#gardening things

[westernlarch]

🌻 uh oh this grew in my garden and I’m concerned about the long term climate implications of such an early bloom but here you go

Speaking of early blooms and gardens, it's dry as bone out here. I'm getting worried that things will die and burn even worse this year. We just installed a new irrigation system to save on water so crossing fingers it helps. Trying to go more native on plants to conserve too.

[wild-thyme-and-honey]

🥂🥃🍺🍷

[poisonous-smiles]

Quick gardening PSA: however mulch you think you need, you’re wrong. Get more. 

[pizza-soup]

Garden update:

My radishes are growing fast! These are from Kitazawa Seed Company , this is my first time planting these and I’m excited! I could actually eat these sprouts now but I won’t. I really want to see how these turn out. Other seeds I bought from them is red shiso, which I have yet to plant. Last year that grew well for me, enough that I still have a lot of it dried and powdered in my pantry.

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My horned melon vines. They start off slow but once the heat ramps up, they spread like wildfire. I let them sprawl way too much last year, they took over the entire plant shelf and even my clothesline! This year I’m more prepared to tackle them with a trellis and to keep pruning them. Not only does it keep the vines from taking over, but pestering them actually improves fruit production.

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My bro’s melon experiment is looking very promising! The winner for sprouting first are the casaba melons from Turkey! The leaves are very fragrant, smelling almost like a sweet cucumber. The kajari and charentais have yet to show any activity. We’ll wait and see.

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My ‘ugly’ tomatoes have finally gotten big enough to transplant into their own individual containers, here’s one of four. I’m sure they’re happy having so much room. I can’t wait for the new batch this year. This is my 3rd year growing them. 

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I spoiled my grapevines this spring with some extra TLC and fertilizer, the result are massive amounts of Sultana clusters. These seem to be bigger than last year! The second vine (not pictured) is massive but has only just been pollinated, Pinot noir grapes take more time than green grapes. That particular vine was purchased in Sonoma. I owe a lot to my grandfather for teaching me how to care for grapes, his family owned vineyards in both Egypt and Southern NM for three generations, selling wine to La Posta in Mesilla. - The plant twining around the grape is a snap pea, they don’t harm the host plant and die off during mid-summer after they pod. Peas and grapes are excellent companion plants.

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And of course my fruit trees! From top down: My apricot, pear and pomegranate tree in the background giving out lots of flowers. It get swarmed with bees in the morning, which has prompted me to bring out a bee puddler. Not pictured are the apple and peach, their fruits are still very tiny.

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Not pictured but I’ll update when they sprout are:  Cherry tomatoes, black beans, bell peppers, zucchini, yellow and green summer squash, nasturtium, anise,  patty pan squash, mini pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupe, purple potato (ube), mini lettuce, blue corn, henna and indigo. 

Wild plants I’m keeping an eye out for: Prickly pear, greenthread, wild strawberry, lamb's quarters, amaranth, honey mesquite, wild asparagus, cattails, purslane and dandelion.

Things I want to plant soon: Cucumbers, cilantro, mint, red leaf lettuce

[pizza-soup]

I’m so glad grapes thrive in New Mexico and I have land to grow them, I remember living in an apartment in California and having to eat the canned ones from an ethnic section in a store and they tasted absolutely rancid and too salty. My Mom’s friend from Lebanon would gave her fresh frozen ones from her vines and they were the highlight of the week, sooo good! Now I give my mom and grandpa fresh frozen ones from my vines, so they eat them just like you find in food stalls in Egypt.

Pomegranates are another thing I’m glad I can grow here. They are SO expensive in the stores! $2 each?! And people pay for them at that price! If the people with yards knew how easy the trees are to grow once they tap into the water table, they’d have more than they’d know what to do with. I like to donate a lot of my fruit to the Jemez tribe food bin, they’re very popular with the elders. Same with my apricots, my tree is just way too generous.

I’m looking forward to all my new tomatoes this year. I’m growing a lot of new varieties like lemon pear, milky way, and aurora. I got about 20 plants coming in. I’m also growing some more yellow/green squash since it took off so well last year, as well as the UFO variety (patty pan type). I’m also going to experiment with an exotic fruit called a horned melon, I ate it at the farmer’s market and I saved the seeds. I don’t know if it’ll grow but it’s worth a try.

[did-sm1-say-catfish]

transporting weeds and/or branches to The Pile tm gets me in that scooby doo villain mindset because my view is half obstructed by leaves and also i do generally feel like scaring someone for shits and giggles

[the-plant-queenx]

I’m about to go plant some sunflower seeds and other things for our little garden 🥺💕 we’re really late starting this this year but the weather has been weird af anyway and it’s just now really getting warm so it’ll be ok

[shinylights]

they don’t teach how to hoe like they used to 😪