New Years’ Day Harvest and Planting

New Years’ Day Harvest and Planting

Among the many things I have to be thankful for and appreciate is the beautiful winter weather in Phoenix. After a very leisurely morning, watching the Rose Parade and admiring all of the beautiful floats made out of ALL plant material, chatting with family in Chicago and catching up with my roomie, I finally wandered outside about 11:30am.

I was greeted by the robins egg blue, cloudless sky and warm sun shine and the 65 degree temps. A perfect day for planting! My flower and veggie greens purchase earlier in the week were safely tucked under some bushes to protect them from cooler evening temps, but now it was the day to plant!

I set a goal of using mostly edibles plants and flower for my winter containers. I can’t resist the elegance of a tall red geranium – doubtful the flower petals are edible. But the rest of the flowers are edible: violas, stock, pansies, Johnny Jump-ups and of course nasturtiums. I also added some greens (different lettuces and swiss chards) to the containers near the guesthouse so my winter visitors could enjoy fresh salads.

I also added some more vegetables to the garden beds. My spinach never germinated so I transplanted several plants and I sowed the beet seeds Diane gave me last month. As I was planting I noticed I needed to do a little more thinning of the radishes and lettuces already in the ground. My New Year’s dinner tonight will have a wonderful fresh from the garden salad with lettuce, radishes, green peppers (YES, 8 green peppers still in the plant that was planted in March) and nectarines from Rhonda’s garden. I think I will top it with a few flowers just to add a bit of panache’.

My winter gardens were planted October 11 and it is great to be eating from them less than 60 days later. Now I just need some different ways to use the harvest! Cooking more - or not cooking but creating wonderful food in creative ways is one of my New Year's Resolutions!

Happy New Year to you all!

The Garden Goddess
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

The Hurry Up & Wait Game

The Hurry Up & Wait Game

Now that the new season's gardens are all planted there really isn't much to do - but wait! Boy I was Hell-bent to get the beds planted - and in the midst of an injured foot. I had all the seeds, knew how I wanted to plant them out and what to put where and now that is is all done, I have lost my motivation!

Oh I get out to the gardens daily to check on them, see what's sprouting and what's not, pull a few weeds and maybe harvest a few swiss chard leaves or a summer sweet pepper or two.

But other than that, the hard work is done for a few months. You think I would be ecstatic, but I enjoy working with my hands in the soil and creating the new beds. There is something almost artistic in the creating of the garden bed from just a patch of dirt.

Watching seedlings emerge from the ground and the leaves unfold is also magical, but I am less involved in that activity. That is all mother nature at work.

Now all that is left is pruning and replacing a few landscape plants that didn't make it this summer. But maintenance isn't all that exciting to me.

I am thankful for the abundance that is growing in my gardens and I am thankful for all those who helped me get the gardens in when I was injured. Now I need to exercise patience while I nurture the plants into maturity.

How is your garden coming along?

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

http://www.down2earthgardens.com/