Off to the races

Cold crops have just poked their heads out. I'd imagine I could save some water by starting a litter later, but I suppose that is the nature of the early gamble. We are resisting the urge to put out starts of tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli.  The last frost of the year can be as late as the 20th of June, so some gambling is required for ultimate success. 

Planted

Sedum x "Autumn Joy" was up Feb 15th. Just planted cold crops today, beets, radish, carrot, pea.

September 23, 2013

Boy did we have some hail. And rain. And mud. I've come to realize that I just don't have the time to keep up with an effective garden blog, however, this is where my notes are going, so read on, just don't expect anything special.

So the canyon flushed.. bigtime. My new bed of broccoli rabe and radishes is oficially.... fucked. That's ok, we're all adults here, I'm not going to cry. I have entertained thoughts of replanting the bed right away, but we'll see. There has been no frost, so that's great! Last year it seemed to hold off until october. Tomatoes and squash did ok covered in the hail storm. Anything uncovered was completely thrashed. For 2014 there are several things that we need to do for increased production and here they are

• Shade cloth for the dry heat of may and june
• Replanting every 2 weeks
• Hail protection for august and september
• Increased rainwater collection and storage
• Water Tank Trailer & Pump
• Stationary water tank

Another Spring

The creek in the side canyon has been running on and off for about a month, dandilions are up and raging but we're working hard keeping them in check. Turned the soil over in the garden, saw the first of many broad-tailed hummingbirds, and have been enjoying young lovage shoots. (Better than the horrific taste of old lovage leaves)

The garlic planted last fall has sprung up with about 75% success, maybe the other 25% are just catching some more Zzzzs before game-on time. We relocated some plants from around the property into a new bed near the ever crumbling arch. A few pads of Opuntia x durangowhatever here and there, an Echinocactus, some Penstamen, Ipomopsis, and others making a native bed. We also got our hands on some Ephedra (Mormon Tea) from very close by, so that will be a nice piece of texture once established.

Of course now that we spent the dry early part of the last decade learning the ropes of xeric gardening, it has been pretty wet the last few summers. We'll enjoy that as long as it continues. I wonder what effect, if any, the Eyjafjallajokull eruption will have on our growing season this year?

Looking forward to a great year. Also looking forward to figuring out a way to get these blogs to include a slideshow... Any blogger experts out there?

The usual lag

Go figure, I've lagged on my journal.  We've had rain throughout the month of may, and some cold nights.  Rather than overplant then get zapped, we took our jolly time this year.  Right now we just have spinach, chard, beets, and those fun crops we'd normally have in a month ago.  We're cool with that.  In the bottom of this canyon it seems like you can grow cold crops all summer long.  

In the native arena, Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) is blooming across the hillsides as well as Fendlerbush (Fendlera ricupola), Serviceberry (Amalanchier alnifolia), Chokecherry (Prunus viriginana) and Squawapple (Gonna need to check the latin on that one, the spelling is atrocious).  The evening primrose (Oenetherea capisota) are in full bloom, making the garden smell like a brothel each morning (in a good way).   I believe the flower pictures is an Arnica, but I didn't have my ID key with me when I took the snap. 

The shape of the garden is really coming together with plants maturing.  I cut down an Austrian Pine that was touching the house, the poor tree was lovely but just in the wrong damn spot.  I believe that the previous owner of the house wanted a more instantly gratifying landscape job, so now 20 years later, I've got a buncha trees packed to close together.   

Yet another recreation of the garden blog...

After years of inconsistent and sparse garden journal activity, I've decided to give it another whirl.  Despite the random nature of previous entries, they have proved valuable for observing the climate and trends in our garden season and the natural world in the vicinity of our home.  As of this writing, most of the garden is still covered in snow, however, I did notice the first growth on Sedum x 'Autumn Joy', one of my favorite perennials for this area (No water, multi-season interest, great flowers...)  That would seem like a good time to start the blog.  In previous blogs, I've discussed in depth our plans for the future, however, I think at this stage it would be wise to stick to what we've done or are doing.  Enjoy!