New To Our Yard

Almost ten years ago, we were getting ready to spend our first season
in Antarctica and had to have someone watch our plants. We didn't know
then that it would be quite a bit of time before we were able to retrieve
them. When we recently visited my sister Nancy's house, we picked up
our Rain Lilly (or at least a descendant of it) that we had left with her
many years ago. The coffee can that held it disintigrated long ago, but
Nancy had transplanted it into a new container and there are lots of
healthy, blooming bulbs in the container. It now holds a nice place in
front of our house, where it gets morning sun, but none of the really
hot sun of the afternoon. Because we live in a very dry climate with an
average of 8 inches of rain per year, we'll probably need to water it every
few days to keep it blooming. It's much drier here that it's native Germany.


We have a spot in our front yard that has needed a plant for a few years.
When we xeriscaped our front yard, one of the desert plants that we
selected didn't make it through the first year and the spot has been
empty ever since. Nancy sent some Monkey Grass with us. It can be
a pain to some people because it spreads, but it's very hardy and needs
little attention. Perfect for this area. Also, it shouldn't spread since
there really is no where for it to go since it's surrounded by gravel. I'm
looking forward to enjoying both additions to our yard this summer.

Our Sunflowers

Ok...so our garden this summer was pretty much a failure. A
combination of too much heat, not enough water and not enough
wedding was it's downfall. The only thing that was successful were
our sunflowers. They make a nice barrier between our yard and
the alley and the birds seem to love them. Maybe next year we
should plant ONLY sunflowers!

Fingers Crossed

After pouring out lots of sweat, I finished planting the "seed"
side of the garden today. Besides the Garlic that Lynn planted
last Fall, we now have Cucumbers, Green Beans, Onions and
Carrots planted. On the other side of the garden we will have
Tomatoes, three kinds of Peppers and Cantaloupes. Across the
far west end, I planted enough Sunflowers to hopefully give the
garden some shade in the late afternoon sun. I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that everything will grow.

Signs of Life

When I went to water our little seedlings today, I noticed
that the tomato seedlings had popped out of the dirt and
were beginning their climb toward the sky! Still no sign
of life from the peppers or melons, but hopefully they will
be mimicking their tomato friends soon.

Growing Little Plants

Armed with seed cups, potting soil and dirt, I took the first
steps yesterday to planting our garden. Our tomatoes,
three kinds of peppers and cantaloupes need to be planed
inside, grow into small plants, and then transplanted outside
for them to be successful. Using Lynn's fabricated seed cups,
I took two spoons of potting soil and filled the cups halfway.
Then I placed the tiny tiny seeds on top and then placed two
more spoonfuls of soil on top. Because the cantaloupes were
an afterthought (we purchased the seeds at Green Fields Seed
and Feed in Grand Junction), we didn't make enough cups.
Instead, we used half of an egg carton with a hold poked in the
bottom for drainage. This will also degrade well in the soil
when we place them in the ground. Now we just have to add
water, place in the sun, wait, and hope they will grow.

Digging in the Dirt

It's funny that on television and in the gardening catalogs,
they make gardening look fun and easy. Ha! I wasn't
expecting it to be easy though as I grew up working in
a garden and our small garden is much smaller than the
garden I grew up with. What I don't have though is a
collection of cool tools that my Dad and Mom had for
their garden. A rototiller would certainly have been nice
today as I needed to turn the soil over in half of our small
patch. Of course, it wouldn't have been so hard if I wasn't
such an out of shape slug, but I finished it and doing it by
hand instead of using mechanical equipment kind of gave
me more satisfaction. I also spread some compost into
the soil which we had inadvertently created a couple of
years ago by piling up grass clippings in a corner of the
yard. I'll be creating some rows in a few days that will be
ready once our tomatoes, peppers and melons are ready
to plant.


On the other side of the garden, we have some garlic already
sprouting. Lynn planted it last fall as they are bulb plants and
need to sit for the winter before they sprout. There's some
grass sprouting nearby that I'll have to remove but that
shouldn't take too long with a shovel and some sweat. The
rest of this side of the garden is already furrowed from last
year and won't take a lot of effort to plant our seeds. This
side of the garden will be the location for all of our veggies
that will be grown straight from seeds, including green beans,
carrots and onions.


Lynn also planted a few flower bulbs last winter that some friends
gave her and they are doing nicely. As you can see, the weeds are
also doing well. These are going to have to be addressed. Too
bad we aren't trying to grow a healthy crop of weeds. We'd be
way ahead of the game!

Seed Cups

Lynn made these really cool seed cups out of paper that we
had lying around the house. There are certain vegetables that
we are planting that have to be started as already growing plants.
These include our tomatoes and peppers. As a result, we have
to start them inside and then transplant them into the garden
when they are large enough. With the paper being bio-degradable,
we'll be able to plant the entire cup into the ground and not have
to worry about disturbing the roots.

Our Seeds are Here!

We received our seeds for the garden today in the mail. If it
was as easy as just dropping them onto the ground and waiting
for them to grow...but it will be a lot of work and the end results
will be worth it. We're going to start most of these in the house
since they can't be germinated in the ground as they are (well,
they can, but are more successful this way). I also have to
get the soil ready first with some compost and set up the rows.


Territorial Seeds included in our order an extra packet of Carrot
seeds. These are for charity and we are supposed to "Plant a row
for the Hungry". When you harvest this row of carrots, you are
supposed to take them to a local soup kitchen. Sounds like a good
idea.

Ordering the Seeds

We ordered our seeds today for our garden that we're
going to plant this summer. It's kind of an experimental
year since we don't know what will or will not grow. We
also have several ulterior motives which determined what
we are going to plant. One, we are trying to save money.
Tomatoes are really expensive so that was a deciding
factor. Two, I'm going to try to make Salsa so I'm planting
things that will work to that goal. These are the things that
we'll hopefully have growing this year:

Tomatoes
Onions
Cucumbers
Green Beans
Carrots
Garlic
Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Anaheim Peppers

Samhain Bulbs

Samhain is festival held on October 31–November 1
in Gaelic cultures. A harvest festival with ancient
roots in Celtic paganism, it was linked to festivals
held around the same time in other Celtic cultures,
and continued to be celebrated in late medieval times.

Lynn went to a Halloween party recently and was given
some bulbs to plant before Samhain. As well as these
"magic" bulbs, she was also nice enough to plant
garlic for me for next season's Salsa Garden. I'm
sure that the bulbs will grow up to be big and strong
since they will have the magical powers of Samhain
associated with them.

It's Chile Season!

It's nearly autumn and with that comes chiles. Most
of them aren't grown commercially around here, but
we're close enough to New Mexico that we get more
than our fair share. At several places around town, you
can see them. At stands large and small, with barrell
shaped roasters turning slowly, you can smell them
all the way down the street. Today, Leslie brought
some Big Jim Chiles home from her friend's farm and
they look awesome! I'm looking forward to growing
some just like them next summer in our garden!

Pretty Amazing

Today we saw some pretty amazing things.
After literally seeing four weddings and a
funeral in the tiny town of Chinchero, we
headed to the Inca ruins at Moray. The only
known circular terraces in the region, it is
believed that they were used for agricultural
experiments since each of the terraces has its
own microclimate!


On the way back to Cusco, we stopped at a way
out of the way place called Salineras. Here
was the one of the strangest operations I´ve
ever seen. A huge salt gathering/producing
site that dates back to the Incas and is still
in use today. The workers fill the ¨boxes¨
with a naturally salty spring water and when the
water evaporates, they gather the salt and
package it for sale. Our driver, Carlos, bought
40 kilos of it for his own use and to give to
relatives since it´s about half the price of
salt in Cusco. He gave us a kilo as well. What
he´s going to do with 40 kilos of salt, I have
no idea!

During the entire trip today we were right next to
some of the highest peaks of the Andes in Peru
with peaks all over 5000 meters. Pretty specatacular
scenery.

A Most Thoughtful Gift

Today, I received the most thoughtful gift from my
friend, "The Delightful Carrie *********". While
we were back in Indiana, Lynn, Carrie and I went to
the book sale at the Kouts Public Library. This
was shortly after my Dad passed and her visit helped
cheer us up. Unbeknownst to me, Carrie found this
book and just today I received it in the mail from her.
Even though the book has nothing to do with my Dad and
the story is about something completely non-related,
the title reminds me of my Dad and his love for gardening.
Thank you Carrie. I will treasure this book always.

Yard Work

My Dad's favorite hobby was working in the yard. Since he
was sick for all of the summer, all of the family in the
area, including grandkids helped out. This kept it close
to Dad's high standards. Not an easy task when the yard is
about an acre in size and includes multiple flowerbeds, trees,
shrubs, etc. The past couple of days, Lynn and I, along with
my sister Nancy, her husband Greg, my brother John and his wife
Julie, have been helping Mom spruce up the yard and get it
ready for winter. During this process, the mosquitos from the
past few days have been swarming. Not pleasant when you're the
one who's operating the weed whipper and cleaning out shrubs
and bushes. I think I need a transfusion from all the blood
that has been taken from me! I've never seen so many mosquitos
at one time. Even in tropical places like Thailand! Thankfully,
there is supposed to be a cooling trend in the area soon and
hopefully that will zap the buggers. Until then, I'll walk
around looking like I have full-body mumps!

Who's That Lurking...

...in the bushes? Our friend Jason is the Greenhouse
Tech again this winter and he's bringing in some bumper
crops already this season.


This is about as thick of vegetation I've ever seen in
the Greenhouse and we haven't had a day yet without some
kind of salad. Granted, we are still using the last bits
of lettuce from the flight last month, but it's certainly
been stretched by what Jason is growing in the Greenhouse.


These are great looking tomatoes, matching almost any
tomato grown back in the outside world. With the success
of this year's crop, I may have to talk to him about getting
a few extra to make some homemade salsa.