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