#highdesertgardening

Dug up the raspberry canes that escaped the bed to give away. They're off to their new home this morning. My raspberries are starting to flower, so hopefully we'll see some fruit soon. #gardening #highDesertGardening

I got to see something pretty special the other day. My evening primrose (a test plant to see if it likes my climate; it does and I'll be planting more) was getting chewed up by something. Big semicircular pieces are missing from the edge of every petal. I sat and watched the plant for a while, and observed at least three species of bees and wasps visiting. Turns out, one of those is a leafcutter bee! Somewhere, she has a nest lined with pieces of primrose petals to protect her eggs. #highDesertGardening

So far an amazing season for my Sacred Daturas! Love🙏🏼💜Gratitude #datura #sacreddatura #daturawrightii #desertplants #nativeplants #highdesertgardening #medicineplants #bloomscrolling

Yesterday's work: I cleaned up the tree nursery, repotted all but the biggest two, and took a bunch of cracked pots out for disposal. I mostly use scavenged nursery pots for this project. They hold up for years after the local nursery is done with them. Between that and seed collection, my cost for this project, this year, has amounted to a little potting soil and water. I found a bonus: the pot that I thought contained one elm sapling actually contained two. I know someone who wants an elm, so I'll give it to him next we meet. #highDesertGardening #gardening

I don't think the blackcurrants will bloom this year; the late frost probably took their buds out. They're going hogwild with vegetative growth. If this keeps up, next year should be a good one for fruit. #highDesertGardening

Got some good rain at the start of the week, and as a result I barely watered for two days straight! What a luxury. I picked a big bowl of peas. The vines have officially outgrown their supports and I need to attach higher ones to keep them from falling over and making a mess. It's a good thing ducks produce compost; with them eating my kitchen scraps, the amount of greens I'm taking out to compost has dropped to almost nothing. #highDesertGardening

Red sunflowers are up! I thinned the watermelon seedlings to their final numbers now that they're showing growth beyond their baby leaves. Zucchini are starting to really grow. Beans too; I'm beginning to see buds. Mine are a hard bean rather than green beans, so we'll see how many I actually get from half a bed of planting. Sunchokes and green onions are going wild. Raspberries beginning to bloom. Last year's buffalo-grass experiment is showing signs of life, too - I need to pull weeds and water them, but the plugs are alive and growing in. I'll siphon the ducks' paddling tank tomorrow and use its water to feed my fruit trees. It's probably too soon to see results, but I'd swear my apricot and mulberries are showing more growth even after two weeks of duck-water fertilizer. #highDesertGardening #gardening

The beans and some of my peppers got frost-touched (the peppers AGAIN, I really must get a greenhouse operable). The peas are happy and beginning to produce. Zucchini and watermelon sprouts pulled through. Currants and grapes are slowly ripening their fruit. I got skunked on greens this year; my kale is an inch high and two separate attempts at chard have failed. Sunflowers have sprouted, so they'll help me shade the more tender plants as they grow. I'm finally out of the histamine woods, so more garden work goes on the docket! #highDesertGardening

Three days in a row of near-freezing overnight temperatures. Three days of 96F/36C highs, single-digit humidity, and UV all the way up. My plants are seriously sad. There's frost damage on beans and peppers, the seedlings are... confused... and the only thing happy are the heat-tolerant peas. I jury-rigged covers over everything but the peans and beans to keep the frost off tonight, and... I really gotta get the burlap up. Going to be tricky getting that to alternate with frost covers. What even is life. #highDesertGardening