April 13

Corn and beans are up.  Transplanted tomatoes yesterday.  Planted lima beans, bush beans and squash today.  Got some Arbor Day Foundation bare root stock from Haru and planted 12 in  pots.  Annie replanted some herbs in paper pots.  Fired up the Swamp Cooler today!

April 3

Planted Anasazi corn and beans last week. Transplanted broccoli doing well.  A few hiacynth beans up.  Trees are all leafing out. Haven't had a frost for some time now (since around 3/24) and have been leaving starts out overnight.  A few CA poppies up by Haru's drainpipe.  Had company last week, so didn't do much  planting.

March 15

Planted cauliflower and cilantro seeds out back the other day.  Transplanted some of our broccoli plants outdoors.  California poppies planted by Haru's shower drain.  Hiacynth beans and morning glories planted.  Plum and nectarine leafing out nicely with a few leaves on the pears.  Peaches we got from Haru leafing out as well.  Leaving our starts (except tomatoes) out all night now. Getting hot during the day.

March 5

Started adobe wall on the other side of the driveway last week.  Daffodils up and flowering in both front and back yard. New tiny greens and peas up in the back yard.  No sign of Johnny Jump Ups in front beds yet.  Last couple of nights have been in the low 40s.  Putting starts out during the day to harden off.  Tomatos and broccoli about 3 inches tall.

February 21

Built a gate across the driveway last Friday.  Starts in the house doing well.  Very windy the last few days.  All 6 comfrey roots up in the front. A couple of lettuce I planted on the 7th are up.

February 14

Put up a net deer fence today. Still need to build a gate, then deer-be-damned!

February 12

Light dusting of snow last night. Low of 33 degrees. Cloudless sky this morning.

February 11

Very cold last night, down to 19.  Covered the new bed in back with cardboard last night and the ground didn't freeze.  Broccoli and Tomato starts up in the house.  Peas in back have little leaves showing and the lettuce still looks good...will need to be thinned before long.  Forecast is for freezing temps at night for the next week. Beautiful sunny day today.  The plastic net deer fencing arrived the other day, but I haven't put it up yet.  The garlic and garlic chives in the front yard haven't been munched for awhile and are looking good.

February 7

A few pictures of our early February garden.  Still dipping below freezing just before sunrise several times a week, but warming up nicely during the day. Planted more peas (sugar  pod), mixed cooking greens, mixed salad greens, calendula and California Poppies in the back yard beds.

Peas and lettuce up under glass along the back fence.

These plants came out of our neighbor Bill's greenhouse when he cleaned it out a couple of weeks ago.  Kale, lettuce and chard transplanted well and should be ready to pick soon

I dug a  new bed in the back yard.  Ground is just sand, so dug in Cow manure/straw mixture along with peat and  city compost (black gold)  It's ready for veggies.

Lettuce from Bill, almost ready to eat.

Planting table set up 

Chard

Little baby lettuce that's been sitting in the ground all winter.  Soil  warming up enough so it's started to perk  up.

Some arugula that's survived since last summer and is coming back  (if the deer don't get it)

February 6

Planted more broccoli and herbs in  pots today.  Fennel and borage in the garden.  Peas are up in the back yard.  29 degrees last night. Almost 70 this afternoon.

February 4

The lettuce I planted on Jan. 22 is up. No sign of the peas though.

February 3 2013

Groundhog Day yesterday! Planted 6 comfrey roots in front bed by the Cana Lilies. Made seed starter mix today. Started tomato, broccoli, basil, hollyhock, vitex, comfrey, oleander, and a couple of mystery seeds we gathered at UNM in Albuqurque and a West Virginia rest stop.  Cool and cloudy today, but no frost last night. Peas are germinated but not poking up through the ground yet. Maybe I planted them too deep.  Screened compost for starting mix and to dress beds tomorrow when we plan to plant some more stuff directly in beds.

Garden Journal

Since we've pretty much moved to Facebook and Picasa for posting  pictures to friends and family, this blog has pretty much laid fallow, so I thought I'd make use of it as a garden journal.  Every time I've tied to keep a record of when I planted what in order to see what works and what doesn't I've ended up losing the paper record of our gardening.  By sticking it  out there in the cloud, maybe it will be available when I want it.  Today, as the new year gets underway and the daytime temperatures are getting back into a reasonable range (80 today) I planted peas and a few lettuce seeds in the back yard.  Our neighbor Bill and I got a load of cow manure mixed with straw at a set of corrals at the other end of town Saturday, and I've been amending the soil with that.  The back yard is very sandy, and need organic matter desperately. I also dug up a chunk of the back yard that is infested with some sort of stinky, invasive vine that has a milky sap which causes itching and burning of the skin if picked bare handed.

We haven't done anything with this blog for a long time, but Annie has a new blog that you can find at www.anniessalves.blogspot.com

She now has quite a web presence, with her online store www.anniessalves.com  and a facebook page featuring her salves as well.