Gardening Group Meeting #2

We held our second gardening group meeting this past Saturday!

You can view a summary of what we covered HERE.

We detailed several popular crops and you can view the information on planting, nutritional needs, pollinating and watering of tomatoes, green onions, garlic, lettuce, kale, spinach, herbs and zucchini HERE.

And in case you need our desert planting calendar again, you can view that HERE.

March in the Edible Garden

It's easy to take more photos of my flower gardens than my vegetable garden. Especially now when everything is small and just beginning for this season. I was pleased with the harvests with the fall garden and while some of those plants are still producing (garlic, cilantro, tomato, carrot, green onion, basil), I tore out a few crops when the weather warmed up (Celery, turned out tough and small) (Snap peas and lettuces, kale, spinach, eggplant) to make room for Armenian cucumber starts from my friend Shirlee and pear tomato starts from my friend James and yellow bell pepper and patio tomato plants from A&P nursery. 

Volunteer Tomato plant from Fall 2016

Armenian Cucumber starts I will try to train up a trellis

Yellow Bell Pepper

Patio Tomato

Cantaloupe Melon from seeds planted 2/8/17, very slow to grow

3 Strawberry plants from May 2016 starts

 I also purchased a few more trellises (raw metal ones in the lumber area of Home Depot, not sure what type of construction work they are actually intended for). In February, I planted luffa squash seeds after soaking them for 24 hours, but they never sprouted. I may try again. I also planted green bean (pole) seeds last week and they sprouted quickly but my tortoises got into them and ate them down to the ground. I am fixing that problem with an additional garden bed by the wall with the trellis.

We have harvested many tiny strawberries and enjoyed the deep flavor compared to store bought strawberries. I moved them back to a place in my yard where they receive afternoon shade since the weather has been hot lately. 

Strongest Papaya Tree

I still have my two Papaya trees growing near my garden. One had it's trunk broken (probably one of my children), but I braced it up with a bamboo stick and it is still alive. I water them infrequently and deeply. It will be exciting to watch them grow taller and determine their genders.

January 2017 in the Vegetable Garden

Sweat Pea Vines, flowers and pods (one of my very favorites):

I currently have 5 volunteer tomato plants and because the weather has been so mild, they are flowering and a few fruit have set. I'll try to keep them going through the next season.

Plenty of carrots harvested over the past months as well as additional seeds planted, colorful varieties too. My kids love eating carrots they pull out themselves.

Celery plants growing beautifully, I make sure to give them organic fertilizer about every 2-3 weeks.

Marigolds, garlic, cilantro, lettuce varieties

My New Mesa Garden

Russian Desert Tortoise, Tana, below our newly planted red hibiscus

We moved in August of 2015, so we said goodbye to our growing plants at our old Mesa house and have begun to make our new land more beautiful with new life and the future plans of more gardens, both flowers, desert and vegetable/fruits. 

When we moved in, we had the following plants in the backyard; 2 African Sumac trees (removed Oct 2015), 1 Eucalyptus tree (trimmed Nov 2015), small cactus (removed Aug 2015) and a dark pink bougainvillea bush.

And in the front yard; honeysuckle bush, 2 lantana (orange and yellow), 2 aloe vera patches (1 removed), 2 sick sage bushes (trimmed back and recovering), 3 oleandar bushes (1 dead removed and 1 sick) and 1 beautiful evergreen bush near the front door that I haven't identified yet.

Our first addition to our backyard at the beginning of February was a retaining wall to maximize the usability of the land and correct the water flow of the yard. It was a big job and had to be done before any other plans could move forward. 

On February 13th 2016 we planted a 5 year-old Tarocco blood orange tree (purchased from Greenfield Citrus Nursery for $85) in a location where it will receive much of the rain water flow and will create a nice privacy screen many years from now. I wish it could just grow up faster!!! 

Tarocco Blood Orange Tree planting

 Since my garden space wasn't ready yet, my first vegetable planted was a roma tomato plant in a topsy-turvey planter given to us for Christmas. It has probably tripled in size since I planted it on Feb 15th 2016.

In the front yard, I added some low-water plants (1 gallon size, white lantana, morning glory, red yucca, agave, purple fountain grass, muhly grass, a 15 gal Chitalpa tree and a 15 gal Leatherleaf Acacia that I plan to prune into a small tree over many years).

agave, white lantana, morning glory and purple fountain grass

muhly grass, white lantana and red yucca

15 gal Pink Dawn Chitalpa Tree from Tree Land Nursery, planted March 11, 2016

15 gal Leatherleaf Acacia Tree from Treeland Nursery, planted March 11 2016

In the backyard, over the past several weeks, I have transplanted the following plants; 2 green hop bushes for privacy screening, sturts cassia bush for screening, red hibiscus bush, ruellia, white rain lilly grass, ice plant, 2 jojoba and elephant food cuttings.

2 green hop bushes

sturts cassia (senna)

hardy iceplant in bloom

red hibiscus

I also planted the seeds of poppies, zinnias and snapdragons in a large flower bed on February 19th after mixing in some aged horse manure into the native soil. They are growing slowly but steadily.

I planted nasturtium and alyssum (carpet of snow) seeds in various areas around for our tortoises. The tortoises have eaten each nasturtium leaf that has sprouted, so I'll have to cover them or plant again in a pot or garden box to let them get started. They devoured 5 purple heart cuttings I planted a few weeks back as well.

As for my vegetable garden, I decided to try something new and build garden boxes instead of planting at ground level like I have in the past. The benefits for me are to keep my kids (and their friends) from trampling newly planted seeds, to keep my tortoises out, to avoid needing to till into the current soil and amend it as well as to define my garden space.

My husband and I worked together to make two 3'x6' garden beds from 12 cedar picket fence boards and some scrap 2x4's. I painted them and we placed them in the higher tier of our yard where they get full sun. Since I got a late start for the Spring season and the weather has been very warm, I decided to just sew some carrots, green onion (both from seed and from store-purchased onion roots) and basil. My kids also planted marigolds and carrots in their own garden boxes made from hollow-centered cement blocks. 

The 2nd garden box is currently being used as my compost pile with a mixture of aged horse manure, wood and leaves from a landscaper's chipper, kitchen scraps including egg shells, a small amount of wood ashes and native soil. 

I'm excited to expand the garden space with more raised garden beds in future seasons as well as some in-ground garden space for large growers like corn. I also hope to get a permanent composting solution for our yard.

I am learning patience as I wait for all my little plants to grow and for my yard to be more beautiful and producing. I will try to record what I learn now that I am back into my Mesa Gardening again! 

Long Awaited

It's seems so long since I was a gardener. Pregnancy and my sweet children have topped my priority list for several seasons. I'm very excited to dive back into the dirt and grow some food for my family (and for sharing). 

I started a Garden Growers group for the families of my neighborhood, mostly those from church since I know them. I hope that others from the community are able to catch wind of it and be a part of sharing knowledge, providing support and sharing harvests. 

After each meeting we have with the garden group, I type up all the topics discussed and send out a informational document to all those who are interested. Those documents are now available for viewing and download on this blog. They are very informational for desert gardeners. 

My fall gardening season began with my husband and I shedding some sweat getting our garden area from weed-and-dirt status to fertile soil status. We added steer manure (purchased at Lowes for $1.09 a bag - 18 bags), removed the bricks from our past gardening layout, dug out the grass, removed as many roots as possible and roto-tilled. I also have a spot designated for composting so I can use that soil in the future to enhance my garden. 

A few weeks ago, my two-year-old and I planted four varieties of tomato seeds for later transplant into the garden area when the weather is less hostile.

In the next weeks, planting additional seeds in the garden area is on the agenda.

More to come!

Loving this Time of Year

Every year around this time, I again fall in love with gardening and being outside. What a beautiful alive world we live on. 

Our family gained a member about a month ago. We now have a small Russian desert tortoise living in our backyard. We first made a small enclosure for him, but then decided to enclose the garden area and let him roam free so he could eat weeds and hibernate in a place of his choice. He's now half way under the ground near our home foundation and hasn't moved for several days, so maybe that's his location of choice. 

Here's my garden today with its new cinder block surround:

I planted more cilantro and lettuce on Saturday, November 24th as well as some spinach and I will be planting more sweet peas tomorrow after they soak. None grew from my first attempt, so they may be bad seeds.

Lettuce (what's left of it after tortoise and pests) and Brocolli

Big tomato plants are the heirlooms I received from friends. All the small ones I planted.

Tomato plants and Cilantro

I love you cilantro!

And my 3 year-old daughter was so excited to see this gorgeous hibiscus flower yesterday, so we had to snap a photo.

A few weeks ago, she helped me plant some random flower seeds in these pots. I look forward to some flowers.

And oranges, grapefruits and tangerines are on their way! Ripeness is a few weeks away!

I'm grateful for this little space that I can use to enjoy creation.

Tomatoes

Lots of great tomatoes from the 4 little ugly tomato plants that I planted WAY back in October. It's about time for some harvesting! Every other day or so, I get a bunch like these...

I have to pick the tomatoes before the little red and black bugs get to them. 

Many of the tomatoes look like this on the plant: