Apples, and Peaches, and Pears, OH MY!

Spring has arrived in my little corner of the desert, and that means that it's time to plant trees.

Last fall, I put in an order at a local nursery for some fruit trees.  They're here. Scott and I spent last Saturday getting them planted.  We have:

An "Anna" apple tree, already in bloom.

A "Dorsett" apple tree, tall and many branched.

An "Earligrande" peach tree.

A "Kefir" pear tree, beginning to bud.

A "Sugar" pear tree.

I learned a lot about fruit trees in the desert, but some of the information was universal. For example, did you know that when planting fruit trees, you need to make sure that the node of the graft is ALWAYS facing north? If you don't, the tree will try to twist itself around to make it so, and will die. Also, you shouldn't allow the trees to fruit for the first two years -- you must let them flower, but not fruit. This helps to ensure a healthy root system, and a trunk that is sturdy enough to support the weight of the fruit. 

One final thing I learned is that dogs find the branches of apple trees to be a sweet treat, so you have to watch them closely, and keep your pruning shears close by.

 

 

In other news, the rest of the garden that I planted in the fall didn't do very well. I have only 2 sickly looking spinach plants, 

 3 midget pea plants, 

 

some red and romaine lettuce,

 one cabbage,

  two strawberry plants, 

 

 and one rhubarb plant. 

 

I'd thought that the rhubarb had died, as all the leaves wilted and came off, however, a couple of weeks ago they started growing again, and seem to be doing quite well.

 

All in all, I'm a bit disappointed with the way things have gone, but I've learned a lot and hope that will enable me to do better this spring.

How's It Growing?*

Well, as I feared, my dogs did quite a number on my vegetable bed.  They were certain that it was their new "sand" box, and my attempts to convince them otherwise fell on deaf ears.  I did get some plants sprouting up, but much of them stood no chance.  The only survivors were the tomato plants (except the "red beefsteak"), the peas, the beans, and the cucumbers.  So I decided to replant.

This time I went with seedlings, thinking they stood the best chance of survival.  I replaced the "beefsteak" with a "big boy" plant, and got cabbage, strawberries, rhubarb, basil, spinach, romaine lettuce, and red leaf lettuce.

The dogs still went after them, so my dh went out and put up a fence.  Now the dogs are not a problem, but most of the plants are still struggling.  The white coating is due to "salts" that we have in our soil that come up when the ground is wet.  I have a feeling that that cannot be good for the plants, but don't know what to do about it, so I'm going to The Avocado this week to see if they have any ideas.

The tomatoes are surviving for now, but they were hard hit by white flys that come from all the cotton plants that the neighboring farms have growing, and the soapy water used to treat for that.  There are even a few blossoms, but they should be doing more than this by now.

The cucumber and 2 cabbage plants have given up the ghost.  I've decided I'll try some onion there now that I can keep the dogs out.

The beans are doing okay, but I'm anxious to see some further growth on them. The flys got to them a bit too, but they seem better able to stand it.

The peas are also hanging in there, but I'd like to see more growth on them as well.

The flys have really made meals out of the basil (right) and spinach, but as both are showing new growth, I'm holding out hope for them.

The strawberries seem to be somewhat neutral.  They don't really seem to have much, if any, damage, but they also don't really have much, if any, new growth.  They are still green and apparently alive, however, so I'll just be grateful for that.  One cabbage plant is also clinging to life, and showing some new growth.  Hopefully, that will continue.

Finally, we have the rhubarb and lettuces.  The rhubarb does seem to have a bit of wilt going on, but also seems to be holding on, so I'm keeping hope alive for it.  The lettuce it thriving.  I'm not sure why they haven't been damaged by the flys, who have been making themselves at home on them, but they aren't showing any damage.  There is also a lot of new growth, and I'm looking forward to being able to harvest them.

There are a couple of "volunteer" plants sprouting up too.  I'm not sure if they are truly weeds, or if some of the seeds I planted miraculously survived both the dogs and my replanting, so I've decided to let them grow for now.  If they do end up being weeds, I can always pull them later.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions to get this whole thing healthy and thriving, I'd love to hear them.

*I apologize for the horrible pun, but I just couldn't help myself.

Digging In The Dirt

When we had our backyard landscaped, all the hard-scape was done, including some raised beds.  I've long been wanting to have a vegetable garden, but the soil quality here is horrendous, so a raised bed was a must.  I knew exactly what I wanted, beds that were 4'x12'x1', and we had enough room for four of them with 3' walking paths between each.

Living in the Sonoran desert, we have the privilege of gardening year round.  Now is the fall planting season, and our grass is in and we can walk on it, so it was time to get started.

I actually forgot to take pictures before we started work on the first bed (we'll be doing one per week 'til they're all done), but luckily we still have 3 empties that are just like the one we worked on, so I'm substituting a picture of one of them.  As you can see, we had irrigation put in the beds to make watering easier, I just needed to add the drip hose and nozzles, which the landscaping crew foreman showed me how to do.

I went to a local nursery called The Avocado to order the fruit trees, and found they also have an excellent soil mix for gardening in this area -- it's used by the local college, university extension office test gardens, and the Master Gardener's program -- at an even more excellent price.  Sold in bulk by the cubic yard, one load is enough to fill one raised bed.  So I went and picked some up, along with the tubing and nozzles to complete the irrigation.  I got home and got to work, putting in the irrigation lines, moving the dirt one wheelbarrow load at a time, and quickly realized this was going to be an all day project by itself.  And then my guys surprised me.  Jay came out, climbed in the back of my truck, and started shoveling the dirt into the wheelbarrow for me.  Shortly thereafter, Scott came out and took over wheelbarrow duty, leaving me to spread the dirt within the beds.  What wonderful help!  It made the whole thing go so much faster, and showed me that it would have taken me at least another day on my own.

So the beds were filled and level, and daylight fading, so we decided to call it a day.  Of course I forgot to take a picture again.  And then the dogs found the new dirt.  When I went out this morning, this is what I saw:

They had turned it into their own little sandbox.  I was not amused.  Keeping them out, it turns out, will be the biggest challenge to success.  Rather than deal with this immediately, I decided that my next step was going to Lowe's for some tools,

 

seeds,

 and plants.

I got home, got back to work, and got everything spread out and leveled again, but this time, I did remember my camera.

Now for the fun stuff -- the planting!  Or so I thought.  I actually got started, too, getting the tomato plants put into the ground.  Turns out I'd messed up a bit on the spacing, and had to move two of them.  More troubling, however, was the fact that I hadn't bothered to place and trim the irrigation.  I stopped the planting and made sure all of the irrigation was in correctly.  Then I was able to get to the fun stuff.

I picked up the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew about a year ago in the hopes that I'd someday have my garden.  When the beds went in, I got my copy out again, and started reading.  I decided to go with this method, but have modified it slightly -- some of my plantings are not going to be quite so dense this time around, while some strictly follow his spacing.  Whichever way works best will be the method I go with for future plantings.

Finally, the first bed is all planted and watered!

So, what's in there?  I'm glad you asked!  The 4 plants at the back are (clockwise from the left): Black Prince tomato, Red Beefsteak tomato, Juliet roma grape tomato, and Mr. Stripey tomato.  The seeds I planted are cucumbers, marigolds, peas, green beans, wax beans, basil, oregano, green onions, nasturtiums, stevia, broccoli, spinach, leaf lettuce mix, baby carrots, and a blend of 5 colors of regular carrots. (I couldn't find a link for either the marigolds or the baby carrots, but the labels read: Burpee Signature Marigold Burpee's Mixed Colors, and Burpee Signature Carrot Petite 'n Sweet.)

I can't wait to see everything growing!

Assuming, of course, I can managed to keep the dogs out.  Here's hoping!

Busy September

Well, I got back into this thinking I was finally going to have plenty of time to do it.  Was I ever wrong.

Over Labor Day weekend (I hope everyone had a great one!), I spent a lot of time on the links.  My game is finally starting to improve after being wrecked by the lesson I took, but it's still nothing great.  In addition, Jay and I went to a local Christian music festival.

The concerts were free and the acts were generally mediocre, but it was a fun way to spend an evening.

The groups that had the best musicianship were the ones whose style of music was my least preferred. Even so, they definitely had some skill.

The dancers that performed between sets were the best part of the entire festival.  Truly lovely.

Unfortunately, Jay lost his glasses at the event.  Who would take prescription eyewear that belongs to someone else?!?  We did get them replaced, but he's not nearly as happy with the replacement pair.

Jay has competed in 3 golf tournaments for the school team, and has won all of his matches.  Most of his teammates have as well, so they are currently undefeated -- Go Spartans!!

I am fortunate that I have been able to attend them all, and that it's been worth the drive.  One interesting fact that I discovered is that south of Tucson, on I-19, the distance markers and signage (except for the speed limit signs) all switches over from miles to kilometers.  It is the only place in America that I have seen metric used on all the signs.  Guess it's a good thing I paid attention to that portion of math class. ;)

When we bought our home, it came with the "builder's special" backyard landscaping -- there was none. 

To correct this, we contracted with Epifini Landscaping, Inc. to have our backyard done.  Our plan was simple -- a few raised beds, some trees, and a large patch of grass.  Epifini was only to put in the hardscaping, the sod, irrigation, and dig the holes for the trees, and they did an excellent job.  And despite the fact that we were not their only, or even one of their largest, customers, they always treated us as if we were.  I highly recommend them. 

Since we have to stay off the grass for at least two weeks, though, I won't be able to fill and plant the raised beds 'til then.  The trees are on order, but won't be in until at least January, so I'll get to plant them, too.  The pups are anxious to run and play on the grass in the sprinklers, but are being very good about staying off the grass at our request.  Thankfully, there is a dog park in town to run in, and walking trails through the neighborhood.

I'm working on a secret project, and, since there is a deadline on that, it's filling most of my time and is almost completed.  I've also got another deadline project to replace it when I finish, and the yarn comes in.  There are also several fun projects on my needles, but sadly, they are being neglected for the time being.  So, I'll get back to filling you all in on projects already completed...next time.

Girls Day Out

One of the things I've missed since I moved is being able to spend time with my friends in the city.  To help remedy the situation, a friend and I got together over New Year's weekend for some sushi and a movie.

We went to lunch at Takamatsu, and it was so much fun because my friend had never had sushi before.

 California Rolls and Nigiri sushi with wasabi and pickled ginger

We didn't just stick to the California rolls either (although we did have some) - we also had nigiri and sashimi.

Sashimi with wasabi and pickled ginger

The entire time she kept saying "I can't believe I'm eating sushi." which I could relate to because I had the same reaction my first time too.  Once you get past the mental stumbling block of eating raw meat, you realize that the flavor is excellent.  Funny thing was that the only things that had cooked fish in them (the California rolls) were her least favorite things.

Then we went to see New Moon.  I've read all the books, and I'll admit I've got some issues with the plot, even setting aside my disbelief.  However, if I completely check my brain at the door, they can make for some okay mindless entertainment.  And so can the movies, although I really thought the first adaptation was not good at all.  The second adaptation was better, the cinematography was too, and I think the performances of the actors were a little better as well.  I'm not saying I'll add it to my list of favorites, but it was okay.

Our final stop was the nursery to shop for some roses for my friend's garden.  I love the way that nurseries smell.  I also tend to get very grandiose ideas about a garden of my own, but reality always kicks in and the plants, unless they're houseplants, never make it home with me.  Maybe it's all that oxygen being generated by the plants.   Anyway, we were able to find some that were on her list, and then I headed back to tiny town.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Garden of Creativity*:

Still busily knitting away with my focus being on my secret project. So, moving right along, next we come to the spinning area.

In trying to decide what to do next, despite the distraction of all the pretty colors and textures, I decided wool and alpaca were out - it's just too hot for that right now. Likewise the yak fiber, even though I've not ever spun it and I love trying new fibers, had to be eliminated due to the heat factor. Bamboo was also eliminated due to the fact that I had been spinning nothing but for what feels like months. That left me with silk, baby camel, and a blend of silk and linen. By virtue of being quite intriguing, the silk/linen blend won. I have become addicted. The softness and sheen of the silk is a delight; the roughness of the linen, not so much. But I am looking forward to seeing what some washings will do to it. It also spoke to me quite quickly about what it should become. Within the first few minutes of spinning, it was decided that this would be perfect for a summer shawl. I'll be doing the Triangular Summer Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush. I can hardly wait!

I've also been feeling a great need to branch out into other crafty areas, and have settled on a few sewing projects. Which works out well since I'm also needing a couple of dressier things for a trip I'll be taking, which, in it's turn, gives me a deadline to get things done by. In going through my fabric stash, I came upon a lovely, silky brocade that I decided would be perfect for a dress. And conveniently enough, my Serendipity shawl goes quite well with it. The other find was a very pretty, gauzy, floral print and matching lining (with all the notions) that I'll be making a skirt with. This is a project I'll be excited to finally get done, as I've had it planned for, literally, years.

The Garden of Plants*:

While I didn't plan ahead enough to get anything in the ground outside before the summer heat arrived, my indoor garden is growing quite well. This is something I delight in because for all but the last 5 or 6 years, I'd had a VERY black thumb. To the point that I merely had to be in the same general area of a plant and it would begin to wilt and die. Florists and nurseries would see me coming and lock their doors. Yards would scream in agony as I walked past them. Okay, so it wasn't quite that extreme yet, but all the plants that entered my house certainly seemed to find it inhospitable. And then one year, my mom sent me a plant that had such a zest for life that not even I could extinguish it. That plant grew and thrived and went through several repottings, teaching me how to care for, not kill, plants. Sadly, we went on vacation one year, and not even that hardy little fellow could survive the neglect that came from my not planning for it's care in my absence. It's memory and legacy lives on, however, in the houseplants that are currently gracing my abode. The cactus actually belongs to my son; a memento from a field trip to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. The aloes came in a single small pot which they quickly outgrew necessitating a seperation. I had thought the trauma of the separation had killed the smaller of the two, that it had sustained too much damage to its root system. Thankfully, after a period where there was no visible activity with it, it has begun to grow again. This fern was purchased at the same time as the aloes in a tiny little pot. It has thrived through a move and transplants, and is in need of another move to a bigger pot. They are truely the best dollar store purchases I ever made. And funnily enough, they were purchased, not to beautify our home, but for a science experiment about the effects of sunlight on plant growth. This basket was a gift sent to my family upon the death of my mother. Since my father didn't believe he'd be able to keep all the plants going, and because he wanted to share them as memorials with my sisters and me, I brought it home. I feared, as first, that it wasn't going to survive the move (8 hours in a car and being moved to a different climate) because it began to wilt almost as soon as we walked in the door. After a couple of weeks, however, it decided that this really isn't so bad a place to live and is returning to health. And I'm so grateful to my houseplants, as they have given me the courage to try outdoor gardening again when the weather cools a bit.


*I do not, in any way, wish to imply that gardening with plants is not a creative pursuit. For the purposes of this post, however, this distinction between the two was necessary.