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.

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.

August Harvest and General Notes

Harvest

August is one of my favorite months in my High Desert Garden. The mornings are staying cooler all the way up to 9 am as the 60*F by 6 am, 70*F by 7 am, 80*F by 8 am and 90* by 9 am pattern breaks up. During August, the temps may still be below 80 by 10 am. These cooler temps spur the garden veggies into accelerated growth and production - bringing the first of the autumn harvests.

Sunflowers have been blooming for nearly a month, but their seeds are not yet ripened. So, for the fall harvest, yellow crook neck summer squash is the first to produce something edible. Above is one of my plants with a co-joined twin squash. I've never had a squash like that before. Also, note, I think the ants are my primary pollinator here. Of course, I also hand pollinate when I have time - but I don't always have time to help Mother Nature out. Probably the ants are good for Mother Nature's purposes - she merely wishes to produce a goodly amount of seed for next year's plants. Me, I want enough to eat and feed chickies. That requires additional pollination here in the desert.

The last of the sunflower buds have committed to pointing East, so I know they will be blooming soon. Blooms staggered over two months - that is about the same as years past. I mix types and when birds eat seedlings, I plant another seed - so one never knows what type one will get.

I am convinced that if you grow it, they will come. And that includes birds, insects, lizards and spiders. Here, a grey black widow patrols one of the ripening sunflower seed heads.

Although I planted Mammoth sunflowers, none of the plants were taller than 3 feet this year. Looking around the roadsides, it seems that none of the wild or cultivated sunflowers attained much height this year. I can tell which are the Mammoth sunflowers, however, as their flowers were still more than eight inches in diameter.

General Notes
First Frost Dates from Years Past

• 2005-10-15 Light Frost
• 2006-10-26 Killing Frost
• 2007-10-18 Light Frost
• 2007-10-20 Killing Frost
• 2008 - not recorded
• 2009 - not recorded

Bed No. One

• Bearded Irises - starting to fade; tips are browning and some of the leaves are dying down. Although only the blue and white ones bloomed this year, it appears that all varieties actually survived and sent up leaves for the summer. Hopefully they will all bloom next year.
• Rosemary - Looking very healthy. It has doubled in size from last year (which is double in size from the year before). It was a 97 cent Walmart unknown cultivar of rosemary. It was not rated for negative 10 degree winters and I fully expect it to die each winter. But here it is, several years later, and it is taking over. Need to harvest the nice young leaves, coat in olive oil and freeze.
• Unknown Day Lilies - 3 out of 6 survive. One had one bloom before the temperatures became scorching. It was a burnt orange color, and while lovely, was certainly not the bright pink of the cultivar New Toy. Still, if it survives winter, I will be more than happy to keep it!
• Oregano - harvested a few zip lock bags full before the summer heat made the plants get leggy and slightly bitter. I cut it back until it was only 6 inches tall, so it is not as bushy as it could normally be by this time. Still, I am thinking there will be a flush of new growth as the weather cools, so I may get a small second harvest.
• Sweet Marjoram - is Oregano's wilder sister, generally having a milder flavor than oregano, and having a more open growth pattern. In the Spring, when growth is young, you can't easily tell them apart - but later in the season, you will see Sweet Marjoram becoming leggy, and growing tall spikes of small white flowers that arch over and sway gracefully in the breeze.
• Desert Mallow - bright orange and somewhat weedy looking, this one has come back year after year. Her blooms are pretty stinky, but the attract pollinators by the droves. And, though stinky, the bright orange blooms are lovely and prolific. I cut her back after she matured a set of seed pods, and she is blooming again, although a little less than the first bloom set. I have scattered her seed pods around, hoping I can get a few more to personalise in the garden.
• Lemon Balm - Does not like the heat of summer. The plant grows leggy and the edges of the leaves that are not shaded by the Oregano become small and burnt on the edges. Definitely need to harvest this one in the early Spring when it is sending out large, pretty leaves by the bunches. It self-sowed quite happily this year, so I doubt I will ever have to plant more, even though this is the second year the original two plants have come back.

Spring is Tentatively Here

The Desert Mallow is tentatively blooming. Most of the buds are still tightly furled, but a few brave buds have burst open in all their orange glory. This is a wild flower here in Northern Nevada, although this one has decided to become a permanent resident of my herb bed. I thought they re-seeded every year, but, apparently, given water and food, they can become a perennial. I wish they smelled as pretty as their little one inch blooms look, but, alas, they pretty much stink. But the bugs love them, and when the winds are calm, bees, flies, and wasps of all kinds flock to these flowers in droves. If there are any volunteers this year, I should plant them where I would like to grow squash. So far, to get any fruit set, I've had to hand pollinate both zukes and yellow squash.Hand pollinating can be relaxing and enjoyable, but sometimes, I'd just rather have Mother Nature take care of it.

This second photo depicts some of the still tightly curled Desert Mallow buds. In a few more weeks, there could be hundreds of bright orange flowers - but for the moment, there are less than a dozen of them.

Other plants that are growing and even blooming, in spite of a long, cold, dreary spring include my upright rosemary and the tough as nails bearded irises. Herbs are also doing well - especially the oregano, its cousin, sweet marjoram, and the lemon balm. The lemon balm enjoys this weather so much that many seeds from last year have germinated and are working on their first and second set of leaves.

Survived the Hail

I was so bummed over the shredded irises that I decided to post some pre-hail photos of them to cheer me up. Luckily, the plants themselves are doing fine. And it looks like the buds that will bloom in a few days are also fine.
Don't know the name of this one, but it is a lovely blue color. It could be "blueberry", but I may never know as all the ID tags went bye-bye when the dogs started pulling them out last year. Thank goodness for fencing (and thank God for a husband and son who like to build fences!!!)!

Among the plants that were not phased by the rain, hail and cold were the peas. Moments after taking this photo, I ate this one! Crunchy, sweet, yum!

Surprisingly, nearly everything did OK with the hail. Probably because, even though it hailed three days in a row, the hail actually only lasted 5 or 10 minutes each time and was promptly melted by reasonably warm rain. In fact, the trees are looking possitively lush with all this water they've been getting. Much better than I can do with a hose.

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• Five tomatoes in the ground
  
  
  
  • Tomato Vera (hollow, "pepper-like", tomato)
    
  • Classic Roma
    
  • Red Pear cherry
    
  • Mexico Midget cherry
    
  • Steak Sandwich
    
  
  
• A dozen or so more tomato babies inside under lights
  
• Sugar Snap Peas starting to bloom - and the first few peas already eated off of the vine
  
• Basils
  
  
  
  • All Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil that were in the ground died during the hail
    
  • 2 Purple Ruffles planted - both survived hail
    
  • Mammoth Basil survives
    
  • 2 Genovese Basils survive
    
  
  
• Other Herbs
  
  
  
  • 3 clumps of Lemon Balm - the small ones that were burried under tomato trash have caught up with the one that was cared for - all looking vigorous
    
  • Rosemary sitting around not doing anything - not looking poorly, but not growing - just hanging out and waiting for warm weather, I suspect
    
  • Oregano loves this weather
    
  • Sweet Marjoram loves the weather, too
    
  
  
• Strawberries - some are as big as my thumbnail
  
• About 10% of the garlic have scapes
  
• Sunflowers looking healthy and vigorous - sowed more the other day, but they aren't up yet.
  

Blustery Spring Day & Early April Photos

Nectarine blossom, April 6th, 2008...

The nectarine tree officially burst into bloom on April 6th! First of the orchard trees to bloom this year. The two more mature apple trees were only 13 days behind the nectarine, though - opening their first buds today. (Unfortunately, there were 40 MPH winds, so I was not able to photograph them, although I spend a goodly amount of time standing in the sand-blasting wind just gazing at them.) The two younger trees do not look like they have flower buds on them - only leaf buds. Ditto for the sweet cherry. All the trees in the orchard look happy, though, with bright green leaves and/or leaf buds.

More nectarine bud photos from April 6th...

In spite of 40 MPH winds and sand-blasting, I hung out in the garden for several hours during the late morning. Had a peaceful, therapeutic time. Even got some garden "chores" done.

Lemon Balm in Bed No. 1

Raised Bed No. 1

• Watered
  
• Transplanted some oregano from the original patch to another location in the same bed - pulled it away from some bearded irises that it was trying to invade - and couldn't just "throw it away!"
  
• Speaking of bearded irises, they survived the winter just fine and most have leaves more than 6 inches high now.
  
• A dozen sugar snap peas have broken ground
  
• Earlier in the week I discovered 2 more lemon balm clumps hiding in the tomato debris from last year - bringing the total to 3 clumps! They don't really have a pleasant lemon smell or flavor - kind of have turpentine undertones - but anything that will survive the desert and our winters is totally welcomed!
  
• Earlier in the week also discovered a small patch of sweet marjoram. Looks and smells very similar to the oregano, but the leaves are not fuzzy and the smell is not nearly so pungent. Another survivor from last year - that's 3 herbs I've found that will over winter here (Sweet Marjoram, Lemon Balm, Oregano)
  
• Desert Mallow has 3 very tiny leaves at the base of last year's dead wood - so I shall say it is officially awake
  

Closeup of new strawberry growth, 4 April 2008...

Raised Bed No. 2

• Watered
  
• Strawberries look healthy and undaunted by whirling winds
  
• A few stray garlic are up - not as robust as the main crops - these were small cloves planted more for decoration and because I cannot stand to throw any plant away that might possibly grow
  
• Crocus leaves are still up and healthy looking, although the few crocus that bloomed in this bed are long gone
  
• more than 25 sugar snap peas are up and have their first true leave - planted some more to fill in the gaps where nothing seems to have germinated
  

Happy Garlic, 6 April 2008...

Raised Bed No. 3 & In Ground Garlic Bed

• Watered both
  
• Both are devoted just to garlic - mostly hard necks
  
• The garlic in the south west corner of the in-ground garlic has "split" and has two stems - I don't think it will form a good bulb - I heard that water stress or cold stress can cause this. The others appear to be fine.
  

Obviously, I should probably be posting more regularly as a lot is going on right now - like the weeds are very happy and such...sunflower seeds planted a little over a week ago have germinated... I planted more sunflower seeds this afternoon... and, well, I'd rather BE in the garden than write about it...

Ok, a few more weed photos and that's it for tonight...

The flowers for this one are particularly difficult for me to get in focus... not sure why, but this is the best one so far...(4/6/08)

It comes in yellow, too...(4/6/08)

Ok, that's it for tonight. Good night.