Hello My Friends
Well, spring hasn't quite sprung yet, but things are looking up. Yesterday was a beautiful spring like day and it was seventy degrees here in the high mountain desert. These early warm days can fool you, you might plant some little green things only to have a snow storm blow up. I hate it when that happens. The fruit trees are beginning to wake up from their winter snooze and here's proof. A peach tree full of blossoms.

My seed order from Burpee arrived the other day, hope and anticipation! It's time to get some things going in the sunny window. One of my favorite tomato seeds arrived. It's called Shimmer. These are very pretty little sort of pear shaped tomatoes with lovely orange and yellow streaks. They are small, only about two inches long but are about the tastiest tomatoes on the planet. Great for salads and just to eat out in the garden. Also time to start peppers, cucumbers, flowers, and a variety of other tomatoes in the sunny window. Fresh tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, and cucumbers from the garden. Salad that can't be beat. Come on summer!
Happy Gardening
Jack

I am looking for interesting plants for my pollinators. I am growing some seeds in one of those store sets with peat pods. I have a hardy, some salvia, and Mexican sunflower growing. I have to move the seedlings around in case there are down pours that would flatten them. Seems one of my hardy hibiscus seedlings was blown out of a peat pod.

Eric, in zone 9 how would a hardy hibiscus 'work' for you? Don't they need a winter in order to have a new season of blooms? I'm in zone 6 and envy the frilly tropical hibiscus you can grow there

https://www.burpee.com/vegetab...

here's a link to the shimmer tomatoes,
I've never seen them before, they do look pretty! Been years since I ordered anything from Burpee.

The hardy have come back every year so far and we have had about 20 nights in the 30s.

wow, I didn't realize you got temps quite that cold in zone 9. I have hardies here and I love them. So you can't keep the tropical outdoors ? Many people buy them here and toss them at the end of the season. Grown as an annual.

I have 15 hybrid tropical hibiscus that i keep out until temps get to 32. Most of them handle the temps pretty well. If i notice they are being affected by the weather i put them in our airplane hangar.

I have things starting to bud out too, and it is way too early, pear trees starting and also apples, they will get froze off.

Hello My Friends
Here is a shot of the sunny window. There are pots with seeds that hopefully will grow. Cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and a variety of flowers. Also a crop of cilantro. In the wintertime it's too cold outside for cilantro and in the summer it tends to bolt. So it's pretty much an all year indoor crop. It's nice to have fresh cilantro. Oh, the wire mesh cage is to keep Ginger the cat out. I always have cat grass for her but she likes to mess with the plants in the window nursery. Bad Kitty!



And here is one of the cottonwood tree cuttings that were planted a while back. It's sprouting out some leaves There are about a dozen of them and most are showing signs of life. Sometimes tree cuttings will sprout some leaves just from stored energy and then die. I hope this is not the case here as I plan a couple groves of them. There is also a gaggle of poplar, and Arizona ash cuttings but no action there yet. The last couple days have been really nice, in the low seventies.

Happy Gardening
Jack

Been a lurker here for several months - love seeing what you're planting, Jack. I'm from central CA and miss it terribly - now in southwestern CO - high desert and still in major drought. I do have irrigation water, but it may be curtailed this summer if we don't get more mountain snow. I love seeing those cottonwood seedlings - am going to try some. I have two huge very old trees, right on the irrigation ditch, and they are way overdue to fall, so will try to propagate some new ones, though I'll never see them mature. Did you use a rooting hormone for them?

Things are well advanced here. The first wildflowers (and ones that have escaped cultivation and turned feral LOL) are opening








Amaryllis are starting to pop


Fringe trees are starting to bloom

Unfortunate casualties of the road are being unearthed




All the deciduous trees are leafed out now. I think Spring is here, unofficially anyhow

Hello My Friends
Thanks everybody for the awakening green things and beautiful flowers. Spring is on the way. As to the Cottonwood cuttings, yes I used some root hormone powder. I have had luck with, and without root hormone. Some things like hybrid poplars and willows don't really seem to need it. Those guys you throw in the ground, and then jump back out of the way But I tend to use it if I have some laying around. Speaking of willows, that's pretty much what I played around with today. I have a gaggle of them along the road as a screen. They tend to be my most neglected trees and they require a bit of encouragement if you actually want trees. They prefer to be big bushes. They generate a lot of suckers and dead wood every year. They are really not very good trees but they were cheap. I think I bought 27 of them for twenty five bucks years ago when I first bought the house. The neighbor remarked the other day, "your willows are leafing out", and I hadn't noticed. So I gave them a look and realized they needed a hair cut. Here is one that the deer mauled pretty bad. It had died and then started to re grow tender young branches last summer. The deer thought they were yummy.


Here it is after a bit of TLC. The bunny cage was removed and the unwanted branches were given the old hack and whack. Now if the dang deer will leave it alone we may eventually end up with a tree.


Here is another that has been neglected a bit. It is old enough now that it does't need the bunny cage any more. Once a tree is a few years old the bark gets dry and coarse and the rabbits won't bother it. Young trees with tender green bark don't have a chance without a cage around them. One of the challenges to gardening in the wilderness is the critters. Bunnies, gophers, squirrels, deer, and birds. The birds only tend to bother the fruit in fruit trees. So this guy got a haircut, all the deadwood removed, and any serious crossed branches.


And here we have our little grove of willows. They are extra willowy right now as they are just starting to wake up from their slumber. Even in full summer leaf they are willowy letting through a lot of light. As I said earlier they are not really good trees. They require a lot of fussing, and they are very chaotic trees with no natural symmetry. Lots of crossed branches and deadwood.


Here is a hybrid poplar. These are beautiful trees, very similar to aspens. Notice how symmetrical it is. There will seldom be crossed branches, and virtually no deadwood. The only pruning they usually require is if you want to raise their skirts and have a classic tree shape. These trees grow incredibly fast and can be easily started from cuttings. They have large green leaves in the summertime, and like aspens make a lovely rustling sound when you have a breeze. They have drawbacks though. They are very susceptible to disease. If you put a rabbit cage around a young poplar, and the cage rubs on the tree, it will cause a wound that will never heal. The tree will develope a canker and eventually snap off. I hate it when that happens! So when you put a rabbit cage around them you should make a harness from old tee shirts or sheets that will prevent the tree from touching the cage.

Happy Gardening
Jack

I have flowers!

I bought a big bag of miracle gro and was able to pot six plants that i was needing to put in larger pots.

I'll be fertilizing soon. Saw the tulip noses poking through, specie tulips. Soon they'll look like this:

Hello My Friends
No flowers here yet. Probably the first we will have all be California poppies. Here is the new raised bed that was put together a few weeks ago. I have been working the soil in it and adding compost, steer manure, and organic fertilizer. Sweet peas were planted along the back edge. This spot gets morning sun and as sweet peas don't like a lot of heat, shade cloth will be put up to protect them from afternoon sun. I have always liked sweet peas and have wonderful childhood memories of helping the elderly lady across the street plant them. That was in the San Joaquin valley. They would grow and bloom and then the heat would finish them off. When I lived in Grover Beach three blocks from the ocean they could be grown almost all year round. I like to gather up bunch of the blossoms and bring them in the house, their fragrance is very nice.


Here is another bed. This on is a couple years old. Last summer cucumbers and squash were planted her but the crops were very disappointing. The soil just wasn't right. Nothing planted here yet, just working the soil. I am finishing up a second garden tunnel and when it's finished half the bed will be planted with beets. Fresh beets from the garden, boiled with a little unsalted butter. That's when you realize why they make sugar from beets.


And here are some survivors from last summer. They made it through the snow storms. Oregano, parsley, thyme, and rosemary. They were all given a haircut where needed. Dead or damaged bits were removed and they had some steer manure and Dr. Earth organic fertilizer dug in. Then they were all given an inch or so of mulch. Even though it's not the growing season yet there is always plenty to do.

Happy Gardening
Jack

Not much gardening going on here. Think I'll buy my seed potatoes today and lay them out in a single layer on newspapers on my garden shed work bench till June when I plant them. Will they grow long sprouts in that dark shed? Yes. No problem, they will be gently handled and grow beautifully once in the ground.
If I don't buy them before April, they'll be all sold out.
Here's what a row of potatoes looks like in early summer.

Pretty purple ones opened up!

We were going great gangbusters on Spring then it cooled down, so it's slowed a bit. Still, the bradford pears are beautiful, fruit trees are blooming, daffodils and tulips are blooming. I saw the first bearded irises blooming yesterday. Mine bloom later. I'm waiting for my tulip flowers to open; I forgot what color they are!

I am SO glad that the apple trees did not yet put out their blossoms, as we got about 18" of snow, then a hard freeze overnight! They were just beginning to emerge at the tips...whew!

(This view was the roof from my bedroom window.)