Winter Scallions

Last summer I tried to squeeze in a second crop of scallions, since we eat so many of those buggers. But I got them out too late, and they did not mature before winter came. So I left them, thinking I would dig out their wilted, dead carcasses come spring time.

I'll be damned if those things didn't survive all winter long! They even grew. Slowly, but they grew. This picture was taken in April:

Yeah, they don't look like much, but let's see how you look after spending all winter outside.

A couple weeks ago we finally harvested them. I have to admit that they were a little tough, but after grilling them with a blast of olive oil, they weren't too bad.

This winter I am going to experiment with growing scallions in the greenhouse. Daytime temperatures are much warmer in there, but the nighttime temperatures aren't much different than outside because the greenhouse offers little in the way of insulation. However, with proper watering, I think I will be able to actually grow some edibles throughout the winter.

Other plants might work as well. A couple years ago I left a parsley plant out all winter, and it also survived. Parsley is biennial, though, so it didn't live past the next summer.

Do any readers out there know of other vegetables I can grow throughout the winter? Spinach? Cabbage? Please comment and let us know!

Robin, or Robin Hood?

I love birds. Really I do. I find their singing and chirping relaxing and it's enjoyable to watch them flit around. But, dang it, those buggers would strip my garden bare if I let them.

The worst offenders are the robins. They don't seem to eat bird seed, of which I put out plenty. But they love my strawberries. I put a net over the plants and yesterday one robin managed to get inside the net. Then it couldn't get out! Its foot had gotten tangled up in the webbing. I ran out there with scissors and cut the netting around the foot so it could get out. I'm sure it still has the netting around its foot like an anklet. Serves it right, stealing my berries. (This was probably the same klutzy bird that blundered into my window well as a baby chick and couldn't get out. I had to fish it out with a pond skimmer.)

Today a black bird ate the only two cherries I had on my young cherry tree. It nibbled all around and left the pit still attached to the stem. Didn't even say thank you.

So my questions to readers out there are: do I need to protect my blueberry bushes? This is the first year we have any berries, and they are still green.
And are there any better ways to keep birds out of my berries? I don't want the birds to leave, I just want them to leave my plants alone!

Strawberry and Greens Harvest

The first of the June strawberries are in! And, as in previous years, the fruits are weird looking. As you can see, they are small and more oblong than circular. Despite their somewhat grotesque appearance, they are very tasty, both a little sour and sweet, and juicey. The ones we have been getting in the store are large and dry.

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Our other early harvest are some of salad greens. Spinach and arugula were sown directly outside on May 7, and they are now ready for the salad bowl. I had my first home grown salad, with a sprinkling of our strawberries, yesterday. Delicious!

Here is what one of the vegetable beds looks like now. Up top is the spinach and the arugula is next. The middle of the bed is mache, another one of our favorite salad greens. In front of that, and barely visible, are bell pepper plants, which have just started sprouting. 

Early Summer Gallery

It is an amazing thing when the yard slowly comes to life after the long, cold winter on the high plains. It's easy to forget what the trees and plants look like. Spring and early summer growth always appeal to me most because the colors are more vibrant. Please enjoy these photos, which showcase some of the plants gracing our landscape.

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These are volunteer violas that have migrated  from the neighbor's yard.

The ugly irrigation tubing is an unfortunate necessity in the arid West. I try to bury it, but it always works it way back to the surface.

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This is the inside of my greenhouse. The growth on the ground is spearmint.

2 years ago I planted some mint seeds in a small pot. Some of the plants flowered and went to seed before I could stop it. Now look at it.

Obviously, mint can be quite invasive. But it is probably my most successful crop, and I hardly ever care for it. I walk all over it and never water it. This plant has survived 2 winters.

I harvest it from time to time, using it in recipes and teas. I plan on trying to grow it outside the greenhouse and see if it will spread as a ground cover.

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I thought the colors here were wonderful. These are young pine cones on our blue spruce (which is actually green).

When cones are this young, they have this reddish-purplish color. Combine that with the magnificent blue sky and the green needles, and you end up with a great photo.

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Although I say I am not a flower person, I do have my favorites. Top of my list are johnny jump ups. Not only are their colors gorgeous, but these tough little guys survive all winter. I will often find blossoms poking out through the snow in February.

The flowers are also edible! Drop a few into a butternut squash soup and it looks fabulous.

We planted some seeds a couple years ago, and we just let them reseed themselves. Now they are all over the yard. This particular bunch have grown very tall and like to nestle up against the same blue spruce
pictured above.

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Most people think all columbines are blue and white. Not so. Here are some red ones.

They are a bit finicky about where they grow. They tend to like some shade, so I have this plant positioned so that it gets mostly morning sun and that's it.

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There are lots of things crammed into the back corner of the yard. In the upper left you see the corner of the greenhouse.

Next to it is a pear tree. This is very healthy Bartlett specimen which I hope will fruit soon.

Then there is one of my 4x4 raised garden beds. It is virtually impossible to grow anything in the native soil here, so the best approach is to build on top of the native soil. I fill the beds with potting soil, since these beds are pretty much huge pots.

The next tree is a flowering plum. As the name suggests, there will be no fruit, but it does have gorgeous flowers in the spring. The purplish foliage color offers a nice contrast to all the greenery.

Along the ground are our strawberry plants. These also do well in the high plains. They are the June bearing variety, and true to their name, they are currently loaded with berries. Soon I will have to put down the netting because I can tell the local robins are waiting for them to ripen.

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This is one of the lupines in the front yard. Their blossoms don't last long, but as you can see, they are quite stunning.

We have a variety of colors that look really nice. Pink, white, blue, etc.

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Here is another lupine, just to show the subtle difference in colors.

These plants also self seed and we have little seedlings all over the yard, even down in the basement window wells. However, these young plants haven't flowered yet. I don't know how old they have to be before they can put on a show like this.

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This last photo just shows that woolly thyme can flower. I had read that it is very rare to flower, so here's an example of such a rarity.

Now if only Bigfoot would walk through the yard...

Gardening in Prescott, AZ

Today I welcome a guest writer and dear friend for several years, Paul Curry. Paul and his wife Kris bounce back and forth between homes in Phoenix and Prescott. Prescott qualifies in every sense as high country living: it's high, dry, windy, and gardening there is anything but easy!

New High Country Gardener

Part one: Preparation

Do you have a vegetable garden? This year I am a "first-timer" gardening in Prescott. More people may be getting back to "basics" since the economy has taken a bad fall. In early April, I recall an article in the Wall Street Journal where the author illustrated the challenges of keeping the "cost of vegetables" within reason. This is not at all an easy task. Then there is the effort, most know producing vegetables requires some real effort. For me, it connects me with the land and my grandparents who had to produce food. They had not the luxury of our supermarkets filled with so much produce.

Consider our climate here in Prescott, you may have noticed but it's a bit windy. Actually, this could be Prescott's own little secret, as is the smog of Phoenix. More Prescott secrets: we have a community blessed by dogs with excellent vocal cords and skunks that remind us who owns the night in summertime. At least a little wind won't kill you. But then again, it makes gardening let's say, more challenging. Coupled with very low spring humidity, a stiff breeze will dry out tender vegetables.

So if you are undertaking a garden here in Prescott and you are up near or on a ridge- make use of wind blocks when you place your garden. My new garden here has no effective blocks, so I set up some farm fence stakes and wire-tied some sun shade material to it - now I have at least some wind protection. Then right after that was accomplished, my neighbor suggested I plant a big rose bush to block her view of my new project. Looks like I'll have to win her heart with some summer squash, or some of the 258 zucchini that will come out of that one zucchini plant I have?

Think about sun and shading. The earth tilts on its axis as we change seasons. At least I can recall that from high school physics. So perhaps you have noted where in your yard you have enough sun throughout the growing season to support a vegetable garden- according to a Watter's Garden Center handout that is five to seven hours of sun per day. You can always provide shade, but most folks cannot manufacture sunlight- if you can, please contact the U.S. Dept. of Energy, as they have a job for you.

Let's talk dirt. No, not about the neighbors, but the stuff you need to actually grow things. Unless you live on the bottom lands near a stream bed, your soil likely does not look like good thick loamy black soil that my Aunt Margaret had back in Blackhawk County Iowa- that's where the soil is some seven feet deep and grows corn seven feet high. Yes, I do recall actually hearing the corn grow back there in summer. At the age of five, that was more than a little creepy for a city kid. Either buy some good garden soil or work like crazy with your roto-tiller along with mulch and other products to amend the soil you have. For me, I live near the top of a ridge with compacted fill…I opted to build containers and fill them with soil I bought from Mortimer's Nursery.

One benefit of small containers is that you can move them. I would need the linemen from the Prescott High football team to move the 4 ft x 8ft x 2 ft high wooden planters I built and filled in- all without the blessing of a big yard-bucket loader. They are not going anywhere. But if you get some black plastic buckets from a nursery (cheap) or pricey clay pots then you can use a two-wheel moving dolly to make adjustments as the seasons change and as your squash plant grows into a monster, which it should.

Well, as May 16^th is the date of the average last frost according to the National Weather Service and since we are now 10 degrees above normal temperatures- I'd say if you haven't already got your garden going, well, now is definitely the time. Next article I'll fill you in on my planting from seedlings I grew in April. I'll also find out how many hungry rodents I have in my yard and if they made it past some defenses. Remember, a successful garden is one where you had the produce for dinner.

Paul Curry