Balzar's Cape

It's been twenty three days and the radishes look great and taste great too. Tomato Lady Soil is amazing!

Following the instructions from garden expert Leslie Doyle, I started mesclun lettuce in my little mini hot house. Alot of the seedlings resemble radishes, how ponderous.

The Lobelia is flourishing and hopefully it will self sow for next year.

The Northern Lights Chard is absolutely my favorite! These colors are fabulous! Everyone should have this array of color in the fall garden.

I've adjusted the water and now there are melons forming on the new growth in the melon patch. There are three fruits in the above picture.

One of the melons is an Armenian Cucumber. Here are two fruits growing inches apart. Now I must not adjust the water and just leave it alone.

Here is the silver reflective mulch. It will increase the amount of light in the raised bed, if it is affixed to the vertical wall surface. This is an extremely windy spot, so it must be stapled to a backboard and stood securely in place. Michael hasn't seen this milar yet. It is tucked in place to see how I respond to it, and so far it's not good. It is hella tacky, and fun house is not a relaxing garden motif. A disco ball also comes to mind and it is obvious why this product is an insect repellant. I think I have a new blind spot in my right eye. Balzar's Cape looked better in the bag.

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

Wordless Workday

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

Second Hand Rose

I went to Vegas yesterday for some Silver Reflective Mulch, and stopped at a second hand store and looked at the garden books and was looking for meracas to give to the K.J. (karaoke dude) and I generally look for garden related stuff, whirly gigs, fountains, cowboy boots, quilts and vintage scarves. Here is a vintage scarf from yesterdays find. It's ninety nine cents worth of pure heaven! I also purchased a scarf (for Wrangler) with cowboy boots all over it, and got 4 floral handkerchiefs, a feng shui book (for Zen) and 3 books on gardening for a total cost of $17.00. I'm thinking I could wait to read the garden books when it is cold outside, but they've ended up on the kitchen table and one of them is open, so winter will just have to wait.

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

Down & Out

The Vegetable Knot Beds are growing nicely in the sun.

The raised bed constructed early August is now completely shaded and the size of the plants confirm that more sun is needed for the plants to increase in size and mature.

So I pulled all of the radishes and the turnips out of the shaded raised bed. (Wrangler said it was about time!) Here are the shaded radishes at 42 days (21 dtm!), they have taken twice as much time, and the radishes at 16 days in full sun equal their size! We will resume the topic of Shade Cloth for just a moment to point out that it would delay the growth of plants as well, and increasing the time it takes for vegetables to mature also increases the time that insects and pests have to enjoy them. (I'm thinking get in, get out unscathed!)

Here are the other vegetables.

I am hand watering them until the plants get larger and reach the water depth. Today I picked up a different watering system to try out, so I'll be working on that tomorrow. These chard are top heavy and have fallen over.

These are green beans and peas, with carrots, and in the center is an artichoke that will winter over and next spring have the bed all to itself. Already the peas seem as though they will pull the green beans down and over the rim of the pot so I will keep you posted on the effect of planting these two items closely together. I already think the green beans will not like it and the outcome might not be good. Looks like the peas could snap their stems!

Here is a speckled lettuce that came in the mesclun mix. When I took off the cricket cloche, and had the netting off, I bent down to pick up the cloche to replace it, and there was Symba standing on this speckled lettuce. I look up and there is a quail atop the blockwall right on top of us and it was an amazing sight. The quail flew up to the neighbor's roof right over our heads and stood on the peak and called for his peeps. I hope I can get a picture of him tomorrow because I think quail are just way too cool. Let's hope he comes back!

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

Donna's a Flirt

Over a year ago Michael and I went to Valley of Fire, and we took the back way via Lake Mead to return home. Out in the desert there is an old spring that "pours forth" and has created a little oasis and there is a mini lake with palm trees, and indigenous plants. We stopped there and saw the misquito fish or whatever they were, (they were minnows) and I saw this tiny little purslane type flowering plant with flowers that reminded me of sea anemone so I picked a 4 inch sprig and wrapped it in a wet tissue like a soppy vase and adoringly brought it home. The next day the sprig was still looking great so I said "Hey", and I went and plugged it into the yard by a dripper. It is now a little plant about 7 inches tall, and today I cut off a little sprig to make another one and placed it in the ground a little ways down. It has become one of my favorites and looks great against the rocks.

I have been waiting a week to plant my new additions to the garden. The White Rain Lily is planted now,

and the effect is a pleasing natural woodland,

The plant we'll call "Jack in the Box" is in the sunning bed next to the Penstemmons. Once it gets rambly it will look great in this more rugged setting.

I love the play of the powder green leaves against the pink rocks. This plant sits below the "Marbles on Staffs" garden art which is another play on orbs on sticks.

There is another melon in the melon patch. To have fruit indicates that there is ample water and that the plant has not shut down to reserve it's water for survival, (nor sacrificed its fruit!) Yeah, the plant is happy!

Here is the blindingly radiant Donna Darlin! Donna Darlin' dazzles and cannot be subdued! She is the brightest thing in the whole yard. I glance out and see Donna Darlin and say "Whoa," then "Wow!" She is flashy. She's a flirt.

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

Circle of Influence

I joined another online gardening community, out of a fondness for the writings of one of the members who was in another group I belong to, and as these members reveal more as I read their posts, they are a remarkable group of people. There was a post recently and it really touched me as it spoke about grandparents caring for ill children, and using tinctures and potions from yarbs (wild herbs and potion stuff) that grew out back, in the back hills of Tennesee or somewhere. It conveyed a quality of sentiment that was intertwined with the herbs and yarbs, and I felt a desire to lift up my herb area to a higher frequency for lack of a better word, and freshen up the soil and relocate those that were elsewhere into this common area, and add a few new herbs too.

So this is the bed with the addition of tree stakes segments that were cut with a saw from 6 to 9 inches and slightly buried for stability. They help define the area and convey a sense of intimacy and elevation for the new herb bed.

The green marble disks presented to me for taking over the care of my daughter's beta fish come in nicely to add some subtle bling to the area. The tour at Diane's yesterday crosses my mind and I smile and appreciate that I can be influenced by the sharing of gardeners. The green marbles are a reminder of that tour.

And I appreciate that perhaps I can influence too. The circle of influence circles on....and I excitedly await it's return.

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

New Shade of Green

Today I went to Boulder City, and met Diane of Herbs By Diane, and toured her amazing garden. The tour begins on the street as you are approaching her home, when you are captivated by all of the green abounding from behind the stone walls.

The front garden is packed with herbs, vegetables and ornamentals, and each herb is represented by lots of it's variations. I particularly loved all of the variety of sages with the extra large leaves, two toned greens, and purple. Herbs by Diane provides herbs to culinary professionals in Las Vegas and it was amazing to hear her name all of the herbs that she provides.

Diane's front garden is the perfect example of the myriad of possibilities of front yard gardening, and what it can look like when you focus on something that you love.

We toured the backyard, and I must mention the huge clusters of grapes that were along the walkway. The backyard is filled with starter plants and seedlings that are going to be transplanted, and relocated to another garden property that is expanding and is not far away.

So we went by car to view the rest of the gardens. There were lots of herbs there also, and lots of vegetables. When I reflect upon the tour and the visit with Diane, besides the fact that she is a phenomenal gardener, it's as if I remember seeing a whole new shade of green, and that shade of green we will call Diane's Green.

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