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.

Duckies!

My granddaughter gave me a trio of unknown ducklings for Easter - falling for their cuteness as the feed store so hoped. They have turned out to be three boys of a white, "Peking" type.

As with all the fowl in our little micro-farm, they started life out in my bath tub.

In the picture below, their feathers are just starting to come in.  Their wings are so tiny compared to their bodies.  I don't recall the chickies' wings appearing so small.  They are starting to lose their yellow coloring here, too.  Their beaks are also turning from a pale peach color to the more yellow-orange color that we associate with duck bills. 

Once their feathers started coming in, we set up a little wire enclosure in the garden. They share a woven wire fence with the chickens, so they can see each other. Eventually, the ducks will move into the chicken run/coop with the chickies. We put duct tape over the ventilation holes in one of our dog crates for a shelter; however, they still prefer to sleep in the open if it is not windy. I guess that's why they have more fat than chickens - at the first hint of the possibility of coolness, the chickies head for home.

They currently use their water tub for bathing.  As soon as I put fresh water in it, they rush to see who will be the first one to get in.  Whomever gets there first defends their right to the water with much to do.  When the little kiddie pools start showing up at the store, I shall have to get them one. They muddy up the water pretty good, though, so for sanitation, it will need to be rinsed at least daily. The chickens hate water, so there won't be any competition there.

Favorite duckie food right now is chopped up spinach leaves floated in their water. They get the leaves that are too tough for people or that are bug-eaten. They are also getting all of the immature seed stalks as the spinach that overwintered is trying its best to bolt now.

"Year Over Year" Journal Entries

My Mom got my gradeschool-aged nephews a digital microscope for Christmas. I am totally green and purple with envy. But, alas, that is out of my budget at the moment. I did, however, purchase a little 45 power field microscope with battery powered LED light - and while it isn't quite the same thing, for $5, it is a whole lot of fun. I would say, ounce for ounce and dollar for dollar, it is my favorite new toy.

Below are some Journal Entries from the last several years. Current comments in brackets [like this].

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4 January 2009

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Thinking of fencing off some of the west side of the chicken run so I can plant corn and stuff for them there. Then when the summer heat hits, they'll have shade and also stuff to play in. Open it up in sections so they don't destroy it all at once. corn, sunflowers, maybe try pease in the fall. [I never did do this. Perhaps I will do this in 2011?]

Can I really keep them [the chickens] out of the garden all summer? I am going to have to if I want any flowers or food [for us] out of it.

Last year was the Year of the Chicken... this year is the Year of the Garden.

Maybe next fall I [will] spend 3 months raising a feeder pig - but maybe not. We'll see just how far I want to take this farming thing. [I didn't, but the question comes up every year...]

I still can't believe that I am living the dream! It isn't perfect, but it IS very good. I am so very blessed.

Fresh eggs for breakfast - most only hours old, the rest laid yesterday! Gave away 18 to the neighbors. DSR is going to bring some to work tonight to give away. Whenever I end up with eggs that are over a week old, I feed them to [the dogs] and back to the chickens - glad they both like scrambled eggs! Yum!

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10 January 2008

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Snow last night [is] keeping my trees watered with "sweet" water as opposed to my salty, alkalai well water.

[Need to] clean and move my plant shelves. Then I will allow myself to start some seeds.

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14 January 2007

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Still frozen; no water [the water line from the well to the house and from the hot water heater to the house were frozen as we experienced nighttime temps in the 2-3*F range and daytime temps in the mid 20*F range. Yipes!]

[Reading] Cutting Gardens by Anne Halpin & Betty Mackey. [My notes on] Conditioning Flowers

• Recut at a slant
• Underwater Cut - carnations, sweet williams, dianthus, china asters, marigolds, marguerites, snapdragons, sweetpeas
• Hollow [stems] - fill with cool water and plug with cotton - delphinium, dahlia, hollyhock
• Sear sap bleeders - campanula, hardy mums, daffs, narcissus, dahlia, forget-me-nots, heliotrope, hollyhocks, hydrangea, lantana, lobelia, poppies, stephanotis
• Tough flowers - split stems, dip in boiling water for 20 seconds - asters, chrysanthemums
• Strip leaves that will be underwater
• AFTER cutting treatments, put in cool, dark place for a while
• Conditioner - 1 TBSP suger + 1 TBSP bleach [I don't state "in how much water" in my journal, but I am assuming per 1 gal water]
• Foliage - lay in flat pan of water and soak
• Silver Foliage - wrap in tissue, dip stems in boining water [for] 20 seconds, then [dip] in cold water

With this cold, I wonder how my tiny orchard is doing? [Survived.]

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14 January 2010

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First sunny day in a while! Makes me want to go out and dig in the dirt!

Snow if finally nearly all melted. I know it insulates things, but I hate snow. I hate weather below freezing, and especially weather below negative 10*F.

Still months away from seeing if any of my fruit trees survived - and if any have, did anything above the rootstock make it? Only time will tell. [Lost the cherry tree and the old apple tree brought from California to late snow.]

And another question - did my super rosemary survive [the negative degrees]? It isn't supposed to live through ANY of our winters, so I won't be too devistated if it's gone. Still, I'm rooting for it. [It did survive.]

Late Winter Seduction

The daytime temps have been getting into the 50's and even mid 60's (*F) and one night it was even over freezing (barely, but over freezing none the less). The sun has been bright, the sky clear, the winds calm. Little by little, a minute or so a day, the sun is rising earlier and setting later. And so, even though I am probably a few weeks too early, I was seduced into starting seeds this past week. 20 little basil plants are up and under lights - waiting on 20 more basils to germinate. 24 tiny tomato seeds also sown - sweet baby girl, yellow pear, red pear - cherry tomatoes who will hopefully set fruit even when the days are near tripple digits. Alaskan Fancy to see if we can get a headstart on the tomato season when it's still cool outside. Roma just because. And for the "experimental tomato for the season", I've sown some "Tomato Vera" - a hollow pepper shaped tomato - for stuffing. I'm hoping it is as prolific as they say.

Still, it is early to be planting, so I will hold off for another week and start more tomatoes and basils and also the other herbs, such as lemon balm, monarda and sweet marjoram.

It's been a pretty wet winter and, to make it even nicer, the snow has spread itself out across the season, so the trees are well watered and hardy weeds are already sprouting. Still, while that is excellent for the trees, it doesn't do much for the summer vegetable garden. So a few summers back, my husband drug water out to the garden area. Here you see some of the PVC pipe that is burried under the sand. It extends about 200 ft to my little garden area. Without it, there would be no garden.

Snow, Ice & Winter Watering

This winter is proving to be deliciously wet and wonderful. So far, melting snow has been keeping everything pretty moist. And, in theory, February should bless us with even more snow. On the other hand, this is the desert, and all that Winter Wonderland could disappear in the blink of an eye. So, how then, should we water when it seems we are frozen in for the Winter?

Water in Winter when...

• The ground is not frozen - otherwise you are just building ice up in the top few inches of sand/soil/clay
• The day time temperatures will be 50*F or higher for several hours during the day - this will allow time for the water to soak in deeply and drain away from the surface, again helping to prevent ice build up in the top few inches
• The sun is well up, but not after 1 or 2 pm - this has you watering at or right before the warmest part of the day - and has you finishing enough before sunset so that water will have drained away from the surface (and so not turn into surface ice)
• There hasn't been significant rain or snow MELT in several weeks - and the ground is NOT frozen - due to desicating winds and low humidity, plants need about an inch of water every few weeks during the winter

When watering in winter (or any other time, actually), keep water off of trunks, leaves and crowns of plants. If the water should not drain or evaporate before freezing, it can damage your plants. Roots generally extend a ways from the trunk or crown, so if you water within 6 inches of the trunk or crown, your plant should be able to take advantage of the moisture.

Also, don't forget to mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch - this will help conserve your water and your soil and help keep "heaving" to a minimum. This is particularly important for plants and trees that have been in place only a few years and who may not have as extensive or deep a root system as more established ones. And like water, keep mulch 6 inches or so from tree trunks and crowns of plants (unless the plant, like strawberries, should be completed burried in mulch).