Snake Gourds in the Garden

Cleaned gourds look like this but cost more, so why not clean your own?

This morning I fought the urge to go on Facebook and went straight out to the yard instead, so  I could do things before the sun got brutal. I cleaned all my jewelry gourds and some of my mini gourds that I got from the Welburn Gourd Farm. I just soak them in a bucket of water for a few minutes, then scrub the dirt, mold and skin off with a pot scrubber. I have more to do but my hands needed a rest.

Then I went to water my snake gourds, which are spectacular this year. Only the aphids are suddenly a huge threat. I cut off a dozen leaves that were beyond repair. Then I sprayed the rest with a mixture of peppermint oil and water to make the leaves less appealing. I'm not entirely sure that will work but I know ants hate it, and ants farm aphids. So yeah. Aphids. Sad face.

I'd about given up on the peppers, but I guess the fertilizer kicked in because they are covered in flowers again. I may get some more before frost. And I have a few tomatoes coming on as well, in spite of tomato worms that went crazy on them. My boyfriend was removing gypsum weed from my neighbor's yard and found those were covered in tomato worms as well, so if you have some of that in your yard, you might want to get rid of it.

Someone gave us more pallets so my dream of raised beds should come true for next spring's garden.

Jewelry Gourds look like this before cleaning.

Welburn Gourd Farm 2013

Big kettle gourd waiting for a new home.

I'll have a bumper crop of snake gourds this year. You can see where the rabbits nibbled on the leaves.

Snake gourds will turn brown in the fall.

This could be a quiver.

My only surviving Mammoth Sunflower.

This sunflower grew 3 feet while was on vacation!

A covey of quail just arrived to eat up the seed I put out when I watered this morning. There must be 20 of them. No rabbits lately though. I wonder where they all went?

Summer Garden

Now that the sunflowers are blooming in the backyard, I'm not at home to see them. Luckily someone took a photo of them so I can at least see that.  I won't be home for another 2 weeks.

The big successes of the awful garden this year were the yellow tomatoes which just got ripe (also while I was gone) and the portulaca (moss rose) that is blooming like crazy, and the snake gourds that are now setting fruit. The volunteer sunflower bloomed like crazy and grew to about 6' tall.

Sadly the 2 gourd plants in the Zen garden totally got chomped by something.  We don't know what because they were surrounded by chicken wire. Their growth was so stunted I doubt they would have grown fruit anyway. Next year we'll  do better I hope.

Planting Time In Lucerne Valley

Its time to plant and the only thing keeping me from going overboard is a lack of money. It's not that I can't afford plants, because plants and seeds are relatively cheap. What's holding me back is I'd need a truckload of potting mix and garden amendments to counteract the sandy soil. And I need lots and lots of wood to make raised beds. So I'm putting a lid on my frustrations and appeasing my spirit by doing what I can on a shoestring budget.

Meaning today I planted 3 different kinds of gourds, and I used a bag of potting mix I got at the dollar store to top dress them so they can at least hold enough moisture to sprout.  I also got  four tomato plants, but I'll need more potting mix to make those happy.

And so I don't forget what I put where, I'm making notes.

I put snake gourds in the zen garden behind the sunflowers and to the right of the sunflowers on the fence. The dark potting soil helps me to keep track of where they are. I put bottle gourds in the back corner of the Zen garden.

Then in the front yard I put baby bottle gourds to the left of the mailbox fence, and snake gourds on the fence by the front yard gate.

The sunflowers I planted last week in 2 patches have all sprouted. I was closely studying the patch in the front yard when I realized the dead branch next to the last seedling was a juvenile gopher snake. He was maybe two feet long.

I'm dying to get some roses after my neighbor showed me hers. She said they are hardy and don't need frost protection in the winter, so put me down for that. I totally miss my Anaheim roses.

So the sunflowers are my first official sprouted seeds that I planted at my new home. 

I also got some morning glory seeds, but the package said to nick the seeds and soak them for 24 hours, so they didn't get planted today.

My front yard came with a joshua tree I dubbed Zerlina.

A visit by Reggie the Roadrunner

The view from my front yard