Freeze Passing Through

We took off to Phoenix to see Bret Favre play Minnesota Vikings vs the Phoenix Cardinals and before we left I brought the self-sowed tomato that was growing in homemade compost into the house. So here it is with blossoms, looking for some 60 degree weather.

Well it's not going to find it outside, because we got back and it is winter now at Black Mountain Garden. There is ice in the birdbath leftover from the rain last weekend. And with all of the rain and overcast skies, it froze the last few nights.

So lets walkabout and see the effect of freeze on the winter garden. Here are the Mesclun Lettuces. They all look fine, with the addition of yellow leaves from the apple tree.

The Basil bit the dust due to the freeze. The tree stake pole segments are chunky mulch/feline guard, (my own invention) and quite effective I might say. They are temporary, and some things are just temporary.

I commandeered the unused trash bin from the garage and it's a new rain barrel and it is over half full from the rain from the weekend. This picture qualifies as ugly but it is okay, it is educational.

Here is another ugly picture, but with the addition of rainwater being captured in a clay vessel it is elevated to "ugliness transcended".

Here is frozen water on the leaves of the "Mother of all Hens and Chickens" (for lack of it's true name) and this can't possibly be good.

The spinach are getting bigger. They have taken a long time to get to this size but the freeze passing through didn't bother them a bit.

Against the south side of the north facing wall is where the Green Beans are located and they did not get hit by the freeze. This is the location where Leslie the garden expert suggests planting Lemon Trees because the reflected heat from the wall is retained well into the night.

The freeze whacked the Purple Heart Wandering Jew located in the Cactus Bed.

There are a few unusual things to mention, like this Penstemmon with flower buds forming,

And this California Poppy hiding out under the Penstemmon leaves which will be the first to flower, long before the others that haven't even started germinating yet.

The New Zealand Spinach bit the dust, got whacked, met it's frozen demise, you choose.

But the chard looks like no frost here.

So here is a panorama of the garden in early December after the first freeze. All of the salts that consolidate on the surface of the soil in the fall, (seems more predominate) have been washed away.

Hose art is provided by Laura who now recuperating from a cold, thought the idea of carrying around a frozen hose to get it out of the picture didn't seem too appealing, so she left it there. Watch for more hose art in upcoming posts! Can you see the color in the leaves of the Eucalyptus?

Now this is what Heavenly Bamboo is all about! There are alot more garden pots gathered around then there have been in previous updates. It's a sign, spring is going to be amazing!

There's a sign of freeze on the Peach Tree and the Lantana in the sunning bed, freeze that was just passing through.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Mining Rocks

With 10 minutes on the timer before the chicken was done, I'm out tearing up the main bed trying to locate the irrigation line that was buried 7 inches below the surface well over 2 years ago. This bed has needed to be reworked. It's no easy task at 7:00 in the evening, but no worries, I've got my trusty pickax and I'll be done in no time! Pickaxes are the way to garden here on Black Mountain. So what's my dirt like you ask? Until I can come up with a better description, I'd say it could pass for a drive-in movie parking lot.

As I plug along, every rock I find gets chucked in the rock holding beds that are located around the property.

Lightly popping them off the wall and they drop right in place.

I don't think I'll ever get to that place where I am not mining rocks. I'll just be doing it less because of the switch to raised beds.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, Carry On and Hurry Back!

Drenched and somewhat overexposed

It's lightly raining, with tiny snowflakes melting in descent. We don't typically have dramatic skies so I really appreciate clouds. The wind blew the iron patio chair into the house last night and popped a hole in the stucco. Gusts of 50 - 60 mph creating little patching choirs for the to do list. I love this photo. I reminds me of the coast.

These pictures are from yesterday. Here is the tulip blossom in full glory. I am going to have to relocate them. I planted them where they would get protection from the afternoon sun. Might be too bright still. I was a bit concerned about the quality of the photographs uploaded onto this blog. They seem sun drenched and somewhat overexposed. I have visited some other desert garden blogs and what I've noticed is that their pictures also have this quality. There are a couple in Las Vegas, and Phoenix, I am kinda new to this so I am not all hooked up yet.

Here are the latest photos of the cannas. They are just starting to leaf out. There are two kinds, one is orange with red dabbing and the other is a red that is smaller in form and simplier in flower. I am not going to rush off and find their latin names. I would if I were going to administer them to someone which I am not, instead I am more likely to just give them nicknames. I will share plant names as often as I can.

Here is one of the iris' that I had hoped to bloom it's first year. This is supposed to be October Storm. Let's all wait and see. So this weekend is the Las Vegas Iris Society's spring show. I had a cold last weekend, so I had to miss the plant sale at the Springs Preserve on Saturday. Did anyone go to the plant sale last weekend? Also it was State Fair weekend, and Easter.

Here is an update on the peach tree. We have peaches. I was tempted to reduce their numbers, but here in the desert the remaining ones would all fall off on their own, so time will tell what the proper course of action will be.

Black Mountain

This is a picture of Black Mountain from Lake Mead Blvd. down the hill from Lake Las Vegas. Black Mountain Garden is located in the middle of the 3 mountain ridges pictured above.

The red tulips are starting to bloom. The first 2 blossoms were cut short by what I suspect to be an adverse reaction to the amended soil that I worked into the top 2 inches of soil surrounding the plants in all of the beds. The leaves have been burned, and new growth is slightly curled and stunted. Here is a picture of the first tulip flower. Isn't the color amazing?

They are quite wild looking especially without any stems. This is the first time I have had tulips in Nevada. The bulbs were purchased on clearance and planted in January. I love the leaves and maybe next year they will have stems.

We are supposed to have a 30% chance of rain in a couple of days.