Making Some Progress

early bearded white and purple iris along the driveway

Some of these pictures are from the end of March. There were tons of these short, early blooming bearded irises around my house when I moved in. They are pretty drought resistant, as long as they have a bit of afternoon shade in the summer. As the front yard grew overcrowded I would transplant them along the creek bank and up on the hill above the house to help hold the soil. The best time to divide iris is after they have bloomed. I usually get around to them in late summer, sometimes early fall.  The thick rhizome, what some think is a bulb, is actually a thickened stem. When planting bearded iris do not bury the rhizome. You just want to cover the small feeder roots that come off of it. The fall rains will bring them out of dormancy and they will put out new leaves over the winter and early spring. Newly planted rhizomes may not bloom for a couple of years, just let them get established, and they will bloom when they are ready. I do whack down spent bloom stems, but never remove green or dead leaves from the clumps. They leaves help to mulch the roots and keep them a bit cooler.

pistachio tree seedlings

I bought this pot of pistachio tree seedlings from Bob Zache at our farmer's market last summer. Of course then stuff happened and I just got to them in March. I planted out the 2 biggest ones along the side of the creek where I built the new chicken yards. There were 6 smaller seedlings that I potted up in 1 gal pots for this year.

My goal this year is to plant 100 trees and shrubs on my property. Not sure how close I'll get but so far this year I have planted the 2 Pistachio trees, 9 cherry bushes, 1 Goji berry, an olive, a fig and 3 sweet broom so that is 17 to start. In the past 3 years I've planted a fig, a red locust, 2 ash trees, a mulberry, and 5 live oaks,

The mulberry was a seed dropped by a bird into one of my flower pots. The fig was a rooted cutting from Pat Romero (who also started the olive that I planted), the Arizona Ash trees I planted were also from Bob Zache. The red locust I purchased from Golden Hill Nursery and I grew the live oaks from acorns.

The cherry bushes, I know there is another name but I can't remember what it is. I grew them from seeds given to my by my friend Annie, of Annie's Edibles.

All planting at my house begins with the pickax

olive tree

The caliche drains slowly, but that's a plus come summer. Everything will get a heavy mulch as I have time to get it spread.

cherry bush

A few of the cherry bushes had blooms and set a few fruit. They are like tart pie cherries. I think these may be called Nanking bush cherries.

Sweet Magnolia purple snap peas

Over in the garden the Sweet Magnolia, a purple podded snap pea is doing great. This pic is from almost 3 weeks ago, they are now beginning to bloom and I'll be able to pick some later this week.

Harvest Monday & Seedy Saturday Winner!

baby lettuce, violas, society garlic blossoms, chives, lemon thyme

Welcome to Harvest Monday! This weekly bloghop is hosted by Daphne, over at Daphne's Dandelions. This week of course saw more baby lettuces, along with some herbs and edible flowers.

yellow beets, baby carrots, tiny potatoes

One day I pulled a couple of big yellow beets, some baby carrots and emptied a tub that grew potatoes. The potato plants have looked quite pathetic all fall and all I got were these 3 tiny potatoes. I think the problem was the soil was just not fertile enough. Looking at the plants I'm sure they didn't have enough nitrogen and looking at the potatoes I'm equally sure they didn't get enough potash. Ah well, there is always next year!

Pineapple Sage flowers are great in salad

The small Pineapple Sage plants that I bought recently have begun to bloom. I sprinkle the flowers in my salad. They have a lovely sweet, floral flavor with hints of pineapple. Their bright lipstick red color adds another dimension of color along with flavor.


Many people look askance at me eating my salad without dressing. While I do like Ranch dressing, it is way too heavy and overpowering to put it on baby lettuce. It is better as  a dip for things with more robust flavors, like hot wings.

I don't even usually use vinaigrette these days, preferring to actually taste the different flavors of the lettuces, other baby greens, flowers and herbs.

yellow marble & Princepe Borghese tomatoes

Since we were expecting snow and freezing temps I picked all the little tomatoes that were at least beginning to turn color. Since it is predicted to be in the high 20's overnight all week I suspect these will be the last.

This weeks harvests:
lettuce, herbs, edible flowers           1 pound  5 oz

potatoes                                                        3 oz
beets & greens                             2 pounds 14 oz
baby carrots                                                  5 oz
tomatoes                                                       1 oz

total                                              4 pounds, 12 oz

This week's Seedy Saturday giveaway is for Sweet Magnolia, a purple podded snow pea. The seeds were saved in 2009 and should have good germination. The plants will go to 6 ft+ on good soil. I wrote everyone's name on a slip of paper and folded it up. Then I tossed them in the air and picked up the slip of paper that landed closest to me. And the winner is......... Shannon B.! For the rest of you, stop in and try again next week.

PS. I have one more space that I might plant Sweet Magnolias in and after that I might give away the seeds that are left in the jar, so be sure and check in every Seedy Saturday!

Seedy Saturday; Purple Peas!

Purple Peas

Happy Seedy Saturday! This week I have decided to part with some of my stash of Sweet Magnolia, a purple snow pea. I am going to give away about 25-30 seeds. Sweet Magnolia was developed by Alan Kapular of Peace Seeds and is the product of trying to breed for a purple version of the Sugar Snap pea. I bought some seeds from him a few yeas ago and have been saving my own seed since.  Occasionally a vine will put out green pods instead of purple ones. Just make sure you don't save any seeds from those.

Sweet Magnolias are not quite as strong a grower as my Bleushokkers but they do well in fertile soil and can easily go to 6 feet or higher.

And it's possible that this picture is actually of Bleushokkers before they fill out. However the Sweet Magnolia's look like this too. The flavor is much the same as any snow pea. I have forgotten now, (it's been about 2-3 years since I've grown a batch of these) but I'm thinking they turn green when cooked, much like purple snap beans. But I usually eat most of my snow and snap peas raw, either as snacks while gardening or in my salads.

How does the Seedy Saturday Free Seed Giveaway work? Well, first you comment on this post any time before 6AM Monday morning (my time, I'm in Arizona). From all the comments I draw one name and announce the winner in my Harvest Monday post. If I can contact you through your blogger profile I will. Otherwise the winner should email me with your snail mail address at hysong AT cableone DOT net,(replacing the capitalized words with the appropriate symbols, of course.) I am willing to send seeds to other countries but I am not responsible for any duties, fees, etc. or if they can or can't be imported. If you live outside the US please check with your government agencies about small lots of seed coming into your country. (you might tell them you are involved in a seed exchange, not a commercial venture)

Lettuce, peas, Rock Walls

lettuce mix planted Sept 2011

This is the lettuce that I planted right after I got home from vacation. When it germinated it was much thicker, but something was eating it. I don't have any idea what; grasshoppers, mice, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, little birds, who knows? The area next to this patch (on the left) I am prepping to plant some more lettuce.

Bleushokker peas and misticanza (mixed lettuce)

In this photo you can see that the Bleushokker peas are really taking off. These were planted Sep 25th. In front of them is a patch of mixed lettuce. This bed stays a little cooler than the first one so the lettuce has grown better. Also whatever was eating the lettuce in the first bed has not discovered this bed. So far I have harvested 4 ounces of lettuce from this one and will probably be able to harvest about 2 ounces today.

mixed lettuce planted Oct 3, 2011

In this photo is the lettuce I planted Oct 3, with an spun polyester row cover over it.

Hopi Purple Pod beans

These are the Hopi Purple Pod beans. The vines are doing pretty well, tho I lost of few while I was on vacation. The survivors are loaded with bean pods and they are beginning to color up. These are not really green bean type beans, they are more a dried bean type. When more of the pods are ready I'll pick them and make a batch of soup or garden chili.

Rock Wall downstream side from above

But most projects around here have ground to a halt while I concentrate on getting as much wall building done as possible before it starts freezing up at night.

Rock Walls and Culverts down stream side

Rock Walls, down stream, right side