Apple blossoms

The mesquite also has catkins now.

There may even be some life in the little crepe myrtle afterall.

But now I wish more of the tomatoes would just take off and grow! The cooler weather this week seems to have weakened them all.

Gone for three days and more stuff is blooming

The pint-sized tomatoes all survived 2.5 days of neglect.

The smaller tree has its leaves out.

The mesquite's leaves are sprouting.

African daisies are now in purple bloom as well as the smaller purple dot flowers.

It's very windy on this late afternoon.

_______
http://www.svherald.com/articles/2009/03/22/news/doc49c5e54d79a97914348252.txt

Windy, fire conditions likely in county today
Published: Sunday, March 22, 2009 2:15 AM MST

SIERRA VISTA — Cochise County is under a fire weather watch today, according to the National Weather Service.
The watch comes as a low pressure system moves into Arizona, bringing cooler temperatures and possibly strong, gusty winds, the weather service said.
The fire weather watch was issued on Friday.
The weather service says that low humidities and strong winds are expected and may produce fire weather conditions.
The weather service is forecasting winds of 20 to 30 mph today, with gusts of up to 45 mph beginning late this morning and going through the evening hours.
The minimum relative humidity during that time will be 10 to 15 percent, which, when combined with the strong winds, causes red flag conditions, the weather service said.

Planting more corn

The large 6x14' garden bed is now complete. After 4 cu ft added to the bed's soil yesterday I planted white corn. That will mature in 93 days. I'm sure something else will start growing there from the compost as well, like Husky Cherry red tomatoes and a few butternut squash plants.

It's hitting the upper 80s now. The tomatoes are loving this.

TodayMar 19
Mostly Sunny
84°54°
0%

84°F
FriMar 20
Mostly Cloudy
78°51°
10%

78°F
SatMar 21
Mostly Sunny
77°49°
0%

77°F
SunMar 22
Mostly Sunny / Wind
75°42°
0%

75°F
MonMar 23
Sunny
64°39°
0%

64°F
TueMar 24
Sunny
69°42°
0%

69°F
WedMar 25
Sunny
73°45°
0%

73°F
ThuMar 26
Mostly Sunny
75°47°
0%

75°F
FriMar 27
Sunny
76°48°
0%

76°F
SatMar 28
Sunny
79°46°
0%

79°F

Solarizing the back yard

A few weeks ago I put down a double sheet of clear painter's plastic on part of the back yard that looked especially weedy, with pesky storkbill's growing in great density. The idea behind this was to "burn" the weeds and to re-seed with Bermuda, the dominant grass in the yard. I watered that part of the lawn to create greater humidity underneath the plastic, then held everything down with large rocks to keep the plastic from blowing.

Instead, the grass underneath the plastic grew intensely green and lush! I pulled the plastic aside and saw a nice green patch of Bermuda. Now the green patch stands out from the otherwise still dormant Bermuda grass.

But this gave me another idea: I simply moved the double plastic to another patch of the yard. Hopefully this will green the back yard earlier than monsoonal rains could.

A slight rain fell this afternoon

I was in the garden planting Contender beans and fixing some of the 4x4 beds when two small drizzles fell. It wasn't much but it got the top soil wet enough.

___

Chance of rain continues through Saturday night
Published: Saturday, March 14, 2009 1:54 PM MST

SIERRA VISTA — Cochise County is seeing a gray Saturday, and rainfall and cloud cover are likely into the night.A trace of rain was measured at Libby Army Airfield through 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The National Weather Service said isolated showers and thunderstorms were possible through Saturday night.In Sierra Vista and Bisbee, the chance of rain in the afternoon is 20 percent. The chance of rain Saturday night would then rise to 30 percent, with isolated showers possible between 8 and 11 p.m.

Sunny weather is forecast again on Sunday.

On the Net• National Weather Service’s Tucson office: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/

My first frost casualties

My yellow palo verde is finally growing new leaves and so is its offspring. The mesquite is still baren.

The one plant that doesn't seem to be alive is my Sweet Broom, or Cytisus spachianus. It should have had some new growth by now as the rest of the front yard is turning lush green.

Two of the three pineapple sages are also dead, as well as two acacias. Sofar, the death toll isn't too bad as I always plant more than needed knowing there is usually a 20% death rate for new growth. I don't plan on replacing the dead plants with the same species.


March
Next Month


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More growth

The Pawlowinia is now in purple bloom but many of the flowers were blown off over the weekend.

Sadie managed to get into a fresh bag of bloodmeal and had the leftovers strewn in the backyard.

Contender green beans are sprouting. So is more corn.

One of the red salvias in the front yard is now in red bloom.

The smaller of the two trees in the front yard has partial bloom on its canopies. The rest of the tree is still looking either dead or dormant. Next year that tree will be cut down and one of my fruit trees will take its place. The bark of the sick tree continues to crack and now the trunk is looking rotted.

I seem to have backyard weeds under control. The wet soil yesterday allowed me to pull what remainin storkbills I had from blooming. The patches of dirt should grow into lush Bermuda grass in a few more months.

I just hope we don't have the beetle infestation we had last year.