Still learning

While I have made huge advances in changing the condition of the soil, my biggest advance is how much I have learned in the last four years. This will be the fifth year I have been gardening. 

Like I've said before, the biggest thing I had to learn was patience. Though I'm still not great at that most of the time, I force myself.

Another thing is that I have learned to not listen to some advice. 

A lot of gardening writers live in areas far removed from here and their advice does not apply at all in the desert.

One bit of advice I've learned to not listen to is to not water too much. This advice just doesn't work for a place that has a humidity level of 4%. Took a while but I learned to judge how much to water by soil feel and weight. For containers, of course. In the yard and garden frequent drip irrigation is mandatory. 

Another bit of advice to avoid is using lime. Lime is alkaline and so is desert soil. Combine the two and there is too little acid in the soil for anything at all to grow. Calcium is necessary but may already be present, in the wrong form. If adding calcium, it should be gypsum. Increasing soil acidity is, again, mandatory if you're going to grow anything at all. 

Whether desert soil is clay or sand, adding organic material (compost and mulch) is necessary. In my case, it helps break up clay, along with the gypsum. 

I've written many times about the sodium problem. The gypsum, acid and soaking the soil help with that. As the sodium decreases, acidity increases, which helps break down clay and releases nutrients for plant use. Using sulfuric acid seemed really extreme when I first tried it. Now I've gotten used to it (but still cautious) and have found it to be one of the best things I've tried. 

I know I still have a lot to learn but seem to be getting there. Happy with how far I've come up to now!

Cucumber vines

The cucumber seeds I planted last week have sprouted like a shot! Going to have to get more trellises up for them rather quickly!

Now right around 100 tomato plants growing. Started more seeds last night.

Also started some cantaloupe and pomegranate seeds. First round of pomegranates never sprouted. If these don't sprout soon, I'll order a tree. 

Tilled a corner of the yard where the dogs have been doing their business since I cleared it out. (Picked up after them, first.) There were tons of broken down leaves on the surface, which I just tilled straight in. Then watered heavily. That left nothing on the soil surface for the dogs to leave their markings on top of, so it will deter them from that spot. Even more since the soil is loose and currently really wet. 

Tilled the last section which needed tilling. The front yard flower area. 

Still need to level and shape different spots before planting them out. 

One more night of frost tonight. Then I should be able to keep things out at night again.

Bring on Spring!

Had a really busy and productive day today. Really sore but worth it!

Aside from retouching plaster in daughter's room-

Mounted the bat house on the shed.

Drilled hundreds of holes in old 4x4's for bees to nest in.

Trimmed branches.

Shredded some of those. Most were too green and fibrous, so piled the rest to dry a while before shredding.

Burned a big pile of scrap wood.

Pulled weeds. 

Picked up lots of trash which had blown into my yard from the church behind my yard.

Then tilled nearly all areas which required it. Plowed the second half of the garden and extended it to include about 200 sf more than last year. Still have about 30 minutes total of tilling remaining but arms reached muscle failure and the sun was setting. 

Never got the drip system set up as planned. That's okay. Since it's supposed to freeze this weekend, wouldn't be much good, any way.

So, primarily set and ready for spring. Have some tasks, minor and major to do in the future but main work is done. 

91 and counting!

Took a quick count this morning. I'm up to 91 tomato plants so far! Ones in the photo are the largest so far. Not feeling too bad about this for March.

In previous years, If I had 91 plants, I expected maybe 1/3 of those to survive. Learned a lot over time and now expect more than 80 to survive and produce. (Barring dog incidents.) One huge difference is my own patience in planting them out.

I'm seeing more and more pepper plants. Man, they grow slowly! 

I set the sprinkler on a timer to run several times a day. Lettuce and spinach are growing better but still tiny. Just as well, with frost this weekend. Expecting them to blast off starting next week.

Near miss

Apparently it got colder last night than expected. The tomato plants all had drooping leaves this morning. Luckily, they recovered in the afternoon. I think the problem was that it had been cloudy and cool all day yesterday, so the plants and pots never got a chance to store any residual heat. Something to keep in mind in the future.

Frost forecast this weekend. Glad I didn't plant tomatoes out yet. Have to bring things back in for a few days.

Decided on a much less expensive and labor intensive support system for the tomatoes this year. In the past, I always viewed things as commonly presented. That meant two choices for tomato support, cages or stakes. I did consider a partial cage with only three sides and last year I built A-frames. This year, I'm going to use stakes but with additional cross beams. Using 1x2's, it will cost $1.50 or less per vine. Considering that I have quite a few 1x2's left over from last year, the cost should be minimal. Going to try painting at least the bases with linseed or castor oil for preservation.

I'm behind on starting seedlings, if I'm going to sell any of them. Have to buy more potting soil and cups this week. I'll start them next week. One problem is space. Though once the seedlings inside form second true leaves, I can move them outside, leaving more room to start more seeds inside. 

I have a lot of scrap wood which I can use to build additional outdoor seeding racks. I'll still be scouting around for more scrap wood. 

Next wave

Started the next wave of planting today. 

Inside, planted jalapeno, cayenne, cucumber and watermelon. Just recycled the cups from the failed broccoli. 

I'll give broccoli another shot in late summer. Even if it gets started well now, it won't have time to flower before weather gets too hot for it. 

Outside, I planted red onions. Wasn't going to do onions this year but they do help deter aphids, so they have definite value, even if they don't grow very large. 

Installed the new garden gate. See if it does any good keeping the dogs out. May still have to reinforce it with a 2x2 doorjamb to block any flex of the gate. This one is stronger than the first one but still made with 2x2's, itself so it does have a little flexibility to it. 

Had to repair part of the fence which the dogs managed to work through. An electric system is looking better and better. 

Saw the plum tree is flowering already! Daughter should be happy about that, since she picked that one out. Not sure how old a plum tree has to be before it bears fruit. Guess I should look that up?

Butterflies

Read an article the other day which said the Monarch butterfly population is down by 2/3 in Mexico, where they migrate to each winter. Funny because last year we had a huge Monarch influx here. Which leads to me a possibility. It is possible that, with climate change, the Monarchs may not be migrating as far south as they used to. They may be wintering in the southern US or northern Mexico.

That does pose problems, though. The area where they normally migrate to is protected. Here, they're not. Daughter and I went for a walk yesterday. We saw where the park service had cut down dozens of trees along the aqueducts and river delta for fire control. In so doing, they tore down thousands of branches which had once bore tens of thousands of cocoons. It looks like the vast majority of those branches were run through shredders. We found lots of small branches with cocoons still attached. (I didn't mention the shredders to her.) 

I understand the fire control issue but think this could have been planned a bit better. 

If many of those cocoons were Monarch, it's very possible the population was sorely reduced. 

I think daughter and I are going to have to take more walks and collect more cocoons off the ground very soon.

 

Shelves

Erected the industrial shelf outside the kitchen window today. Daughter helped me stake about 10 tomato plants and move them out to the shelves. Kind of a balance. Night temps still getting rather cool but no frost. However, plants being exposed to full sun most of the day will probably accelerate their growth. I will have to watch them for signs of sun scald.

By the size some of these are now, I expect to have fruit within six weeks, depending on ripening time. Unless a late cold spell comes in, going to give them 1-2 weeks to harden off, then plant these first vines out into the garden.

Daughter also helped me build and paint a bat house today. We decorated it in our own style, with silhouettes of bats and signs saying, "Bat Hotel". Good size but not huge. Three "rooms". I'll mount it on the east side of the shed tomorrow. That gives it eastern and southern sun, so it warms early in the day, will stay warm late in the year but gets afternoon shade, so it doesn't overheat. We used no paint on the inside. Instead, we used aged wood with natural grooves, so to make chemical odor less likely to keep them away.

I still need to establish a water feature in the back yard. While bats will roost within 1/4 mile of water (which is present in two directions), bees, butterflies and hummingbirds like water closer. And the bats are more likely to roost with water in the immediate area.  I eventually plan on building a waterfall but for now, think we'll go with something simple and cheap. Like a cut off plastic bucket with rocks, which I can fill with well water.
 

No more frost!

The weather forecast changed and now there is no more frost forecast here! Yay!

Looks like broccoli is a bust again. Bummer. I still have some sprouting but the purple broccoli never grew large enough to even bother planting out. A few are still alive but tiny. The ones beginning to sprout now are green broccoli but it will probably get too hot for it to flower. Best bet is late summer planting. It would probably do okay in the mountains but not in the valley, where I live.

I have more pepper sprouts coming up. I can see why these peppers are so expensive, as long as they take just to germinate and form true leaves. I planted these in early to mid January and some seeds are just sprouting. Not sure what kind of germination rate I'll get out of these. 

Since it's not warm enough, I can begin starting seeds outside now, as well as inside. Have to erect those shelves. And do so in a place and manner the dogs can't destroy things. 

Still heavily soaking the main garden. Need to get the irrigation system set up plus flood some other areas some more a few times. 

I have a good feeling about the garden this year. 

No damage

So, when I got outside yesterday to check, looked like no damage had occurred to the garden from the frost. No more frost forecast for the immediate future. Light frost expected late next week but wait and see how that prediction changes.

I need to get out and till the remaining areas before growth sets in. Also have trees I need to trim. All that is harder once things start turning green. Need to get flower seeds in the ground and some more cooler crops. Even if they don't produce, they make a good ground cover and retain moisture. 

I'm seeing good results regarding weeds with the acid treatments. Only have a fraction of the weeds I once had. Still have some but much easier to manage. I noted last year that the more acidic the soil became in some areas, the less certain weeds grew there. If they started coming up, treating and making the soil more acidic beat them back. Without breaking my back! Nice!

The one I still have a raging battle with is white morning glory. I have beat it back a little but that's a tough one because it grows well in healthy soil. The better the soil conditions, the better they grow. Not much to do but pull and burn and spray with acid.  

Light frost

So, there was a light frost last night. Dang it!!

Not too worried about the spinach. It is highly frost tolerant. I've had spinach grow very slow but successfully through a hard winter in the past. Even buried under snow, it survives. Drought and sodium do major damage to it, though.

Lettuce is very not tolerant of frost. So, my biggest hope is that the soil retained just enough heat to protect it. Luckily, most of the lettuce has not yet sprouted. 

I won't know true extent of damage until this afternoon, when things warm up a bit. 

Flower seeds and bulbs

Daughter and I planted flower seeds and bulbs in a few areas of the garden today. Planted a couple dozen Gladiolus, which we both like and which I have seen do rather well here. 

I think the reason they do well is because they are another bulb which is planted more deeply than surface seeds, which dry out too quickly to germinate. 

We did scatter some surface seeds. Much easier to germinate with the well working than in previous years. Had a decent amount of flowers last year but hoping for many times that this year.

We planted Nasturtium in the actual main garden, as companion for many of the other plants. 

Daughter said something about hoping to attract more hummingbirds than bees. Apparently the bees make her a little nervous. However, she has never been stung by one and most of the bees around here don't seem to sting, any way. 

I've even gotten on good footing with the yellow jackets, which I never expected to happen when I was young. The ones around my house growing up were very aggressive. However, the more I think about it, I now wonder how much that may have had to do with living next to a beer joint. 

Around my house last year, we had bees, parasitic wasps, yellow jackets and hornets. That's aside from ladybugs, butterflies and so forth. Turning into quite a bug zoo here. Good thing about that is, the more we see of those, the less we see of potato bugs, cucumber beetles and so forth. Though the ones I really hope to see none of this year are the squash bugs.

Cooperative weather

The weather today has been cooperative with the soaking of the soil. Been cloudy all day and rained for a short while this afternoon. 

So, I've been rotating areas and letting the well pump run most of the day, until nearly the entire back yard is most likely the dampest it has been in millenia. Though still hoping it rains more tonight. There is the possibility.

I did switch over to the sprinkler later in the day, to cover a wider area near the far west side of the yard. 

Letting that run a little longer. Then going to change over to the front yard sprinkler and let that run for a couple of hours. Not quite as long because not as much there with deep roots and it's much smaller. 

Planted the new trees and the strawberry roots today. Transplanted a few tomato plants to larger containers. By the time it's warm enough to transplant them outside, I expect some may be over 2 ft tall. 

Water test

So, I finally got the results of the free water test from Home Depot. The form asks for you address and email address but they don't make any attempt to contact you by either of those methods. They tried calling me while my cell phone was off for a few days. No other attempt at contact made. 

The results were basically useless. The only result given was dissolved solids. Nothing else. 

What was a surprise was that the well water had only marginally more dissolved solids than the municipal water. However, the breakdown of what those solids are makes all the difference. And that's what the test results do not tell you.

Of course, the purpose is to try and sell you a water softening or filtration unit, which is expected. 

I'll have to see how much a more defined water test costs.

Doing more flooding in the garden today. Right now, just dispensing with the sprinkler and letting the hose run wide open on the ground. 

Added a second hose at a lower rate to soak around the biggest grape vine, on the opposite side of the yard. I seriously pruned that one back a few weeks ago and piled compost and gypsum around the base. 

Took the soil pH meter out this morning and tested a few spots in the main garden. Still intensely alkaline. Not a surprise. I'll have to treat heavily with acid all summer. Problem right now is that much of the spinach and lettuce is growing down in the trenches because the dogs knocked the tops of the mounds off, spreading the seeds downward. Luckily, those don't require much acidity. So, as they grow larger I can harvest the ones in the trenches or transplant them before treating with acid in the trenches. Going to treat the soil in the trenches for weed control and to avoid burning crops, as the acid will seep more gradually to the root zone of crop plants. That avoids burning foliage. 

I started using well water for the house plants. Making a huge difference! They have been growing faster and look much greener than before! Nice!  

Tilling, soaking

Tilled the second half of the main garden today. That is, tilled some deeper and extended the garden a few feet further west. 

Treated heavily with sulfuric acid. Spot treated some weeds which had popped up in different spots, especially the weed flowers. 

I had spread iron sulfate a few days ago. 

Set up the sprinkler hooked to the well pump. Ran the sprinkler for several hours to completely soak that area. Plan on doing that a few times before plowing and planting. Plus at least one more acid application and maybe a strong ammonia treatment, as well.

I think the combination of all the above should really get the garden going for the year. Can plant out that section with some crops in the next week or so.

Some other random tasks today involved cleaning up the back yard somewhat. Mostly dog messes of various types. Though I have a lot more to clean up involving debris which has blown into the yard from the church parking lot. Still happening, even with a more solid gate in place. 

Still have a lot to do but should have it done soon.

Spinach and lettuce!

Walked out to water the garden this morning and found myself surrounded by thousands of tiny sprouts! Lettuce and spinach are coming up!

One problem is the same as previous years. Surface soil dries in little or no time. That means shallow planted seeds don't germinate easily. I have been watering but obviously not enough. 

Got the well pump running yesterday and started using that to irrigate. Don't have the drip system in place for the year yet. However, I can set up sprinklers on timers, so they run several times a day until things get going. Right now, I'm letting the sprinkler run for a couple of hours, to get the soil soaked deeply and to leach off some of the surface sodium. The well water has much lower sodium levels and high nitrate levels. I believe it also has iron content but have not received the results of the water tests I sent in. (Need to write to Home Depot about that.)

I ordered a Granny Smith apple tree and a Red Crape Myrtle from Summerstone Nursery. They came today. They ship their trees in a dormant state, ready to plant. Have to get those potted tomorrow. Daughter loves Granny Smith apples. She does understand it will be several years before the tree will produce fruit. 

Bought some strawberry roots and some onion sets at Lowe's today. Great price on the onion sets, at only $2 for 80 sets!

Lots to do in the next week to get ready for spring, which is obviously coming in really soon. Hope with no more false starts. 

60 tomato plants

Currently up to 60 tomato plants inside. Most are small but many developing true leaves. While some are 6-8" tall, I have transplanted them deeply before this, to encourage more roots to grow. 

One of my biggest mistakes in the past has been transplanting seedlings out too soon. Not doing that this year. Be a bit more patient. In previous years, I have started seedlings in December or January. However, have had instances where they were destroyed by dogs in the house. Other times I moved them out when it seemed safe, only to have a late freeze or even deep snow. This year, I am keeping them in containers and protected from dogs better. 

With the number of tomato plants I am trying to grow this year, I've decided to stake most of the tomato plants instead of caging. However, I am going to add crossbeams to the stakes. Fast, inexpensive, easy and less space required. Should also be easier to prune for more fruit and less bushy foliage.

Weather here is getting slowly warmer. Gradual enough this year that I think I should have a decent lettuce crop, now that temps are mostly above freezing at night. I am beginning to see a few microscopic sprouts here and there in the garden. So, hoping that things will be greening up in the next couple of weeks. Past luck has mostly been that as soon as temps rise above freezing, it very quickly shoots into the 80's and 90's and lettuce bolts so fast you only have about a week where it can be harvested for eating. Seeming like a milder start to the year now, so maybe lettuce and spinach stands a better chance.

I think this is going to be a good year for the garden.