....its been down in the 40s at night. Our oldest son, Don gave us a special thermostat that sits outside and has a remote inside so we can check the temperature at night...if it looks like its going to be a cold night, we will cover the plants....
We plan on planting more but at least we are started.....we also got seeds, yellow crook neck squash and beets which everyone here loves....I am going to start these inside. Perhaps by the time the seedlings get big enough, we will have more boxes, hope so.
Just to let everyone who reads this know, California is cutting back on its produce for this year by at least 1/3 or more because of drought....that means higher prices (what else is new?) so having some veggies growing is a good thing. There are plenty of sites about growing vegetables in pots and I have a few links on the side if you need any help or ideas. We try every year to grow tomatoes and its kinda hit or miss....hopefully this year will be different but lettuce always does well for us.......and of course, we have plenty of fruit with our apple, nectarine, peach and fig trees. They are still all dormant but should start budding.......