Snapshots and Thoughts

Here is a long overdue update of the garden. This is what the garden looks like from my patio. These snapshots of the different vantage points will help to show what changes have been made since my last posts.

Here is the bevel bed planted with winter vegetables consisting mostly of lettuce, broccoli and purple cabbage. The eucalyptus had shaded this bed so it is in sun until the apricot tree leaves out again.

Two new kumquat trees have been added flanking either side of the walkway to the hot tub. The circular retainer brick seen in the foreground will be added around the base of the new kumquat tree repeating the pattern. I am searching for something to line the pathway (shown on the left) that will hold back the rock. I previously had lined the path with medium sized cobalt black rock but they would eventually topple into the pathway as someone stepped over them, or by dragging the hose around, so I either have to replace them with something else, or pour a small concrete curb and embed the black rock into the curbing and that seems soooo daunting that for right now I am just stepping over the whole thing waiting for an epiphany.

Here is my little somewhat secluded corner. I have been looking for some type of vine, preferably evergreen to plant against the trellis. Grapes are out, roses are out (maybe...), annuals are out, so the search continues.....

Here is the view of the garden from the back patio. I really like the black rock....it just doesn't stay put!

From this perspective you can see the garden without the eucalyptus! I am going to be searching for ways to cover the walls this summer!

Thanks for visiting! Garden on!

New Beds

More new vegetable beds for the garden! I am happy to be adding more vegetable beds to my backyard! I have wanted these vinyl raised beds for about a year, but I was concerned with how they would look with my wild, natural rock garden setting. I decided to keep all of the existing rockwork, and just drop the garden beds in where I could find room. I have to step over the rocks in order to access the beds for planting and cultivating but at least it still has it's original character.

Here is the other new bed. I am going to cut down the Eucalyptus tree. It is going to have to go because of the vegetables and their need of sunlight. Two fruit trees that are already planted will fill in the edges of this area, growing to just barely cover the ends of the bed in the picture above.

It will be a big change!

Thanks for stopping by! To all of my gardening friends, Garden on!

It's All About Food

My vision is skewed and now it is all about food in the garden. I look to the left where I added vegetables to the In-Ground garden in the fall, and I asked myself what is the difference between the left and the right of this particular garden area. The left represents the capacity to grow food in the desert in the Winter using Tomato Lady Soil, drip irrigation, and cool season plant seeds, and on the right it is pretty much the way most gardens look in Las Vegas right now with dormant shrubs and flowers. And now to me, it is a new place to grow more food.

So I dug up the Lantana, the two varieties of Canna, and removed the Chaste Tree. The mulch was removed and placed behind the Sunning Patio. The soil was moist and you could where tell there was microbial activity under the mulch. The canna did a great job breaking up the soil with their roots. ( I hesitate to grow them again because of all of the bio-mass.) The Chaste tree was spreading roots under everything and had gotten everywhere so it would have reduced the vitality of everything growing in this bed, which was worth a mention. I have Iris and Double Lilies, and Hummingbird bush in the area where I am working. I need to relocate them somewhere else. I like the rockwork, I wrestle with raised wooden beds in this area. I think about Corn, and Melons and an In-Ground bed would be perfect for them, also it would be less confining without the lumber, which then you have to accomodate walking paths, and access to both sides of the beds, and with the walls there and the rock layout, in order to accomodate all of those aspects it would reduce the size of the final planting area overall.

So I think that I can make two large rectangular planting areas, essentually divide the area in half, place small flagstones down the center then off to the left nuancing the flow of the rock in the wall in the forground, which will provide a simple access but still allow for most planting area. So I will get more soil, level the pads, sow Poppies, and be ready for early summer for my Corn and whatever else, until it is Melon time!

Here is what is growing on the other side of the patio right now. Eventually there will be food growing on both sides of the sunning patio.

Here is Cilantro growing in the pot almost in the shade from the south most wall. It is in it's peak right now. I have it growing with Red Onions from seed planted in the fall.

I have Turnips, Lettuce and Spinach growing in the Greenhouse. I need to take some more photos to capture the garden this time of year.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, Garden on!

Help for Her Addiction

Here is the "official" first carrot of the season growing in the full shade bed. The "other"one was half the size, and I ate it and that is that.

Julie my neighbor gave me a mix of Heirloom Tomatoes which I then cut open and saved the seeds. After searching the names of a few on the internet, I believe two are Black Russian Pear (2nd from top left) and Black Zebra Cherry (lower left). When you save seeds, you don't know if it was crossed with something else at pollination, but saving seeds is a gamble that appeals to the Wrangler. I had to protect these cherry tomatoes from Julie's baby. He was popping them in his mouth as fast as he could as she shared them with me.

I belong to an online gardening group which I truly enjoy, (I belong to 3) and in one the thread it came up about gardening addictions and how to distract the husband while you unload a new purchase from the vehicle without him noticing. I shared how, when being confronted about if something is new, to avoid direct eye contact and immediately comment on the weather. It was a funny thread. Later in thinking about it, it shed new light on the little gardening pictures that I have in my kitchen. In the picture of the couple on the left, she is praying for the crop's harvest and the season, and he is praying for her. And in the one on the right, her man has already run off!

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

Little Rosemary Wreaths

Here are little Rosemary wreaths that are perfect to make after a rain. I added them to the bowl of orange rind and dried lemon slices and they spice up the kitchen.

The new raised bed is filled with Black Dirt and the irrigation is installed. The rain settled everything in and the whole garden is fresh and new.

Here is a close up of the irrigation and it was fun to arrive at this design where the lumber was cut at an angle. As all of my planting areas and raised beds have names, I thought about this one for a while, this one is called the Bevel Bed.

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

Moon in Leo

The new raised bed is finished and you can see how it fits next to the patio.

Here is the vantage from another angle.

Husband and I moved the whiskey barrels by sliding them on rails made by tree stake poles.

Here is a pretty cool vantage point. Next will be filling the bed in with black dirt. Right now there are a half-dozen Mexican Primrose in the center of the bed. They need to be relocated but not today when the Moon is in Leo, considered barren and dry and there is to be no planting. But it is a time to harvest, cultivate, control pests and weeds, and build raised beds!

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

Chi Happy and Free

Today was the day to start the new raised bed for the winter greens that are ready to plant out from the greenhouse. I consider the principles of Feng Shui when incorporating new elements into the garden. There are angles created by the shape of the box that were a consideration in it's design and placement. There would be no chards (cutting Chi) pointing to the door of the house or to the center of the pathways that approach the bed from various directions.

Even the length of the side board was considered so that it wouldn't feel as though it blocked Chi when walking along the curving path. The wood will eventually grey in color and visually become an extention of the patio. Originally I had considered redwood but the color would overwhelm this area of the garden.

The front board requires miter cuts before it can be installed and then the whole frame will be brought forward and settled in.

In the garden there are penstemmons with their rosey leaf tips preparing for spring.

And here is a Firecracker Penstemmon already in bloom.

Here is a Perky Sue and the leaves of California Poppy hinting at what is to come!

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

Mind Paper

Buckets of rain, buckets of tears, I got all them buckets coming out of my ears, buckets of moonbeams in my hand, you got all the love, honey baby I can stand. Ahhh, a little Bob in the morning! Can you see all of the rain that pooled atop the greenhouse!

The peas have taking over. Pea flowers would be nice.

Here you can see that I have now started gardening in the walkways. This is a plum planted in the corner of the property which is an indication that I have run out of room for fruit trees. I have already reduced the width of the walkway if not abandoned part of the walkway completely on mind paper.

This will be the next area with a raised bed and it will be constructed with 2 rows of 6 inch redwood. Something to ponder is that there are whiskey barrels in the design area, so they need to be relocated.

You can see the Rose of Sharon Hybiscus that is planted in this abandoned walkway. I am interested in seeing what will happen to this area. I have placed bird netting on the ground held by bbq sticks to control the antics of Cat. I have scattered poppies here and I wish that I had some leaves to toss on the ground to help with moisture retention. Ahhh, to want the simple things like pea flowers and leaves!

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

Garden Friends

I really appreciate all of my new garden friends.

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

Put Up and Grow

I put up grow shelves and a shop light in the dining room. I have been pricing the shelves for about 5 months, and I just couldn't bring myself to spring for full price, so when they went down to $60.00, it was time to act. The shop light is a 2 light unit for $13.00, and the bulbs are 5000 lumins, full spectrum, $7.00 set of two. (You can compare the plant and aquarium lights, identify the lumins (5000), and locate the same lumins for less money than the plant lights are marketed for.)

The self sown tomato growing in the compost from September is brought in from the greenhouse each night and is placed in it's prominent position on the shelves. I jostle the flowers, and mist it so that it can help it polinate. Greenhouse tomatoes don't have the wind to help them so you have to act like the wind, so they say to blow on them.

The seedlings, as they get bigger are transferred from the cookie box greenhouse into a six pack. These are spinach and blue bells in the back.

Here is the poppy to the left, and the spinach in the cookie box greenhouse. I have already re-filled the indentation from the removal of the spinach with fresh seed starter mix, and planted it with turnips for turnip greens. Odd craving at 7:30 pm, but when it hits you, you have to act on it, so I was planting a row in the kitchen last evening.

So 4 of the six packs are filled with blue bells, and the seeds were a gift from a neighbor. I have not seen blue bells here in Las Vegas, and I had the seed in an envelope with no picture or information to google. The leaves have black dots on them. If they are familiar to you, please comment and let me know what you think. I will post about the leaves and get a close up when they are larger. The second row is filled with "Second Chance" Salvia. It is seed that I gathered from a plant back in the fall that I thought was absolutely stunning. I tried to root a sprig, but it didn't survive, so I am thrilled that I have a second chance to propagate this variety. I have googled it for hours and have not identified it yet, and when I stumbled upon it originally I didn't have my camera with me. Also here with the newly seeded broccoli, that took the bluebells place, is two rows of parsley. The six packs of spinach are headed out to the greenhouse so there will be less plants, because as you can see, I already need another shop light!

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

For The Birds

I threw together this bird feeder post and stuck it in the corner of the garden. This is where I have been working improving the bed, removing and discarding the old Cannas, (which are in the garage until mid February,) contemplating what to do with the monstrous Lantana, although the birds like the seeds, and the butterflies and hummingbirds enjoy the flowers, and us to when they are new in the spring and don't devour everything in site because of their size later in the season. But I see Grapes here, and Morning Glories this spring, and Hollyhocks, and orange California Poppies, and Oriental Poppies, and at that point all the rest becomes a blur.

So I went in to get the camera, and the bird feeder had already attracted birds! Yeah!

And I adore the red breasted one, and I am pleased that he showed up for the photo.

I call him the Desert Cardinal and my husband calls him the Desert Robin until we find out his true identity.

Is there room for four?

The hummingbird over winters and perches on the tree behind the wall in the same location. I hope they will all get along.

The apples last about a week and the birds really enjoy them. Symba has taken to sleeping all day in the house. Good thing he is missing all of the action.

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

It's a Toss Up

Here is the inside of the greenhouse. The lettuce and peas against the wall like the increased heat. I'll bring the tomato back into the house at night if there is sign that it will freeze. I haven't been in the greenhouse at night yet with a flashlight to check the thermometer, but my guess is that it may only be a few degrees difference from outside. No room inside here for black 55 gal. water barrels as a source of heat storage.

The starter pots sit on the raised tubs, and they contain the Asian Greens. Seems like all I do is talk about Asian Greens.

The temperature can get to a balmy 88 degrees with 60 percent humidity. I rather like it and the plants do too.

Outside their are signs of how windy it can get up here on Black Mountain. The wind blew over the wheelbarrow, and blew the marbles off of the bamboo poles and so I gathered them up into a little pile until I re-glue them. Just seeing them clustered together is a nice surprise in the garden walk about.

This is what hungry birds think is delightful to happen upon. These are Lantana berries.

A California Poppy seedling has appeared after the rain, and I wonder if this is early or if they just stagger their sprouting, sprouting here and there for a big show in February-March. I have more seed to scatter, and I thought I would wait until early January so that the rains would water them in, and they could get settled, so I find this curious that a few have started already.

Finding this Garlic Chive sprayed out and showing it's color of orange and yellow is a curious site, too.

I chopped down the Eucalyptus and this will be the home of a new fruit tree. I can't decide if it will be an apple, apricot or the next changing whim, but I have a few weeks until I have to decide. This will also be the location of a new vegetable bed, too. It will be triangular shaped, so I am excited to see how this will evolve. I am tossing around triangular shaped wooden bed frames in addition to circular fruit.

The greenhouse changes the dynamics of the sunning bed. Before it was quiet, and now it is screaming for attention. Toss that up as well. The air is full around here.

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