Moving!

After much deliberations, we have decided to pull up roots and move back home to The South. As a result, the chickens (including Kickstart) have been re-homed, as well as my kitty. And, I did not plant out a garden this year. Still, I cannot "not garden." The land and the cycles of the seasons are so much a part of me. Luckily, I have my apple trees and perennial herbs to amuse me. And, yes, I planted out a packet of beans. 24 bean plants almost doesn't seem like a garden. Still, it's better than nothing, and beans take almost no effort and are forgiving.
But first, a vacation photo. Some people go to museums or amusement parks for vacation - my daughters and granddaughters and I went to a U-Pick strawberry farm in California! Oh how I long for enough home grown strawberries to make jam and syrup with!

Alas, not My strawberry fields!

And now for today's updates from the not-garden garden..
I planted a mixed packet of bush beans. The yellow wax ones are coming on strong, and are ignoring the heat. The green ones are about a week behind. And so far, the purple ones haven't even set any tiny beans yet. They were planted at the same time and given the same neglect. Hopefully the purple ones will start setting soon. Yellow and purple are easier to see and harvest than the green ones.

First Bean Harvest of the Season

Apples doing well, and even hanging on during our wind storms; however, we won't be here to see them ripen. Well, the birds and chipmunks will have a feast. The really sad part is, even though I will water them deeply before we leave, all of my trees are probably destined to die.

They are about golf ball sized now.

Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Lemon Balm, Culinary Sage, and Silver Thyme all came back from last year and are doing well. I sheared back the Oregano a few weeks ago, but it is threatening to bloom again. I have harvested some of the sage. I love the soft, pebbly feel of the leaves. Sadly, my two foot tall rosemary did not survive the winter. Her dried stalks still smell great, though, and I've left the dead plant there so that I can rub my hands on it and capture that scent. The 3 unknown day lilies have returned, and the two that get full sun are blooming. Lizards continue to find my 3 little garden beds to be an oasis. A few hardy tumble weeds have sprouted in the main area of the garden (where I did not grow anything and am not watering). Took down my bird feeder and washed it out. It isn't super expensive, but enough, and it's going with me. ...as are my bearded irises! And now, back to packing...

Good Morning!

Not sure why I woke up at 4:30 a.m., but glad I did. Lovely 50*F morning in the garden this morning. Golden sunlight. Unfortunately, I think I have dropped my phone one too many times, and the pictures are now a little out of focus. Still, a little sepia tone can fix a lot of issues. View of the chicken coop through the branches of my little Royal Gala apple tree from Stark Bros. I have no illusions that I will actually get to eat these - summer winds are sure to tear them from the branches when they are about golf ball size.

Today's garden activities and comments

• ate 6 strawberries
• took some semi-blurry pictures
• watered everything
• weather predicted to be in high 80*s today
• did my morning exercise in the garden
• inhaled fresh, cool, not dusty! air
• listened to neighborhood roosters crow
• yellow clover is over 2 ft tall
• beans in beds 2 and 3 doing well
• one iris blooms

Ok, now time to get ready for work. Maybe I'll take the top off of the Jeep. Starting out to be an excellent day.

Vacation Time in Tennessee

Spent one of our mornings at the historic Carnton Plantation.  Although the outside has seen some wear and tear, the insides have been restored back to the original time period - sans carpeting in most rooms, so as to display the blood stains of the wounded Confederate Soldiers.  Alas, they don't allow indoor photography, so you will have to visit to see it; however, there are no such restrictions on the outside or in the garden. 

And, of course, being of the homo sapiens jardinis species, a brief hour in the gardens was just a tease. (Don't forget to click on the photo to view the full sized picture).

I was somewhate disappointed by the gardens, thinking they would be well tended; however, there were weeds in the beds and cherry tomatoes seemed to have been allowed to sprout and grow randomly.  And, of course, I was visiting at the end of the season, so the bearded irises were sporting berries and most of the flowers were beginning to put out seed heads.  Still, there were many delightly little vingets to be had.  For example, bees that were as big as the first joint of my thumb and darn near as fat.  Their favorite food? Some purple runner beans.

And, the little copper colored butterflies that I chased in my youth, hundreds of them enjoying the late summer bounty.

I love my little garden in the desert; but sometimes, I really miss living in Dixie.

Harvest Begins

Gathered enough green beans today (and a tiny purple one that I couldn't resist) to actually have enough to eat as a side dish today.  There are still 30 or more tiny, tiny ones that will hopefully be ready to eat next weekend when I return home.

The harvest actually started in June with the first of the garlic.  This place is from last week - the last of the small garlics to be cured and the first little beans to be picked.

I just love the colors and textures of the hard necked garlics.  It was a cool, wet Spring, and many of the garlics did not bulb up as much as I expected.  Still, my house smells either delightful - or stinky - right now, depending how much one loves the stinky rose.

Herbs that were chopped fine and added to my home grown eggs this morning: a sage leaf, a touch of oregano, and some tender new growth from my rosemary. 

I worried about taking my eye off the zukes for 5 seconds to go on business travel.  While I did not find any that were baseball bat sized, I did find one that was as long and as thick around as my fore arm!  Won't have time to do anything with it, and there are 5 young ones on the vine right now, so I think I will slice it length-wise and let the chickies devour it tomorrow.

Random Photo Day

Some early morning photos from this morning.  Nothing fancy or revolutionary - just a nice  little walk around the garden before the blazing sun warms everything up.  The rule of thumb is, 60*F by 6 am, 70*F by 7 am, 80*F by 8 am, and 90*F by noon.  Remember, you can click on the photo for a larger version.

Just a few years ago this apple tree was a mere stick, barely bigger in diameter than my thumb.  It now sports a trunk bigger around than my wrist.  Fickle Desert Spring froze all the buds this year, so no apples.  Still, it is nice and green - and I harvest the suckers (some call them water sprouts) for the ducks and chickens to dine on.

 This is a purple bush bean called Velour.  The flowers and stems are purple, and some of the leaves have purple flecks in them.  The tiny beans (the one in the photo is about an inch long) turn purple as they mature, and turn deep green when blanched or cooked.  The plants are not as vigorous as say, Kentucky Wonder; however, they are cute, and the purple beans are easy to find among the green foliage.

 Early morning view of sweet corn in the foreground, the root stock of a peach tree (redish leaves), all overlooking sunlit weeds in the distance.  Fill flash was a little too heavy, giving it a very contrasty, almost artificial look compared to what I saw - but it still picked up the glow of the weeds, and that was one of my main objectives.

 Detail of a garlic scape.  I let about 50 of these form bubils.  Not sure that they will make new garlic plants, and even if they do, it could take 5 years before they are big enough to harvest.  Chickens really do eat anything, however, so I have been giving some to them.  Garlic is supposed to act as a natural de-wormer.  I don't think they have worms, but I'm feeding them the bubils just in case.  Besides, they love chasing down the little balls of garlic when I throw them in their pen.

 Nodding garlic scapes with their hundreds of tiny bubils.  The early morning golden light really brings out the pink colors in them.  During the flat light of the day, they look more brown.

 My girl on patrol.  Her web is in bed one and is strung between Sweet Marjoram, Rosemary, and Lemon Balm (although I like it's official name better: Melissa Officinalis.).  I know she is a girl because most male spiders have hooks on their front legs to hold the female with during mating.  She has been hanging out for a few weeks, now.  Eat and be merry, Garden Friend!

More weeds and morning sunshine.  This time the weeds are inside the garden.  I left them there because I want them to spread their 900,000,000,000 seeds all over my garden.  Actually, I left them up because the ducks rest on the other side of the fence in the shade of these weeds in the late afternoon.  Makes a decent wind break for them.

Lazy Day Tour of the Summer Garden

Well, after a week of bronchitis, strep throat, doctor's visits, chest x-rays, antibiotics and asthma inhalers, I am feeling mostly alive again.  Of course, the chipmunks and birds took advantage of my inattention to the garden and have mowed down the last of the late sunflower seedlings.  At least one chipmunk made an attempt at young squash plants, too, but was foiled by the floating row cover.  Still, it left its calling card.

Chipmunk Poop on Floating Row Cover

The first sunflower is in full bloom now, obediently facing the sunrise, no longer tracking the sun in its daily arc over the sky.  Only 2 foot tall with a 6 inch bloom, I believe this is on of the dwarf sunflowers called Sunspot.

The first set of corn is doing well, enjoying their heavily amended and composted bed.  They are heavy feeders, and at the end of last year, I put two wheel-barrels full of semi-composted chickie-poo and pine shavings in that bed to decompose and mellow over the winter.  This seems to have worked well as the corn is flourishing and putting out suckers.  I will trim the weaker suckers and feed them to the chickens; however, the more vigorous suckers may also fruit.  We'll see.  It's one giant experiment.  

The second planting of corn did not have the autumn prep that the first set did, so I have tried to compensate by adding finished compost and growing bush beans with them.  They are growing an inch a week, so I think they are happy.

The garlic harvest is just about complete.  Yesterday I cleaned 7.4 pounds of good garlic and 3.2 pounds of garlic that has one issue or another that will necessitate its consumption within the next two months.  Stored cool, dark, and with ventilation, the better garlic should keep 6 months.  Frozen, it will last a year.  I'm going to make some garlic and olive oil paste and freeze it.  Although it may lose some of its potency that way, it will also be edible for about forever.

Garlic that has been allowed to go to "seed."  The "flowers" are really tiny garlic bulbs.

First of the bush beans are starting to produce.  It will be a few days, still, before they are big enough to harvest.  I planted purple podded beans as my main crop this year, just because I like the color purple.  And because I wanted to add as much color to the desert as I could.  Especially since the critters ate up all the flowers that I planted.

Hopefully I am back to work on Monday, and able to hack down weeds sooner than that.  The beds in the garden are mostly weed-free; however, the paths and edges have the desert denezines creeping in: cheat grass, tumbleweed and some type of eucalyptus plant.

Springtime Ramblings

It's amazing what one can do on their phone these days.  This photo was taken and edited on my phone.  I suppose I can also blog via my phone, but haven't spent the time figuring it out because - I have been spending every spare moment in the garden! As you can see, the garlic planted last fall is doing well.

And, I have finally found the solution to the birds and other critters eating my sunflower and other seedlings - row covers.  Duh.  I bought about $30 worth of them this spring, and in stead of losing half (or more) of my seedlings to the voracious wildlings, out of 50 sunflower seedlings, I've only lost 5 (ok, I stepped on two additional ones, but that is a separate issue!).  In this photo is the first bush bean planting - all under wraps.

Rows are about 5 ft long.  Top set includes 4 rows, right to left, one row each of: Ferry Morse "Royal Burgundy" Purple Bean (Ferry Morse Seeds from Home Harvest Seeds) (2011 seed), Pinetree Garden "Pencil Pod Yellow (wax) Bush Bean" (Pinetree Gardens) (2008 seed), Park Seed "True Blue" Green Bean (Park Seed) (2011 seed) and Park Seed "Velour" Purple Bean (2011 seed).  The row on the bottom left has a mixture of them - just figured it would look nice.  I dropped a bunch of the pencil pod yellow wax bean seeds in a puddle, though, so there is a higher percent of them than I originally planned.  The row on the bottom left has radishes.  It's a little early for both beans and  blackeye peas, but I couldn't help but plant a 15 ft double row of Ferry Morse "California Blackeye."  Also planted them under row covers.

A note about the row covers in this photo - right now they are plastered to the sand because I have just heavily watered in the seeds.  They do "float" when they are dry.

Garden photos (what, no chicky pictures today?)

A garlic "blossom" - really, they are little, tiny bulbs, but it looks like a flower. I'm glad I let one mature it's scapes. Very pretty. The big bulbs of this one are also purple hued.

The first tomato! Still smaller than my pinky fingernail, but a tomato it is! Only the cherry toms will set fruit when the temps hang out over 90*F.

It isn't a very clear photo, but I caught a bee filling up with pollen at one of the sunflowers along the northern border of the garden.

Here's a close-up from the photo - you can see she is not in focus, but I like the photo anyway.
Same bee, but got her walking on the sunflower this time. Look at her hind leg, stuffed with pollen. (Looks like a large, yellow blob slightly above the wing on the left (her right).)
Something laid her eggs on this tomato plant a few days ago. Yesterday they were a jade green color, but it was too windy to take photos. Today they look clear. Could their inhabitants have hatched? They are about the size of a "seed bead."
Corn is growing like a weed. It got a light dose of fresh chicken bedding, and seems to be thriving from it. Too much fresh chicky-poo tends to burn the roots of plants, but I think the corn likes it. The corn is about 18 inches tall in this photo. I still can't believe we may have corn in another month. It is growing several inches a day, however, so I'm beginning to believe...
Eight Ball zucchini baby in bed 3. Got 100 percent germination out of the seed, but the heat conspired to kill several, so now I only have 3 plants - which, since they are zukes, could be a blessing!
Genovese basil front and center, and a little Lettuce Leaf basil to the right. Smells delightful when watering the garden by moonlight.
Dark Opal basil - yes, I know I'm not supposed to let it bloom, but it's just so pretty, that each year I end up letting it go. As a result, of course, the plants aren't as bushy - sending it's energy into flower production instead of producing leaves.
Rosemary, smells so divine. I have yet to find a trailing kind like they have at the Corporate Offices where I often travel to for work. And, I've never been successful getting one to live through the winter - but it's still worth the few dollars I spend to buy a new one each year.

Beans did not survive the heat and the drying winds.

Transplanted bearded irises starting to put on some real growth. Maybe they really will bloom next year.
Ok, couldn't help myself. This is the chicky that my granddaughter has decreed is "The Princes Chicken." We have no idea what type she might be. She isn't anything we ordered - but she's cute and has attitude, so we like her. I wonder if she will lay white eggs?

June, June, June!

Lots of activity in the last few weeks. And more, much more to come! Can't believe we are already in the middle of June.

• Peas
  
  
  
  • Been eating peas from bed 2 for several weeks
    
  • Peas in bed 1 and around the tree are starting to flower
    
  
  
• Strawberries
  
  
  
  • Eating one or two sweet strawberries a day starting this week
    
  • Picked 18 yummy little strawberries today (they are mostly just a little bigger than my thumb nail, but oooh, sooo sweet!)
    
  • Runners are running everywhere - may never have to buy new plants again!
    
  • Some plants have leaves nearly as big as my hand
    
  
  
• Bearded Irises
  
  
  
  • The Irises are officially done blooming
    
  • Have moved 9 out of bed 1 and planted around the garden - they may not bloom next year, but probably the following year they will be fabulous.
    
  
  
• Beans
  
  
  
  • Over 80 Yellow Pencil Pod Bush Beans are up
    
  • About 50 Royal Burgundy Bush Beans are up
    
  • A few Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans are starting to come up
    
  • Sowed about a dozen more Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans today
    
  • Sowed two dozen Dow Gawk "Yard Long" Beans (90 days to maturaty - I'm surely pushing the season)
    
  
  
• Other Stuff
  
  
  
  • Sowed some "Eight Ball" round zucchini today
    
  • Harvested some garlic that did poorly over the winter - bulbs are mature, but small
    
  • Really need to plant out all those things that take 90 days or more to mature
    
  • 8 Heavenly Blue Morning Glories are up
    
  • Zero Moon Flowers have germinated
    
  • Corn due to germinate late next week
    
  
  

First Day of June

Here's a photo of one of last year's "Iris Bed Designers" who rearranged them last summer. I know he is admiring his handywork!




Hail damaged sweet basil...

First Royal Purple bush bean seedling for the season. There are a few more that were snipped off, so I am thinking something ate them. I may have to lightly cover that area with some pulled weeds so the seedlings are not as visible.

Some of the sunflowers are now a foot tall. Others planted later or in less ideal locations are not as tall or robust but seem to be doing ok, too. Not sure why some sunflowers haven't germinated at all. The weeds, of course, continue to flourish!

We are definately behind last year in planting things out. The long, cold spring did not inspire one to set plants out too early this year. The tomato planted a month ahead of everyone else does not appear to be appreciably further along than the ones I planted out last week. Of course, the peas loved the spring this year.

One of the nice things about having a large garden as opposed to a small farm is that it only takes 15 minutes to plant out a bed of beans and there are no tractor requirements. And only 15 minutes to plant out 3 tomato babies.

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Done so far today

• Planted a whole pack of Pensil Pod Yellow Bush Beans - about 120 seeds
  
• Planted a Red Pear tomato and a Sweet Baby Girl tomato plant in raised bed 3 (where the garlic is ripening)
  
• Planted a Yellow Pear tomato to the east of the Rescue Apple tree
  
• Dead-headed spent iris blooms
  
• Watered everything
  
• Pulled a 5 gal bucket of weeds and added to the top of the compost pile
  
• Took pictures