Seedlings Looking Good

It's time to start thinking about a spring garden! If you haven't started thinking about what varieties you will plant this year, you'd better get busy. Even if you aren't lucky enough to enjoy Arizona's year round gardening weather, Jan/Feb is the perfect time to order seed catalogs and begin making garden plans. 

I like to order my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, located in Mansfield, MO, and have been doing so for years, simply because of the varieties of non-GMO seeds that they offer. On a side note, they actually have a Spring Planting Festival in May every year. I would LOVE to go, and one of these years I will make the effort. 

A few weeks ago, I spent a lovely afternoon getting my little seedlings planted in their cute little pots. (I love that color! It's my fave...) The tomato varieties that I started on 1-16-2015 are all starting to get their 2nd leaves. That means that I can start giving them liquid food once a week or so, until they are ready to go out in the garden at the end of the month. They are happy in their little greenhouse and our weather here in Arizona is going to be 80 degrees by Saturday, so if that holds through the month, it will be perfect for these little guys to get transplanted out into their permanent home in the garden.

As you can see in the picture above, the sugar snap peas really are going for it. I probably should have just put them right into the garden, except last year I fought with the birds over them, & I wasn't into that this year. (The birds thought they should be eaten & I didn't!) I actually had to replant those little guys 3 times until I got smart and put covers over them. This year, I've been working to redo some of the beds in the garden, so I decided to just start them indoors, which would actually save me the effort of having to replant them or cover them. They've been fine, but today, with the weather so nice, I decided to start the hardening off process so they can be transplanted. If you don't know what that means, hardening off is when you put your seedlings out into the weather they will be in, for a few hours a day, just to give them a gradual adjustment to the wind & sun, and being out of their protected little environment they've been in. If you don't do this, they actually take offense, and go into a much longer shock period. Well, that's all for today.

Happy gardening!

Tomato Starts

Well, it's that time of year again...time to start little seedlings for the spring garden! If you haven't begun doing so, better get on it! I have, over the years, tried various potting methods, and this year, I decided to invest in some small pots for my soon to be finished (hopefully this weekend YAY) little greenhouse. For markers, I read somewhere about cutting up used and cleaned yogurt containers, and that is what I have been doing. These seedlings are a few days old and don't have their 2nd set of little leaves yet.

I've been hearing a lot about "smash book" lately. As soon as I checked it out, I realized I have been doing this kind of thing as a garden book for the last few years. I purchased this eco journal from Barnes & Noble and have customized it for the garden. (It is still available there for $12.95.) Every year, I just add a new tab on the side of a clean page with the new year on it and keep on going. This particular one above is several years old, & I love it! 

For a while, I thought I would just keep my blog and print everything out, but it does lose the coolness, if you know what I mean. I'm talking about all the little doodad's that make a smash book awesome. So, celebrate your gardening awesomeness and begin your own little smash book for your garden! It's so fun to look back at how the garden changes through the years. Happy gardening!

New Recipe and a little bit of Chickens (not related)

Saw this recipe on Pinterest but originally from "The Girl Who Ate Everything" and loved the sound of it! Lasagna Roll Ups are definately going to be added to my go to recipes! Just about everyone in my family ate them all up, with the exception of one person, who will remain nameless, (Rylan), who simply pushed it around on his plate!! These were really good!

So, Haylee happened to actually catch some young pullets at my father-in-laws. For those of you who don't know what those are, they are teenager chickens. These ones, and there are 3 of them, even though in the picture you can only really see 2, are used to running around with their mommy hen. It makes me a little bit sad to take them from their mom, but my father-in-law simply has too too many chickens and roosters at his house. We have them housed within the original chicken coop in their own little chicken coop. This is to get the other 4 hens used to having them around and hopefully limit any pecking, etc. on them.

This hen has been hanging out in front of the little coop where the new babies are and as soon as I opened the door to let the babies out, ran in to peck the white one. I strongly suspect that white baby is a rooster, but we shall see. Hopefully not. 

 

Found this little baby (the ladder pictured above), like a prize, in a trash heap by the side of the road in our neighborhood! My husband, when I told him about my wonderful find, simply said, "Please don't dig through other people's trash. Did anyone see you?" I had to chuckle to myself! Anyway, I think it is simply awesome and I plan to use it in my garden as a trellis for melons, etc. So excited by this find! Been wanting one for simply ages.

Mr. Harrison needed to come outside with me yesterday to help bring the ladder out of the car, and also needed the dreaded fire truck. By dreaded, I mean that it makes a LOT of noise, which is probably what he likes, and my daughters absolutely hate it! (chuckle) I laugh because they are getting a little bit of payback for all the noise I have had to endure over the years with them! Payback truly is great! Anyway, Harrison was having a great time with the fire truck until it got stuck in the grass and would not move, in which case a giant case of tears ensued! 

Garden Planting

So. The chickens now have a little yard. I bought this fencing at our local Home Depot. I am not sure I like it. It doesn't close easily. It is difficult to align with the connectors on each side. Also, Rylan cannot get it closed and so I can't really send him out there to feed the chickens. That's not going to work, for sure. Quite obviously, I am going to have to do something different. Bummer. On the bright side, the chickens love it! They love it so much, that they have started flying over it to get out. So, I did go purchase some netting to put over it, not realizing that doves are flying down to get the bird seed that isn't eaten. The birds are now getting caught in the netting several times a day, which is then driving the dogs insane. All of them. Which is driving me insane!!! And having to go out and get the birds out of the netting all day, is completely too much. So, something will have to be done! (I have an idea of what, but I don't want to have to do it.)



I have been saving this topiary form in the garden shed for almost 9 years. I had 2 of them in our previous home, covered in creeping fig in our front yard by the front door. One day, after we had moved, the new owner, who were friends of ours, had them pulled out and was throwing them away. These things are hard to find, and since she is not a gardener of any sort, she just plain didn't want them. So, I snagged them from her. YAY for me. I really don't know where the other one went... This one looks nice right her in front of the little chicken coop. Love it! Can't wait for the creeping fig to grow in.

My great grandma lived in a little trailer near my grandma's house. Along the side of her trailer she had a lot of mint planted, and every time we would go and visit her, I would pick some and chew on it. Funny the things you remember. So, this spot is perfect for some mint filling in the space. If I can keep the dogs off of it. Hence, the little fence.

We also planted in a couple of new plum trees, into the same hole. Everything I have read about plum trees says that the Santa Rosa Plum is self fruiting, but that it bears more fruit if there is another variety nearby. So, since I have seen this to be the case with the previous plum tree & I had until LAST summer... We now have 2 new little trees, emphasis on the little.

Saturday was a full day. My son and I planted 6 new vines in the garden to cut on the reflective heat that the block fencing adds to the already stifling temperatures in the summer. We put in 4 cat's claw vines to cover the back wall and 2 trumpet creeper vines, the Madam Galen variety, which is supposed to have beautiful flowers all summer, and is quite a vigorous vine. I was discussing this with the gardener up at Harper's Nursery. All of the online information I have read about this vine indicates that it's roots are a giant nuisance, sending out shoots everywhere and that it's almost impossible to remove. The gardener at the nursery was saying that that may be true in moist climates, but here in Arizona, with our very dry conditions, and clay soil, the root systems just do not act in that way. They then showed me a mature plant of it that they have at the back of their nursery, which climbs up a telephone pole every year. He told me that every other year or so, the city comes out and has them cut the vine down to the ground, and it climbs back up with no problem whatsoever. This is the kind of vine I need on the fence surrounding the garden. I had cat's claw until last summer, when the watering system broke and I lost everything. Even the cat's claw died, which is rumored to never die, no matter what. I know it doesn't look like much here in the picture, but it is dormant in the winter, meaning it loses all it's leaves, and looks dead, even though it's not.

The asparagus are a little behind this year. This picture is a little blurry, but this is the first little shoot. YAY! It looks like I need to add some soil to cover the crowns a little better.

The lettuces are doing ok. Hopefully it won't get too warm. I may need to move these over by the fountain area, where is a little cooler. We shall see.

My daughter begged for this little garden gnome a couple of years ago. At the time, I thought he was kind of ugly, but as his paint has faded, his attraction for me has grown! :) I do think he is quite cute here, don't you?

The peach and apple trees are blooming. I just love the deep pink on this peach tree. It really is beautiful.

Well, that's it from my little organic Arizona garden!! Happy planting!

Spring Gardening

Over the past few weeks, I have been steadily working at cleaning up the garden area and getting it back to  being plantable. Last summer, I had the unfortunate experience of having my watering system fail, which caused me to lose my plum tree, my grape vines, and the cat's claw that was surrounding the garden to cool off the area, from the cinder block fence. Of course, I also lost everything in my garden, pretty much. It was all in all, a very disappointing summer/fall/winter. I haven't really been able to get out there and work on it until now.

Luckily, I have been able to devote some time to working in the garden, and the weather has been so amazing it has made it even enjoyable. I still have some dead grass that needs removal, as well as the dead grapevines that are not showing signs of life. 

I have had to keep my little chickens kind of cooped up for a bit, since there are some new starts in the garden that I would really like to keep, and not sacrifice to their stomachs. They really need a little run, so I do have some plans to fence in the little area to the right of the chicken coop for them to have some added space, but where they won't cause trouble with my plants. I think that will make them happy.

Although it isn't very visible in the above picture, I did manage to get my favorite flower planted. Yes, tulips can grow in Arizona. When I was a little girl, living in Yuma, our teacher asked us to draw our favorite flower. My mom had planted some tulips that year, and that is what I drew. Actually, I think that might have been the only year she planted them. Even so, I remember my teacher telling me that you can't grow tulips in Arizona. I argued with her that you could and I know that she did not believe me. It is possible though. If you want to start the bulbs yourself, you need to keep the bulbs in the crisper section of your refrigerator for 6 weeks to fool them into thinking that it's a cold winter, and then put them out. Or you can cheat, and buy them already semi sprouted from the garden center, like I did. Either way, they are truly beautiful, and still my favorite. If only the dogs didn't like to tromp through them, they would look so much better!

Fruit Tree & Berry Cane Pruning

The weather is beautiful, in the 70's, and it just feels so wonderful outside. This is why we live in Arizona! The mad flurry for spring planting has begun!

Our yard has a little micro-climate on the north side of the house. This spot gets very little direct sun, and the soil really does stay pretty moist all year, even in the middle of the summer, partly due to the air conditioning overflow drip that continuously drips into the area. Anyway, this spot is definitely cooler than any other spot in our yard. Every yard has these. It just takes a little observation to notice them. 

This spot is perfect for the berries and fruit trees. Last year, I put the raspberry and blackberry canes in, just a few of each. The raspberry canes took off, although they aren't quite thick yet. The blackberry canes didn't do as well, so I ended up replacing a couple of those on top of the clean-up chores. I also had transplanted 12 little strawberry plants last year. Wow, they really spread, and are now all over the area. I have yet to get any berries this season probably due to the fact that my husband decided to turn off the water to the yard. Why? It's a mystery. I finally figured it out, and managed to get the drips working again. YAY! 

 My friend gave me 3 banana shoots from her neighbor up in Mesa 2 years ago. I had plopped those down without much thought into the area. Last year, they had gotten frozen, and I thought that I had lost them. Much to my surprise, one of them really grew, and even put off another shoot. So, those are looking ok. We shall see how they do this year. 

What started out to be a quickie trim of the apple and peach trees soon turned into something much more, when I realized the raspberry and blackberry canes needed a quick prune of their tips and the strawberries that are so happy underneath them, needed the undergrowth cleaned out.

After consulting a book on how to prune an apple and peach tree, I attempted as best I could to prune them. May I say, very nervous? Anyway, it turned out not to be as bad as I thought. It did, however, make a big mess, that the dogs proceeded to track around the yard. "Oh, goodie, mom is making us some toys!" Hopefully, this will be the year we get some fruit off these little 2 year old babies. 

Since raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries are all heavy feeders, they needed a little organic fertilizer, some water, and some mulch, and the yearly chore was done. 

All in all, it was a delightful day!