Current Status

Current state of the garden:

• Sunflowers - 10 in bloom in the main sunflower location  - one "Mammoth" has a central disk about 8" across; however, most have central disks closer to 5 and 6 inches.  Both of the ones in Raised Bed 2 are blooming, as are two of the volunteers (from bird seed) near the nectarine tree.  About 10 more main buds.  Good soil, good water means that many of them look like they will have smaller "side buds" that will bloom later one.  Need to protect the ripening heads from birds and other creatures.
• Corn - first set is beginning to tassel.  Second set is growing strong, as well as the bush beans planted in between them.  The sunflowers planted between them, of course, have been devoured by some wildling.  I am thinking of planting more corn next weekend - a losing bet to get ripening ears of corn out of them; however, I am sure the chickens will enjoy tearing it up at the end of the season when they are let loose in the garden to eat and till things under.
• Bush beans - in full swing.  They will probably be done with their crop in a few weeks.  Then time to till them under.
• Dow Gawk (Asparagus or Yard Long Beans) - the ones in the corn are starting to flower; the new ones planted against the fence along the South are barely surviving.  The ones by the dead apple tree keep getting eaten up.
• Blackeye Peas and Purple Hull Peas - are both beginning to bloom and set tiny bean pods.  The blooms are lavender and turn brownish after pollination. A few more weeks and we will have "shelly peas."  One nice thing about them is that they hold the bean pods high above the plant, so they are easy to see.
• Cukes - They are producing the first of their flowers and fruits; however, I think the heat and water stress are causing them to ripen small and fast.  The 3 inch ones I plucked today were prickly and bitter.  But the chickens like 'em!
• Blue Bedder Salvia (Ornamental Sage) - Has so far survived critter depredations and has its first buds.  It is a perennial, so maybe I will get lucky and see them again next year.  I have 3 small plants that have survived so far.
• CA Poppies - 3 plants are barely surviving, and one is actually thriving and blooming.  One bloom is done, one is open, and 3 more will be ready later this week.  The plant is small, and the blooms are small, but perhaps next year's seed will sprout sooner and be stronger by this time of year.
• Morning Glories - in all locations, MGs and Moon Flowers are suffering from being too tasty.  They are prolific and vigorous, so the plants aren't dead, yet - but they don't actually get a chance to thrive.  A casualty of laziness and a disinclination to use synthetic chemicals.  I heard about a fermented solution of garlic and hot peppers that is supposed to keep critters away.  I might try some next year.
• Raspberry - lives and looks healthy - but not flower buds yet, so no fruit.  But it lives, so that is a grand improvement over its several predecessors.
• Strawberries - The runners from three hen-pecked plants have re-filled bed two, and I have foolish hopes that next year I will have strawberries to eat.
• Silver Thyme - done blooming, and now going to seed.
• Rosemary - finished blooming a while ago, but still sending up new shoots.  This is the longest into Summer that it has ever done so.  I wonder if it is because of our relatively cool weather, or if it is just because it is big and old enough to do so now, or some combination thereof.
• Oregano - some that I let go to flower looks lovely; the rest looks tired.  Much of it is getting woody.  I think it may be time to give it a sharp trimming so it will grow mostly on tender new stems next year.
• Melissa (Lemon Balm) - Looks sad and brown around the edges as it always does this time of year.
• Day Lilly - the one in sun has bloomed several times this season; the other two, not.  I should move the other two now so that they have time to become established before winter.  I am actually quite surprised that they came back this year - they were looking quite poorly at the end of last season.
• Desert Mallow - my original weed in Raised Bed One from several years ago is in great decline.  I think she is done.  The good news is, I sprinkled seed in Raised Bed Three last year, and one of her progeny has taken root there and is looking quite vigorous.  Perhaps at the end of this season, it will be time to rip out the original plant.
• Unknown summer squashes - probably yellow straight neck, yellow crook neck, a patty-pan and some more zukes.  Laziness means that I will be surprised when they produce.  They should be ready to bloom in about 4 more weeks - in time to get some good squash before frost.  They are, of course, planted too close together.  I cannot seem to bring myself to either plant further apart or to thin.

Ducky enjoying the kiddie wading pool.  They really are waterproof.

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.

Happy New Years!

Apparently Scout likes to help with "catching" the snow when it's time to shovel the back patio. Lows in the teens on the overnight, reaching the high twenties during the day. A little more snow predicted for tonight/tomorrow morning, but that should be it for a while. As for me, I'd rather stay inside and dream of Spring.

There are a few thoughts on what to do with last season's "trash." Some maintain that the left over crop residue should be removed from the field and composted, thus removing insect eggs, mold spores and disease. Others believe that the crop stubble will protect the ground, prevent erosion and hold water. Since the desert is in need of keeping every particle of organic matter and every drop of water that it can, I am going with the later method. Besides, I just like the look of dried corn "trash" after a winter snow.

The chickies are not particularly fond of snow, and when they realized I didn't have any goodies for them, decided that they would stay in the confines of their toasty coop.

I am, of course, using the weather as an excuse for not cleaning out the chicken coop. Too windy last weekend. Too snowy this weekend. Supposed to be above 30*F tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow. It isn't too nasty yet, but it will be if I don't get my act together soon. Besides, it's time to get the compost bin filled up with chickie-poo soon if I want more of that good stuff ready for the spring garden. Takes a good 3 months during the summer to cook the excess amonia out of it and turn into to sweet smelling compost. I assume it will take longer when the temps are regularly below freezing at night.

September Garden Status

The last sunflower is blooming, along with oregano, sweet marjoram, yellow squash and desert mallow.
 

Well, some days I actually feel like I had a real garden this year with an actual harvest.  A review of some of the crops:

• Birds and everything else will pluck out newly sprouted sunflower seeds and peas - must rig up some protection for them. At least a dozen sunflower sprouts and 100 pea sprouts were donated to the local wildlife.
• Garlic beds dug up a month or more in advance worked out very well - nice, soft, easy to plant beds. Ones not made up early are not nearly as easy to plant out. Now I am looking at planting some directly in unprepared beds, and that will be even worse, probably inhibiting good bulbing up in the spring.
• Sunflower seed heads need to be well protected or the wildlings will eat them all - even before they are mature. Chickies got very few this year, and there are none for the wild things for the winter. Sunflower leaves,however, made excellent chicken greens all summer long. And after the sunflower seeds had been consumed by the wild things, I pulled the stalks out and the chickens had a riotous good time eating up the leaves and pecking at the seed head itself.
• Collards grew very well under the shade of the large, yellow squash leaves. Next year, need to grow more. The chickies really like collards, and I added some to our salads.
• Spinach was a great success. I only half-hearted saved seeds. Some of the ones I saved did sprout when planted in the fall, but I don't know if Matador is open pollinated, so I didn't really work at it. Chickies and Granddaughter indulged in much spring spinach.
• No matter how many edible pod peas that I grow, there is never enough! I like to eat them right off the vine. The chickies like the peas, the pods (from ones that have grown too old to eat more than the peas themselves), and the leaves.
• Peas sown in September will probably not ripen before the first hard frost - still, at least they will make some nice greens for the chickens.
• Bi-colored corn was stunted as usual, but flood watering them produced a significantly higher number of ears of corn this year. Pollination was spotty, so most ears were missing kernels here and there - not pretty, but still very sweet and yummy. I ate several raw, right off the stalk - and happy chickies got to peck at the resulting cob. The bright red stalks and leaves of this variety is beautiful - need to look up what type I planted so that I can order that type of seed again.
• Yellow squash was a great success in bed no. 3. The ones in the ground, however, were eaten the moment they sprung forth from the earth.
• My garden blessed me with any wild things in the garden this year. I saw my first and only humming bird while sitting quietly in the garden before work one summer day. Lizards lapped water from the herbs in bed no. 1 all through the summer. Pigeons nested in the chicken coop (although Old Biddy kept destroying their nests, so they did not raise a brood). Chipmunks and mice raided the garden from time to time, and red tailed hawks (or so I believe them to be), soared overhead. Rabbits, luckily, are well-fenced out!

Well, I am sure there is more, but if I am ever to get this posted, I shall have to stop for the moment.

Chickies and Hungry Jack (the rooster) enjoying sunflower stalks for a late afternoon snack.

Determination

The corn is stunted, heat and drought stressed - but life is resilient and determined. Even though they barely grew to 3 feet tall this year, the corn is now bravely shedding pollen and setting fruit.

Likewise, one small, solitary apple ripens in defiance of relentless desert winds and a hard winter that froze most apple buds to death.

Sometimes I think, I should just let Mother Nature win and take back this small plot of desert. And then I see chickens sneaking into the corn, chickadees stealing sunflower seeds, and a rosemary bush that continues to defy odds - and I think, if they can persevere, so can I.

Autumn is here

It's the beginning of August and although the daytime temperatures are still in the mid- to high- 90's (*F), the nights are dipping into the 50's and low 60's - signifying the beginning of autumn. 

Sunflowers are in full bloom - ones blooming at the beginning of July still holding their petals, but showing signs that the heads are now filling with seed.  4 or 5 buds are still tracking the sun across the sky, but most have now made a commitment to point east in preparation for unfolding their petals.  4 young seedlings, barely 3 inches tall, battle time and the elements - will they bloom before the end of the season?

Collards have germinated in bed number 3.  They are limping along in the heat, but they will grow through light frosts, so hopefully they will begin to flourish as the days cool.

Okra in the ground has been plucked, presumably by the birds.  Three survive in bed number three, however.  They are supposed to only take 60 days or less to harvest.  They are all still small - stunted, I am guessing, by the harsh desert sun and wind.  But if we are lucky, there are still 40 - 60 more frost free days and I may hope to at least see them bloom.

Three delicata squash on the original vine - and the vine is just now starting to take off, with leaf and flower buds soaking up the sun. 

The unknown squash in bed three has female buds that show them to be yellow crook neck.  They haven't been fertilized yet, so I can't say that we will get a harvest - but the ants are working hard, crawling all over them and spreading yellow-orange pollen all around.  Yellow squash planted in the ground barely survives.

I ordered garlic for this fall's planting.  This year's planting includes 2 lbs of German Red and 5 lbs of Siberian - both hard necks that enjoy a cold winter.  I also ordered 1 lb of the softneck, Inchelium Red.  That should yield close to 70 hardnecks and a similar number of softnecks - although the softnecks might not survive if we have as brutal a winter as last year.  Normally I order from The Garlic Store, but they indicate they will not be shipping until October. As it looks like winter will be arriving early this year, I ordered from a place that will ship in mid-August: 2 Sister's Garlic. They did not have the top sized Siberian, but the medium sized will have more cloves per pound, so it may be that my harvest is actually bigger that way.

Speaking of garlic, the composted chicken poo is just about ready to dig into the sand. It will sit a few weeks, and then it should be ready for planting out the garlic. I still haven't decided exactly where to plant, but I better figure it out soon.

Planted out crook neck squash seeds that got rained on - placed them among the corn. One has germinated so far. I also placed some in bed number two, but I haven't seen any there, yet.

Busy week in the garden. Wish I had more time to hang out there. Work and school have taken their toll on my free time.

Holiday in the High Desert

Labor Day Weekend is the "Last Hoorah" travel weekend for a lot of people. As a result, I try to stay as far away from roads as possible. In fact, it's usually my favorite holiday to spend at home. By the end of August we are usually having a few days that are under 90*F, and with luck, one or two of them will land on the holiday weekend. Indeed, we are in luck this year, as today it is supposed to be under 80*F, even!

The "rescue" apple tree and my miniature corn field in the NE corner of the garden. The tarp is strung on the fence between the garden and the chicken run to provide shade and a wind block.

So I slept in until 5:30 a.m. this morning, and then met the sunrise with a small stampeed of chickens. The air was crisp and breezy, but not cold and windy, so everyone was hungry and energetic. This young "Easter Egger" doesn't yet have her poofy cheeck feathers, and is maturing quite a bit slower than her flock mates. I suppose in a different flock, she would have been culled long before now, but in a small, home flock like ours, we can afford to keep on a slow grower.
You can see the poofy cheeck feathers on the two "Easter Eggers" here. They are attacking some dried sunflower heads from last year's harvest.
As you can see, the sunflowers were a big hit with the chickies. I hung out in the coop filling water bottles and mixing up more food and such while they squawbled over both the seeds and the right to attack the dried sunflower head.
Another big hit with the chickies are the steps to the coop. Both fun for hopping on and beeing taller than the other chickies, and a great place to chill out under.
As cute as the chickies are, however, their sweetness is just an illusion. Here is some of the destruction that they caused in the corn patch.
And, while Life is determined to go forth in spite of the Desert, the Chickens and Me, only a few corn stalks produced ears. And those that did produced small ears... and most of those were sampled by Chickens.

So now, I think, it must be - Nap Time!

Today's Chicky Pics

The chicken coop as it looks today - steps, door, roof trusses. (View of the south side.) Eventually there will be a window next to the door, oh, and a roof, too. Everything is screwed together as opposed to nailed - the theory being that screws are stronger. With the 75 MPH wind gusts that we get during some of the year, we need all the strength we can get. The daubs of white are putty over the screws. Eventually, I think, everything will be painted white with some contrasting color trim. We were going to paint it red like a barn, but figured we'd better go with the most heat reflecting color we could. 103*F yesterday.

There's a tarp on the south side of the coop for shade. Under it is the waterer and feeder. And except for the heat of the day, there are usually at least a few chickens on top of it. Luckily, it hoses off well. Eventually it will be replaced with an awning. Being that they like to sit up high, however, we're going to put removable (and washable) roosts on its support posts.

The corn patch is everybody's favorite place to hang out. It seems to be an all around chicky paradise: cool, damp dirt to dust bathe in or hunt bugs in (or, perhaps both at the same time); tender corn leaves to eat; young corn cobs to devour before they even start looking like baby corn on the cob; large, rustling leaves to pick at and shred (I don't think they actually eat the tougher ones, just play with them); tall stalks to provide shade and a great place for hide and seek. Makes me want corn that is 10 feet tall for me to run around in (although I'll pass on searching for and eating bugs).

If the people are to get any corn next year, I will certainly have to barricade it so the marauders can't get to it!

I could almost pretend it's a farm

Apple trees and corn and the happy chirping of young pullets - one could almost say we are farming. Of course, real farmers would probably laugh at me (hopefully a kind chuckle with warm eyes). Here is my short, "77 day" corn - it's beginning to bloom, but at the rate the chickies are picking at them, they may not survive long enough to ripen any actual corn. Still, the entertainment value of watching the chickens hide in them plus the entertainment value to the chickens themselves, has already made the 5 ft x 6 ft plot of 4 ft high corn well worth it. Epsecially considering that it only cost me $2 in seed and 5 minutes a day to deep water.
The "Princess" chicken, hiding in the corn. She's somewhat out of focus because she's one who doesn't stay still very much. The other day, she rode into the house on my head. I now have a goodly scratch on my scalp from her claws.
A Silver Laced Wyandotte girl sitting on a bag of store bought compost. Hopefully, this will be the last year I'll be buying compost - the girls are making quite a bit of the good stuff for me now. In fact, I turned the compost the other day, and the stuff on the bottom is getting brown and almost dirt-looking. Looking forward to combining it into the sand where next year's beds will be.

This is "Kick-start," our little lame Ameracauna, digging around in the compost pile. I had taken the black plastic cover off of it to water and turn the pile and she jumped in and went bug-hunting.

I'm getting better at catching the chickens in flight. Or, at least, sort of in flight.

Sunflowers were a great success this year. Nearly all that I planted germinated and are now in various stages from budding to being nearly ready to harvest. The ones planted when the day temperatures were in the 40's seem to have grown the best, but all suffered because they were planted, essentially, in sand. The one that was planted in good dirt was much healthier and grew a bigger flower head than all the others, of course.

Garden Update

Desert Mallow buds and bloom at night. I think I've remarked before that they are pretty stinky - but the pollinators love them, so I won't complain.
A mess of peas and some garlic. Steamed the peas and ate them. Cut some pea vines for the chickies to peck at. It doesn't look like the actually ate any of it, but it did amuse them for some time.
This tom is a survivor of 3 hail storms and 25 degree weather. These are the first buds. I know I should pinch them off for a healthier plant, but I'm not going to.
Corn, lovely corn. 60 little stems of corn are poking through the dirt. Apparently the birds out here don't know about eating corn seedlings? Shhhh, we'll keep it a secret!

• First set of Kentucky Wonder pole beans are well up
  
• Yellow Pencil Pods are doing much better than the Royal Purple bush beans, but I wonder how much that has to do with seed viability? The Royal Purple seeds were several years old.
  
• Dow gawk beans not germinated yet. It's still early. Hopefully they wil be up soon.
  
• Toms that were planted out a few weeks ago all nice and dark green and ready to take off growing like crazy any moment now.
  
• Still eating a few tiny strawberries every day
  
• Deep watered the fruit trees earlier this week
  
• Still no sign of Eight Ball (round) zucchini seedlings.
  
• Have been moving bearded irises out of veg bed 1 and out into the sand. Not amending the sand too much, although I did add some slow release fertilizer to it. They may not bloom next year, but I am hoping that I transplanted them early enough in the season that they will be well established by next spring.
  

Slowly, very slowly, I am turning the sand in my 50x70 little oasis into dirt. Of course, the three raised beds still have the best dirt/sand mix, but the bean patch and corn patch are doing well. As I compost more weeds and more chicken bedding and chicken poo, we should be able to actually "grow dirt." Also trying to plant lots of legumes, too, these first few years. I can see improvements over last year and the year before already.

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