Garden –

Here it is mid-February and I am pumped! Last week I planted my first seeds; a bunch sprouted within 4 days, even more now 8 days later. I have every variety of tomatoes up and growing…all looking good! Early Girl leading the way but the others are looking good too. My cantaloupe seeds have gone to town! Hale’s Best really looking amazing, but Hearts of Gold showing respectably.

Why start em so soon? Our growing season. We can have a frost as late as last of May, but normally about mid-April. But here is the kicker…we get hot by late-May and boiling in June. Most of the tomatoes kinda back off by then and everything else slows down with the exception of onions and peppers…and of course zucchini. Beans do fine as well, especially the Anasazi beans. So I have to get the tomatoes up and growing early so I am planting mature plants by a safe date in April. Yup, I cover them if a frost is expected.

Fortunately when our rains come in July the temps back off a bit and everything then takes off big time. But by September we could be looking at hail…and frost by late September or early October. I’ve learned that getting seeds in early and caring for them to maturity by mid-April is a must to maximize garden production. Next week I will get some Big Jim peppers seeds going inside. I over-wintered 4 Big Jims for the first time. I will update you on the success of that effort.

About 10 days ago I got the first load of salad greens in a south garden raised bed (12’x3’). I would have planted in a north garden bed but the dirt was still frozen. I checked yesterday and I think it is thawed enough that maybe later this week I can get a round of greens in it as well. The southern bed will be done by late March or early April. The northern bed will last until early – mid-May because it is shaded by the house.

Fresh salad greens are amazing!!!! So much tastier and flavorful than store bought.

Orchard –

I finished up all my tree pruning in January, the trees all look amazing! The older peach and apple trees (4 years old) are full of new growth and their trunks are 4” – 6” in diameter. Yeah, all it takes here is great amended soil and lots and lots of water. Last year I planted two more cherry trees, a date tree, and my favorite…a “fruit cocktail” tree. Yeah, it has 3 separate parts of the same tree; peach, plum, and apricot. For all four new trees I got their outer irrigation ring dug and mulched in…and plumbed.

And for all 14 fruit trees I was able to finally get each one’s entire irrigation ring topped off with wood chips about 3″ – 4” deep. That should really help with water retention and soil temperature control this year.

The cherry tree from two years ago that had half of it die got operated on. In early January I cut off the dead 2^nd trunk and sealed the cut face. As of yesterday it looks great with plenty of new growth showing sings of healthy life. I was worried about it…I love Bing sweet cherries and didn’t want to lose two years waiting for a new tree to take its place. Hopefully the two older cherry trees will produce this year. Last year one of the trees produced 4 cherries…yum!! More this year? Keep your fingers crossed.

I am also doing something kinda weird this year in the orchard. Our ground is fine red sand with little, mostly no, organic matter. It has become compacted and doesn’t handle rain well…it runs off for the most part. And since there is virtually no grass, the sun bakes the ground raising the soil temps too much. So, I’ve started covering the ground in between the tree irrigation rings with pine needles about 2” – 4” deep. That should help the soil immensely. Last year I added a soil conditioner (fertilizer & microbes) plus gypsum along with some organic matter and disc’d that in well with the tractor. Then added a bit more organic fertilized and a little more soil conditioner and rotor-tilled that in about 10″ deep. That made a big difference. Hopefully, with that work and the added layer of pine needles the orchard will be a far better environment for the fruit trees.

The one unknown and potential downside to the orchard might be 3 apple trees. I think I wrote about it before. Three years ago a neighbor was planting a large orchard…120 trees. He had 4 leftover apple trees that he gave me. I have no idea what variety they are. I potted one and gave it away a year ago, the other 3 went into the ground. They have done okay, nothing special. No blossoms last year…my trees did super well. So I decided that if these 3 trees show no blossoms this year…they get pulled pulled out next winter and replaced in the spring with new trees from a local nursery.

Pine Meadow(s) –

Our southern pine meadow is doing great! All the trees look healthy and growing nicely. I learned an important lesson…don’t waste time on seedlings. I planted some first and second year seedling trees last year…they look okay…nothing special…very slow growth.

On the other hand, I planted some more mature trees, 2’ – 3’ tall. They look fantastic and are doing really well. So this spring when the northern pine meadow gets planted I will spend the extra money and plant the more mature trees…only 7 of them. The meadows are small.

The new trees will need holes dug and that is always a pain. I wrote about it before…holes are at least 3’ deep and 3’ in diameter…most of the time they are larger. Hopefully the digging will be a bit easier for the new trees since the holes will be in the soil I “built” and filled in last year. Much more organic matter already and not as compacted.

This year I am also going to try and get a layer of pine needles in both meadows as well. But, it is not a high priority…there is always next winter.

The yard –

Wow! The yard is doing great. The grass appears to be not just surviving the winter, but thriving. Even new growth in some areas. Don’t get carried away…it’s not a “lawn”…it’s a yard. There is a difference.

One downside to the yard is the new section I planted last year. I planted it early, mid-March. Then came the winds.

Think of it this way…you know how sand on a beach gets “ripples” in it? Yeah, the same thing happened to a limited degree to the new yard section. So I have to come back this year and do a “leveling” operation on that section to smooth it out a bit. No biggie…I will do that in September.

Why do I have a yard? Primarily to cut down on dust/mud. But also to have an area that I could convert into garden should the need arise for additional food production.

Actually, I am going to confess…I love the green! Yeah, I am a mid-west boy at heart and love seeing the green…and I also enjoy mowing the grass. One more confession…in the summer I like to sit on the deck (west side of the house & shaded) and watch the grass grow in the late afternoon and early evening. Yeah, quiet time just enjoying the property and the quiet.

Berry Patch –

I had to move the blackberry bushes. They got carried away. The grew like crazy and kinda took over the area more than I expected. They even grew so tall they started to shade one of the solar panel arrays.

Last fall I started preparing the transplant soil by adding leftover organic fertilizer and some soil conditioner I had laying around. I also had half of a bale of peat moss leftover. It got all that rotor-tilled in with some compost I sifted out of a pile. I moved 13 blackberry bushes and they look fantastic so far. I even got wood chips around them last week, pine needles this week.

Oh my goodness…the raspberries. So they went berserk as well. My wife started getting worried about too much “bush”…too much possibility of snakes. Over the last 6 years we’ve found 3 rattle snakes in the garden area. She hated all that ground clutter, she hates snakes more.

To cure that I gave way 30 raspberry bushes to neighbors along with about 6 blackberry bushes. That cleaned up the existing berry patch and satisfied my wife’s snake concerns.

One of the side-benefits to the patch clean up…I now have a perfect area to run about 40’ of Anasazi beans in really good soil complete with irrigation already in place. I am hoping that will give us all the Anasazi beans for the entire year now.

New Addition –

Last spring I was down working around our old abandoned, rat-infested mobile home. Yeah, it came with the property and I plan on removing it at some point. But while down there I noticed some spindly bushes with green leaves on them. After a little research I found out they were lilac bushes. They were about 30 years old and hadn’t been cared for over the last 15 – 20 years at all…no watering, nothing.

Obviously they do okay neglected in a very, very dry climate and in poor soil conditions. Then I remembered that at my childhood home we had a beautiful lilac bush. I mean it was full of blooms and colors and the bees loved it. Nostalgia kicked in. So over the last year I watered them every month and added some fertilizer to them as well.

In December I picked a spot in the back yard, directly in line-of-sight of the deck. I rotor-tilled two trenches, amended the soil, flood irrigated the trenches for a week. Then two weeks ago I spent two days transplanting 20 lilac bushes, more watering. Then came the wood chips last week, more watering.

My fingers are crossed that they make the transition and thrive in the new location. I will post pictures…if they do well.

Summary –

There is more going on but that is enough for now. I love this time of year because it makes me busy preparing the glamstead for the coming year. And the results are just the icing on the cake. The work is the blessing in and of itself.

I must admit…sitting on the deck on summer afternoons and evenings is a huge reward and really just amazing for my soul.

I know a lot of the work I am doing I will never see the full results. But it is still worthwhile beyond words. Bringing this land back to life just really makes my heart feel good. You see, about 800 – 1500 years ago this area was alive with people, a village, and a beautiful landscape. They lived their lives, grew their gardens, raised their horses, enjoyed their children, and lived each day simply and naturally. I feel as if I am paying tribute to them in some small way.

There is evidence all around that a people once lived here long ago…and now live here again. It is a weird connection that I struggle to explain. But I will tell you this…it feels good inside…in my heart…in my soul.

Enjoy your week! And I hope you are enjoying this season as well as you prepare your life for the spring ahead.

 

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