Garden getting there
All I need now is just a little more energy to finish the job!
All of the in-ground beds have their irrigation and landscape fabric, and all of the raised beds are planted (with the exception of the Morning Glory seeds, which are still soaking inside for awhile, helps a lot with germination.)
Today got quite windy, which is not a good thing when you are planting wispy little seeds like zinnias and marigolds. Honestly, every single time I put those tiny seeds in the ground I cannot believe they actually grow into something! I tried some new flower seed sources this year (one of which was a bit pricey), so fingers crossed.
Other tidy-up tasks we did today was to set a trellis behind the apple and pear espalier tres, which seem to be growing well, despite the lack of attention they tend to receive. We mowed the paths and weed-whacked all edges, and it really does look terrific. All green and black and waiting for growth.
I added a new vegetable trellis this year, so I still need to get that fabric’d and seeded. That one will be tricky because it will not be on automatic irrigation this year, and we don’t have a great track record with manual watering up here.
Mostly I just need to finish the planting in the in-ground beds. Our growing season isn’t getting any longer!
It’s quite a bit of work to set up, I won’t lie, but that’s gardening!
These are the little berries that form on the asparagus ferns.
Hello, there, horseradish! I wasn’t sure whether it would winter over or not, but it was a super mild winter. I need Steve to cook a nice, rare prime rib so I can make a little horseradish sauce from its roots.
Tarragon and oregano love life in the barrels. Like other elements that are not on irrigation, their access to water can be hit and miss.
Tomatoes always have a tough start to life up here, it was so rainy and cold (even freezing) their first two weeks. But they are hanging in there!
Strawberries seem to be waking up fine. I think this is their 3rd year. Up here, where the commercial farmers plant hundreds of thousands of strawberry plants, they tear them up after 3 years and replant.
Montana and Elijah’s pepper bed coming along. They have a few more in pots that haven’t been planted yet. Montana swears her peppers prefer zero attention and actual abuse if you can just yell and insult or two to them as you pass, she would appreciate it.
Meanwhile, Tex is getting a haircut!
Lavender plants look like they are doing pretty well. They are desert-loving plants who hate wet feet, so not being on the irrigation system is their preferred mode.
The sweet espalier fruit trees, apple and pear. These trees are trained to only grow horizontally, so we had to add the cattle panel behind them to give them a little horizontal support. The things we can do with cattle panels around here!
That’s the new climbing vegetable trellis to the right. I still have to cut the fabric for their little beds. The grapes (still in their blue plastic sleeves) are actually looking pretty good this year. At first I thought they were all dead, but they are all growing nicely. Maybe this year they will actually make it to the fence!
I just love it when everything is neat and tidy and not yet a jungle!
My favorite plant, borage. I didn’t plant any this year - these are self-seeds from last year. I allowed a FEW of them to stay where they appeared.
A month from now, good-bye yellow and hello all gray! Crazy town over here
