Friday, February 26, 2010

Growing Plants is Like Raising Kids

It occured to me the other day that growing plants is like raising kids - sort of. You plant the seeds, watch them emerge, water and feed them, protect them from the cold, talk sweetly to them, ohh and ahh when the grow or produce a flower, take care of them when they get sick (aphids!) and mourn when they die or are just done for the season.
That's what I have been doing this past month. It seemed like the garden went through so many changes with all the rain we got and then warm days. I have eaten all of the broccoli already and the cauliflower matured all at once so I gave some away. Now I am looking at the openings in the garden and planning what to plant for the warmer months.  So far I have planted eggplant, tomatoes, more herbs, basil, dill, parsley, red onions, edamame and of course marigolds!

If you are just getting your veggie garden in - don't worry. There are still things to plant and eat before it gets really warm here in AZ.  Some of you may have gardens still covered in snow, so you may be starting the seeds indooors in a sunny wondow.  I love to recycle materials for that like toilet paper and paper towel rolls for the tiny 'pots' and the clear plastic carry out containers as mini green houses.
The wildflowers are are blooming at my house too! The wild areas of the desert should be beautiful this year. Where is your favorite place to see wildflowers in the wild?  I will also be getting out to one of my favorite places here in the Valley of the Sun - The Desert Botanical Gardens.  They have a fabulous wild flower trail!  What are you doing to get ready for the next growing season in your neck of the woods?

I am dressed to get out and mow the grass again, top dress the garden beds with Soil Secrets to feed the soil micro organisms before we get another winter rain this weekend.

What are your gardening plans for the weekend?

Happy Digging,
The Garden Goddess
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

1 comments:

Meredith said...

Assuming the snow that fell today melts during the night and temps continue to rise and it's not too wet and muddy, I may get to go into the garden this weekend. I envy you all that's happening there now, when not much is occurring here. :)

Labels

AZ vegetable gardens (12) arizona gardening (12) compost (10) Garden Goddess (9) Down 2 Earth Gardens (8) Phoenix (7) permaculture (6) vegetable Gardens (6) AZ (5) bermuda grass removal (5) community garden consultant (5) edible gardens (5) gardens (5) monsoon rains (5) Garden planning (4) seed saving (4) Community Gardens (3) Companion planting (3) Garden design (3) Soil (3) apple trees (3) beets (3) computer garden design tools (3) desert (3) fall planting (3) herbs (3) low desert gardening (3) low desert winter gardens (3) mosquitoes (3) mulching (3) rain harvesting (3) Garden Maintenance (2) Gardening tips (2) Master Gardeners (2) Rain barrels (2) Squash Bugs (2) Swiss Chard (2) Three sisters garden (2) amending soil (2) apple (2) basil (2) bats (2) citrus (2) design (2) earth day (2) edible (2) flowers (2) gardening (2) green peppers (2) mint (2) nematodes (2) pruning (2) rain guage (2) rosemary (2) soil secrets (2) sustainable gardens (2) tomatoes (2) tree (2) "Bill McDorman" (1) ARMLS (1) African marigolds (1) Blossom End Rot (1) Christmas Cactus (1) Clay (1) Coirn (1) Companion planting. (1) Contest (1) Cornville (1) Corriander seed (1) Deswrt gardening (1) Doreen Pollack (1) Double digging (1) Fall garden clean up (1) Fall gardens (1) Gambusia (1) Garden Tools (1) Garden books (1) Garden workshops (1) Grden Journals (1) Healing Gardens (1) Heirloom seeds (1) Home Staging (1) Humus (1) Japanese beetles (1) Johnny Jump-ups (1) Kohlrabi (1) Loam (1) Mesquite Flour (1) Microorganisms (1) Phoeniz (1) Pole Beans (1) Red amaranth (1) Sand (1) Sierra Club (1) Slow Food Phoenix (1) Soil Food Web (1) Squash (1) Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes (1) Toby Hemenway (1) Tree Pruning (1) Wildlife habitats (1) amaranth (1) artichoke seeds (1) bachelor button (1) bermudal grass removal (1) bird netting (1) bok choy (1) broccoli rabe (1) brussel sprouts (1) bugs (1) cilantro (1) compost. bugs (1) corn cups (1) cutworms (1) dandelion greens (1) digging (1) dirt (1) earthworks (1) eating from the garden (1) edible cactus (1) edible container garden (1) feeding fruit trees (1) fertilizer (1) fleas (1) flies (1) flower gardens (1) food (1) frost (1) fruit trees (1) garden (1) garden bed preparation (1) garden coaching (1) garden disease control (1) garden journal (1) gardening quiz (1) grass (1) green (1) green beans (1) green features (1) green gift giving (1) grren beans (1) harvesting (1) heirloom (1) holloyhocks (1) home selling (1) how much to plant (1) infections (1) injury in the garden (1) ladybird (1) ladybud (1) lavender (1) leafy greens (1) leaves (1) lettuce (1) mosquities (1) mosquito control (1) mycorrhizae (1) native foods (1) native seeds (1) natural mosquito repellant (1) natural mosquitoe repellant (1) new garden (1) olive trees (1) on-line garden club (1) oregano (1) palo verd tree (1) pansies (1) peach (1) peach trees (1) peaches (1) permaculture design (1) permaculture design course (1) pest control (1) pesticides (1) plastic (1) poor drainage (1) praying mantis (1) prickly pear (1) professional gardener (1) protecting fruit trees from birds (1) radicchio (1) radishes (1) rain water (1) rain water harvesting (1) ratoons (1) recycle (1) root rot (1) second crop (1) soil building (1) soil secrets. nitrogen (1) soil testing (1) southwest vegetable gardens (1) spinach (1) squash vines (1) stock (1) summer (1) sunflower (1) sunflowers (1) surface water (1) sustainability (1) sweet peppers (1) tilling (1) tomato (1) transplant (1) trash (1) trees (1) vegetable (1) vegetablvegetable Gardens (1) violas (1) water use (1) waterharvesting (1) watering a garden (1) weather (1) wildflowers (1) wind (1) xeriscape plant (1) year-round gardening (1)