Bean Shreads

Radishes make me smile. They must be sown repeatedly, so put that on the list somewhere.

Jim from mg class gave me a bag of roasted green chile. It was really hot but delicious, so I am retaliating with bags of fresh herbs.

The basil can be dried for later use, and the chopped chives are ready to go into the freezer to be used anytime.

Here is the update on the purple top turnips. DTM is 55 days which will be Oct. 27th. They seem to be on schedule.

The beans are not happy in the windy location by the apple tree. I pondered what could be done. When a plant is not right for a particular location, there is no good to come of it, and you are postponing the inevitable. With that in mind, I contemplated my choices. They beans look healthy despite being ripped to shreads. I remember reading that green beans will not set fruit if it's windy. Oh great! So it looks like I either scrap the green beans, or the traveling pots will have to be moved to get out of the wind.

So my options are to transplant some of the newly sown seeds to a new bed down on the ground, where they will be somewhat protected from the wind. I removed the rockpile that surrounded the cactus garden, and potted up the cactus for destination unknown,

and started another raised bed out of redwood. Lettuce can go in the front, and this bed is suitable for a coldframe later on.

Of course there was a huge rock right where the center post was to go. (Pickax gardening to the rescue.) I am going to remove the inside dirt a few inches, install a plastic liner on the interior and waterguard the outside of the wood. Then I am going to fill it with Tomato Lady Soil, and it will be ready to plant.

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

Runaway with the Show

I've heard of people wanting to run away with the circus. I want to run away with the Boulder City Art Festival, just for the weekend. First I must say that this particular booth was the 3rd or 4th booth we happened upon, and all of the pieces were spectacular, and then I saw this piece in the center and just broke out crying. I couldn't help it. The photographs were magnificent. The artist was standing there and he noticed me, and I thought to myself that he just counted me amongst all of the others that this happens to, like there is a whole bunch of us. http://www.martres.com/portfolios/faves/content/the_wave_reflection_large.html

Then we walk into this booth and it was too soon for I had not fully recovered.

My husband doesn't know what to think. I tell him that I am okay, just that everything is so amazingly beautiful.

Creation, beginning, life, water, ice, snowflakes. So from this point I must control my thinking, and perhaps not internalize everything so much.

Can't be done. Let er rip. No actually I was similarly unaffected from then on, I just had to clear the air with some large metal sculptural insect pieces.

Bug armament changed my perspective completely.

I became carefree by floral delight.

And little flower frizzies.

Somewhat emboldened by the oversized brush and the warm colors.

Spritzed by cool primary and secondary colors.

Firmed up by the evergreens (assisted with a little copper wiring.)

I could see clearly again.

With gardening as perspective, it is delightful to see the continuity of everything imbued with plants and nature at an art show. Gardening has runaway with the show!

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

Western Zen

Yesterday everyone in mg class was asked whether or not they had a garden theme. I described my garden theme to the group. It is called Western Zen. It is described as In the desert but not of the desert. I hope to convey a western sense, after all, it is hard to escape in the air and the sky and the creatures that come to visit. Even the cat is dusty. But I have the strong emotional need to convey that the pioneer wagon kept on moving and that there is hope here and green pastures, and that everything has a place and all is properous, and abundant. This led to Wild Desert Lush, and after a rain it is descriptive of Western Zen, but that is just for fun, like when you have your boots on.

So the best way to describe it is to go back to some of my favorite garden photos (indulge me here, as you may have seen these before,) that convey that sense of what I am trying to acheive, what feeds my soul, and this was the point of the lecture, (a very good lecture I might add) that your garden must intrinsically make you happy. So here are some of my favorite photos which for me convey my garden style, my Western Zen.

Om...

Om...

Yehaw!

Yahoo!

Om....... Western Zen is also descriptive of my interior decorative style as well. (Hey, No boots in the house!)

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

Outside of 360

I have just published my new website called Outside of 360. It is an online Art Gallery featuring artwork, posters and prints of nature, landscapes and botanicals with other interesting items thrown in for fun. The pieces consist of pieces from Art.Com and AllPosters.Com. I enjoy being an affiliate for both companies, and hopefully you have seen the gallery located at the bottom below all of the posts. The website is the new venue for the collections that I will assemble. The website address is http://www.outsideof360.com/. It is a new beginning, and I am very excited, so please visit the site and I hope you enjoy it.

There is a new collection on the site called School Science. It has a couple of posters that I adore

Here is one called Butterflies of the World. I love this poster and if my daughter were 12 again, it would be on her bedroom wall.

Here is another totally awesome poster located in the same collection, School Science. You can access the new website at the above link, and a permanent link will be located on the sidebar under Great Places to Visit. My desire is to provide some really great artwork so that everyone can can have botanical prints and landscapes all over their interior spaces. Let's landscape our walls and call it vertical gardening! I need to mention that the website host is Atlas Hosting and they've been fantastic! Let me know what you think!

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

A Little Thing

Here is where I keep my seeds in the pantry. I didn't always keep them in the pantry. They started out in the garage, and it can get 120 degrees in there, so I moved them to the kitchen table while I was using them, until company came, and then they went into the laundry room, above the washer and dryer on a shelf. Then back on the table, then outside on the patio for a couple of days (109 temp.) then the table inside again, and now they have been in the pantry, and this is where they will stay. I had no intention to treat my seeds so badly, I just didn't contemplate them and treat them like the magic that they are. I have learned that they need to be protected from heat and cold, and humidity and innocent yet mindless neglect. From now on my seeds belong in the pantry. It's just one of those little things.

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

Are We There Yet

Irrigation to the raised beds is complete! I finished the final stretch this morning. It is time for the dance of joy!

It would be nice to take a break and relax, and appreciate the garden,

But the wind has picked up and the green beans are thrashing about in the pots.

The lettuce doesn't like green beans thrashing overhead in this companion planting.

I don't recall the lantana being that big. The peach tree seems like it is about to be gobbled up! When I brought home the Lantana, it was in a one gallon pot. Alot of the plants at Black Mountain Garden were purchased as one gallon plants, and they have all outgrown the number of emitters they originally received. Seems like I will be doing some more irrigation!

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

Livin' Large

Yesterday we headed out to Searchlight, NV. It is rugged country located southeast of Las Vegas, and the drive down to the Colorado River from Searchlight can make one wonder what they are doing living so close to such an inhospitable place.

Cottonwood Bay has a small beach for frolicking in the sun and the frigid water.

The beach is right where the boat launch is, so floating petroleum products would interfere with all of the good clean fun.

A searchlight can be used to signal for help or to locate those that are in need of assistance. In this garden we have a play on the bottle tree (?) and a juxtaposition in contrasts between the naturalized drought non-tolerant cactus and a subtle water nuance represented by the boat. The paper and other white reflective pieces are left strewn about to convey a "devil may care" attitude.

Searchlight has some old abandoned equipment on the main thoroughfare, (as was the house in the last photo),

And a deserted mine is located right on the main highway back to Las Vegas. Property is available for purchase, and you can even find higher priced property without access for some uppity livin'.

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