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lindajI'll break my long LJ silence with a gardening update.
For the first time in a very long time, I have a sizeable yard and all of the sunshine I could hope for. Sadly, it's in the high desert. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have a vegetable garden this year.
The tomato seedlings are up, though I probably planted them earlier than I should have. I'll try to keep them small and stocky until planting time. We have Romas, Marglobes, green tomatillos, and a dwarf cherry tomato called Tiny Tim that only grows 12 inches high. The Super Sweet 100s, though the same age as the others, germinated poorly, and I have only one plant so far. I'm hoping the Tiny Tims will do well year 'round under the skylights in the kitchen.
My somewhat old pepper seeds didn't germinate well, so I'm trying to germinate the remainder of them with the oft-lauded "coffee filter method." If this somehow causes them to come up, we'll be overrun. The yellow bells (a favorite of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tman_mcl) are up, and seeds for Española Improved, a true local variety, have arrived. If the old jalapeños don't germinate in the coffee filter, I'll need to get more of those, because once my smoker gets here, I'm hoping for massive quantities of chipotles in the Fall.
A very kind man in Maryland decided to send me seeds for 6 additional types of tomatoes (5 heirloom, and one exceptional hybrid, some very rare), which I totally didn't need. On the one hand I'm grateful for the generosity. On the other hand, I sorta wish he hadn't. Now we're debating which of these we want to plant this year.
Even without the new tomato seeds, we'll be overrun with seedlings, because we discovered, as usual, that we didn't have the heart to thin them, and we're transplanting them instead.
I tried to propagate rosemary and oregano from cuttings. So far so good, but I can't tell you yet that they've got good root systems. It's been a few weeks, and they're not dead or wilted inside their humidity domes, so that's a good sign. I don't really know what I'll do with 6 rosemary plants and 10 oregano plants if I succeed.
My plans to start work on the rain barrel system were thwarted last weekend by a fairly significant snowstorm (the first precipitation since I arrived in this place last October)...which is unfortunate, because if I'd actually gotten the system started, I could have collected some water. This allowed me to spend some quality time withiridium and l_stboy, however, who were passing through town, and that was a good thing.
I also need to coordinate getting a load of well-aged horse manure from my coworker, who has plenty. New Mexico soil is pretty much useless as-is, and totally devoid of organic matter. Maybe this weekend.
That's not nearly everything going on in the gardening arena, not to mention other arenas, but it's probably more than enough for now.
For the first time in a very long time, I have a sizeable yard and all of the sunshine I could hope for. Sadly, it's in the high desert. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have a vegetable garden this year.
The tomato seedlings are up, though I probably planted them earlier than I should have. I'll try to keep them small and stocky until planting time. We have Romas, Marglobes, green tomatillos, and a dwarf cherry tomato called Tiny Tim that only grows 12 inches high. The Super Sweet 100s, though the same age as the others, germinated poorly, and I have only one plant so far. I'm hoping the Tiny Tims will do well year 'round under the skylights in the kitchen.
My somewhat old pepper seeds didn't germinate well, so I'm trying to germinate the remainder of them with the oft-lauded "coffee filter method." If this somehow causes them to come up, we'll be overrun. The yellow bells (a favorite of
tman_mcl) are up, and seeds for Española Improved, a true local variety, have arrived. If the old jalapeños don't germinate in the coffee filter, I'll need to get more of those, because once my smoker gets here, I'm hoping for massive quantities of chipotles in the Fall.A very kind man in Maryland decided to send me seeds for 6 additional types of tomatoes (5 heirloom, and one exceptional hybrid, some very rare), which I totally didn't need. On the one hand I'm grateful for the generosity. On the other hand, I sorta wish he hadn't. Now we're debating which of these we want to plant this year.
Even without the new tomato seeds, we'll be overrun with seedlings, because we discovered, as usual, that we didn't have the heart to thin them, and we're transplanting them instead.
I tried to propagate rosemary and oregano from cuttings. So far so good, but I can't tell you yet that they've got good root systems. It's been a few weeks, and they're not dead or wilted inside their humidity domes, so that's a good sign. I don't really know what I'll do with 6 rosemary plants and 10 oregano plants if I succeed.
My plans to start work on the rain barrel system were thwarted last weekend by a fairly significant snowstorm (the first precipitation since I arrived in this place last October)...which is unfortunate, because if I'd actually gotten the system started, I could have collected some water. This allowed me to spend some quality time with
iridium and l_stboy, however, who were passing through town, and that was a good thing.I also need to coordinate getting a load of well-aged horse manure from my coworker, who has plenty. New Mexico soil is pretty much useless as-is, and totally devoid of organic matter. Maybe this weekend.
That's not nearly everything going on in the gardening arena, not to mention other arenas, but it's probably more than enough for now.
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Re: Desert? OOOOO!!!! I'm jealous!!!!!!!!
Date: 2006-03-16 08:54 pm (UTC)So...I dunno. If you want to give me a reason to stay in town, then let me know. You can help me plant the tomatoes. :-)
Do you know what growing zone you're in?
Well, that depends on who you ask. Some say 5. Others say 6a. But it's quite different than the zones 5 and 6 that I'm used to. Given the altitude and the latitude, the temps are really different than the northeast. Microclimates abound. I prefer to be optimistic and call it 6a.
How cold does it get in Winter? How long does winter last?
It can get down to the single digits (Fahrenheit). Snow can fall as early as early October or as late as late April. Average first frost is the end of September and average last frost is in the middle of May. And yet...even during the Winter, days can be quite warm. I can count the times I wore my heavy coat to work without running out of fingers.
Temps can be in the 90s by the end of May (yes, just 2 weeks after the average last frost date).
Can you see the beauty in a sparse, rocky landscape?
Nope. Or, maybe in a "this is kinda cool, but I sure wouldn't want to live here" sort of way.
I'm sick of brown. I'm sick of urban sprawl. I'm sick of the flatness (yeah, I know I live at 7000 feet, and I can see additional mountain peaks right there, but damn, it sure is flat out here).
Your house doesn't have a lawn, does it?
Well, there's a little section in the back where there's sort of a volunteer lawn during cooler and/or damper weather. It seems to be doing so well without any attention at all that I've been vaguely considering giving it a tiny amount of attention, and seeing if it thrives.
I think that growing a lawn in a desert is a crime and should be punishable by law.
Actually, Kentucky Bluegrass is illegal here.