Kevin's taking over the garden chores

while I go on a two-month roadtrip with Sadie. He's really gotten passionate about growing edibles. We are going to have potatoes, beets, carrots, peppers and tomatoes out of our ears this August!

The honeysuckle is no longer in bloom and neither is the bottlebrush. But the blue palo verde is finally growing a few yellow blooms and some leaves. FINALLY! After four years in the soil the little stump of a tree is finally showing a will to grow up.

Green peppers

Seeds that I planted early last month in the front containers are now sprouting. At this rate we are going to get swamped with peppers of all varieties.

The heat is wilting the plants, though. We are having dry heat in the upper 90s.

Kevin, though, has really gotten into his vegetable garden. What a change over last year.

Strawberries!

I picked a handful of strawberries tonight.

More Yukon potatoes are coming up.

Kevin planted more tomatoes and peppers today. I have now let him do all the planting since I'm not going to be around this summer to harvest anything.

The Heliopsis in the front yard are now breaking out in yellow bloom. They are such prolific re-seeders. Some of the flowers have sprouted in areas I didn't think they would do well in. The Cleveland sage is also doing well.

I planted an agave on Sunday in the front yard, replacing the yellow broom that had died. This agave had five outsets growing from the main root ball which I also planted in another pot. I may soon have too many agave growing in the yard!

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April temperatures

I planted eight potato seeds yesterday, four peppers today and it looks like a bunch of beets, carrots and corn are coming up. It's going to heat up starting Sunday, with nightime lows approaching 60F.


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Strawberries!

I took two of last year's offspring and planted them in the old ammo box where a few days ago two younger strawberry plants somehow dried up. While doing so, I noticed that last year's plants have produced a few red fruit. YAY! That means I'll have enough fruit for tomorrow's cereal!


Kevin was busy the rest of the day clearing out the garden beds, planting more beets and turnips in straight rows and spreading steer manure. I can leave next month and know the gardens won't dry up. He's turned into a real farmer with little instruction on my part.

Kevin wants more potato plants, I want more strawberry plants. Can we find a middle ground? The Quinalt strawberries seem quite happy in foot-deep, crowded pots. Another thing we want to do is plant more green peppers. We use four a week; that would mean another 50 plants to satisfy our needs. Do we have the space for another row of potted plants? The peppers that were potted last year and which overwintered in the house thrived and grew new fruit faster than this year's plants.

Things are really growing now.

The Palo Verde now sports yellow blossoms. The mesquite has catkins. The Cleveland sage has one purple flower. The purple sage is really getting taller and bloomier.

The honeysuckle is in bloom.

Kevin stayed home today while I hiked with some friends. He planted beets and turnips and harvested the old ones. He planted Contender beans and some tomato seeds.

The temperatures are slowly getting warmer again. That is good, for at least the tomatoes will start growing.

Planted more blue sage

I threw a pack of Meadow sage (Salvia nemorous) seeds in the front yard where last year the pineapple sage grew.

Looks like there's another sumac tree growing on our west side, near the palm tree.

My pride and joy still are the mesquite and palo verde in the front yard. Both are growing into prime specimens.

Red sage continues to grow as well. The flowersa re attracting a few hummingbirds. Cutter bees swarm into these shrubs in the morning.

We had a mild overnight free Tuesday night over Wednesday morning which killed some of the tomato plants. The big boy hybrid lost all its leaves but the stem is still alive. The only tomato that wasn't affected is the determinate Roma tomato. Some of the green beans froze, too.

The big hit lately are potatoes. With some care we may get a nice crop later this year as long as the plants remain in the shade of the palownia. The oldest box of potato plants is just too crowded, but it's too late to weed out the weaker plants. I also planted four strawberries in two old ammo boxes. Three of them looked frost-bitten but there is still life in the stems.

My pepper plants from last year are now growing new fruit! They are growing them faster than this year's new crop of sweet peppers.