Circle Bed

It was time for another garden bed to be added to the garden. In this photo you can see the design when it was just beginning to take form. This one is called the Circle Bed. I have wanted a garden bed right in this particular spot for some time. I have been contemplating all of the different building materials that could be used for the wall support, wood, rock, a large ceramic pot, but none of those materials inspired me to action. I have just enought wood element, and just enough rock element in the garden already, and I didn't want to disturb the balance.

Then I saw this flagstone brick product and it adds just a touch of refinement to my wild, nature inspired garden.
Using the pickaxe I removed about 3 to 4 inches of dirt and rock out of the base of the design so that I have a depth of at least 6 inches of Tomato Lady Soil when I am done.

This bed will be irrigated using the same valve as all of the vegetables. I decided to tie it into the Bevel Bed line which was tricky because it had been planted with root vegetables already and I had to find the irrigation line and tie into it. I was able to remove 3 of the plants, set them aside, tie into the irrigation, then replant them and it worked out perfectly.

This bed is now planted with 25 cloves of Ichelium Red Garlic from my garden that I grew last year.

And here is the new Circle Bed from the patio!

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

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!

No You Didn't

Help me now, I have started gardening in black poly pots. This is what it has come to, but once I describe the contents to you, you will understand. In the center we have cabbage, except the center of the center pot, it is a califlower. There are beets in the end pots and they are called Bulls Blood, whoa. There are turnips and they are all white, and one lone gourmet fancy lettuce, unknown. They were from the University, they were going to get chucked, so hey, I planted all that I could, gave some away, and although Husband said we have enough raised beds, I kind of recall the last time something like this happened, dirt started to accumulate and it became another raised bed. I can see it all too clearly I guess is my point.

The Nandina are ablaze with color.

Here is another angle of the array.

The patio rabbit is from a garage sale. I used to have a white lopped earred rabbit so for a dollar I couldn't resist him. I told my Husband that they had the mate, a rabbit that was standing up on it's hind legs, and it was really cute, except it's ear was broken off, just needed a dab of glue. He said "Great now you are bringing broken stuff home from garage sales," and I assured him that I drew the line at broken stuff. Broken stuff is bad Feng Shui don't you know.

Rocks look good in the bonsai pot, but don't get too attached, it's too soon, we are not out of the woods yet.

Some of the Asian Greens were potted up in 6 packs. I am taking the cookie box to a friend's house and we are having a 6 pack potting party tomorrow, so the rest of the seedlings in the cookie box will be give aways. Can you see the Red Winter Kale in the top center?

Here is a lovely Peacock Purple Broccoli, with an excellent leaf form.

And here is a bronze and rose lettuce from the mesclun mix planted inside the greenhouse. Sometimes I feel like a color junkie, just like today.

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

It's Educational

I planted peas between the green beans in the greenhouse bed and they are about 3 inches tall now. The plastic for the greenhouse is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, which is exciting, and now I have to devise the venting system. It is getting down to low 40's and the tomato that self sowed is targeted to go into the plastic covered greenhouse all things considering.

I have had these Euonymus for over 2 years and they did not like the early morning sun where they were located, and they were just not happy. So I dug them up and placed them in these bonsai pots and discovered that they were planted way too deep, which is possibly why they weren't happy. I cut the roots to place them in the bonsai pots, and they probably won't like that either, it is a gamble. Seems just like Wrangler. It must be this vest that I made, It's kind of heavy duty and western. I decided about a month ago to make a vest and I purchased the fabric and sorted over patterns, and finally as the Master Gardener Graduation is coming up, I made one, and decided it will be fitting to wear the new vest to the event. I scored 98 on the test, and I am pleased with the score.

So I have started salad greens that like the cold. Botanical Interests has an Asian Salad Greens Mix (link is located on the sidebar) which contains Tatsoi, along with Arugula, Chinese Cabbage, Japanese Spinach, Mizuna, Mustard Green, Mustard Red, Mustard Ruby Streaks, represented as 4 rows, and I planted 2 rows of Red Winter Kale in the clear cookie box. The 6 packs contain COS Breen Lettuce (less fond of cold) that was started in the cookie box, and they did get too leggy, so I planted them deeper in the 6 pack containers, and they do not like to have their stems buried deep and I have lost some of them as a result. I am going to breakdown and get the shelving unit and the shop lights eventually so that the starts won't get leggy when I grow them in the house. The Tatsoi, along with the rest of the Asian Mix has been growing outside all along and seems to like the temperature.

I planted a 6 pack of pansies and they are next to the rosemary that is flowering, and the lobelia. It is a study of blue. Blue flowers are stellar.

And there are some yellow leaves in the garden now, and one plant with yellow leaves is the Rose of Sharon Hybiscus seen in the photo above. I can't take a picture of it without capturing the salts that are ever abundant in our Nevada soil. All you can do is scrape the crystal-ish powder up and discard it. It is Calcium Carbonate I believe. It is the reason we cannot use Miracle-Grow here in Nevada, as Miracle-Grow is comprised of salts, and salt on salt is just wrong. So as a fellow blogger stated, you are not supposed to share ugly pictures, but it is ok, it's educational.

Here is the apple tree, and I am going to prune it this year for the first time, so it is being mentioned as I am in my preparatory pruning meditative stage and this will last until early January at which time I will actually prune the tree. It is like a metamorphosis of a really great apple tree pruner, like a butterfly type thing.

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

What's Going On

The pots in the greenhouse are really flourishing.

The four brocolli are growing larger, and eventually the turnips will be harvested. There are recently planted lettuce and peas hidden beneath the leaves so the appearance of this planter will change soon enough.

Here is the New Zealand Spinach. It is growing in complete shade and seems to be happy.

I've pulled off the cricket cloches, and they will be stored in the garage. The carrots don't seem to mind the reduced light, and additional carrots were planted today for a later harvest.

In the herb garden, the Purple Basil has changed to green with purple splashes.

The hottentot is flowing over the edges of the bed and tempts me to let it take over.

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

On the Other Side

Here is the update on the green room. The other side wall is stood and the concrete poured.

Nine feet isn't very long, but interior roof supports will be required.

The transplanted green beans and lettuce are taking hold with just a few casualties.

Green beans are forming in the other pots.

The chard is lightly being harvested.

The New Zealand Spinach has what resembles seeds (a sepaled nondescript flower?) forming where side leaves have been harvested. I will take more photos in a day or two to see what develops.

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

Looks Like Heaven

Back to building the raised bed. I excavated the soil out of the center, scratched the base with a pickax and raked up the rocks. The depth will be just over 6 inches. The plant's roots can venture into the highly alkaline, devoid of organic matter putty colored dirt if they desire.

Here is the irrigation and I am using what is left, I can't seem to keep this stuff around.

Tomato Lady Soil is my favorite soil in the world and it will fill the bed. This will hold 10 cubic feet.

So here is the new bed with the transplanted green beans from the traveling pots. There were lettuces at their bases when I dug them up so they came along too. There will be casualties unfortunately, but we must not dwell on that. Husband says this looks like a tar pit.
Apparently he's seen a tar pit. I am thinking it looks like heaven.

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