Time to Garden

Spring has sprung at my home in the Mojave Desert. We got one raised bed planted last week, so now the onions are coming up. The tiny tomato plants are growing so fast they've caught up with the one bigger one I planted.  So either they are growing really fast or it is growing really slow.

The thyme I thought I'd fried is coming back now that I'm watering daily.

I was going to plant the last rosebush, which looked great. The very next day I got up to plant it and all the leaves were gone. I'm not sure if it was the chickens or the rabbits! Darn it all. But I got it  planted today. The last one is called Paradise. I used to have one before I had a yard that had to live at my Mother-in-law's house. So now I have my very own.

My boyfriend got another raised box built and now we are taking shifts hauling in sand from the berm to fill up half of it and mix it with potting soil.  I keep saying it is 'sand' and he insists it is 'dirt' so maybe I'll just call  it soil from now on.

We dug 4 big rocks out of the place where the box goes. Ugh, that was tough.

The rock he is sitting on came out of that section as well as the 3 in front of him.

A pinwheel to scare the birds away.

I got six new chicks this week. When we cleaned out the chicken coop we put all that manure and straw in the garden bed. I think I was suppose to let it decompose more but oh well. Still haven't gotten the compost pile to work yet.

Americauna chick.

Barred rock chick.

Sunset, Moon Rise and Daffodils

Sunset in Lucerne Valley, CA

My Internet connection isn't that great out here in the desert so I don't get to blog as much as I used to.  But it works well at 4 A.M. so here I am blogging for you. I want to share the beauty of the desert with my winter weary friends. The Joshua tree photos are taken from my front yard in Lucerne Valley, CA.

I named this Joshua tree outside my front window Zerlina after the villain in Men In Black

I never get tired of taking sunset photos.

I live on a hill. This is the view from my yarn of Lucerne Dry Lake.

Daffodils at sunset.

 I managed to grow daffodils from bulbs I got at Winco. When they first sprouted the chickens kept trying to eat them. That is why they are up on a fence rail.

I hope to do a painting based on this photo when I have time.

 I have another pot of flowers waiting to bloom as well. I just don't remember what they are. Freesias maybe?

Last night's moon rising.

Daffodils make me happy.

Fertilizing Day

The garden was looking a little sad, so I fertilized everything this morning. I've never fertilized before, preferring to see what this new and different soil would do on its own. The gourds look great but everything else was showing yellowing leaves. The tomato worms did a lot of damage too. And the little yellow pear shaped tomatoes were getting smaller and smaller. So I hope the fertilizer helps.

Curved Snake Gourd

I held up my hand so you could see how big this gourd is.

I'm hoping to use the straight snake gourds for quivers.

Oh dear, our water storage tank overflowed. We found out the float was stuck.



Mammoth Sunflower

My most successful sunflower.

June Gardening Update

June has been a rough gardening month. A week of temps in the 100's and I just can't water 3 times a day. The only sunflower that has done really well was a volunteer wild sunflower with multiple buds on it right now.

The gourds are finally making progress. My garden would be fine if I had big bucks to throw into it, but I don't. I could do a lot with about 20 extra large bags of potting mix and about a mile of new hoses including soak hoses and enough wood to make raised beds like I wanted to do in the first place. I about cried when the local farmer's market guy suggested putting all my plants in containers. I was finally glad to have a huge yard and get out of the city so I could grow things in the ground! I had enough container gardening in Anaheim.  And I'm sure I sounded exasperated when I told him I was trying to get away from container gardening.

On the good side, my portulaca just bloomed. The first flower was yellow, and came and went before I got a photo of it. But there are more buds. The pepper has one fruit on it. The best growing tomato bush has new yellow flowers. I think it's the small yellow pear tomatoes on that one. But I moved them so many times to protect them from the rabbits that I've lost track.

So, I made some ant posters. At least the insects, which come in great varieties, have been entertaining.

Teamwork

Guy putting up an awning before we melt.

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