November 23

2012

Gardening in Middle Tennessee.

Weather was lovely for Thanksgiving. Today it is grey and drizzly. The grass and weeds are happy.

Birds are eating about 20% of the food in the feeder each day. So far, I have not seen any evidence of squirrels using them - and we have lots of squirrels in our neighborhood. Lots of cottontails, too.

The indoor mint cuttings didn't fare so well, and I am down to only one now. Some of the basils also culled. Still, the rosemary looks good, and at least 3 of the basils are doing well.

January 31

2006

Gardening in the High Desert
Business trip every week for 3 weeks has not been good for growing seeds. They are surviving, but are lanky and leggy and no true leaves, yet. Toms need potting on. On MG [Morning Glory] died. Other one is not happy. I am thinking of planting it with our ficus inside. Sweet potato is very happy. Using up a cup of water every 2-3 days. Someone watered the ficus very well while I was in Baltimore. Excellent.

Seeds and catalogs from southwestern gardens came today. Will need to order more from them. Prices good, very fast shipping, and a good selection of short season veggies. Also, lots of high desert plants - sages, grasses and such. Wish I'd thought to bring it on the plane with me today.

Saw a nice light, water, PH, ferti. gauge at Charlie's Geenhouse. $35. I will probably get it. I wonder how deep the probe goes.

Good thing we are both employed with lots of over time - putting in/buying all of our infrastructure items.

Garden Bench Considerations

• Fit my height
  
• Peg board back
  
• Potting soil storage
  
• Hose and gravity fed sink
  
• make small hose long enough
  
• side windbreaks that fold against the back?
  
• shade - how?
  
• skids for ATV mobility - secure hooks for pulling
  
• fits through gates
  

Accomplishments

• Back [of back yard fence] done and part of east side. Jake [our Weimaraner] will step over MDH's string lines, but Mauly [our Dobie] will go all the way around. MDH says it's because she's done a number of "nose plants" into the ground [presumably by tripping]
  
• Bird seed on tray has either blown away or been eaten. I would guess, with our winds, they've blown far and wide. We'll see what sprouts.
  
• I left the laundry room lights on, but they are too far away to feed my little solar seedlings. Going to try put them under fluorescent lamp until I get a grow light. Need a cheap grow light frame.
  
• Toilet paper roll temp housing for toms that desperately need potting on
  

January 30

2010

Gardening in the High Desert

• Freshened up coop with half a bale of pine shavings
  
• Filled bird feeder. Little birds making all kinds of noise hiding in the old Christmas tree
  
• Hurried to put food and water under cover for the chickens
  
• Imbolc is this week - the halfway point between winter and spring
  
• Old seeds still seem to be quite viable
  
• no more peat pots - I have advanced to sowing seeds in flats and transplanting. This works for items that transplant well, anyways. Going to have to figure out how to deal with MG's [Morning Glories], however.
  

December 25

2005

2006

2010

2011

2005

Gardening in the High Desert
Warm, sunny day, and I didn't even go outside today.

Frost this morning looked almost like snow.  Glittery, shiny on the sand, cars and fence boards.  As the sun warmed the fence boards and the ice crystals melted, the boards looked like they had diamonds twinkling on them.

2006

Gardening in the High Desert
Merry Christmas - bright, sunny, clear - in the mid 50*F [during the day].

• Sprayed deer off on all the trees out front
• Check out veg area
• Garlic on the ground have been nipped down but none have been dug up
• Garlic in [raised] beds not nipped
• [in reality, it didn't matter if the leaves had been nipped, as far as final production]
• Irises mostly brown now
• Oregano going strong
• Orchard - glad I wrapped my tress - the ones from last year that were chewed are chewed again.  My wrapped ones are safe, for the moment.  Can't believe how thick their trunks got in just one season.  I am heartbroken to think that I will have to leave them.  All that work to coax them along, and I won't be around to see them mature.  I hate starting over.  I finally have something and I have to let go.  I guess that's just how my whole life is - having stuff just to have to let it go.  It's so hard for me to let go.  Children, dogs, gardens, land, husbands - so hard for me to say good-bye.

Rosemary - Buy one early, harden off and put in the ground in a sunny place.  The one from last year did pretty well in partial shade - it'll be good to see how well it does in full sun.  Maybe I should put it in a pot and bring it indoors for winter. [2011 Note: the original rosemary plant is still going strong, having survived negative 10*F weather and several snow storms over the years]

Basils - Could I really put out a hundred plants? If so, how yummy and how pretty.  Let the ornamentals go to flower - cut back stalks when just beginning to set seed.  Will they really grow 2 ft tall in full sun?  Will the rabbits and chipmonks really leave them alone?  I mean, something has topped off my garlic sprouts, so obviously, they didn't read the book on what they're supposed to like.

Garlic - Did I mulch them well enough? [2011 Note: even non-mulched hard neck garlic has done well over the years] What kind of yield will I get?  Are desert bunnies desperate enough to eat garlic in the winter? Ate least none of the cloves have been dug up, yet.

Black-eye Peas - Plant a lot all at once and use as "shelly beans."  They'd go good in corn and peas salad.  Use the yard long beans for stir fry.

2010

Gardening in the High Desert
Weather forecast says wet snow or rain

2011

Gardening in the High Desert

• Have a whole bunch of stale bagels from work, so the wild critters will get a treat.  Also have a new bag of cracked [presumably corn]
• Hot water froze yesterday
  

Lessons Learned

• Regular, deep watering is key - yes, use a timer
  
• I recently read that it takes 3 - 5 years for soil to really show the benefits of care - my personal experience here with the sand concurs
  
• The roma and Alaskan Fancy toms both set early, making them the most productive (the already have a lot of tiny fruit set before the summer heat starts preventing pollination)
  
• If you plant it, they will come - butterflies and bunnies, birds and chipmunks - all to enjoy the bounty of the garden
  
• Zukes really do need to be looked at every day - and even then, some will be missed and grow to the size of your arm
  
• I like the taste of green zukes better than yellow squash
  
• The hybrid yellow squash and zukes are more prolific than the open pollinated - but surely, one does not need that high of a production in a home garden environmentD! The OPs were plenty productive.
  
• Don't plant squash too close together (I leared this years ago, but, apparently, I need to learn this again)
  
• Cukes sown under zukes do not get enough sun
  
• Velour beans were the tastiest - but also the most finicky to grow
  
• Bunnies will eat morning glory leaves if they are hungry enough
  
• Home gron corn really isn't worth the effort - until you eat one raw off the stalk.
  
• I need to find some more efficiencies if I'm ever going to do this on a market garden scale
  
• I'm starting late in life to be dreaming of becoming a full-time farmer; therefore, I shall have to use all of my wits and the wisdom of others to pull this off
  
• I can raise 50% of my chicken food during the summer months with barely any extra effort
  

November 18

2011

2012

2011

Gardening in the High Desert.
Howling winds last night. I heard that they were over 50 MPH with gusts close to 80 MPH. Windy all day today. We lost power for a while, but that is normal when it is this windy, and we're used to it now. Big fire in Reno. Winds calmed in the evening, and their was a light snow falling by the time I left work.

Not much gardening going on this time of year.

• Watered houseplants: ficus, sweet potato and sweet potato daughter, and my golden pothos, which is a daughter of my original golden pothos from a plant I brought home from a job over 10 years ago.
  
• Transcribed a few more days of my written journals
  
• The first seed catalog came this week
  

So this is my first "on line" journal post that I did not originally hand write in one of my books. Not sure how I feel about that. Will my kids or anyone else care about having the hand-written copies? I am at the dividing line between two technologies, and while I love the digital world, I am not yet able to leave the old one behind. Perhaps I am destined to be anachronistic.

2012

Gardening in the Middle Tennessee.
Went to Bass Pro in Nashville yesterday. BOught a turkey fryer and also a bird feeder. In NV it took a week before the birds felt comfortable eating at the feeder - here, it was more like hours. In one day, they've eaten about 25% of the sunflower seeds. I can see it from the kitchen window, hanging in the grand old magnolia.

10 - October 02

2005

2006

2007

2010

2005

The sweet gums [trees] are looking decidedly perky this morning. I was concerned that yesterday's dry winds would have been hard on them, but I guess the cooler temps and deep watering helped them. Of course, I took pictures yesterday. Need to add them to my database.

2006

• DONE - See how deep rain penetrated into the ground – not much; 6” only
• DONE – Buy dirt – 2006-10-21
• DONE – Take a nap
• DONE – Remove clothes pins from fruit trees – 2006-10-04 [used with string to keep young branches spread apart]
• How do I put diesel and oil in the tractor?
• [Plant] more peas, please
• Fall cleanup
• More soap making
• Remove Christmas décor from last year
• Wire fence fruit trees [I have no idea what that means now]
• Cut back viburnums
• DONE- Trees? 2006-10-07 none at HD [Home Depot, probably Carson City] [Black Austrian] pines

So much to do before D leave for trainin in South Carolina – and then a blink of an eye and he's of to Iraq.

Strange, but I think I won't have to water this week.

2007

[Accomplished]

• Watered all houseplantsHaven't been in the garden in 24 hours – miss that contact with the Earth
• Filled bird feeders
• Played with dogs
• Dreaming of Garlic
• Put dead lettuce in compost pile

One place I saw said 12 -15 bulbs of garlic per person per year – seems like our family could eat more than than
Garlic Use – Crush, add to butter, put in molds, freeze, pop out of molds, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Instant garlic butter for cooking. I love it!

I am taking a class on jumpstarting your creativity by studying Leonardo da Vinci – It's been a year or more since I've kept a non-garden journal. I wonder if now is the time to start one again?
A year ago D was contemplating spending a year in Iraq – and now, now what are his plans? I am so blessed to have him home. He planted a tree this weekend.

2010

Big fat drops of rain accompanied by the usual winds. Cooled things down nicely. Still, one should not mistake this little rain as actually watering anything. It has barely wet the surface [of the ground]. Had to run to put dog food and chicken food out of the rain, but other than that, not a big deal. Even when there is lots of it, I've always loved the rain.

07 – July 30 - Journal Entry

2006

2006

Can't believe we've been here [in Nevada] nearly a year. So much accomplished, a few disappointments and so much more to look forward to.

• Watered
• Front trees
• Fruit trees
• Veggie Bed
• Little Lilacs
• Bird Bath
• Ficus
• Kitchen Window Plants

While watering pines out front, I noticed that each has its own resident lizard. They looked like some sort of anole Eat bugs, eat bugs and go forth and multiply.

Smooshed a grasshopper.

• DONE – mulch hybrid poplars (2006-07-30 – ½ done; 2006-08-13 Front done)
• DONE – Get rid of dead indoor plants
• Pot up houseplants into dirt
• Clean bird feeders
• DONE – Pick up trash [along fence line] – 2006-07-30
• Put away tree pots
• Build bird houses
• DONE – Make soap [glycerin; not home made, but I did combine the ingredients and set it up in molds]
• Concrete [plant] markers
• Suet pinecones
• kiddie pool to burry for bog garden [at some point I realized I lived in the desert and gave up on the idea of a bog garden]
• Order [driveway] gravel – 2006-08-24 delivered 12 tons $265 [12 tons is nothing; could have used 3 times as much]
• DONE – sow clover and winter rye – clover done 2006-9-3
• [Buy] thick plastic from Wal-Mart
• DONE – Take more photos – 2006-08-06
• Make map
• DONE – Order Garlic – 2006-08-06 due to arr mid September
• Order small river rock
• Dig a compost pit
• Inventory seeds – 2006-09-08 started
• Plant out lilacs
• Russian Sage Cuttings
• Sweet potato cuttings – 2006-08-11 – it's dead
• DONE – Clean bird fountain
• Raspberries for fall planting
• Get site ready for bulbs – 2006-08-20 will use old day lily site [chipmunks and/or mice ate them all]

The list goes on and on. I am currious to see if the daffs survived our brutal summer and if they will return [in] Spring. I hope, I hope

November - To Do - Week 1

2009

2010

2009

Gardening in the High Desert.

• Move bird feeders to garden area
  
• Set up nest boxes [for wild birds]
  

2010

Gardening in the High Desert.

• DONE - Clean, set up bird feeders [for wild birds]
• Mix chicken feed [make 25% corn chicken scratch + 75% chicken layer pellets]
• Feed/Water houseplants
• DONE - Stock up on [wild] bird feed
• Clean chicken coop
• DONE - Mulch strawberries
• Wrap trees
• Deep water pines
• Turn Compost
• DONE - Keep bird feeders filled
• Take more photos
• Feed houseplants
• Deer-off [for trees - keeps bunnies from eating bark]
• Continue planting spring bulbs
• Shred paper for mulch

March 07

Planting 2007

• Potted rosemary from Wal-Mart (Note: 2011-11-14 this plant is now 2 ft in diameter and two feet strong)
  
• Ginger bulblets (didn't grow)
  
• Avocado seed in dirt (didn't grow)
  
• Garlic for greens
  

Journal 2007

• Worked on chicken coop/greenhouse design
• M watered back yard trees
• Added parrot food mix to my bin of sunflower seeds
• Filled bird feeders & water dish
• Peanuts in shells are too big for feeder, so I thew them over the fence for the evil chipmunks
• Went for a walk around property with the dogs
• Enjoyed potting up some stuff - ginger bulblets, garlic for greens, rosemary and an avocado seed.  Love the smell of the dirt.
• The 20 gal metal trash cans are great for storage
• DJR cleaned the dog pen
• Cypress in front of dogs' pen look poorly
• One [Black Austrian] pine in driveway is decidedly dead
• I love this time of year
• Forcing pots not showing much life
• Warm days mean time to water more
• TO DO - Water front yard trees
• TO DO - Water side hybrid poplars north of metal building
• TO DO - Sprinkle some low growing something in the jasmine tub? Lemon basil?
• Can I really green up the place?
• Spring is seductive
• TO DO - Pull mulch from tubs and put around trees
• TO DO - Start Snap Dragons?