Weed-eaters are growing up!

Started integrating them with the chickens this week. 
I still don't trustmy rooster with them yet,
so they had to spend the rainy day

in their dog crate and not in the snug chicken coop.

The weather doesn't seem to bother them nearly
as much as it seems to bother me, though.

Random Photos

My son is helping me paint the chicken coop so that it looks like a "Red Barn."  Next payday I'll buy the white paint for the trim.  You might recognize this photo as a sepia-tint photo from a recent post.  Notice how the weeds between the garlic and the chicken coop are not nearly as prominent looking in the sepia-tinted photo!  The weeds keep the sand from blowing around, so even though they harbor bugs, I keep them around until I am ready to plant - which means most of them will make it to viable seed production.  That's ok, though - as the weeds also add valuable green matter to my compost pile.

I will likely never see fruit from my hardy nectarine.  It seems to always burst into bloom shortly after the first 70*F day - never learning that here in the High Desert, that a day like that invariably is followed by a 20*F night later in the week.  Still, it's a beautiful tree all covered in pink.  And it survived two winters where we got into the negative temps for a week or more each.  So I can't complain at all.

Oregano is growing like crazy, tender and strong smelling amid last year's woody flower stalks.

This photo is from a few months ago - a Maran and an Easter Egger hen - my organic weed-eaters. They chickens don't like garlic at all, and are very dainty about not stepping on it.

More photos of the still unnamed...

Don't know the names of these little beauties that are currently inhabiting my garden area.. None, so far, exhibit the nasty prickliness of the tumbleweed, so they are still welcomed.

One of the things I have observed about the desert flora is that most of them have very tiny flowers. Meaning, of course, they have very tiny seeds. It amazes me that a whole plant can come from such a tiny package. Anyway, here are more photos of my weeds from Sunday. If anyone knows their names, I'd be delighted if you would inform me!

On this last one, I have now seen them in white, yellow and purple. I don't know if they just come in a variety of colors or if something in the sand changes them. The flowers themselves, are quite tiny.

They aren't weeds if...

They have a name, right? If they have names, then they become - wild flowers!

Of all the desert flowers that show up after a good rain and a bit of sunshine, the Desert Primrose is one of my favorites. It doesn't stay long and it only shows up on wet years, but perhaps its rarity is part of its charm. I have tried watering where I know they have been in previous years to see if I can fake them into thinking it is a "wet" year, but so far, I haven't had luck. This year, being moderately wet, seems to be becoming a good year for them. I'm going to try and water some and see if they will stay around longer. Some photos of the Desert Primrose...

On the other hand, even though I know that the following is a tumble weed seedling, it doesn't at all mean that it is welcomed in the garden! Native plant, perhaps, but it is prolific, loves to germinate in disturbed sand, and seems to be particularly robust this year. So, even though I admire its tenacity, I am on a mission to erradicate it from at least my garden area. (With nearly 5 acres of sand to my name, I am not going to attempt to totally eradicate it from my life, but I can wish!)

Winter is Back!

But before she returned and frosted all my apple blossoms, I took a few photos to save an April Spring Day forever!
So of course, I know Spring is fickle, but I do so enjoy it when she shows her lovely face.

---

For Spring flowers with gumption,however, one need only look to the lovely weeds - they laugh when Spring hides her head and Winter's chilly 25*F nights return.

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.

Spring is Sprung

Nectarine bud ready to unfurl. This is it's first Spring in our tiny orchard and I did not expect it to actually bloom. Of course, it is only the beginning of April, so I suspect we will have several light frosts and at least one more hard frost before the cold has left us for good - meaning that any fruits formed of these flowers will probably be frost blasted and killed sometime between now and the middle of May. Since the tree is not yet really established, even if it did set fruit that survived, I suppose that I should take them off, any way, so that the tree can spend its energy getting better situated.

The weeds are starting to bloom, also. This one has delicate lavender flowers. The color shows up a little washed out in this photo.

More weed flowers.

Something new that is now germinating.

And finally, some action in the garden area. This is a close up of a sugar snap "edible pod" pea seedling. I've planted about 200 of these babies, so far, but only about 20 have germinated as of today. Hopefully more will soon follow their lead.

Other action in the garden are includes: Bearded Irises have broken dormancy and are about 6 inches tall, Garlic is growing like a weed, Cherry tree leaf buds fattening up, Apple trees have little leaves, daffodils are blooming, crocus flowers are all gone.

More Weeds... and Apple Leaves

The High Desert is alive and turning green! There are four different types of "weeds" here - the very, very tiny ones are tumble weed seedlings. Unfortunately, in the garden area, these will be ruthlessly destroyed.

This is what I am currently calling "the ferny weed." I let two grow last year - they both reached two feet tall and had masses of tiny yellow flowers. Something laid some eggs on it as I had some happy, healthy caterpillars on them - until, of course, something ate them!

Another weed. Waiting to see what this one turns into!

This is not a weed! These are among the first leaves on the first tree in the orchard to unfurl. I hope it isn't too early. The first tree to wake up is always the oldest one - the "rescue" apple tree that my dear husband brought over the mountains for me - it was scheduled to be bull dozed. The next oldest one also has some small leaves, and the ones after it have nice fat fuzzy buds. The nectarine flower buds are swelling and showing hints of pink. Maybe I'll have photos of flowers some time this week!

Weeds - er, native plants?

It's Spring and the weeds sure know it! I'm not really sure what these are, but there are an abundance of them growing in the garden area. It always astounds me that there are things that will grow in pretty darn near pure sand (look at the photos - I don't really see much organic matter in that there growing medium!). I know I will probably regret it, but I am actually watering and taking care of a patch of weeds to see what they turn into. I did this a few years ago and now have a perenial Desert Mallow growing in the garden - lovely orange flowers with geranium-looking leaves. Hopefully I won't be spreading weed seeds that will haunt me for years and years to come. If I get my act together, I'll try to post more pictures of these weeds throughout the seasons.