2018 wrap-up

So, here's my half-vast 2018 wrap-up post. Not many photos.

Front yard   Front door pot did well, except the dahlia croaked. Sweet potato vine and coleus basically took over, impatiens got kind of smothered.

Side yard   Just for laughs, here's the Maximilian sunflower that always takes over. That's what I get for scattering seed-head stalks under a canale. Note the one stalk trying to get into the bathroom.



Back yard   The east bed did pretty well. The May Night salvia and Dark Tower penstemon kinda smothered the pineleaf penstemon. Had to go in and cut them back, but I may have lost a few pineleafs. Grass plugs didn't entirely survive Taylor's digging. ಠ_ಠ Put up party lights!

Tomatoes did well, but as usual no real heavy production until September. Basil did great! Sage croaked. Only got a few Shishito peppers.

September 30 haul (Krim and Sungold).





October 8 haul (Krim, Sungold, thyme, Shishitos, chives).



October 13 haul, before predicted hard freeze. There were a TON of Black Krim, hiding in the foliage (for scale, that bowl is 13" in diameter).







As requested, shared with the in-laws. The greenish tomatoes were doing great, ripening in the guest room. Until the mice came for them. Rassafrazza.

Weather   On July 23, we got what the weather guys referred to as a "1000-year storm." 3 to 5 inches of rain (depending on which part of town you were in) in ONE HOUR. Our street looked like a river, the arroyos all ran like crazy. Lots of roads flooded, stranding cars on major roads in some places. It was wild and kind of scary.

weekend update

Saturday: Snoes!



Sunday: Planted the front door pot. Still too cold for tomatoes, hopefully the long Memorial Day weekend next week will be better.







I swapped out the leaky raised bed rain barrel for this one that was in the south side yard. It has all sorts of Greek writing on it — I think they used to be olive/olive oil barrels? I've decided his name is Stelio Kontos.



Went ahead and prepped spots for the tomatoes though. Pulled/harvested the kale in the raised bed. Dug in mushroom compost, set up and tested the drip hoses, put out the cages.




[click for larger]

weekend update

Rain! Starting Thursday and going thru Monday, we had a series of afternoon thunderstorms that netted us 1.3 inches of rain over the past 5 days. Weird! But good!

Saturday, we went to the Farmers' Market, where I picked up 2 basil plants to replace the frost-killed ones from NM Plant Co. and 2 pepper plants (1 Lunchbox, 1 Jalapeño). Put the basil in the raised bed and the peppers in the side bed Saturday before the rain. Read later that the Tomato Lady recommends waiting to put out peppers until after June 1. Oh well. Maybe I'll rig up another set of foam things like I did for the tomatoes and hope that, plus the south-facing wall will help keep things warm enough.

New basil:



Peppers:



After planting the peppers and basil, Bram helped me hand-pull the Kochia and rub out the little red pigweed/Amaranth seedlings. The weeds are loving the extra rain (and before that, the watering for the grass plugs). The grass plugs are doing fine, if not spectacular. The clover mix is definitely popping. I'm debating whether or not I should rake up the straw, or leave it. Hopefully I can pull up the netting as soon as the clover gets tall enough to cover the straw. I'll be leaving the flagging tape to keep the dog out until things are pretty well established.



Sunday I took a trip over to Plants of the Southwest and picked up some starts: 6 Reiter's thyme; 3 Mexican evening primrose; 1 dill; and a half-pound bag of the Buffalograss/Blue Gramma yard mix. I'll fill in some bare spots later this summer. Dill went in the raised bed with the other herbs.

Dill and other basil:



Thyme went in around the yard flagstones (it's a creeper/groundcover, not edible as far as I know):




Primrose went in along the the little wing/retaining wall. I love primrose and how they self-sow and volunteer about. Maybe they'll establish a colony or something.



Out front, 2 of the 3 beardtongue penstemon seem to be failing. Bummer.

weekend update: planting

I managed to put everything in the ground, except the Rosemary plant. Still not sure where that will go yet.

White geranium (pelargonium), lantana, and lobelias went in the pot by the front door. Two flax plants and three California poppies went into the front yard bed that borders the sidewalk. I think one of the poppies isn't gonna make it. Maybe I'll pick up a replacement. Completely emptied the front rain barrel with the front-of-the-house flower planting (new hose!). Ran out one of the side yard barrels under the apricot tree.

The dill, thyme, basil, and tomatoes all went into the backyard raised bed. Set up the soaker hose, and mulched everything with more straw.





Picked up two tomato cages (and a wire basket) at this weekend's sale benefitting the Santa Fe Botanical Garden. They fold flat!





Also, happy birthday, Mom!

tomatoes

The Sungold tomatoes I got at this year's Garden Fair are going crazy. It's been raining in the afternoons/evenings, and the drip hose kept things nice before that.



I've been buying Sungolds at the Farmers' Market the past couple of weeks. Looking forward to things getting ripe.

weeding, watering, mulching

Oh, the bindweed — we're pretty much screwed. But Bram, bless his heart, ripped out the stuff growing up through the patio cracks. Maybe we'll carefully paint what grows back with some Roundup in the fall... blegh.



While he was doing that, I weeded the back bed, side bed, and the main garden — in preparation for planting the tomatoes, squashes, and beans. Then I hit all the freshly-weeded areas with the spading fork to loosen things up, watered, and mulched everything with straw. Then it was 5:30, and I was too tired after today's hike to keep going. I'll try to plug the seeds and 'maters in this week.







Tomatoes have been hardening off in a shady corner of the patio for the past couple of days.



Fennel and sage in the herb garden



Radishes (the carrots and beets were no-shows... bummer)

last known photo?

My tomatoes are leggier than Naomi Campbell!



Well, I transplanted the tomatoes into bigger pots today. Note for future reference: lots of trouble getting the fragile little buggers out of the seed-starting contraption thingus. Dirt would KNOT come out! I hope the 'maters survive.

Flowers (mystery marigolds + cosmos) went into the front bed, and were then mulched heavily with straw, in another half-assed attempt to keep the stupid neighbor cats from digging them up (also for water retention and weed suppression).



In other garden news: radish sprouting action!



And a new rain barrel.

notes: cool water catchment idea

I wonder how hard it would be to rig up something like this?



Photo by Helen Fickling, from The Minimalist Garden:

"Fabric water traps suspended from a framework act as funnels to collect moisture and direct it into containers at their base."

hmmmm . . . always looking for ways to water things here.