Pedicure for the Pony

Miss Sable gets a new pair of shoes...

Ice Storm Rescues

Daffodils (top pic) and tiny Grecian Windflowers, rescued from the ice storm.

Seed Starters

Sun shining, birds singing and a gentle breeze... 'twas the nicest day to be playing outdoors. I painstakingly transplanted all kinds of goodies for the teeny tiny farm project [ growing as many veggies as I plan to eat throughout the season.] Now, they're in deeper containers where they can really hit their stride...

I don't like these seed starter pods.

If you look at the photo below, you'll see a few of those seed starter pods. Geez, I hate those things.

They're too small and the mesh covering doesn't break down very quickly in the soil.

So, why am I using them? Well.... I started over 400 veggie seeds! And, I purchased them from a company I didn't know... Johnny's Seeds. {Everyone loves Johnny's, and now so do I.}

But, I wasn't sure about the germination rate of these seeds so I thought I'd make it easy on myself. Well, whaddyaknow, it's nearly a 100% germination rate and now it's a jungle in here!

A happy jungle, to be sure.

TIPS:
* Growing veggies in the mountains? Consider growing them in raised beds or containers. The soil stays warmer in raised beds. Tomatoes, for example, need to stay above 50 degrees F or they shift their sugar production and produce a sub-standard fruit.

A better way to start seeds.

** Consider growing miniatures - In these photos, you're looking at baby broccoli, mini beets, baby bell peppers, etc.  Mini veggies come to harvest quicker; they're loaded with flavor. Plus, they're cute as a button. :)

*** Starting seeds in 18 oz. drink cups (vs. these tiny seed starter pods) get your veggies and flowers off to a much healthier start. The depth of the drink cups encourage a long, strong root system.



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Moonflowers

I'm a seed starting fanatic this year. These beauties are for my daughter (who is an adult but still has to tolerate the nickname, Peanut.)

Do you grow Moonflowers? They are gigantic. Huge blossoms, larger than your hand, on deep green, climbing vines. Consider planting them in a container, on your deck, where you can watch them in action. In the evenings, when the temperatures cool down, you'll see their gigantic petals slowly unfurl, to show off stunning white flowers.

And, they really do reflect the moonlight... [Annual in the mountains, perennial in kinder climates.]



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Sassy Little Soybeans

Midori Giant Soybean Seedlings

Ah, May Day. The beginning of the merriest month. That means I only have another 4 weeks to twiddle my thumbs before I can transplant my veggie seedlings. Yeah, yeah... I know. That late planting date is downright depressing. But, what's a mountain lover to do? Start things in the window, I guess.

Are you an Edamame fan? That little goodie tops my list ~ the veggie for dinner that I choose more often than anything else. They're so tasty... so easy... Steam 'em. Salt 'em. Gobble gobble.

The big challenge for this summer is to grow all of the veggies that I plan to eat. I can already tell you that will never happen. I'm a big asparagus fan and since it takes a full year of cajoling to get asparagus to do it's stuff... I'll be back in the produce section before you know it.

But, Edamame? Aka Soybeans? I might succeed at this one. That top photo shows my bitsy baby seedlings that I started in the window a couple weeks ago. I've started A TON of seeds in the house over the last few weeks ~ to get a jump on the harvest time.

Roasted Edamame
• 2 cups of SHELLED edamame beans
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil.
Put these babies on a cookie sheet, roast @ 400 degrees (F) for 10-15 minutes and prepare to be dazzled...

Edamame Growing Tips:

• There are lots of soybean varieties to choose from. Read the fine print to understand which ones are happier in your climate. (Some varieties like cooler temperatures than others.)
• I'm growing Midori Giant because they're fast. Ready to harvest in: 70-80 days.
• Full sun, consistent water, treat them just as you would beans and peas. Bonus: They're not picky about soil.
• It's harvest-time when you see the swollen pods, just like peas. Only Soybeans are fussy and lose flavor quickly. Check them every day or two, and don't try nibbling them as you would fresh snap peas. Edamame needs to be steamed before it's very tasty.

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Frosty Flowers

If it's going to rain [buckets]... then sleet... and, then snow...

... why can't Mother Nature torture us on a Monday? When I'm somewhat satisfied, being chained to my computer.

Instead of on the weekend, foiling all kinds of outdoor plans.

We mountain gardeners are beset with micro-climates. In town, at the rental property, the Tulips are valiantly blooming. (Sadly, nobody but me notices. Why don't tenants appreciate gardens?)

I popped over there to enjoy the pretty show. And, also to take inventory. Once done blooming, I'm digging 'em all up and taking them back to my house. Where they will get the appreciation they well-deserve.

So, in town, it is truly springtime. Five miles outside of town, where I live, it's colder, windier, nasty-ass weather times 2. Five miles away, yet a month behind in the growing season.

That's the whole thing with 'micro-climates.' In protected areas, it's a full growing zone warmer.

At home, Crocus & Daffodils are just getting started. Wicked weather never seems to faze them.

It's as if they have tiny wristwatches wrapped around their stems. 'It's April! I'm gonna bloom, dammit!'

And, I, for one, am grateful for their perseverance.

"Weather is a great metaphor for life - sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella." ~ Terri Guillemets
 


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Hats Off to Vermont!

1 down... 49 to go! States, that is... :-) Congratulations to Vermont for stepping up to the plate and passing mandatory GMO labeling.

Why is this such a big deal? Because 80% of the packaged foods we buy in grocery stores already contain GMOs - and there are no product labeling regulations in place to tell us the truth.



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Earth Day and the Green, Green Grass

Did you know....? Earth Day began 44 years ago when 20 MILLION AMERICANS rallied to fight for a cleaner environment. It inspired our government to create the Environmental Protection Agency. [Power to the people.]

Wanna get involved? I've got a hot tip on how every homeowner can make a difference. But, first? A question...

What is the most popular perennial in the world? Come on... you know this one. Look around you. It's everywhere!

Not sure? Perhaps this will help:

It's the most high maintenance thing you could ever plant.
It guzzles an astonishing amount of water.
It requires gallons of chemical fertilizers just to look good.
It costs you a fortune to keep it under control.

Need more?

• Because of it, we gardeners are responsible for more water waste & pollution than farmers and industry combined.

And, yet this troublemaker is often the very first thing we decide to plant...

What is the most popular perennial in the world?

Kentucky Bluegrass

 Kentucky Bluegrass requires 2 inches of water, per week, in order to thrive. That doesn't sound like much until you do the math...

2 inches of water = 1200 gallons
(per week, per thousand feet, of lawn)

Even a small bluegrass lawn can guzzle 20,000+ gallons of water per month. 
Your lawn will easily drink a million gallons of water during the summer.

We waste water to make it grow. And, then we've got to mow it!

*Running your lawnmower for an hour causes as much pollution as 40 cars on the highway.

And, here's the real kicker. No matter how hard we try, it doesn't look that pretty...

* Keeping this poor performer looking green requires a continuous dose of chemical fertilizers.

So let's save the world and save ourselves a whole lotta money:

Replace Kentucky Bluegrass with Dwarf Fescue.

• Dwarf Fescue is waterwise. This cuts your water bill to 1/4 of what you're spending on thirsty Kentucky Bluegrass.
• Next up! Fire TruGreen. They used to be called ChemLawn, but they changed their name to sound more environmentally friendly. It hasn't changed what they do..  They dose your lawn with chemicals to keep that grass green. Dwarf Fescue doesn't require fertilizer.
• Fire the lawn team while you're at it! Dwarf Fescue needs to be mowed every month, or so, not every weekend.

Dwarf Fescue is a slow-growing, drought-tolerant, lush, lovely, turf grass that does what grass is supposed to do. It just sits there and looks pretty.

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Mr. Giganto

This is a Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin - growing in a 2 liter pop bottle. He's only 2 weeks old, grown from seed, so I'm getting a little worried. However! This deep, make-do planter should keep him healthy for another month. At which point I can put him outdoors and see what happens. This giganto pumpkin variety averages 300-400 pounds.

The Derby

Meg & Sable, racing around my backyard.  Once they settle down, they'll get to work on the big, big task of mowing the lawn! :-)

Cactus Flowers

It's always summer somewhere... 

When you live as high up in the mountains as I do... 

searching out summer can be a full time job.

Because our winters last for 6 long months. 

 

Therefore this wildflower lover schedules warm weather escapes as often as possible. And, when we go, we take our girls. As in the horsie girls ~ because horses are the perfect transportation for hunting down elusive, and sometimes rare, wildflowers.

Two weeks ago, we were trotting through the back country near Sedona, Arizona. On the Caballos del Sol annual benefit trail ride. I do declare our horses were as delighted with the summer weather as we were! And, what a wonderful treat to see these cacti in full bloom!

* The Prickly Pear Cactus wows us with stunning blossoms in pink, yellow and orange... though I've never been fortunate enough to find an orange one in bloom. This plant is gorgeous AND practical: Prickly Pear paddles make a delightful syrup for pancakes!

** SURPRISE! They're happy to grow where you live, too. Copuntia compressa 'Pink' is a hardy, easy-growing Prickly Pear that does well in growing zones 4-9.



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Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day ~ April, 2014

BEHOLD! The first blossoms of 2014!

 At long last... a sunny warm weekend dedicated to playing in the mud.

With the weather finally cooperating, I donned those much missed, and very tattered, garden gloves to clean up the first of the beds. 2 down, 10 to go. The bulbs are beating me to it, this year. Blooming without the usual TLC from me.

Grecian Windflower (the whities are heirlooms)

Peeking out from beneath the debris were these fancy little Windflowers.

Peter Pan Heirloom Crocus

Pretty white Crocus trying hard to steal the show.

Rip Van Winkle Heirloom Daffodil

Sparse bulbs in the 'danger' zone. This back area is where the horses play, but they don't like the taste of these heirloom bulbs. It's a second 'footprint' in a raised bed that houses vegetables later in the season.

Primrose

I was up early, traipsing around with the camera, shivering on a 30 degree morning, feeling extra proud of this band of bright bloomers.

We've had an unusually dry winter.

An alternately too hot, then too cold, spring.

Though it seems to bother me a whole lot more than it bothers the flowers!

It's as if they have little wrist watches attached to their roots. No matter the weather, they're always happy to put on a pretty show.

Pay a visit to Carol @ May Dreams Gardens to meet more flower lovers participating in this monthly meme. 

Happy Bloom Day, Everyone! I'll sign off with a mystery flower. A mystery to me, that is. I can't remember her name. Perhaps you know?

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Nifty Little Loopholes and Veggie Garden Dreams

I've got Vegetable Gardening on the brain.

"Why haven't you been blogging?" So asketh nearly everyone who telephones me.

Because ADD is getting the better of me? Well, sort of. I post something every day to Instagram and in my mind that means I'm blogging. Even though I'm not.

But, there's another reason. A bigger reason! An infinitely more exciting reason!

Call it the calm before the storm (I plan to do a whole lotta blogging once planting season begins.) Because this gardening season will be a grandiose attempt at defeating Jeannie.

Jeannie is the gal who bet me a hefty sum of money (20 bucks!) that I am not capable of growing ALL of the vegetables that I plan to eat for the ENTIRE summer.

She's convinced I shall fail. I'm pretty positive I'm gonna win. Wanna know why? I don't like vegetables. I could happily go a whole summer without eating them.

Loopholes. Gotta love 'em!

All kidding aside, I am planning to grow an astonishing amount of vegetables this summer. (That top photo is legit and I'm growing them all! From seed!) Because now I wanna see if I can do it. Want to join me? Here's some things I've learned along the way...

Tips & Tricks:

Time your garden differently.
* The heartache of a Memorial Day frost is pretty much guaranteed at altitudes of 6,000 feet or higher. Nurseries advise April/May planting for vegetables and that's why we feel left out.

Plant later.
* Plant veggies in the soil on June 15th, or raised beds on June 1st - cover on an exceptionally cold night. The very best time to plant your veggies is the day after I do. (I'm pretty convinced that Mother Nature is lurking behind me, no matter what day I decide to plant, scheduling a late season freeze in my honor.)

Raised Beds & Containers can improve your odds.
Soil in raised beds warms faster and stays warmer during our cool nights. This is particularly important for tomatoes as they need to stay above 50 degrees in order to produce great fruit.

Quick-Growing Heirloom Veggies that do well in mountain gardens:

• Bountiful Bush Bean - this easy-growing small vine bean reaches maturity in about 50 days. (Heirloom)
• Bull Nose Sweet Bell Pepper - a crisp, crunchy bell pepper bursting with delicious, earthy flavor. Matures in about 60 days. (Heirloom)
• Red Cored Chantenay Carrots - a sweet, tender variety, ready to harvest in 70 short days. (Heirloom)
• Four Seasons Head Lettuce - as beautiful as it is delicious, with colorful, reddish brown leaves. Matures in 45-55 days. (Heirloom)
• Brandywine Tomato - this yummy Amish heirloom has a neat habit of producing tomatoes that mature at different times, on the same vine, throughout the season. Matures in 80 days. (Heirloom)
• Cocozelle Bush Zucchini - has a fresh, nutty flavor that is particularly delicious when roasted on the grill. Matures in 55 days. (Heirloom)

Boring but Helpful:

• When shopping for seeds, look for vegetables that mature in 70 - 80 days. (You might be surprised how many options you see!)
• Check the 'days to maturity' on the seed packet or planting guide. Harvest days are measured from transplant time. Allow an extra 10-15 days, if planting outdoors, by seed.
• Heirlooms are available in most vegetable varieties, not just tomatoes. These goodies are easier to grow and infinitely more flavorful than grocery store 'fresh' produce.

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Heavenly Blues...

 

And, she said it couldn't be done... She, being my good friend, Hazel, who was the original inspiration for growing Heavenly Blue Morning Glories. I love them so much, that I now grow them indoors, as well.