Manufactured Rainbows and Other Garden Phenomena

Got to get my rainbows somehow down here!

delicate pansies smiling

rabbits chilling in the shade

feet enjoying the grassy patch...I make a point to take off my shoes each evening and
sink my feet into the cool greenness-I've missed grass!  Now I have my very own 4' x 5' plot.

collards sprouting!

Some of the Garden this Saturday Morning

first cosmo

my mizuna is up...will have to thin soon

pac choy is starting to grow too....looking forward to my Asian greens

Damage Control...Jewel vs. Lettuce

Jewel had some fun in the lettuce planter today.  I think my rows will not be rows when things sprout.  It's hard to be mad at Jewel, but I was looking forward to orderly green rows!

On another soil note...I'm not entirely happy with my soil mix.  I've followed the guidelines of my desert gardening text with the peat and the compost and perlite and vermiculite, but this raised bed and container thing is foreign to me and I find myself comparing everything to the fine ground I used to be able to stick things in to grow.  I believe I need to invest in a soil testing devise.  I'm getting the feeling that something's missing.

They're Up...

Last weekend I planted some peppers and tomatoes in peat pots and put them in the window to start.  I don't have a fancy system for inside seedlings and the grow light I do have is a very small one.  Lately I've found the window light just as effective.  Keeping the seedlings moist takes daily work here in the desert climate and I've been watering and watching every morning.  I really didn't expect anything for another few days, so I was excited to see the Cherokee purples have sprouted as of this morning!

Garden Night Shots

I'm often in the garden at night during the work week, hence the lighting so I don't trip over the multitude of containers and hosage.  So, I thought I'd share some views from this evening.  It's a small space, but I'm happy with how much it can contain.  The trellises have allowed for a lot more, and the goal is to extend them upwards a few more feet.  Really you don't need a ton of space to put in a decent garden...would I like more space?  Sure, but right now this will due.  It's a very peaceful place to spend an evening under the stars.

Red Respite

Red cabbage can strike quite a pose.

2012 Winter Garden

Not Drawn To Scale or on graph paper even...Forgot to put in the one little egg plant...its down by the beans. There are also herbs scattered all over the garden in little containers and big ones-A LOT strategically squished into this little space!

Here is a layout of what's in the garden now in a roud-about way. I'm also compiling a list of the exact names of each planted item and where the seeds came from. Most are Seed Saver, but some aren't. I did use a bunch of seeds people had given me while still living up north so that they could get used up.

It was an eventful day starting tomatoes and peppers, prepping some beds for the rest of the greens, and planting new corn. If you must know the old corn that was going marvelous got eaten by a cat. I got careless and thought it was big enough so that the bird netting could come off and it became a salad bar. So today it was a re-start.

I had plenty of help of course. In the middle of filling pots for the Cherokees I stepped inside for just a second. I came out to Jewel eating one of the pots, so instead of 6 of these tomatoes I'll have 5.

I love this garden right now. I'm eagerly waiting the day  every seed has sprouted and things are going full throttle.

golden bantam going in the ground

What?  I didn't know I wasn't suppose to eat that...

Frost damage...my okra did get a little burned, but its still going.  Okra isn't
even suppose to be growing now, but I'm not pulling it up!  I counted 15 little
 okra growing on the 4 plants...enough for me right now.  Mass production will begin in May.

my workspace today...I need to get a better seed storage system for all these packets I'm trying to use up.  Seeds I've saved are fairing better.

 

the table queens and some flowers hanging out

For Breakfast?

The first real harvest is coming in the form of radishes, French Breakfast Radishes (Seed Saver Exchange).  I can't wait to crunch into these!  Hey The French Breakfast Radish Makes a Handy Snack.

Winter...

I believe I've shoveled for everyone I know--that crazy smile tells you how much I'm enjoying all this snow while I can...although there isn't as much up here as there usually has been this season.

Most of you know I'm not in the desert right now.  I'm up in Minnesota for Christmas/New Years.  My generous Christmas Break at work will have me travelling home next week.  Winter in the desert means flip flops and t-shirts and gardening of course.  The garden baby-sitters inform me all in the backyard is going well.  I'm eager to begin a full spring of gardening.

Green Zebras Spotted in the Garden

To start 2012 off I have been convinced to start a blog mostly about gardening, but I'm sure about some other "stuff" too.  Anyone who knows me well knows that gardening is something I live and breath.  Blogging is something a little new though.  I'm sure just like gardening there will be a learning curve.  

Right now the garden occupies a stretch of backyard in a newer subdivision near Phoenix and Luke Air Force Base on the edge of the White Tank Mountains.  Some pedigreed show rabbits also occupy part of this space.  During the day August through May I spend the day teaching, and many evenings are spent in this backyard space.  Usually I garden at night and it makes my heart sing to see the sun set over the mountains and the stars come out while I work away caring for the plants in the garden--toiling in it brings great solace, joy, and revelation.  This will be a space mostly about the life story a garden and its gardener.